Lord Of Martial Arts

"At least we now have a smaller search range," Todd said.

Since they hadn't even known what the center of the array was before, it was a relief they now had a direction and goal to follow.

"Let's go look for it," Darren said.

They flew together, carefully hiding their auras to avoid an attack from the metal creatures.

As they flew, they detected many metal creatures along the way, which were too ordinary to be the center of the array.

"Todd, it looks as if your friend Juan is ahead of us," Murray suddenly said.

"What? You're right, it's him. It appears he's in some sort of trouble."

They could detect Juan's aura from deep within the valley three thousand kilometers away.

"I'll go take a look. Wait a moment." Todd wanted to go alone, fearing that Darren and the rest would be implicated if things were truly bad.

After all, Juan was one of the Five Kings and Darren's rival at that.

"What are you saying? How could I as a friend let you go there on your own?" Murray rolled his eyes at him.

"Sir, we'll go with you," Darren echoed.

"Well, if we find it to be too dangerous, you need to escape first. Never mind me," Todd conceded.

With that,

they all headed to the valley together.

Three powerful auras met them from within the valley covered in purple mist.

"Juan, you won't be escaping today!"

"East King, are you truly going to help Seth kill me?" Juan's roar sounded.

"What did you think? Of course I am. Chances like this don't come often. Did you think I wouldn't take advantage of it?" the East King sneered.

"East King, you know how cunning Seth is. You'd do best to unite with me, in order to kill him."

Seth's heart raced in fear. What if the East King agreed? It would mean to put him on the spot instead.

"East King, Juan has two masters under his command. Letting him go would cause nothing but trouble for us. Think it over, carefully. He has been adamantly resisting war. Don't you think there is something suspicious about that? It's obvious he's been secretly recruiting powerful warriors to kill us!

If we let

the East King murmured to himself.

The scales were no longer balanced and tipped on the other side's end. It was three versus two.

"Juan, will you really attack me? I haven't been myself these days and got caught up in Seth's words, then said something I shouldn't have. Will you forgive me? I agree with you that Seth is a bastard. How about we join forces and end him together?"

It was apparent the East King had no loyalties and quickly switched sides to whichever gave him the biggest advantage.

With three masters on Juan's side, there was no telling if he could make it out alive. His defeat, however, was inevitable.

"Juan, just think. Four versus one, we'll end Seth in no time. There's no reason to miss out on this chance."

The East King was right. With these odds, Seth was as good as dead. With three versus two, both Seth and the East King could run.

Juan kept silent and then addressed Todd quietly, "What do you think?"

After some thought, Todd replied, "Joining with the East King would give us a sure win. Let's agree to an alliance, and once Seth is dead, it will be easier to kill the East King."

"That's a good idea. Let's do it!"

Juan addressed the East King, "I don't hate you and understand that Seth has deceived you. When you kill him, you can claim his power."

"How could you!"

Seth, who had heard the entire thing, seethed with anger.