When the next day arrived, Aria and Alex went toward this Luzear Family. The journey didn't take too long, but they ended up taking another stroll in a nearby forest.
"Are you sure about this?" Aria asked. Her face was full of doubt.
"We had discussed it yesterday. There are a few perfect spots to ambush the group, so it's better to set up traps around here first before arriving there."
Aria could understand the reason he was doing this was to not use his full power, but the possibility of this failing was very high. "Don't worry. If these Array Plates are not used, I will be the one taking care of them. You can go back to the sect first."
"No, no. I am not worried about that. It's just a few hours of work, so it doesn't really mean anything. What I am concerning is the probability of them having a God Rank Expert."
Alex thought for a moment and shook his head. "Nope. There won't be any God Rank Experts. You don't know anything about them. If a God Rank Expert makes a move, many will notice it, so whether it's from the Luzear Family or their enemies, no one will send a God Rank Expert. There might be 8-Star or 9-Star Martial Saint, but I am not really sure about a 10-Star Martial Saint. Either way, if we can solve the situation with just traps, it will be good."
"I doubt it though. Why don't you just save the money to buy the Array Plates for cultivation?" She sighed.
"Haha, you start budgeting me now?" Alex smiled.
"You can do whatever you want with your money. It's your money anyway." She shrugged and looked away.
Alex smiled and kept placing the array plates for another hour.
"Let's go." Alex walked to her after finishing his job.
Aria nodded and started flying again.
It took them another six hours to arrive in Middle City. They went in without much of a problem and immediately headed toward the Luzear Family.
As they expected, the mansion looked like her Cypress Family, just a bit bigger. They found two people holding a spear, waiting in front of the gate.
When they approached them, they crossed the spear and asked. "Who are you?!"
"We are disciples from Unsurpassed Blade Sect. I am here to take a mission from the Luzear Family, specifically madam Alcea Luzear." Aria showed her disciple token and Luzear Family token to let them know it was a legitimate request.
"…" The guards exchanged looks before one of them went inside while the other one said, "As much as I want to let you inside, we need to ask the madam first because of the current situation."
"It's fine. We have been briefed about it as well." Aria gently nodded.
What made the guard hesitate was actually their masks. They couldn't really identify them because they didn't show their faces, increasing the possibility of them being fake.
Not long after, a middle-aged lady walked out of the mansion and found two masked people.
"I am Alcea Luzear. Are you who I am waiting for?" She asked while furrowing her eyebrows.
Aria took out the letter from Melvie. "My name is Aria Cypress. This is the letter from Senior Sister Melvie."
She took the letter and opened it right away. After reading the letter, she glanced at them back and forth as if she couldn't believe what the letter told her.
"Melvie is my childhood friend. Although the path we take is different, I still trust her words. Since you two are the ones she sent, I will trust her. Come in first to meet my daughter, and I shall explain the plan." Despite saying so, she had yet to move to her position. "Before that, can you take off your mask? The letter has told me about your disability, but I want to check it first because there is a chance that you are an impostor. After all, our situation is not in good condition."
"I can, but I don't know if he…" Aria took off her mask but felt Alex didn't need to.
"Since I have confirmed it, I won't say anything. You can put your mask back on. Sorry for asking you to do that."
"No, I think this will be perfect." Aria decided not to put on her mask again for a few reasons that she and Alex had talked about.
"Alright then." She nodded and invited them in.
After making a few turns, they arrived in a room with three people inside. The first one was a young female that seemed to be Nella Luezar. The second one was another youth with 6-Star Martial Saint strength, while the last one was a 9-Star Martial Saint middle-aged man.
"These two are the escorts that will help you during this mission. They are Aria Cypress and Nyx. The lady is a 2-Star Martial Saint that can fight against a 5-Star Martial Saint while the other one is a strong 4-Star Martial Saint that has the ability to rival that of the girl." Alcea introduced them, believing it would make everything smoother.
"Ho?!" The middle-aged man observed Alex and Aria before the hair on his hand raised without any apparent reasons. "Since that is the case, I don't have a problem. Besides, it's better to have them with us rather than a full-fledged 8-Star Martial Saint."
"Yes." Alcea nodded. "Millman, I will be leaving these two in your care."
"I understand, Madam. I will do my best to make this campaign successful." The middle-aged man nodded with a solemn expression.
"Good. This is Millman, the leader of this entire operation." She introduced the middle-aged man to Alex and Aria.
They shook his hand with a smile.
Meanwhile, the young lady brushed her light red hair gently, not knowing why Millman accepted them.
"Mother, isn't our force enough to reach the palace?"
"Our force might be enough, but their mission is to ensure your safety while the group is to make sure everything can proceed according to the plan." She shook her head.
