Time passed by quickly after the ceremony as a strange calm fell over the city
However, anyone who was in the know knew that this calm was just a facade.
They knew that it was impossible for this calm to last when both the crown and second prince had their eyes on this city.
They all expected something to happen between the two groups that were currently living in the city, but to their surprise, nothing happened at all. There was only this calm until both groups announced that they were leaving at the same time.
During their time here, they had done normal things such as visiting the dungeon which was the main attraction of this Dungeon City or enjoying the delicacies that were found in both inns.
At the same time, they seemed to do their best to avoid each other, as if they refused to interact with one another.
By the time that they left, other than meeting at the ceremony, these two groups had never crossed paths.
They had even made sure of that by asking Lin Fan, or rather Yue Lan to arrange their activities at different times.
Lin Fan was also surprised that the crown prince’s group had never approached him during their time here.
Even when they left, they left through different gates of the city as if they refused to cross paths. So when they left, they left the city from completely opposite directions.
It seemed very normal the way that they left, but as soon as the groups left the city, they were immediately joined by different groups. These groups were composed of many cultivators, who were clearly their guards to wherever they were going.
Since neither side had made a move during their time in the city, they were certain that the other side would make a move once they were out of the city.
So they all gathered their forces to protect themselves.
Before leaving the city though, the envoy had contacted Lin Fan to see where he was with the orders that he had given him.
All that he had received in return was notice that Lin Fan would be making his move as the crown prince’s group left the city.
While he was dissatisfied with all of this since he expected Lin Fan to move much sooner, he had to accept this since he could understand why Lin Fan would make a move once the crown prince’s group was out of the city.
It was the safest way for them to make the crown prince’s group disappear.
But he still needed evidence that Lin Fan was the one that took care of the crown prince’s group, so he had sent his own people to watch.
They wouldn’t do anything other than obtain evidence of Lin Fan taking care of the crown prince’s group.
Not for a single second did he think that Lin Fan would betray them and not take care of the crown prince’s group.
That was because this envoy was certain that Lin Fan didn’t have another choice.
The only thing that he needed to watch out for was the movements from the other princes.
After all, it wouldn’t just be the crown prince that would want to take them out. It was also the other princes that would want to take care of them.
So they carefully made their way away from the city.
It was only after they had reached the town closest to the city that they finally let down their guard.
Once they were this far, it was impossible for anyone to make a move on them since they would be found out immediately. It was impossible for them to do anything here without being caught by the other people in the town.
So the envoy’s group found an inn to stay at and then started moving around on their own.
It was night time when they finally came back to the inn, but there were a few members that were missing from their group.
The envoy couldn’t help knitting his brows as he asked, “Where are they?”
His right hand man looked over their members and then said, “There are just a few of the guards missing. They most likely went to have some fun. You don’t need to worry about it.”
As he heard this, the envoy couldn’t help knitting his brows and looking at his right hand man.
Seeing this, the right hand man said with a serious look, “Do you want me to send people to search for them?”
The envoy was silent for a bit before shaking his head and saying, “Send them to me when they come back, I’ll deal with them personally. Also, don’t let any of the other men leave during this time.”
The right hand man nodded in agreement to this before heading off to send down this order.
The envoy couldn’t help feeling that something was off about all of this, but he couldn’t tell what was wrong.
However, if they were to send more people out right now, it would leave them vulnerable.
He knew that it was better for them to stay put in this situation and deal with whatever it was when it came together.
He just hoped that this feeling was wrong and he was just being worried for no reason.
But as time passed, that feeling became stronger and stronger.
At the same time, the men who went missing didn’t come back and there were more men that suddenly went missing.
It was only one or two in the beginning, but soon there were groups of them disappearing at once.
It didn’t take long before most of the extra guards that they had called were gone. It was only the envoy’s original group that was left in this residence that they had rented.
Even a fool would be able to tell that someone was clearly targeting them, but they couldn’t do a thing about it.
They were basically trapped in this residence since if they tried leaving, they would be taken care of just like the ones that had already disappeared.
Perhaps they might have had a chance if it was light outside and there were people around, but now that it was night and there were no people outside, they would be immediately taken out by the hidden assailant.
So the only thing that they could do was bunker down and try to wait out the night.
Once day came, they would find someone outside to find help for them.
But of course, they never made it through the night.
The residence that they rented wasn’t just a normal residence. It was a residence with a special array formation for times of danger. This array would create a barrier around a certain room, turning it into a secure panic room that even Foundation Realm Cultivators wouldn’t be able to break into that easily.
With this, they would be able to hold out even if the assailants were cultivators.
As soon as the envoy noticed that it was getting suspicious how people of his group were disappearing, he had immediately brought his original group in there.
This group was his most trusted group of subordinates, so there was no one else that he wanted in there with him.
Time passed and soon it was midnight.
They had heard a few noises coming from outside the barrier, but they hadn’t been able to break into the barrier itself. Eventually, all of the noises outside suddenly disappeared and they were left in total silence.
The envoy and his subordinates were all tense as this silence fell over them.
If there was a bit of noise, they would be able to stay calm at least.
However, the fact that there was no noise at all was very disconcerting to them.
After all, even if they were being attacked, there should have been the sounds of nature around them. Even if the humans were taken out, there should have been things like crickets and other bugs in the night making sound. There should have at least been some kind of noise from the wind.
But there wasn’t a single noise outside.
It was as if they had been completely isolated from the rest of the world.
If that was the case, didn’t that mean that they were already in the grasps of whoever was coming for them?
The longer this silence lasted, the more unsettled they felt.
Finally, the right hand man couldn’t help asking, “Lord Rong, shouldn’t we try sending some people to survey the area? We can at least see what is happening outside from the window.”
The envoy knitted his brows.
He had ordered everyone to stay in the center of the array because that was where the protection of the array was the strongest. At the same time, the array drew on their power to become stronger since the more people inside of the array, the stronger it was from the gathered spiritual energy.𝑶𝑣𝐋𝐞xt.𝗇𝓔t
However, if he sent people to the window, the array would become weaker, so he had kept everyone around him.
It wasn’t to keep them safe, but rather to keep himself safe.
But he really couldn’t help being unsettled by how quiet it was.
So after a pause, he nodded and said, “Send two people to different windows to see the situation outside.”
The right hand man gave a nod before quickly picking two people out.
These two were the weakest among them since they were only mortals, so they were considered disposable to the group.
The two that were chosen had bitter looks on their faces, but they couldn’t say anything since they recognized that they were the weakest.
So the only thing that the two of them could do was slowly and carefully make their way to the window.
When they reached it and looked out, they couldn’t help being shocked by what they saw.