When Zhao Xing, Yang Baihe, and Ji Si decided to step in to save him, Tang Menghe suddenly regained consciousness.
Part of his fainting was indeed due to the backlash, but another part of it was that he wanted to escape the social death he was facing.
He had made Seventh Prince Liang Rui lose money twice in a row. As a Fate Officer, it was like smashing his own reputation. He might as well pretend to faint and buy time.
However, once Ji Qiujun's karmic curse killing technique was activated, Tang Menghe could no longer afford to play dead.
If he kept pretending, he would really die this time!
"Mr. Tang, how are you feeling?" Seventh Prince Liang Rui asked with concern.
Tang Menghe had been like both a teacher and a friend to him. Before this, Tang Menghe's predictions had always been accurate.
The Transmission Realm Tower was not like other places. There were plenty of experts stronger than Tang Menghe here. Liang Rui did not blame him; he just sighed at their bad luck in landing in a time-space where two powerhouse teams were already ahead of them.
"That woman is vicious—" Tang Menghe's eyelids trembled as if he had seen his own fate. "Your Highness, someone is trying to kill us."
"Who wants to kill us?" Liang Rui's expression turned serious.
"It's Lord Ji Qiu!"
"What? Can we call for help from the Medicine King Realm?" Liang Rui knew Tang Menghe was no match for her and immediately considered seeking external aid.
"It's difficult. Karmic battles are extremely covert. Besides, as Descenders, the conflicts between us don't even exist in this world's historical timeline. No one will notice or care—so we must save ourselves!"
Tang Menghe quickly pulled out a large handful of pills and swallowed them before sitting cross-legged on a rotating black-and-white futon.
The futon radiated arcs of light, quickly weaving together to form a karmic isolation barrier.
"Your Highness, have everyone get in here quickly and occupy a position according to my instructions," Tang Menghe urged anxiously. There wasn't even time to use the Boundary Jade to teleport back.
"Mr. Tang, is this another karmic trap or a maze?" a Martial Artist in the group questioned, clearly losing confidence after the recent failures.
Tang Menghe's credibility had already plummeted after repeated misjudgments.
"Enough! Stop wasting time and follow Mr. Tang's instructions!" Liang Rui chose to trust Tang Menghe once again.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—
All nine of them quickly gathered around Tang Menghe, standing in their assigned positions around the futon.
"Buzz~"
The positions lit up with waves of light. The eight surrounding members channeled their divine power and vital energy, rapidly strengthening the karmic barrier.
As soon as the divination compass began to spin and the barrier was set up, the milky-white karmic barrier instantly turned blood red.
Even those who weren't Fate Officers could feel the overwhelming sense of danger, a lethal aura emanating from the Dao of Karma.
It felt like death could strike in the very next moment!
"Boom!"
The barrier shook violently as if it could collapse at any second.
"Woooooo~"
A mournful, ghostly wail suddenly echoed in everyone's mind.
Among Liang Rui's team, apart from the Fate Officer and the Historian, there were two Martial Artists, as well as one Mechanist, one Dancer, one Musician, and one Physician.
At that moment, the Mechanist and the Physician suddenly collapsed, their bodies spontaneously igniting.
The Dancer began convulsing wildly, launching frenzied attacks on their teammates.
Liang Rui's pupils contracted. In just an instant, three of his guards had been struck by the karmic curse, driven into madness.
Karmic curse techniques were notoriously hard to defend against. What's more, Ji Qiujun was a top-tier expert who had the advantage of foreknowledge. She had disabled three of Tang Menghe's fighters in one strike.
Liang Rui and the Musician both sat in horse stances, a floating musical instrument appearing on their knees.
This instrument, called the Wokong, had seven strings. Its two ends were adorned with carvings of birds, beasts, jade artifacts, and celestial symbols.
It was a powerful Reincarnation Dao Weapon. Ordinary Wokongs had six strings, but this one had a seventh—the Karmic String—which could only be played by two highly skilled Musicians working together.
"Zheng!"
The strings vibrated, and the sound seemed to come from outside the barrier.
Strangely enough, the three cursed teammates immediately calmed down. The flames extinguished, and the Dancer stopped her rampage. Though gravely wounded, their lives were no longer in immediate danger.
"Withdraw!"
Liang Rui quickly activated his World Ring, storing the injured guards inside.
As for the two Martial Artists, they were much tougher. Although they showed signs of going berserk and their heart flames raged uncontrollably, they wouldn't be burned to death anytime soon.
The Historian and Tang Menghe maintained the barrier together, preventing a second wave of blood-red light from breaking through.
"Zheng!"
