Divine Emperor of Death

Tripartite Alliance Territory, West Territory Gate.

At the west end of the Tripartite Alliance Territory lies the Territory Gate which led to the Alstriem Family Territory.

Numerous figures were moving about to and fro, entering and exiting while the guards deployed guarded the huge transparent gate that stood tall while covering a singular area in a vertical direction, stretching to the skies.

However, the transparent gate was only 1,000 meters in height. As for how far it's wide, it was no more than 100 meters wide, making it look like a vertical rectangular gate.

Not only were there guards at the level of the Fifth Stage, there were even more powerhouses at the Sixth Stage and the Seventh Stage but were in less number.

The people who were traveling were mostly at the Fifth Stage while or above, but the latter was rare.

The transparent gate which had an opaque red outline to it stretched to the skies for about 1,000 meters, its majestic undulations making people subconsciously lower their heads in nervousness.

Besides the transparent gate, the surroundings were covered by thick smog that blocked one's sight and sense, including Soul Sense. The thick smog covered the entirety of the space, from the deep surface till the skies.

If it weren't for the smog, people could freely travel between territories as there wouldn't be anything of much blocking them, like the transparent gate.

The transparent gate didn't block them to be exact but made them be able to travel through territories as it was found later unlike the smog which divided the entire First Layer into 52 territories.

Rumor had it when smog descended from the heavens, quelling the chaos of the First Layer, the territory gate and the other territory gates were suddenly established in a space-shattering event, but there were no credible pieces of evidence since it became a myth after a long passage of time.

As for the veracity and the truth of the myth, maybe the Emperor Grade Powers in the Large Territories might know of it.

A few kilometers away from the transparent gate, there was a town of merchants, a kind of marketplace that existed solely for buying and selling all kinds of goods for convenience and money-making purposes.

People who came from the Alstreim Family Territory try to purchase or sell goods and try to profit from it. It was the same for the merchants looking for a profit in the Tripartite Alliance Territory.

There were all sorts of handymen present there and they engage in a petty and cheap battle of wits and even deceit to gain more wealth.

At the Territory Gate, numerous people traveled to and fro, entering the transparent gate to make it to the other side and vice versa. They pay the toll of a single Mid-Level Spirit Stone to gain the right to make it to the other side.

Everyone knew that this gate was solely owned by the Alstriem Family Territory, and so they made the profits from allowing people to exit and enter their territory.

One Mid-Level Spirit Stone for access... Low-Level Spirit Stones weren't allowed in the transaction since the former had more weight. If one had to pay using Low-Level Spirit Stones, then they would have to pay double the amount.

2,000 Low-Level Spirit Stones.

The collection obtained from holding and possessing these gates itself bore plenty of wealth. It was no doubt if a money tree were to exist, they were none other than these territory gates which could be occupied and supervised.

However, the eyes which were gazing at this location were something only the powerful could cast. If someone dared to raid this place, an Emperor Grade Power would step out to descend judgment.

In this case, it was none other than the Alstreim Family as they were the ones who were in control of this Territory Gate.

Among the numerous people who exited the transparent territory gate and walked out to the Tripartite Alliance Territory, there was a middle-aged man.

His appearance was frail but handsome. He looked princely even while looking sick yet the people beside him automatically kept their distance between him as they felt uncomfortable, not at his pale appearance but from the vague undulations he emanated.

He paused for a while before looking in the southern direction. With a single step, he soared towards the air and flew towards the horizon.

After flying for a few kilometers at the speed of a kilometer per second, the middle-aged man glanced at the North and East direction before suddenly bolting off into the southern horizon, leaving a sonic boom behind as his figure disappeared from anyone who had been viewing him at the time.

The speed he had taken off created a resounding boom, his speed reaching the over the range of over 10,000 kilometers per second.

The people who had just been faintly viewing him with curiosity had their eyes bulge in fear and trepidation.

Although they couldn't measure the speed since the person they were observing disappeared from their view in an instant, they could at least guess that it was an expert above the Seventh Stage, or maybe even the Eighth Stage.

They quickly moved their gaze away once they realized this as they didn't want to get involved with trouble. However, some also of their eyes flashed in a knowing light.

After all, there had been a ban placed on Eighth Stage Experts from entering the Tripartite Alliance Territory.

In any case, if trouble were to ensue, they knew that they would quickly die just from the resulting onslaught that was not even targeted at them in the first place.

They felt that they should leave this matter to the Tripartite Alliance to take care of but some others didn't and wanted to report.

And as expected, a few minutes later, greedy individuals and opportunists reported this matter to the Tripartite Alliance and by doing so, hoped to get some rewards.

The Tripartite Alliance had no idea that such a being entered and dispatched their remaining Seventh Stage Experts from the headquarters to warn the intruder to exit peacefully.

From the information they managed to gather, they still didn't know if the intruder was a Seventh Stage Expert or Eighth Stage Expert, so they had chosen to settle this peacefully if it was the latter.

If it was the former, then that would only mean a battle would ensue, unless if the intruder possessed a powerful background. In that case, they would let them go, whether scot-free or through compensation, it depended upon the background of the intruder.

Such cases were common in the past and intruders from the common background would be killed without mercy unless they pledged their lives to the Tripartite Alliance by having a Soul Seal placed on them.

But the Tripartite Alliance three branches were simultaneously startled.

They thought that there had been only a single intruder but they received reports indicating that there were two other intruders from the other two territory gates, which belonged to the Towering Cloud Hall and Falling Snow Sect.

Realizing that the situation was slipping out of their hands, the three branches in the Tripartite Alliance Headquarters quickly contacted their true headquarters in their own territories to dispatch Eighth Stage Experts.

Surprisingly, their request was not heeded and they were denied even if they reported that the situation was dire. Left with no choice, they were forced to search for those three intruders just by themselves.

However, in the upcoming days, no matter how they searched, they couldn't find the relevant individuals which would finally anger the Tripartite Alliance Headquarters, making them dispatch numerous people to suspicious and important places.

They also sent a Grand Elder level character to take care of the latent problem which was none other than the Cloud Spring Mercenaries.