Lucian brought his attendants and descended into the entrance of the underground vault.
Everyone who had previously tried to go down early to test the vault had been injured and dragged back out by teammates within ten minutes.
But after Lucian went down, it was as if nothing had happened. Everything was silent.
Even the various factions outside, who had been bickering and almost fighting earlier, held their breath and stared at the vault entrance.
Half an hour later, Lucian's face, which could make one's heart sway just by looking at it, appeared again at the entrance of the vault right on time.
He was holding an old and complex mechanism of unknown origin in his hand. His blue eyes looked at everyone outside the vault entrance who was watching him closely.
"The vault entrance is open now. But remember, because this secret vault is very old, even though I've opened the entrance, there are still many mechanisms inside that can't be dismantled."
"When you go in, don't fight or try to grab anything. Just enter one by one according to your current distance from the entrance."
"There must be at least ten meters between each pair. Don't touch or take anything unnecessary along the way."
"Remember, don't be greedy, only then can you ensure your safety to the greatest extent. Finally, this underground vault is massive, with a depth of at least 30 zhang."
"You'd better leave marks along the way to avoid getting lost. Be careful."
As Lucian announced that the entrance could finally be entered, the surrounding people became excited.
But even in their excitement, they held back and didn't dare to show any aggression in front of Lucian, who came from the Celestial Pavilion.
Only when Lucian walked back to his sedan chair and his attendants followed him did the various forces around them seem to break free and rush toward the vault entrance at once.
Since the factions had already taken up their positions in advance, and Lucian had just arranged their entry order with a few words, even though they were eager, most of the factions followed his instructions and entered one by one according to their distance.
But there were exceptions. When Prince Leland, Elara, and Prince Yu were about to move with the group in front of them, a sudden gust of hostile wind came from the side, rushing directly at them, trying to forcefully take their spot.
Fortunately, Prince Leland, Elara, and Prince Yu were skilled martial artists and reacted instantly, dodging the attack. Gareth was also pulled away by his shadow guards and managed to avoid it.
The four of them stood at the vault entrance, their expressions cold as they stared at the group that tried to break the rules and force their way in.
Elara recognized the emblem on their clothes. She had seen it at the Hundred Nations Banquet, and Lucian had mentioned it in the secret letter he gave her.
They were from the Tianshui Kingdom, a second-tier country affiliated with the first-tier Petunia State in the northern part of the continent.
"Tianshui Kingdom! This isn't your northern territory! Don't think you can act wild just because you're somewhere else!"
Prince Leland was furious. He was straightforward by nature and couldn't hold back his anger after being attacked and pushed aside.
The leader of the Tianshui Kingdom sneered with sarcasm. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could make a sound, two young men in white suddenly appeared behind him.
Each of them placed a hand on his shoulders, and the man dropped to his knees as if crushed by a mountain.
After the last assassination attempt, the strength of Lucian's guards had multiplied.
The white-clothed young men who subdued the Tianshui Kingdom's man were the same ones who had just carried Lucian's sedan chair.
Lucian's voice came faintly from a distance. "Envoy of Tianshui Kingdom, did you not hear what I just said?"
"Enter one by one according to your distance. That's not hard to understand, is it?"
Tianshui Kingdom was a second-tier vassal state under Petunia State in the northern region of the continent.
With Petunia backing them, they rarely took other forces seriously. While they didn't dare to provoke the Celestial Pavilion openly, they also didn't think that slightly cutting the line in another country's territory would matter.
After all, their sovereign nation had a decent relationship with the Celestial Pavilion, and similar situations in the past had usually been ignored by other top-tier forces.
Unexpectedly, Lucian spoke up today.
The man from the Tianshui Kingdom lost his sneer immediately. He lowered his head and knelt obediently on the ground.
Though he didn't understand why the Celestial Pavilion, which usually didn't interfere in these matters, had spoken out today, he knew that in this situation, the only way to survive was to immediately admit fault and bow down.
"It was my fault. I'm hard of hearing. I didn't hear the director's instructions clearly just now."
"I won't dare again. I beg the director's forgiveness."
Lucian's gaze swept past Elara and turned to Prince Leland Hanhe. "You all go in first."
Prince Leland Hanhe cupped his hands toward Lucian in thanks. After leading Elara and the others into the secret vault entrance, Lucian finally looked back at the man from the Narcissus Kingdom, who was still kneeling.
"Since you know you were wrong, then go to the very end of the line." With those words, he no longer looked at the man and lowered his eyes to continue fiddling with the ancient mechanism in his hands.
The man from the Narcissus Kingdom gritted his teeth, but in the end could only respond with a deeply frustrated kowtow. "Yes!" Then, shifting his aching shoulder, he led his people, his face extremely dark, to the back of the line.