The sound of the Wokong also reached Ji Qiujun's ears.
She paused slightly, muttering, "A dissonant chord disrupting karma… what a fine high-grade musical instrument."
A high-grade Reincarnation Dao Weapon was the upper limit that Lords could fully unleash.
Supreme-grade Reincarnation Dao Weapons were usually only wielded by Emperors.
Among all magical attacks, karmic attacks were the hardest to defend against, their methods incredibly mysterious.
Because of their occupational traits, Fate Officers had a natural offensive advantage over almost all other professions.
Defense typically relied on Dao Weapons, but crafting such instruments was exceedingly difficult.
Musical Dao Weapons were even harder to forge. Instruments capable of resisting karmic attacks were extremely rare.
In all her lifetimes, Ji Qiujun had only encountered four.
"This thing is good, but the ones using it are too weak. Since they've delivered it to my doorstep, I won't be polite," Ji Qiujun licked her lips.
Her determination to kill Tang Menghe's team wasn't just out of spite. Another important reason was that if she succeeded, she could claim all their treasures without spending any Boundary Exchange Quota to take them back.
Because the treasure had originally come from the Second Era of the Barren Domain, it already belonged to that time-space.
"Ji Qiujun, do you need assistance?" Lord Fengyang, as a star historian, could sense Ji Qiujun's combat details. He had also noticed the instrument on Liang Rui's body was a rare item and was clearly eager to get a share.
"No need," Ji Qiujun shook her head.
"Ji Qiujun, settle this quickly," Lord Sangyu reminded. Both Ji Qiujun and Lord Fengyang were top experts he had hired from the Shadow Sanctuary. He wasn't worried about anything going wrong.
The Shadow Sanctuary was a vast force that didn't fear even the superpowers, though it remained hidden. No one knew its true size.
"Relax, it'll be over soon," Ji Qiujun nodded calmly.
Whoosh~
The void trembled, and mist burst out from Ji Si's robe, forming a barrier around them.
Sitting by the fountain square, the three of them looked no different from any other stall owners.
Karmic battles were extremely covert. Unless a Reincarnation Emperor-level Fate Officer specifically observed them, it was almost impossible to detect a karmic battle between Emperor-level Fate Officers from a third-person perspective.
The Medicine King Realm didn't bother interfering with such hidden struggles either. As long as it wasn't an open fight, they turned a blind eye—after all, so many powerhouses gathered together were bound to clash in one way or another.
"Tracing cause and cutting veins, that Ji Qiujun is really vicious with this karmic curse killing technique," Yang Baihe summoned a transmission avatar dressed in a tall hat and holding a compass.
He had summoned the image of a historical Fate Officer and quickly picked up more information.
Ji Si and Yang Baihe's earth souls began emitting dense threads of karma, quickly intertwining and expanding. Following the flow of the karmic path, they reached Tang Menghe and Liang Rui, joining the karmic battlefield.
"Crash~~"
Like a waterfall crashing down, their pure karmic power washed away the blood-red glow on the karmic barrier just before it shattered.
"Whoosh~"
The karmic barrier immediately returned to its milky-white state.
Tang Menghe, Liang Rui, and the others, who had been hanging by a thread, were saved from the brink of death.
Although Zhao Xing didn't enter the battlefield himself, he could still see what was happening.
That was because his Blue Flower Divine Power also encompassed the Dao of Karma. With his insights, even though he didn't know any karmic techniques, he could use the Blue Flower Divine Power to activate Heavenly Sight of the Soul, allowing him to observe as a bystander.
"Karma, time-space…? Liang Rui and Tang Menghe's team of nine were practically dead a moment ago, but now they're alive again," Zhao Xing mused inwardly.
In his vision, three members of Liang Rui's team had their Fortune level drop to Derivation Two just now.
Their pillars of Fortune had turned pitch black.
This was the effect of karmic curse killing techniques. It wasn't simply about destroying an enemy physically—it could reduce their lifespan or deplete their Fortune.
For an Emperor-level or veteran Reincarnation Realm cultivator to have only Derivation Two level Fortune was terrifying.
"All living beings in the universe are granted a destiny and Fortune by the Dao, which corresponds to their cultivation level."
"If someone is at the Reincarnation Realm but has Fortune below Derivation Ten, they'd be plagued with bad luck daily. The chance of falling into deviation would reach a terrifying seventy percent."
"Let alone Derivation Two."
"This imbalance goes against the natural flow of the universe's Dao, where the Dao of Destiny affects the Dao of Life."
"When strength and Fortune don't match… simply put, it means their virtue doesn't match their position."
