The wanted order and the rumors people spread about the things Thousand Faces Sect has done in recent years were all carried out by the Dark Faction.
The "Dark Faction" has existed in the Thousand Faces Sect for far longer than I had known. Although they are also part of the sect, they are entirely different from my master and fellow disciples. They are extremely radical and refuse to follow any rules or regulations, doing whatever it takes to achieve their goals. They're also connected to many dark forces in the world.
Their true situation is probably only known by Master himself.
But the people of the continent don't know that there are two factions within the Thousand Faces Sect. My master, my senior brothers, and I are the only ones left from the main line that's still recognized publicly in the past hundred years. So all the sins and blood debts committed by the "Dark Faction" have basically been blamed on us.
No wonder when the System first scanned Emory's identity, it labeled him as a traitor to the Thousand Faces Sect.
But for a sect as ancient and powerful as the Thousand Faces Sect, which has existed on this continent for nearly a thousand years and possesses such mysterious and strong abilities, internal splits and faction struggles are not surprising.
To Elara, what she values and wants is just the abilities of the Thousand Faces Sect.
Since Emory is willing to offer himself in exchange, and she happens to need this deal, there's no reason not to accept.
"You can explain the internal affairs of the Thousand Faces Sect in more detail later. Right now, tell me where your senior brother is being held?"
Emory's downcast eyes lit up slightly. He understood that her question meant she had agreed.
He lifted his head and tried to recall for a moment before frowning slightly.
"After they issued the wanted order, they set up a trap to lure me into an abandoned and broken building in the westernmost area of Geranium Kingdom's imperial city."
"But the body hanging in that building, even though it was disguised as my senior brother, was poorly done. It wasn't our sect's technique at all. That body couldn't possibly be my senior brother, yet my senior brother's identity tag was clearly hanging on it!"
As he spoke, Emory quickly explained to Elara the meaning of the identity tag to every disciple of the Thousand Faces Sect. It's something no living disciple would ever remove easily, always worn closely since childhood.
"When they saw me show up and reach for my senior brother's tag, they used a method the Dark Faction gave them to expose my identity. I didn't have time to find out where they actually imprisoned my senior brother, so I escaped."
"So, did you get your senior brother's tag?"
Emory nodded. It was precisely to retrieve the tag that he tangled with the people from Blood Robe Tower. He was discovered by them and had to use nearly all his life-saving tools to escape. That's also why he ended up in such a desperate state when Blood Robe Tower later hunted him down.
Emory carefully took a delicate jade-like tag from inside his chest robe and handed it to Elara.
Elara took the tag and examined it. It felt warm and smooth to the touch, like some kind of high-quality white jade.
She gently waved her hand, and dozens of animals large and small began appearing around them.
Some came from the nearby dense forest, like packs of wild wolves, stray dogs, and snakes. Others were animals highly sensitive to scent, like moths and bees.
"Help me find the owner of this tag. Quickly."
The animals received the command, memorized the scent on the tag, and quickly dispersed.
Half an hour later.
A large but inconspicuous "animal scouting army" had been dispatched, and the results came quickly.
Elara had just brought Emory back from a remote mountain valley to a more hidden area closer to the imperial city of Geranium Kingdom when a yellow bee flew back to land on her fingertip and told her it had found the location.
After receiving the information from the bee, Elara looked at Emory. "We found him. But there are many assassins guarding the area. It won't be easy to rescue him."
The Blood Garment Tower did capture Emory's senior brother, but they locked him in the deepest part of their stronghold beneath their branch in the royal city of Geranium Kingdom. There were quite a few people guarding the area both inside and outside.
Honestly, if they hadn't been searching this time, Elara wouldn't have even known that Blood Garment Tower had a hideout within Geranium's royal city.
It seemed both Geranium Kingdom and the forces behind it were deeply entangled with Blood Garment Tower.
There was a chance that after the Banquet of a Hundred Kingdoms ended, when she and Prince Leland went into the hidden vault, they might run into Blood Garment Tower again.
After hearing Elara's words, Emory's face turned pale. "Blood Garment Tower… did they send one of their top-ranked assassins from the Heaven List to guard my senior brother?"
Although Blood Garment Tower was a second-tier force on the continent, those who ranked on its Heaven List were all elite-level experts.
Especially those near the top of the list, some of them were even comparable to the Yellow Spring Hall, making them top-tier assassins among the best.
If Blood Garment Tower really did send one of those higher-ranked assassins to guard his senior brother, the difficulty of the rescue would be far beyond what he had expected.
Even though he had already promised to trade himself to Elara, he couldn't be sure if she would still be willing to take such a big risk to save him.
He also couldn't ignore how dangerous it would be and force her to save someone.
After all, if they were to face those top-tier assassins, one small mistake could lead to death.
Elara had no personal ties to him or to the Thousand Faces Sect, so there was no reason for her to risk everything.
"It's not as bad as you think."
Elara saw the change in his expression and understood what he was thinking.
If there were assassins strong enough to seriously threaten her and the Wei Clan, she wouldn't have agreed so easily either.
"Blood Garment Tower did place assassins from the Heaven List around your senior brother, but they're not very high-ranked, only those ranked after the top fifty."
The fact that Blood Garment Tower dared to use tactics like baiting and issuing a wanted order against Emory and the Thousand Faces Sect meant that eliminating the remnants of the Thousand Faces Sect was indeed one of their missions for the Banquet.
But it was just one of the missions.
Compared to the rare hidden vault Prince Leland mentioned, anything related to the Thousand Faces Sect had to take a backseat.
The truly top fifty assassins from the Heaven List in Blood Garment Tower weren't detected by her Puppet Soldiers within the branch.
Elara figured they were either stationed in more important departments across the continent or hadn't come to Geranium Kingdom at all.
And those who did come to Geranium were probably preparing for the upcoming vault mission.
After hearing this, the pale color on Emory's face faded a little.
"Among the dozen or so assassins that chased you earlier, some were from the Heaven List. Do you know about their rankings?"
Emory tried to recall. "Yes. The strongest one should have been ranked sixty-seventh on the Heaven List. I saw his identification badge."
Elara also thought back to the strongest presence among the assassins on the mountaintop and then compared it with the energy signatures reported by her Puppet Soldiers around the assassins guarding Emory's senior brother.
"The ones guarding your senior brother should be ranked between sixtieth and fiftieth on Blood Garment Tower's Heaven List."
Assassins in the bottom half of the Heaven List were still considered top-tier experts on the continent.
But based on the energy feedback from the Puppet Soldiers, the assassins ranked fiftieth had around ninety percent of Elara's strength.
With Uno and the other guards from the Wei Clan assisting, it wouldn't be too difficult for Elara to defeat them.
The real issue was that Brother Mo was locked deep within the Blood Garment Tower's nest.
While the top fifty assassins weren't stationed there and were likely sent to other nests for different tasks, nearly all the remaining assassins from both the Heaven and Earth Lists were gathered at this particular stronghold.