The next day, Farah had already left for the imperial city on Damien's orders. Even though she hated being ordered around, she had no choice but to leave to get the Pandemonium Needles for Damien despite her mission being risky enough.

Damien knew keeping Farah alive was dangerous since a woman like her could soon find ways to circumvent the measures he had taken to stop her from betraying him.

However, he badly needed the Pandemonium Needles and also wanted to keep himself updated with what the Gale Emperor was up to.

This was a gamble he felt like he had to take to fulfill his own agendas.

"So, things are proceeding earlier than we discussed?" Kale asked as Damien pushed away his thoughts and made Tristen answer, "Yes. It seems that we are good to go from my end. Tonight you should secretly arrange a small regiment to be ready for an attack since if the entire army starts preparing, then the Forsaken might get suspicious, especially if they have a spy. We can't let them know till we hit them with everything we got."

"You already warned me about this before. So I have informed generally to all our men that they should be ready for battle any time. As for readying up a small regiment, leave that to me. As you said, the Forsaken have complete faith in their barrier, because of which they don't have many men stationed inside. This should make it easy for us as long as we can deactivate the barrier, as you said," Kale said with knitted brows.

He still had no idea how Tristen was going to take down a barrier that was said to be impenetrable by even Heaven Ethereal Realm cultivators.

Still, since they came so far, he decided to trust him since he was involved in this with him as well.

The night soon came, and Valentina was in her tent along with Yuria and Damien, readying up to sneak past the barrier.

Just before she was about to leave, Damien hugged her from behind and kissed her neck as he whispered, "Be careful, okay?"

Valentina smiled, held his hands as she stroked her cheek against his face, and nodded, "Mn."

"Damien, how long are you going to hug her and keep her here?" Yuria asked in an amused tone as she saw them two slowly slipping into their own world.

She liked Damien's kind and loving heart towards the people he cared about, which was one of the reasons she fell in love with him.

Even in the past life when Damien was broken and lost, he still secretly cared about her even though he acted as if he didn't.historical

She remembered how he saved her from the two vile men in the forest with the cute excuse of coming back to collect the logs he had forgotten to take when he could have simply ignored her and carried the logs away.

"I will be alright, Damien," Valentina confidently said as she kissed him before slowly leaving while looking at him and then at Yuria, who nodded at her with a smile.

After Valentina left, Yuria hugged from behind as she said playfully, "You look so cute when you worry about your women. I love it."

Damien chuckled, "Are you saying that I am worrying for nothing?"

"Of course, Valentina is a big girl. She can handle herself, especially when she took down Farah all on her own. That vile woman could have done us both if we were in Valentina's shoes," Yuria said with a slight head shake.

"Yes. It's not that I have faith in her abilities, but this time she will be going alone in a place filled with multiple powerful enemies. And with more variables like the little king and his family being involved, we have to be extra careful," Damien said in a thoughtful tone.

"Hmm, you know what. Get me some armor and a helmet. No...forget the helmet. Anyway, when the time comes, I will join the fray despite my status. I don't want you to have all the fun," Yuria said as she squeezed his hand.

Damien slightly laughed as he said, "Fine. I will get some light armor for you though I think it will be quite amusing to see you covered in heavy armor."

Yuria pouted as she pinched his stomach, "Hey! You are trying to make fun of me, aren't you?"

"No, I did not," Damien smirked as he turned around and hugged her closely while locking her hands together.

His hand slowly crawled towards her succulent buttocks and squeezed them as he whispered in her ear, "But Your Highness has to satisfy me after this battle."

"You!" Yuria's cheeks blushed in red though Damien suddenly escaped from the tent after slapping her buttocks.

"Ow! Hmph, he is getting way too bold!" Yuria mumbled as she caressed her buttocks though she couldn't help but smile foolishly thinking about his words.

Damien had to make preparations of his own and also be ready to attack along with Kale once Valentina gave them the signal.

Meanwhile, Valentina was able to sneak past the barrier successfully, just like yesterday, and went towards the back of the Shizar Palace, where the ethereal formation that powered the barrier was stationed.

She patiently waited for the Forsaken cultivators guarding it to leave till only one of them stayed behind.

Finally, the Forsaken cultivators left to continue their rounds somewhere else, and only one of them was staying behind. Valentina knew she had around five minutes before the next shift arrived here and quickly sneaked towards the oblivious cultivator standing before the ethereal formation.

She slowly motioned with her hand as her blood ethereal energy transmuted into a crimson dagger with a blade sharp enough to slice through someone's neck like butter.

She crept up to the cultivator in a cloak and silver mask and was about to slice his neck when he suddenly turned towards her!