"And when virtue doesn't match position, disaster is inevitable."
After cultivating the Divine-grade Law Chapter, especially using the Life Dao Palace to refine his power, Zhao Xing had gained deeper insights into the Dao of Destiny and karmic techniques by observing this karmic battle.
"Ji Si and Yang Baihe's intervention corrected this imbalance, causing Liang Rui and Tang Menghe's Fortune to immediately rebound to normal levels."
"Their earlier state of going berserk also suddenly vanished."
"Hmm?" Tang Menghe, who had been on the verge of despair, suddenly looked up sharply. "Ji Si? It's you!"
Even though Ji Si wasn't physically present, he instantly realized that Ji Si had intervened to save them.
"Mr. Tang, are you saying Ji Si is attacking us?" Liang Rui asked nervously.
"No, he's saving us."
"What?" Liang Rui was stunned, completely confused.
"Ji Si!"
A furious female voice echoed from outside the barrier. At the same time, crimson karmic threads condensed into Ji Qiujun's figure.
Ji Si and Yang Baihe's karmic manifestations also materialized.
"Ji Qiujun, show a little mercy. It's better to leave some leeway for future meetings," Ji Si said calmly. "Tang Menghe isn't your match and poses no threat to you. Why go to such extremes?"
"Heh, you really know how to act like a saint. Didn't you set up a Heavenly Machine Maze yourself?" Ji Qiujun sneered. "Typical of your Celestial Master Manor—so hypocritical and disgusting it makes me sick."
"Our paths diverge; there's nothing to discuss," Ji Si replied coldly. "Since you won't listen to reason, I'll put it another way."
"Tang Menghe and Liang Rui's team are under my protection now. If you've got the guts, come and get them."
Yang Baihe glanced sideways, noting Ji Si's declaration was a Word.
So confident!
Yet Ji Si acted meticulously, using Word to strike first and seize the initiative. As long as his Word remained unbroken, the karmic path would tilt in Ji Si's favor for the upcoming battle.
"I will protect them~"
"Protect them~"
The words landed on the karmic river like a massive boulder, drifting toward the other side.
Tang Menghe, both grateful and admiring, felt a deep respect for Ji Si.
It was rare for Fate Officers to dare speak such bold words at the start of a duel, fearing their words could be turned against them.
But Ji Si had already declared his intent.
However, Ji Si was clearly just at the Life and Death Dao Domain level, yet dared to make a Word declaration in front of an Emperor. In Tang Menghe's eyes, Ji Si seemed to be glowing with brilliance.
But to Ji Qiujun, those words sounded like pure arrogance.
"Hahaha, then take this move!"
Ji Qiujun split her focus, forming a seal with one finger. A tiny red human figure appeared at her fingertip, diving into the karmic river to pursue Ji Si's Word.
At the same time, she kept her other finger pointed at Tang Menghe's karmic barrier.
A Fate Officer's battle wasn't like a Martial Artist's direct confrontation. To kill a skilled Ji Si, direct attacks wouldn't work immediately.
But now that Ji Si had declared that Word, Tang Menghe had become Ji Si's weakness.
"Indirect karmic attack," Zhao Xing thought to himself. "If she breaks the Word on the karmic battlefield, it's the same as killing Tang Menghe. Either way, it breaks Ji Si's karmic technique and deals damage to Ji Si himself."
"Is Ji Si overestimating himself a bit?"
Zhao Xing, seated in his floral chair, subtly moved his right hand closer to Ji Si's sleeve, ready to provide Blue Flower Divine Power at any moment.
Ji Si, being at the Life and Death Dao Domain level, was up against Emperor-level Ji Qiujun. Even if Ji Qiujun had just reached the Emperor level, the gap was enormous. Even with Yang Baihe's help and his transmission avatar, which only had veteran-level strength, it didn't seem like they had much chance based on the data Zhao Xing could see on his interface.
As Ji Qiujun struck again, the milky-white barrier once more showed patches of red.
It was always harder to protect than to attack. Ji Si and Yang Baihe failed to block some of the strikes, and countless red spots rained down on the karmic barrier like droplets.
Zhao Xing looked closer and noticed they looked like squirming earthworms, forming tiny human shapes.
They all took the form of Ji Qiujun, clinging to the barrier, biting and wailing.
"Karmic Evil Spirits?"
"Where the hell did this Ji Qiujun come from, actually knowing such a vicious karmic technique?" Zhao Xing identified the technique's name and its description.
Fate Officer arts in karmic techniques were divided into Cause Arts and Result Arts.
Within those were Good Causes, Evil Causes, Good Results, and Evil Results.
