The addition of the other Xia Kingdom team into the protection alliance made the already-complicated composition even more complicated.

The next day, their journey was marked by a fragmented and tense mood. The protection alliance had dissolved into three fractions.

One was the outsiders: Zhao Ziyang, Gu Ying, and the others not of the Xia Kingdom. One was Li Luo, Lu Qing'er, and Qin Zhulu—the weakest but also the core reason for this alliance. The last was the newcomers: Ning Zhao, Zhu Xuan, and Lin Suo.

Of the three, Zhao Ziyang's faction was clearly the strongest, while Ning Zhao, Zhu Xuan, and Lin Suo were slightly weaker, but close enough to make a fight difficult. Especially when they were beset by other...