Rebirth of the Prime Dragon Master
Chapter 970 Geoffrey’s Challenge

The next morning, Rocky went to the ruins of the ancient temple within the capital's suburb. He excavated the crystal that had absorbed spiritual power for seven consecutive days and nights. Once it was revealed, the entire crystal overflowed with strong spiritual light.

As Rocky bent over and picked it up, he could feel the abundance of spiritual power the crystal contained. Because it was still in its early form, the spiritual power couldn't be released yet. Next step for it would be to enter the second stage of refining.

A spiritual crystal usually needed to undergo years of testing before it finally became powerful. The same went for the artificial spiritual crystal.

According to the refining notebook's records, the crystal that sealed the spiritual power needed to be refined for three consecutive days and nights after the completion of the spirit absorption stage. The refining would be done under the conditions of the two opposing forces in nature: extreme Yin (the negative, feminine energy) or extreme Yang (the positive, masculine energy) to rid the crystal of impurities.

So now, Rocky needed to find a place that with the most suitable refining conditions to carry out the crystal refining process.

After some inquiry, he heard that three miles away from the north of the capital was the Fire Wave Mountain which was named for its extremely high temperatures. Supposedly, there was a fire cave located on the mountain's hillside. The innermost part of the cave was the hottest area. It was scorching to the point that it could burn human flesh.

Rocky had initially planned to go directly to the cave. However, Woods had sent a messenger to inform him that he was needed at his mansion regarding an urgent matter.

He had no choice but to head to Woods’ mansion first.

Being a sophisticated person, Prince Woods’ mansion naturally reflected his elegant magnificence. The entire mansion was a picturesque park filled with singing birds and fragrant flowers.

Rocky was led through a peach blossom forest before finally arriving at the lakeside pavilion where Woods had been waiting for a long time.

Upon entering the pavilion, he sat down without asking for permission. He looked at Woods and asked, "I assume you sent for me urgently because of something important?"

"My brother, Geoffrey, sent me a message yesterday. It said he was ready to challenge me.” Woods nodded with a serious face.

"Challenge you? What is Prince Geoffrey challenging you to?" Rocky looked at Woods seriously. "The beast fight," the prince replied.

"The beast fight? Prince Geoffrey must surely have a lot of masters under his command? Wouldn't he be better off fighting you instead of competing with your beasts?" Rocky teased.

"Although the competition among princes would be quite a spectacle, it's taboo to kill each other. Moreover, the emperor has issued a ban on this to prevent princes from ignoring the brotherhood to become the successor. Anyone discovered committing this will immediately have his title of prince removed,” Woods explained.

"It appears the emperor anticipated this." Rocky nodded.

"So any grudge that occurs among the princes will be resolved through a beast fight,” the prince further expounded.

"Are you confident you'll succeed, Your Royal Highness?" Rocky asked.

"It's hard to say. Like you just mentioned, Prince Geoffrey has multiple masters as well as powerful spirit-manipulated beasts. It won't be easy to deal with them,” Woods confessed.

"What will happen if we lose?" Rocky asked.

"These kinds of challenges always come with a bet. This time, Prince Geoffrey has bet on three cities," Woods revealed.

"Three cities?" Rocky echoed the prince as he frowned in confusion.

Woods then ordered his men to take out a map of the Timber Deity Empire and explained, "Apart from the capital, each prince has power over specific towns and cities. Generally speaking, a prince gains more power once he controls more towns and cities. Prince Geoffrey controls the most number of cities and towns while I'm in second place. However, I'm only able to control this many towns and cities because of my sister. I don't have full control over that many towns and cities. I'm at a disadvantage in that respect. Losing this fight will cost me dearly.” Woods' face was full of concern while he spoke.

"It seems Prince Geoffrey has backed you into a corner this time. What if you don't accept the challenge?" Rocky asked with raised eyebrows.

"If I don't accept the challenge, they'll consider me easily submissive. But it's impossible to not accept the challenge. After all, it's a battle between princes. Easily admitting defeat will have a horrible impact.” Woods shook his head before continuing, "I also fear that Prince Geoffrey's challenge may have an underlying purpose. To get to the bottom of it, I'll need to accept it.”

"So, you have to win?" Rocky questioned.

"Yes," Woods confirmed.

"Then the Cao Clan will surely come in handy," Rocky said with a smile

"I think so too. That's why I called you here to tell you first,” Woods revealed.

Then, the two of them began to analyze the current situation and planned various countermeasures in preparation for Prince Geoffrey's challenge.

Once he left Woods’ mansion, Rocky returned to the Cao Clan to reveal the news to Lucilla as well as request for the Cao Clan to begin preparing. After, he returned to the big room where Queenie waited for him. He remembered that he promised to teach her Beast Curing Skills yesterday.

Rocky began to teach Queenie some of the basic Beast Curing Skills, which meant he had no time to rest.

At the same time, news of Geoffrey's challenge against Woods began to spread throughout the entire capital like wildfire. To no one's surprise, it drew much attention.

Two days later, it was the day of the competition. It occurred in the early morning and was attended by other princes and other important figures from various clans. The entire beast arena was bustling with excitement and anticipation.

Soon after, Geoffrey and Woods appeared with their respective entourages. This stirred up the crowd within the arena even further.

Geoffrey was accompanied by none other than the masters of the Qi Clan. Apart from Alexander, there was also a peerless master of the Divine Stage as well as several masters of the Supernal Stage. To say their group was powerful would be an understatement.

On the other hand, Woods’ entourage was led by the Cao Clan. They only had one peerless master of the Divine Stage, Lucas. The power they emanated was less intimidating. Fortunately, they had two masters at the high grade of the Supernal Stage, making their team not greatly inferior to Geoffrey's in strength.

Soon, the two groups met face to face on one side of the viewing platform. The suspense within the beast arena intensified.