Chapter 94: Preparations from Both Sides

"Has the Ashvele Clan made any other suspicious moves?" Rhain asked.

Declan stood in silence for a long moment, visibly composing himself.

He gave a solemn nod.

"Yes. After the scout I sent returned, my informants within the Ashvele estate confirmed something else. The Ashvele Clan had secretly dispatched their own elite investigators to Greymist Town."

Declan looked deeply at Rhain. "By now, the Ashvele Clan definitely already knows about you."

Hearing this, Rhain didn’t show a single trace of fright.

Declan’s brow furrowed. "You seem entirely unsurprised."

"Because it only proves they are suspicious of my strength," Rhain replied calmly. "If they were confident, they would not have bothered gathering intelligence. Most importantly, it proves that their Clan Head, Brycen Ashvele, has definitely not left his seclusion yet."

If a Level 6 Core Formation expert was awake and active, he wouldn’t waste time sending scouts.

He would have just marched down to Greymist Town and flattened the Azure Cloud Sect himself.

Rhain leaned back into his wooden chair, his gaze settled directly onto Declan’s face.

"Eventually, the Ashvele Clan will trace my footsteps in Mirravele City," Rhain said indifferently. "They will find out that the Gilded Sparrow sheltered me. Knowing that helping me could bring the wrath of a Core Formation clan down upon your head... Why are you still ready to help me?"

Declan met Rhain’s gaze unflinchingly.

"Along with the information about your actions in Greymist Town, the scout brought back a personal message from Fenwick," Declan replied earnestly.

"Fenwick explicitly reminded me... If you remain by this boy’s side, you will flourish beyond anything you have ever imagined. And if you go against him..." Declan paused, a wry, slightly bitter smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Then you will definitely die."

Declan let out a self-deprecating sigh, his gaze drifting toward the distant Glided Sparrow teahouse.

"Long before I became the master of the Gilded Sparrow, I was the sect leader of a minor faction in outer frontier," Declan revealed, a trace of bitter sorrow in his voice. "My sect was brutally destroyed by our enemies. I was hunted, and I had to flee to Mirravele City to save my pathetic life."

He looked back at Rhain.

"It was Fenwick who sheltered me when I had absolutely nothing. He was the one who funded me, protected me, and helped me open the Gilded Sparrow to rebuild my life.

Declan’s gaze hardened, resolute and unshakable.

"Fenwick possesses an incomprehensible talent in business. In all the decades I have known him, he has never, not even once, made a choice that resulted in a loss. If he believes in your judgment with such absolute certainty, then I will blindly believe in it too."

Rhain listened quietly to the solemn oath of loyalty.

He didn’t utter a single word in response. But he remembered each word Declan spoke in his heart.

"Keep your eyes locked on the Ashvele Clan and the Solari Clan," Rhain requested. "Report every single movement they make."

"I will," Declan nodded firmly. But then, his thick brows furrowed in deep concern. "However, aside from those two, there is someone else you must be extremely wary of right now."

Rhain tilted his head slightly.

"City Lord Cassian Valdris," Declan stated cautiously. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"For now, he is trying to use his authority to forcibly prevent the Ashvele and Solari clans from tearing the city apart. But he is not a fool. He is already highly suspicious that whatever happened last night wasn’t as simple as a drunken Jarek going mad."

"My sources inside the City Lord’s Pavilion reported something troubling. Cassian has already begun his own quiet investigation into the events of last night."

Rhain’s dark grey eyes flashed with a chilling light.

"I have noted it."

He continued grimly, "But if the City Lord intends to forcefully stop the destruction of the Ashvele Clan, then he is wasting his time."

Rhain stood up from his chair.

"If he tries to intervene, then I will just have to increase the speed of the process."

Declan blinked in bewilderment, "What else do you plan to do now?"

A devilish, predatory smirk brushed past his lips.

"There is still one piece on this board that I haven’t played."

Declan’s breath caught. "You don’t mean—"

"The Silvercrest Clan," Rhain stated, his voice carrying the quiet finality of a falling guillotine. "The moment all three great clans are entangled, even a Level 7 Core Formation City Lord won’t be able to hold the city together."

_________________

Deep within the Ashvele Clan’s ancestral estate, past the towering walls of carved obsidian stone and the rows of vigilant guards on high alert, lay the Grand Council Chamber.

A massive rectangular table of polished black jade dominated the center of the room.

Surrounding it sat over a dozen figures—each radiating the heavy, oppressive pressure of the Spirit Manifestation Realm, including Atlas, and a pale, deeply unsettled Orion Ashvele.

But despite the overwhelming concentration of power gathered in this single room, not a single face bore even a trace of confidence.

At the head of the table sat a middle-aged man.

Kynlee Ashvele.

His features were sharp and aristocratic, framed by ink-black hair tied into an immaculate knot behind his head.

His eyes, cold and calculating, slowly swept over the faces gathered before him.

As the Level 4 Core Formation expert and acting head of the Ashvele Clan during Patriarch Brycen’s seclusion, the weight of the current catastrophe rested entirely on his shoulders.

