Undead Phoenix looked around him. He was now in an endless white space, with illusory temples floating above his head and a constant drumming sound.
"Where am I?"
"Welco to the Vendetta Ceremony," Mongke said as he appeared before him, wearing nothing but pants. Usually, warriors participating in this ceremony would wear full armor, but he opted for this simple and rudintary approach.
"It's you," Undead Phoenix. "What have you done?"
"I'm sure you've heard of our ceremony. Isn't that one of the reasons the Earth Emperor tried so hard to find excuses to pursue us? I'm sure you discussed this, and probably Ti Eater instigated it in the first place."
Undead Phoenix was quiet since Mongke was correct. The Barbarian Race was long deed too much of a threat because of many of their weird ceremonies, so Ti Eater tasked them to deal with them. Ultimately, the Earth Emperor accepted the task as he thought they would make a great addition to his dynasty.
"Do you think you can defeat ?" Undead Phoenix sneered. "Even with my injuries, you're still no match for ."
"No need to worry about that," Mongke replied. "Do you know the price for using the Vendetta Ceremony? 20% of our clan's luck," Mongke replied without giving him a chance to answer. "That's why we rarely use it unless we have a true vendetta or facing a life-and-death foe. However, people do not know that if we sacrifice an additional 10% in the ceremony, we can lower the enemy's cultivation to the sa as their challengers. Although this does not apply to Primal Paragons, the effects are still wonderful.'
Undead Phoenix's face turned ugly. Could he defeat Mongke while in the sa cultivation realm? He was not confident in himself.
"What? Feeling unconfident?" Mongke mocked. "I thought your hobby was to play and torture geniuses. Could it be that you can only bully people weaker than you?"
"You!"
"Wang Wei once said sothing about you that I rember to this day. He said you either die as a hero or live long enough to beco the villain. These words perfectly summarize your life story, doesn't it? Regardless, it is still sad."
"Are you looking down on ?" Undead Phoenix asked with gritted teeth.
"Of course I am," Mongke replied. "A genius like you should have had a bright future. In fact, it's obvious you're in the current situation out of your own doing."
"My own doing? If not that bitch —"
"That's not what I an," Mongke cut him off. "So people might bla you for not seeing her true self, but I understand that love is blind. I believe most people who genuinely love soone could experience the sa fate as you. Your failure was not falling in love or giving your heart to the wrong person.
"Your failure was how you reacted afterward. Despite a severe foundation, you did the impossible and beca a Paragon. Couldn't you have just killed her and taken back what she stole from you? By then, she would have just beco one of the many catastrophes you overca in your long and prosperous cultivation journey."
"Do you think I didn't try?" Undead Phoenix snapped back. "By the ti I had the strength, she was already the darling of the Phoenix Clan, fully under their wings. When they realized she was a fraud, they still protected her as long as she never left her clan."
"What about your ti in the Moon Council?"
"The suns prevented infighting, and Ti Eater encouraged balancing each other," Undead Phoenix justified himself.
"All I'm hearing are excuses," Mongke replied. "You had plenty of opportunities during your ti at the Moon Council — especially in the early period when the suns were still experiencing their transformation. With a little bit of caution, you could have killed her swiftly and run away.
"However, the damage she did to you was more than physical. You beca cautious and timid, always waiting for the right ti to strike, but that ti never ca. Then, the power of the Moon Council further corroded your fighting spirit to the point of almost destroying your hatred for her.
"The next step was simple to deduce — you started abusing 'geniuses' as a replacent for her and to deal with the disgust you have for yourself for what you've beco. Ultimately, your downfall was because you never overca the ntal strains Five Feathers left on you."
Undead Phoenix looked at him with ferocious eyes. If he had the power to kill with his eyes, Mongke would have died by now after experiencing all the torture known to the world.
"Rember this," the Barbarian King said. "This is your last chance to leave a positive footnote in history. Although it will only be accompanied by my legend, you can still make your death glorious. And depending on how brilliant my story becos, history will have sothing positive to say about you as the first Paragon I slaughtered."
Undead Phoenix took a deep breath to calm down:
"Do you have to do this? If you die, your clan will lose 30% of their luck. Such a blow in such a chaotic ti is enough to wipe them off."
"Your words cannot affect ntally," Mongke replied calmly. He had enough confidence in his victory, and the reward was all of Undead Phoenix's luck and destiny. Yes, dying in this ceremony is true death, and no longevity resources can help.
"But–"
"We have reached this point, and you're still trying to weasel your way out of it," Mongke said. "It is not happening. Rember what I said — this is your last chance. Burn your last glory and return to the genius you once were, and give a legendary battle for the history books."
Mongke's eyes turned red, and his body released a similar aura. However, it was not his previous aura of intimidation and kingly atmosphere. His aura was more barbaric, savage, and cruel. It was like he was another person—like he was the embodint of the God of War.
…
Wang Wei arrived before a broken door and imdiately frowned. Wang Qi and Dulgun flew over, and their expression already told him what had happened:
"It's gone?" he asked.
"Yes, soone already got to it," Wang Qi nodded.
"Two people, to be exact, " Dulgun added. "They fought briefly before separating."
"It's a sha we couldn't get the treasure, but I got my hands on Five Fetaher's person space, so that's more than enough," Wang Wei nodded. "Let's reunite with the others before separating."
Switch!
Red Mask's projection appeared in the room.
"What's the result?"
"Soone invaded their orb while we were taking the information," she reported. "We fought, and our guard could only keep half." Red Mask did not hide her annoyance at the lord. If not for his order to not show up with her actual body, they would not have suffered such humiliation.
"Do you know who they were?"
"All the assailants were won and had a unique aura, so they were either from Lady Xun Junyao or Sunshine Pavillion, but I'm betting on the latter since these people refused our offers to share the information."
Wang Wei frowned: "Forget them for now. Since you arrived first, you should have gotten the information I wanted, right?"
"It wasn't there," Red Mask reported. "The first thing our agent did was to use divination to find the location of the plague's formula, but no matter what technique we used, the answer was negative. I didn't want to leave any stone unturned, so I searched manually, but there is a high chance that Five Feathers never recorded the plague Curse Formula."
"In other words, I still have to clean up the ss left behind. Well, technically speaking, the ss I created," Wang Wei groaned.
"There is so good news," Wang Qi added. "We've captured several professionals, including many Curse Masters who worked on the plague."
"That is better than nothing," Wang Wei nodded. He had his people participate in the creation, so he understood most of the plague except for the last formula that made it so deadly.
"Alright, everyone can disperse. Rember to move the coordinates of your mortal civilization base. The last thing we need now is for them to be discovered by anyone."
"Yes, sir."
"One more thing: if nothing unexpected occurs, Undead Phoenix should also be dead. There is no need to participate in the plunder."
Wang Qi was briefly silent before saying: "I'll relay your orders."
"Thank you," Dulgun bowed.
"We're allies, aren't we?"
"Don't worry. The Barbarian Clan always treats its friend with the utmost sincerity."
Wang Wei waved his hand before leaving. He, of course, covered his track. Back at his sanctum, he summoned the most remarkable find of this plundering: a green ring with designs of tree barks.
"A ring made from the main branch of a Life Source Tree — it should have fallen from Five Feather's hand as she disappeared," Wang Wei comnted. This ring was a third-level longevity ring, aning he now had an extra life. Although this ring was probably useless before transcendent entities, its existence allowed him to be bolder in many of his operations.
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