Grote fell to the ground on his knees, his chest heaving as the ck vortex


    disappeared around him. He looked up at Wilbur in terror, who stared down at him like a god of death.


    Just then, an icy voice escaped from Wilbur''s throat. "You''re a low life to me, Grote. Disrespect me any further, and I''ll be sure to kill you."


    Grote trembled from head to toe, his expression flickering between fear and disbelief at something that seemed to be scaring the absolute spirit out of him. He knocked his forehead against the ground repeatedly as he apologized over and over again.


    Conrad furrowed his brows at the sight of Grote, then at Wilbur. He did not know what Grote was so afraid of. Grote was a legendary warrior who never backed down, even in the face of death.


    Yet... he had just admitted defeat like that. Also, who did that voiceing out of Wilbur even belong to?


    Wilbur''s eyes eventually returned to normal, the left side of his chest throbbing with overwhelming pain. He gritted his teeth, doing his best to remain calm. It was not long before Grote scurried into his room, emerging with three storage rings that he handed out to Conrad, Wilbur, and Felix.


    Grote exined that the rings for Conrad and Felix each contained ten thousand gold coins, and Wilbur''s ring held a hundred thousand gold coins.


    "Didn''t think I''d ever live to see you this meek, Grote. We''ll be on our way now."


    Conrad left the Hilton family grounds with Wilbur and Felix, and the three of them returned to the Chris family.


    Just as they had arrived, a servant came running towards them with a letter for Wilbur. "Mister Penn, it''s for you!"


    "Why are you in such a hurry? Can''t you see we have guests here?"


    "This is a letter I just received, sir. The messenger told me to mention that the letter has to do with an old friend of Mister Penn''s and that they''ll kill this old friend if they don''t see Mister Penn at the location in the letter within the next hour."


    Wilbur scrambled to rip the letter open at the words.


    Dalton had invited Wilbur to meet at Pulsa Lake, to which Conrad frowned. "Why would Dalton kidnap Wilbur''s friend?"


    Felix said, "Dalton''s convinced that my master is a dragon n cultivator and wants nothing more than to kill him to prove his point. But my master isn''t a dragon n cultivator. Lord Babbit simply granted him permission to cultivate in the Azure Dragon Lake for a while during his time in the Reyne family."


    Conrad sneered. "So, Dalton got the wrong guy. It''s bad enough that his men screwed up... I can''t believe Dalton himself still thinks he did the right thing. What a joke."


    Wilbur and Felix exchanged nces. They had thought that Conrad would suspect the nature of the situation, but it seemed like he did not really care to question it much.


    Wilbur said, "Please help us out here, Lord Conrad."


    "Of course." Conrad did not hesitate in the slightest. "I promised you that we''d take Dalton down together, and I intend to keep my word since he''se looking for you. Let''s go. We''ll head to Pulsa Lake together. I''d like to see how daring Dalton can be."