"…" Nella fell silent and kept staring at Aria, wondering what was so special with this blind woman. Alex was also wearing a mask that made him too mysterious. "I can take care of myself though…But since mother has gone all the way to do this, I will just accept this one."
"Yeah, thank you, dear." Alcea smiled.
"This is Andre, the second-in-command for this operation. He is originally the one ensuring her safety, but with both of you here, he can go fight those bastards instead."
"Nice to meet you." Andre stretched his hand to Aria and shook her hand before looking at Alex.
Alex shook his hand too, but to his surprise, he suddenly felt the other party clenched his hand tightly.
Alex sighed inwardly, knowing this would happen. However, there was another thing that made him concerned. In the middle-aged man's body held dormant green energy that seemed to be a poison. Meanwhile, there was a trace of the same energy in the young man's hand, so this made Alex curious about this young man.
Why would he act this brazen when he could just stay quiet for a while? If this plan were sabotaged, the situation would turn worst.
"I don't know why you are clenching my hand this tightly…But if you are going to challenge me or something, it's better you piss off." Alex narrowed his eyes.
The atmosphere became tense. Andre had been their retainers for decades, so they just couldn't believe what Alex said.
"I am sorry, I just want to see your strength. After all, the introduction was a bit too hard to swallow." Andre gently smiled while putting a bit more energy into his hand.
"In that case, don't blame me." Alex sighed. Suddenly, he accelerated and grabbed Andre's elbow before breaking his hand until it bent weirdly.
"Argh!" Andre screamed in pain as he fell down and held his hand while glaring at Alex.
"Oops, I just wanted to see the strength of the great 6-Star Martial Saint. Unfortunately, you are just a waste who can't even understand the course of your action. I am starting to worry now." Alex looked down on him, surprising every person in this room.
"Nyx!" Aria sweatdropped as she never expected it turned this way. He taught her to swallow everything, so they didn't make a problem, but this was the exact opposite of what he said.
At the same time, Alcea, a Rank 10 God, pointed her hand toward him while the middle-aged man took out his sword.
"You…What did you just do?!" Nella gritted her teeth and helped him up.
"Why would you do something like that? Depending on your answer, I might need to send a corpse to my childhood friend…" Alcea glared at Alex while releasing her killing intent.
Alex looked at her before moving to the middle-aged man. "You are poisoned."
"Stop lying!" The middle-aged man obviously didn't believe him.
Alex thought for a while. He obviously couldn't tell them he had the ability to see the energy in his body, so he knew about it. He remembered how many characters in many stories acted like a doctor, so he said, "When I shook your hand, I realized from your pulse that you are poisoned. If you are not convinced, you can puke the area near your abdomen with a silver needle and see it for yourself."
The middle-aged man's body shook before glancing at Alcea, wondering what the madam had to say.
"Bring our Elder Po here and ask him to check your body. I will be watching these two people. If it's not as he said, I will solve this with my own hand."
"I understand." The middle-aged man nodded.
However, when he was about to leave, the youth suddenly turned pale as he took out something from his Space Ring.
Because of what happened earlier, Aria had been on the full alert. When she realized the youth was moving, she activated her lightning element to arrive right next to the youth, cutting his hand that seemed to take out a pouch before kicking the man to the wall.
Of course, as an expert, Alcea didn't sit by and tried to stop her before cutting Andre's hand, but Alex caught her hand and said, "Look at what he takes out!"
When she heard that, she looked at the leather pouch and used her Divine Energy to grab the pocket.
As soon as she was distracted, Alex disappeared once again before a scream filled the entire room.
"Argh!"
They immediately turned their head and saw two spears impaled Andre on his two shoulders, preventing him from moving.
"I am sorry, I don't like to grasp someone's neck and ask them to tell the truth. Instead, it's better to immobilize your hands first using this method." Alex said coldly before pointing at the bag in Alcea's hand.
Nella gritted her teeth and shouted. "Why did you do that?"
"Nella!" Alcea stopped her before looking at the pouch. Because of her position, Nella obviously didn't see this pouch since it was in her blind spot, but when she looked at the pouch, she fell silent, realizing it wasn't this simple. "Change of plan. Nella, you bring Elder Po here while the rest can't leave this room until everything is confirmed."
Nella hesitated for a few seconds before rushing to bring the requested person.
After five minutes of waiting, she brought an old man carrying a case that seemed to be filled with his tool.
"Madam, do you need me?" He asked before finding Andre. "Oh no! Do you want me to heal him?!"
"No!" She shook her head and pointed at Millman. "Check his body, especially his stomach."
The old man walked toward Millman while keeping his eyes on Andre, wondering what just happened here.
He inserted five silver needles on Millman's stomach before three of them turned black.
"This…He is poisoned. The fact that it only reacts with three means that it is in the dormant stage, so there won't be any symptoms."
*Thump!*