Judging from the combat power Daniel had displayed, the only way to deal with him was through Oracle-grade treasures.

However, during the previous battle, Daniel’s Oracle-grade treasures had clearly been far more powerful than theirs.

Whenever they used one of their own treasures, it was destroyed.

Under ordinary circumstances, they would not even be willing to bring them out.

Daniel, on the other hand, had casually thrown out an entire handful at once.

He possessed treasures of every possible tier—T7, T8, and perhaps even T9.

Their overwhelming power had completely crushed the ordinary Oracle-grade treasures of his opponents.

He could even forcibly seize Divine-grade treasures.

How were they supposed to fight an opponent like that?

"What should we do now?"

"What else can we do? Retreat immediately."

"You don’t seriously believe we can defeat him, do you?"

"Could that man be a half-step Eternal expert?"

"His strength is far too terrifying. Otherwise, why is he able to display such overwhelming combat power when all of us are being suppressed by the Great Dao?"

"Exactly. Not only is he immensely powerful, but his reserves of Divine-grade treasures are also far greater than ours."

"That man is practically a monster."

"Throughout the entire battle, I could not identify a single weakness."

"He seemed like an omnipotent existence who completely surpassed ordinary experts like us."

"Compared to him, the hundreds of thousands of years I spent cultivating almost feel meaningless."

"Who could disagree?"

"We should leave immediately and abandon the ambush."

"The mysterious experts serving Prince Lucian are already dead. At the very least, they helped us test Daniel’s strength."

"Now that we understand how terrifying he is, we cannot foolishly charge forward and throw away our lives."

All three of them were experts belonging to Prince Alvin’s faction.

The reason they had not acted earlier was that they had remained hidden, observing the battle and waiting for an opportunity.

If the experts from Prince Lucian’s faction successfully killed Daniel, then everything would be settled, and they could simply return to report the result.

If the four mysterious experts from Lucian’s faction managed to entangle Daniel and leave him close to death, they would not have minded emerging to deliver the final blow.

Afterward, they could even conveniently eliminate Lucian’s remaining supporters as well.

But given the current situation, killing Daniel was out of the question.

They would already be fortunate if Daniel did not come looking for them.

"Ahem."

One of the three experts suddenly cleared his throat.

"No matter what the two of you decide, I am going back."

"Only a lunatic would continue provoking a monster like that."

"I have no desire to die here so soon."

"I am already close to facing my T8 Great Dao Tribulation. I need to return and prepare properly."

As soon as he finished speaking, his figure rapidly faded from the spot.

The remaining two experts exchanged helpless glances.

Neither of them possessed the slightest confidence.

For some inexplicable reason, they felt that even if their side had ten times as many people, they still might not be Daniel’s match.

Now, only the two of them remained.

After staring at one another for a long moment, they reached the same decision.

"We should leave."

"Agreed. Returning is the wiser choice."

Prince Lucian’s faction had directly lost four powerful experts.

Meanwhile, the three experts from Prince Alvin’s faction had spent a long time lying in ambush, only to discover that they were completely outmatched.

In the end, they all fled with their tails between their legs.

Only a few experts belonging to the second-tier princes remained.

When they looked around and realized how isolated they were, they also lost all desire to continue the ambush.

"Forget it. We cannot possibly defeat that man."

"We should leave immediately."

"Exactly. I’m leaving as well."

"Challenging him alone would be no different from seeking death."

"That man is simply too powerful."

"Everyone else is already retreating, so our absence will not make any difference."

"No one can blame us after we return."

Daniel had no idea that the strength he displayed across two consecutive battles had completely terrified every remaining hostile expert.

In the first battle, Daniel killed a T7 Oracle-grade expert.

That victory caused the experts of the same faction to unite against him.

At the time, they merely believed that none of them could defeat him alone.

If they joined forces, perhaps they would have a chance.

Then came the second battle.

Daniel single-handedly suppressed four mysterious experts from Prince Lucian’s faction and annihilated every one of them on the spot.

He had practically destroyed the largest organized group supporting any prince currently present.

That display also frightened away the three great experts of Prince Alvin’s faction.

As for the factions of the second-tier princes, there was even less to say.

The bloody fate of those who had attacked Daniel had occurred only moments earlier.

Within a short time, every mysterious expert hidden throughout the surrounding region retreated.

Not a single person dared remain.

All of them disappeared without a trace.

...

Daniel continued traveling aboard his Emperor-class sacred vessel.

Before departing, he had already gained a clear understanding of his mission.

The Heavenly River Starfield was an enormous imperial territory.

Under its jurisdiction was the Kafu Plane, which was itself considered one of the great worlds.

Unfortunately, the Kafu World had suffered terrible luck.

It happened to lie directly at the site of a Great Dao Tribulation Cloud eruption.

There were numerous eruption points for Great Dao Tribulation Clouds throughout this universe.

Daniel had learned of this only after consulting a wide variety of ancient records.

The eruption points were densely distributed and extremely unstable.

No one knew when one would erupt.

They could appear randomly in any location.

As a result, Great Dao Tribulation Clouds often erupted without warning and completely destroyed entire planes.

This was precisely why the empire’s legions had been scattered throughout its territories.

Each legion was stationed within a relatively large plane so that it could suppress disasters whenever they appeared.

Why had the Heavenly River Starfield not requested assistance from the imperial legions the moment the Great Dao Tribulation Cloud erupted?

The nearest legion was already engaged in an intense battle against Tribulation-Ash Monsters.

It simply could not spare any manpower to support the Heavenly River Starfield.

Furthermore, whenever a tribulation cloud erupted within a single great plane, the Oracle Hall was generally unwilling to mobilize a major force to deal with it.

Therefore, the Holy See’s original intention had been to dispatch a powerful Oracle-grade squad to resolve the disaster within the Kafu Plane.

Through Daniel’s careful maneuvering, Prince Dorek’s faction successfully obtained control of the mission.

The Eternal Emperor had summoned Dorek only two days earlier.

He had been reasonably satisfied with Dorek’s performance.

Perhaps the Emperor had already begun to regard Dorek as a capable and promising talent.

In addition, Daniel’s agents within the Holy See had quietly manipulated the situation.

As a result, the mission was directly assigned to Prince Dorek as a test.

However, Dorek himself was occupied with the struggle for imperial power.

Naturally, he could not leave the Imperial City.

At this stage, the closer he remained to the center of power, the better.

If he left, an enormous disturbance might erupt in his absence and permanently destroy his chances of ascending the imperial throne.