Rocky and the others headed to the Cao Clan since it wouldn't be possible for them to casually meet
Woods, who was now the emperor of the Timber Deity Empire. He intended to ask Queenie to take
them to the royal palace to meet him instead.
Due to the constraints of time, accompanied by Queenie and Lucas, Rocky left the Cao Clan and
headed to the royal palace soon after.
After passing through the strict security at the royal palace gates, Rocky and the others were finally
ushered to the side hall.
They didn't have to wait long. Woods walked in, looking imposing in his imperial robe. He was no
longer the humble prince they once knew. The officer had reported to him that the chief of the Cao Clan
had arrived to see him, and Woods thought that it was only Queenie who was waiting for him. He
stopped abruptly in his tracks when he saw Rocky standing in the hall, smiling broadly at him. His eyes
widened in surprise and Woods quickened his pace towards Rocky.
"Oh, come on now! It has hardly been a year. Why are you so excited?" Rocky teased as the smile at
the corners of his lips grew wider.
"Finally! I have been waiting for you! I thought you wouldn't come!" Woods exclaimed, grabbing
Rocky's shoulder. He heaved a deep sigh, as if the man's mere presence gave him hope.
"Where is Alyssa? I want to see her," Rocky said with urgency in his voice.
The smile faded from Woods' face. "She's not here as she has been taken back to the Wood Clan,"
Woods said seriously.
"The Wood Clan? Is she really..." Rocky shook his head and pinched his brows in frustration.
"The Wood Clan has already decided to exchange her for a spiritual treasure, and she is not in a
position to disobey their order," Woods sighed.
"Why? She has a legendary guardian beast! Why do they have to use her for the exchange?" Rocky
asked with a deep frown.
"You know the reason better than I do. If we go to the Wood Clan now, we may still have time to stop
the Wood Clan. But that won't be an easy task." The very idea that they treated his elder sister like a
commodity annoyed him from the beginning. But he could do nothing about it, even though he was now
the emperor of an empire. The Wood Clan was the spiritual race backing their empire, and they were
free to decide whatever they pleased. He had no control over the Wood Clan, whatsoever. It was the
same in Alyssa's case as well. She was too connected to the Wood Clan, and couldn't say no to their
demands.
Rocky was lost in thoughts for a moment. As far as he could see, this was an absolutely useless
bargain for the Wood Clan. Alyssa had a legendary guardian beast, something the clan badly wanted
to get their hands on. The only reason they were making this deal was because they thought that
Alyssa's seal could never be removed. Exchanging a spiritual treasure with her was their only choice to
protect their clan from the threatening of other clans of the spiritual race.
"I may have a solution," Rocky said after considering all their options at that point.
"Really? Tell me more!" Woods shook Rocky's shoulder, unable to check his excitement.
"I still have one half of the spiritual treasure we had found in the Hell of Dragon Fang," Rocky
confessed. Under the current circumstance, he had to tell the truth.
"What?! You told us that a girl from the spiritual race took that half from you!" Woods said, shocked by
this new revelation.
This was the first time for Lucas and Queenie to hear about this too. No one who had taken part in the
treasure hunting knew about it.
"It's a long story. I'll tell you in detail later. This could stop them from sending Alyssa to the Heavenly
Demon Clan. But we need to hear her opinion first. If she has already made up her mind to marry into
the Heavenly Demon Clan, we can't force her to come with us against her will," Rocky said, musing
about different strategies.
"Oh, speaking of... She left a letter with me before she was taken away. She asked me to give it to you
whenever I met you." Woods grabbed a letter from his pocket and handed it to Rocky.
Rocky took it from him and quickly opened it. There was only one sentence in the letter—"May we
meet again in the next life."
Flame rose from his palm and the letter was burned to ashes.
"We need to find her right away," Rocky said with certainty in his eyes.
"Are you going into the Wood Clan alone?" Woods asked with concern when he saw Rocky's
expression.
"You were waiting for me, weren't you? I hope you have made some arrangements." Rocky knew that
Woods might already have made some plans to help his sister.
Woods smiled. "I've prepared some dowries for Alyssa and planned to send them to the Wood Clan,"
he said, his smile widening. The two of them came to a silent understanding.
"How very considerate of you," Rocky replied, nodding his approval. Using the dowries as cover, they
could approach Alyssa without arousing the suspicion of the Wood Clan.
"But they may find it suspicious if too many of us show up. We should pick our best hands for the job,"
Woods stated, looking around the people in the hall.
In the following two hours, Rocky and Woods nailed down the details and an elite group of escorts was
finalized. Twenty people including Woods' best hands and the Cao Clan's members were picked.
Queenie and Lucas were included too.
To make things go smoothly, every one of them was deliberately disguised. The girls were dressed in
men's clothes, although it was still difficult to hide their charm. Rocky got dressed up as an escort too.
Early the next morning, they set out for the Wood Clan with the dowries.
A few days later, they reached the area where the clan resided. They had to take the dowries to the
center of the Wood Clan; they couldn't imagine what would happen if something went wrong. They
were obviously going to run into many members of the clan. The slightest mistake could put them in
danger; they were treading on thin ice here.
According to Rocky's plan, if they were unable to stop the Wood Clan from sending Alyssa to the
Heavenly Demon Clan, they were to intercept her halfway out of the clan and forcefully bring her back.
Of course, it all depended on Alyssa. She had to cooperate with them.
A few hours after entering the clan's territory, they came to a valley where the residences were
situated. The valley was filled with towering trees, on which were built tree houses of various styles.
Streams of members of the Wood Clan were busily going up and down without pausing to even look at
them. The place was as peaceful as it could get.
The rest of the escorts waited outside a large tree house while the escort in charge went inside to
report their purpose of arrival. Soon after receiving permission, they headed to an independent tree
house on the south side of the valley, led by a spiritual slave. The door of the house was closed.
"Your Royal Highness, His Majesty has sent dowries for you," the escort in charge said respectfully.
"Bring it in." Came a melancholy voice from inside the tree house.
The door of the tree house opened, and boxes of dowries were carried in. Rocky carried in the very last
box.
When he entered the tree house, he saw Alyssa staring out the window, looking solemn. She seemed
to have something on her mind.
"Hey, you silly girl," Rocky shouted as he looked at her lonely back.
Alyssa's back straightened in a jolt. She hesitated for a moment without turning to look. Was it an
illusion? Only one person in the world spoke to her in such a teasing tone. Only him. She sighed,
wondering if she would ever see him again. This was the Wood Clan; how could she expect Rocky to
risk his life to be here?
She turned to look who it was in her room, and immediately froze seeing the man in front of her,
standing there with the familiar smile. She was choked with excitement and couldn't say a word for a
moment.
"You! What are you doing here?" Alyssa said, regaining her composure.
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