Steviat fell to his knees. "General Arthur, I would dly swear on my life that I am telling the truth. You may kill me right now if you think I''m lying at all."


    Arthur chuckled. "No, that''s fine. Come on, get up. I just wasn''t really sure."


    Arthur helped Steviat off the ground, looking him in the eyes. "Let me ask you this, then. Now that Buker is dead, which one of us do you think killed him?"


    "I..."


    Steviat fell silent, his mind racing through all the cultivators in Skermann. "From what I know, the only person in all of Skermann who can stand a chance against Buker on his own and even defeat the guy is you, General Arthur."


    "Think harder," Arthur urged. "I put you in charge of rounding up all the cultivators in Skermann for the past two years. Is there someone you missed out on reporting to me?"


    "No, General Arthur. I visited every cultivator that showed up in Skermann with my men. The only possibility of an undocumented cultivator is if they hid their aura on purpose and pretended to live in Skermann as a regr mortal."


    "I guess that''s the only possibility."


    Arthur fell silent for a while before saying, "Why would such a powerful cultivator even want to stay in Skermann? They''re more than capable of moving to far better countries where they would receive much better treatment."


    "I find that strange too, General Arthur. Could it be that there''s been internal conflict in Ede? Maybe Buker was actually killed by the cultivators in Ede, and they put the me on us instead?"


    Steviat was not certain about this. He did not know exactly how powerful Buker was aside from the fact that he had defeated three Emperor level cultivators on his own twenty years ago. Which meant that he was bound to be way more powerful now.


    An Emperor level cultivator could take on hundreds, even thousands of Sanctuary level cultivators with ease, even taking down every Sanctuary level cultivator there


    ever was.


    That was why Steviat was unsure about Buker''s death. Arthur, however, rejected the idea at once. "No, that''s impossible. Buker is very powerful. Besides, he''s used to hiding his real powers. The world will never truly know the full extent of his cultivation. That makes me certain that Buker did not die over an internal conflict. Only a cultivator far more powerful than him could have taken him down with such ease. I just hope the killer doesn''t be an enemy of Skermann. May hee in peace."


    ...


    Within an hour, the news of Buker''s murder had spread through all of Skermann and left everyone in shock. Ede''s n to target Skermann was also forced to a halt because of this, and even Kino, the cultivator in charge of carrying out military operations, was nowhere to be found.


    The Ede military was stuck with nowhere to go.


    Over in the basement of the Cultivator Guild in Danika, the capital of Ede, Wilbur threw a wounded Kino onto the ground before looking up at the man sitting on a throne across them. "I have your man Kino, Yellow Bishop Aiden of the Church of Holy Illuminati. Buker has been killed, and Kino is mortally wounded. Your control over Ede has nowe to an end."


    Aiden stared at Wilbur, looking eerily calm. He nced at Kino, disappointment flickering in his eyes. "I must say you''re very powerful. You may have gained control over Eden, but you''ll never gain control over the wars across Burd Bay."