Sam is currently in the forest sitting on a tree branch as he chewed on sugarcane.

Raiju, Dia, and the forest bear which Sam decided to call Barn. As it was already established that his naming sense was not good and taking advantage of the fact that the bear has no naming sense either, he just gave that name to it.

There is a stream nearby.

This stream flows through the city and the only entry point that is completely restricted with formations and barricades.

But Sam is not using this for entering this place. He is more inclined to use it for something else, so he created a small mounting frame in the middle of the stream, and placed a metallic barrel. The barrel is none other than the undying liquid waste he got from the Banished realm.

He didn't let it go all at once, as the stream is constantly flowing, he has to constantly replenish the inclusion of the waste.

So, set up some small apparatus like this so that the barrel which was placed on it will slowly drop the liquid into the stream.

Sam is currently looking through the telescope while munching of the sugar cane.

He is looking at the view of the city which has a lot of trees, but there is a line of trees that are already withering within the city, this is the effect of the water pollution.

While he is looking through the telescope he saw something interesting at the bank of the stream within the city.

Currently, Silva flew towards the stream and landed on the bank as he looked at the surroundings, all the grass is dead and even some small trees nearby are gone, and the large trees are withering at a rapid rate.

The elders followed him as they took a look and their expression grew uglier with every step they took.

"King Silva, you have to do something about this. You say that this is the will of our goddess, but there should be a better method to fulfil that will than suffering like this."

Another elder chimed in.

"I agree, as long as we let go of that guy you captured, we will be able to stop this madness."

Silva grew extremely frustrated and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Are you guys braindead?

What do you mean the madness will stop? If you don't know the details, then just shut the fuck up. Whether we handover that guy or not will not stop this. Because we have something that he needs and he is not going to give it up. It would come to this sooner or later.

If you really want to help, then get the fuck out of the city and start searching for him.

I already broke several rules by allowing the Transcendent stage cultivators out of the city to capture him, but I am not willing break the rule by going myself, but if you want to go, please do so. I will never object to you.

If you have balls, go and capture him and stop this madness yourself. If you cannot do that, shut the fuck up and stay put."

Hearing his outburst, everyone was shaken a bit.

Except for one elder.

"I think I can convince you to hand him over…"

Silva looked at him deeply.

Sam looked at all of this through the telescope. He is sure that they are talking and arguing, but he doesn't know what they are arguing for and what the exact details are.

But Sam is satisfied with the current situation. This what he wanted to cause, the unrest and disturbance.

Soon, Yanwu and sky came from afar with some prey.

Sam started cooking and setup a temporary camp there.

He has something to prepare for that night.

After he finished the meal and was about to get into the work, he was surprised by something his shadows and shadow mice said.

The other party is calling for truce.

This caused Sam to feel the shock for two minutes straight.

He just saw them argue over an hour ago and the results are already here.

He almost suspected that this is a farce.

He made a move and took a look at the truce from the far away. Their method of truce is similar to that of the truce back on earth.

A flag, a white flag to be precise, but the only difference is that they are using a flag with a wing embroidered on it, while the humans used the plain white flag. There is a scroll hanging to the flag pole by a string.

Sam didn't want to go there and took a four eyed raven to get the scroll back.

This bird has more strength than the pigeon and can break the string. When the raven brought the scroll, there are no attacks or moves from the opposition.

So, there is nothing to be afraid of, at least for now.

Sam read through the scroll.

There is a genuine truce letter in it.

It simply stated how apologetic they were and how they are willing to give up his friend in exchange for the rest of the hostages Sam has in his hand.

Sam was a bit surprised. They even asked him to give them a location.

He is a bit surprised by all this. He thought of many possibilities that could lead to if it was true and if it was false.

He went into a deep thought and decided on something, there is a cheeky grin on his face as he went on with his new plan.

It is not too different. He just modified the plan a bit and went on with it.

He entered the divine dimension and started making some new things. It is about time he used another thing that he obtained in the banished realm from the undead creatures. It was stagnated for too long.

Sam worked through the whole night without rest and set up everything according to his plan.

After finishing the plan, he wrote down on a scroll and threw it near the flagpole.

There is an exact location on where they should come and who should come to the exchange.

He asked for grace to come, even though he doesn't know her name, he is pretty sure they would guess with the description he provided. Along with her, they can send four Early stage Transcendent cultivators at most.

The exchange was scheduled for the night.

Sam waited for the night to arrive.

Meanwhile, the feathered are also waiting for the night to arrive. Both parties don't know what other party is thinking. They had their own thoughts.

After sunset Grace escorted Arkiv by tying him up with a special rope.

When Arkiv looked at the other four, he asked.

"Are you sure they are early stage? If not you would be in trouble."

"They are early stage."

"You might not know this, but Sam can guess the cultivation levels of the person easily, he has a special skill."

"Yeah? Then he can confirm it himself."

"That's good then. Let us go. I am sick of being trapped in that temple."

"Don't get too happy soon, what will happen if you have to come back there once again after we sent you back. After all, from what I know you need something from us."

"Who knows, the next time I walk into the temple, I might not even be a prisoner. What would happen then?"

"You are too cocky. You guys would pay a price for that."

"I am pretty sure we are not the ones that paid a price here. I heard the vegetation in the city is being ruined as we speak and the trade routes are blocked. As for those bald birdies, how are they doing, I tried to go easy on them, but it would be hard for me to do that to the people that took great pleasure in torturing me."

Grace didn't speak and stayed put.

Because they reached the location.

Arkiv looked at Sam who is standing in the middle of a large clean patch without any trees.

The trees at the edge of the patch are so tall and huge that they can only considered gigantic.

When the group of five brought Arkiv to the center and Grace asked Sam.

"Where are the feathered?"

Sam pointed in the direction and a Transcendent cultivator went there to check, there are more than a dozen of them tied up together.

But there is a formation there shielding them from entering it.

The cultivator can break it, but it would take some time as it is a layered formation.

"Open the formation."

"Send him back to me first."

The transcendent feathered wanted to argue, but Grace sent Arkiv.

Arkiv walked away and gave a wink to Grace before he did.

He still had handcuffs on and felt a bit uneasy.

Sam threw a token to them, which will help them open the formation while Grace threw a key.

Sam placed the key in the keyhole and started fiddling, the lock is complex and have many gears and levers working behind, but the formation is simple.

As Sam is opening the lock all of a sudden, he felt a prickling sensation on his hands. The key and the cuffs showed some metallic protrusions that ran deep into the skin.

Sam and Arkiv exchanged a glance and both of the shook their heads.

Grance and the four Transcendent stage cultivators who already freed their people left one transcendent to give medicine to them and walked back to Sam and Arkiv with faint smiles.

"That is the most potent paralysis agent we have known. It was gifted to us by Goddess Nike, It can even make a Consummate suffer with this.

Don't worry, we will give you the antidote, once we get back."

Grace said while Arkiv looked at her with disdain. For some reason, she became embarrassed and didn't make eye contact.

"Idiot."

Arkiv spat out that one word.