"This was a setup," Kynlee’s voice was deathly cold, "A meticulously orchestrated setup to push us into an all-out war."

He slammed his fist onto the table.

"Think about it! Someone used an illusory artifact or a disguise technique to perfectly mimic Hayden’s face and aura to murder Jarek Solari. But almost no one in Mirravele City even knows that Hayden is dead! To the rest of the world, he just hasn’t shown his face in a few days!"

The elders exchanged worrying glances.

"To use Hayden’s face to kill Jarek..." Atlas muttered, his eyes widening in realization. "The culprit must be absolutely certain that Hayden is already dead. Hayden cannot prove his innocence, and we are also unable to reveal his demise, for it will only cause Solari Clan to attack more fiercely knowing we are now in a weakened state."

"Exactly," Kynlee snarled. "And besides us, the only other person who knows it... is the one who killed him."

Silence fell over the hall.

Orian visibly trembled as a figure appeared in his mind.

"According to the reports, that boy has already left Greymist Town," Kynlee said, shaking his head. "It cannot be a coincidence. All of this absolute madness in the city only started after he left that remote town."

One of the peak Spirit Manifestation elders, a grizzled man named Tormund stood up abruptly.

"Coincidence or not, the answer is simple!" Tormund snarled, his aura flaring with barely contained fury. "Kynlee, give me permission to take a squad back to that wretched town. The boy has left Greymist Town—our scouts confirmed it! His pathetic little sect is completely exposed! Let me burn it to the ground and hang every last one of those Azure Cloud rats from the city walls as a message!"

Several other men nodded vigorously, their faces twisting with bloodthirsty approval.

"Crush them! Exterminate every living soul connected to that rat!"

But Kynlee only frowned, giving the man a troubled loo

"No!" Kynlee refused. "The Solari Clan is waiting for exactly that sort of possibility. The moment you step outside the protective boundaries of Mirravele City, Jarek’s father will ambush you. You’d be killed before you even travel ten miles!"

Tormund’s eyes wavered.

"Furthermore," Kynlee added, shaking his head. "We don’t even know what cursed string of tricks that boy used to raise his cultivation and summon that giant fireball. Do you really think he left his sect without any protection? If I send you to Greymist Town, and that boy anticipated this move, you could very well walk straight into your own funeral. And I will not sacrifice peak-level experts on a gamble."

Tormund’s clenched his jaw, but he slowly, reluctantly, sank back into his seat.

"Then... what do we do, Kynlee?" he asked quietly. "Do we simply sit here and watch? The Solari Clan grows bolder by the hour. If we do nothing, they will interpret our inaction as weakness and press even harder."

"We wait." Kynlee stated firmly. "We do not make a single rash move."

His eyes swept over everyone.

"Patriarch is still in deep seclusion. Once he breaks through to the seventh level of the Core Formation Realm, the overall strength of our Ashvele Clan will eclipse the rest of the city. When that happens, the Solari Clan won’t even dare to challenge us."

"But what if they attack before that?" An old man with grey hair asked. "Jarek’s father demanded Hayden’s head in three days. When we fail to deliver, they will wage an all-out war!"

"Then we activate the Ancestral Guardian Formation," Kynlee stated without hesitation. "It was laid down by our founding ancestor three centuries ago. Once fully powered, it can withstand the combined assault of multiple Core Formation Realm experts for a minimum of one month."

A wave of visible relief washed over several of their faces.

Kynlee’s gaze drifted slowly toward Orion.

"Orion."

Orian flinched, straightening in his chair like a startled animal.

"Y-Yes, Master Kynlee?"

"In exactly one month," Kynlee spoke sternly, obviously very dissatisfied with Orian’s foolish decision to go to Greymist Town, and get Hayden killed, "Stormveil Academy will arrive in Mirravele City to conduct their annual recruitment."

The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly.

The Stormveil Academy.

It was a colossus that existed beyond the Outer Frontier.

If their clan could place even a single disciple within the Stormveil Academy, it would gain an implicit, untouchable shield.

Kynlee’s voice was cold but carried a heavy, undeniable expectation. "If you can manage to pass their trials and enter the Stormveil Academy... the Solari Clan won’t dare to raise a single finger against us."

Orion’s hollow eyes gradually brightened, a flicker of ambition replacing the fear that had haunted him since Greymist Town.

"I... I understand, Master Kynlee," Orion said, his voice steady. "I will not fail. I will enter the Stormveil Academy, no matter what it takes."

"Good!" Knylee nodded, before turning his gaze back to gathered experts, "If I am not wrong, Rhain Voss is already in the Mirravele City. Find him!"

"Yes!" All of them spoke in unison.

"Rhain Voss..." Knylee murmured the name quietly.

A boy from a forgotten village in the Outer Frontier.

Yet, he had brought the most powerful city in the region to the brink of civil war.

Kynlee’s fingers tightened on the armrest of her chair.

"The day I will find you....It will be the day of your doom!"