Chapter 139

Chapter 139

The messenger broke down in tears as he spoke, and Rhett's expression grew darker by the second — but he didn't react the way anyone expected.

"Impossible. This is absolutely impossible." Rhett was furious and heartbroken, but he wasn't stupid. The story sounded solid, but there was one fatal flaw in it.

If Damien really wanted the treasure, he could've gone after it the moment he got the map. So why would he bother returning the painting, then pretend he hadn't cured himself and quietly stay put at Dragon Society?

He could've taken the treasure all for himself. Why go through all this trouble?

"Someone is pulling strings behind the scenes. This has to be a setup."

The thought of his son's brutal death tore at Rhett's heart, but he still had his head on straight.

"I think it's a setup too — but this is exactly how Damien operates. He wants to wipe out Dragon Society, and honestly, you brought this on yourselves by crossing him."

At that moment, Bavich strode in and spoke in a cold, flat tone.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" Rhett went pale.

"We're friends. The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Bavich claimed he had originally sent men to assassinate Damien, but ended up witnessing Damien kill Bryce and Pax with his own eyes. He tried to intervene and took heavy losses.

He barely made it out alive, while Damien walked off with the Celestial Stone without looking back.

"You know there's a Celestial Stone in the treasure?" Rhett wasn't sure whether to believe Bavich.

"Because we came for the Celestial Stone too. I'm with Celestial Temple." Bavich came right out and said it.

Rhett was shaken, which only made him more suspicious. Celestial Temple was known for doing dirty work in the shadows, yet it had a fearsome reputation in the underworld.

"Join Celestial Temple, and we'll help you get your revenge."

"My score to settle, I'll settle it myself." Rhett wasn't falling for it.

Bavich let out a cold laugh. "You're out of your mind. Damien is the king of Shadow Sect. You really think a small outfit like Dragon Society can go up against Shadow Sect?"

"Fine, don't trust me — but do you really not trust the man who was always by your son's side?" Bavich snapped.

Rhett looked at the messenger. It was true — this was the guard who had served loyally at his son's side for years. There was no way he had turned.

That left Rhett with no room to doubt.

Thinking about his son's death, Rhett finally made up his mind to take revenge — but he needed to verify the truth himself first.

Bavich didn't push him. He left his contact information and told Rhett to reach out after he'd confirmed things.

Then Bavich caught up with Judy and the others, and they all headed back to Celestial Temple together.

Back at Celestial Temple headquarters, White had spent this time setting up several branches across different regions. Before, all the test subjects for Celestial Temple's experiments had to be captured from various places and transported to headquarters. Now with labs at the branches, they could cut the time and cost significantly.

The moment Bavich returned with Judy, White got word and immediately had Bavich bring her up.

"Judy. You're still as beautiful as ever." White looked at her and smiled softly.

Judy stood there cool and unflinching, not the least bit afraid of him.

"Good. I've always admired that nerve of yours." White gave a cold smile and gestured. Mia walked over right away, carrying a small container, and placed the poison insect inside Judy's body.

Judy's face went white. She clutched her head in agony.

After what felt like forever, the sharp pain finally faded, and Judy collapsed to the ground.

"My lord, Judy was telling the truth. She wants to see her mother, and she's willing to offer you the Blood-Tear Manuscript." Mia put away the insect and gave her report to White.

But White didn't look pleased. "Without the Celestial Stone, the Blood-Tear Manuscript is just a piece of paper."

"I know where the Celestial Stone is." Judy slowly pushed herself up off the floor and spoke in a weak voice.

White finally smiled with satisfaction. "See? Wasn't that so much easier? Get her home safely — we'll talk about the rest later."

He nodded to Mia and had her take Judy back to her room.

"Home," in this case, meant Judy's old quarters inside Celestial Temple — kept under tight surveillance the whole time.

Judy had barely reached her door when she ran into people sent by Ronan, there to take her away.

Mia stepped in front of her. There was no way Celestial Temple would let someone else walk off with her.

Judy smirked. "I'm in the lord's good graces right now. You touch me and it won't end well for any of you."

Ronan's men hesitated, not willing to make a move.

"Ronan just wants to see you," one of them said.

"Not interested." Judy said it and walked straight into her room.

"If you don't want her leaving, keep a close eye on her. But if Ronan wants to take her, he can work that out with the lord himself." Mia looked at them and laughed coldly.

Back in her room, Judy listened until the noise outside died down, then let out a quiet breath of relief.

It was a good thing she had reached out to Mostad before deciding to come back to Celestial Temple and gotten a way to block the insect from reading her memories.

Otherwise she wouldn't have lasted a single round with White. Now that White had a small amount of trust in her, she needed to plan her next moves carefully.

Meanwhile, Damien didn't go back to Crescent City. He took Mona and Ironclaw straight to New York.

Once there, his first stop was Ghosthand — but Ghosthand led him to an unfamiliar place.

"This is Mostad's private lab. It's brand new, built to keep toxic gases from leaking out. The stuff he's been working on lately is seriously dangerous. Good thing you got him those herbs." Ghosthand shook his head.

Damien looked around and seemed reasonably satisfied. "Add more defensive setups to the outer walls. He's this obsessed with making compounds — you should look into whether poisons and weapons can be combined."

That sparked something in Ghosthand. He forgot all about Damien and was ready to call his people together right then to work on it.

Damien pulled him back. "Where's Shannon?"

Ghosthand slapped his forehead. "Right, right — forgot. I'll have him brought over now."

Shannon was brought to Damien shortly after. The moment he saw Damien, he said, "Thank you for saving Verity. Judy told me everything — she said you're a good person and that you'd look after me."

Damien thought of Judy, and a wave of worry rose in him again.

"Judy said I should tell you everything I know," Shannon added.

"I appreciate you being straight with me," Damien said to himself. The Mordell family all seemed to be cut from the same cloth — just genuinely straightforward people.

Still, Shannon had Damien curious. Even Verity hadn't known certain things, yet this man seemed to know all of it.

"The way to unlock the Celestial Stone is actually pretty simple. You just place it in moonlight — the energy from the moon activates what's inside it. The only catch is it has to be a full moon." Shannon said.

Damien thought back to the details in those murals. In every ritual scene, there had indeed been a full moon hanging overhead.

He hadn't paid much attention to it at the time, so he'd missed that full moonlight was the key to the Celestial Stone.

He was just about to ask another question when a knock came at the door, followed by Sophia's gentle voice: "Damien? Is that you? You're back?"