"Your Highnesses." Jedrek cupped his fists.
King Lantes immediately felt apprehensive. He understood that it was likely Jedrek and his Garis Clan that had insider information, but wasn't Jedrek being here far too dangerous? The net the Tor Clan set was far too wide. In addition to this, King Lantes and Viri, thinking that this was a meeting all four Kings were aware of, hadn't bothered to hide their tracks either.
Two Kings travelling to the Opes Kingdom at the same time? How could the Tor Clan's guard not be up? In fact, King Tor might already be aware of this. With Jedrek here, it only made matters worse.
As though seeing through their thoughts, Jedrek smiled. "There's no need for you all to worry about the Tor Clan tracking my whereabouts. I haven't been in Tor Kingdom for several years already. I have many businesses to handle within all four Kingdoms. So, it's not suspicious for me to be here."
These words caused the two Kings to breathe a slight breath of relief. That was right, Second Prince Tor was well known for his control over the Higher Mortal Plane's economy. He had been infiltrating their Kingdoms with his businesses for a long time already. So, there really was nothing suspicious about him being here. Even if the Tor Clan found out, it wouldn't be a big deal. However, that didn't solve the problem entirely.
"You all might be wondering what King Tor would think of you two coming here, I presume?" King Opes added. "There's no need to worry about this either. I sent an invitation to King Tor as well, it was just that he rejected it."
The two Kings came to a sudden realization. King Opes likely sent all three of them invitations. But, King Tor, in all his arrogance, likely felt it was beneath him to attend personally. After all, he was by far the most powerful of them all. So, he would have sent an envoy or representative of some sort. In fact, since Jedrek was out of the Kingdom already, that representative might have been the Second Prince himself!
'Genius!' They couldn't help but think to themselves. Had King Opes always been so cunning? They raised their guards slightly.
"I will get right to the point." Jedrek said seriously. "I would like you two to declare war against the Tor Clan and the Heavenly Body Sect!"
"Are you insane?!" Both Kings stood in a rage. Although they had expected this, it was far too crazy. Did they already forget that King Tor had been able to enlist the help of an Immortal?
On top of this, there was how ridiculously talented Ryu was to take into consideration. Even if this succeeded, Ryu would always have the opportunity for revenge in the future! To top this off, even without the help of the Immortal, the Tor Kingdom itself was a behemoth. The Cedar Clan alone could match up to their Kingdoms in strength. If the three of them declared war, even if the Cedar and Tor Clans' relationship wasn't so good, they would band together for the sake of splitting the Higher Mortal Plane between each other and getting rid of them.
No matter how you looked at the situation, it was a lose-lose-lose sort of prospect. These Kings didn't have a death wish.
"What if I guarantee that the Garis Clan will defect to your side at the most opportune time?" Jedrek asked calmly.
The two Kings froze. Although the Cedar and Tor Clans were powerful, more than 80% of their secular army was controlled by the Garis Clan. They had always been a military family. Even though the secular army didn't have any high-level experts, what they did have were numbers. The Tor Kingdom army was as large as their three Kingdoms combined!
Suddenly, the two Kings saw a path, but they were still too skeptical.
"At the end of the day, the top experts are all firmly controlled by either the Tor or Cedar Clans. Even if a large majority of the secular army defects, it will be hard to close that gap. At best, we could say we would then be equal to them. But, that's not good enough to declare such a large-scale war." King Lantes said after he calmed himself.
"And what if a war between the Cedar and Tor Clan is sparked first? Hm?" Jedrek dropped another bomb.
"How…?" The two Kings asked after looking at each other.
"For the past few weeks, rumors of my fourth brother's connection with the White Devils have been ramping up. You all saw it for yourselves, his eyes were silver. While you three have concluded that this is likely due to my father hiding Ryu, what do you think the general public thinks?"
"… That Crown Prince Tor isn't King Tor's son and that King Tor knows this, yet sheltered him anyway."
"Exactly!" Jedrek said confidently. "That Patriarch Cedar bastard won't miss this opportunity. After that incident all those years ago left my Aunt bedridden even to this day, my Garis Clan has spent everything they have monitoring the Cedar Clan's every movement. This was how we learned that Death Guard Bhishak had long been won over to the Cedar Clan's side because that whore Olivia spread her legs.
"According to our informants, great undercurrents are already moving. Even Imperial Censor Briggs is getting involved, slowly bringing Ministers over to their cause. Within a month, the Cedar Clan will strike. Because Ryu won, becoming Crown Prince, they can't afford to wait any longer!"
The two Kings began to breathe heavily. Everything seemed to be falling into place. The more Jedrek spoke, the more their concerns fluttered away. This was their chance to finally rid themselves of a behemoth that controlled their lives for too long!
"I know that you two are still worried about the Immortal's intervention, but remember, if that Immortal could interfere freely, why would King Tor go through so much trouble to hide everything? Why did Ryu need to pretend to be blind for so many years? Why did he have to be beaten and humiliated on the streets? Why didn't my weak-willed father boldly flaunt that he had the Natural Order Sect's resources instead of putting the life of his most talented son on the line with the Coronation Games?"
Those words were the final straw that broke the camels back.
The undercurrent of a brewing conspiracy raged to life. The next year would be one of the most volatile in Higher Mortal Plane history, and the man responsible for it all didn't even have to lift a finger. In fact, the young man in question was currently meditating silently beneath Opes Palace, utilizing the pool of Spiritual Qi to slowly chip away at what remained of his Spiritual Entrance Pulse.
At that moment, a surge of Spiritual Qi erupted as an audible shattering resounded. Ryu had finally completely opened his thirteenth Pulse and entered the Spiritual Entrance Realm!