Mainstream Fate Officers practiced Good Causes and Good Results, like Ji Si's Celestial Master Manor, which upheld the philosophy of planting good causes to reap good results.
Even if such techniques failed, the backlash was relatively minor.
But there was another kind of Fate Officer who specialized in Evil Causes and Evil Results.
Ji Qiujun's Karmic Evil Spirits specifically gathered evil causes and evil results. To cultivate this technique, she had slaughtered and tortured countless beings, accumulating massive amounts of evil karma. Then, she extracted the earth souls (karmic souls) of cultivators and let her own karmic soul devour them.
"While others avoid karma, this kind of Fate Officer embraces it as their path of cultivation."
"The backlash is heavier, their lifespan shorter, but the power is far greater."
"If these Karmic Evil Spirits break through the barrier, they'll infect Tang Menghe, indirectly striking Ji Si."
A wisp of Blue Flower petal had already appeared at Zhao Xing's fingertip, but he paused.
Just then, Ji Si's Heaven's Fate Eye on his forehead opened, its gaze falling on the barrier.
The countless Karmic Evil Spirits biting at the barrier suddenly plummeted, all falling into Ji Si's eye.
"Buzz~"
Ji Si's head suddenly turned, locking onto Ji Qiujun's karmic manifestation.
In the next moment, Ji Qiujun's manifestation erupted in tiny red spots, making her look like a bloated figure covered in red rashes.
"Reverse Cause and Seal the Rift… is that a Celestial Master Manor secret technique? It doesn't really seem like one," Zhao Xing squinted, watching closely.
Even if it was a secret technique, its success depended on whether Ji Si had enough power.
"The fluctuation of the karmic Dao…" Zhao Xing carefully sensed it.
It started at the normal Reincarnation Realm level, then rose to veteran level.
Finally, it crossed the threshold into Emperor level!
"What?" Zhao Xing blinked in disbelief. Ji Si's attack had actually reached Emperor-level strength?
At that moment, all of Ji Qiujun's Karmic Evil Spirits turned against her, biting into her true body.
"Crack! Crack! Crack!"
Ji Qiujun sensed the overwhelming backlash, and her expression finally changed.
"Huh?" Lord Fengyang suddenly turned to Ji Qiujun.
He noticed her bloated figure rapidly shrinking. In just a blink, she had slimmed down significantly.
In fact, she even started to look rather attractive.
"This is bad! Lord Sangyu, something's gone wrong," Lord Fengyang immediately grabbed his Boundary Repair Brush, his expression turning serious.
"What's happening?" Lord Sangyu watched as Ji Qiujun stood motionless, growing thinner by the second.
"Ji Qiujun's large frame isn't natural; it's part of her technique," Lord Fengyang explained quickly. "Her flesh isn't just fat—it's like the body-forging techniques of Qi Sect warriors, merging part of her flesh with her earth soul and fate soul to create a False Golden Body."
"The only purpose of the False Golden Body is to resist karmic technique backlash!"
"The fatter she is, the safer she is. The thinner she gets, the more danger she's in!"
As he spoke, Lord Sangyu was shocked to see Ji Qiujun transform from a plump figure into a slender, sickly beauty.
Her skin was no longer rough. She now radiated an unhealthy allure, her eyes tightly shut as waves of energy and blood surged out of her.
Beneath her skin, bulging veins twisted and squirmed as if something was alive inside.
Lord Sangyu, a master of souls, could feel Ji Qiujun's soul rapidly withering.
Both her life and body were collapsing at the same time.
"How… how could this happen?"
"I don't know either. But right now, we can't afford to move her," Lord Fengyang said seriously. "Lord, I'm going to join the fight. I can't afford to hold back anymore. The only way to save her now is for you to follow my directions, find the Fate Officer who's attacking Ji Qiujun, and either kill him or disrupt his technique."
"Buzz~"
Without hesitation, Lord Sangyu vanished on the spot, rushing toward Ji Si's location.
Just as Lord Sangyu left—
"Splash~~"
A time-encoded message floated along the karmic river, drifting toward Ji Qiujun, yet it seemed unable to land in her hand.
"Grand Shennong, Master Yang, we've got company," Ji Si's voice echoed.
"Leave Lord Fengyang to me." Yang Baihe's figure flickered as he withdrew his Transmission Avatar, fully focusing on clashing with Lord Fengyang.
"What do you need me to do?" Zhao Xing asked.
"I don't know," Ji Si shook his head.
"Grand Shennong, something has already happened to you before—some unimaginable power was involved. I can't calculate your role in this, but I know this battle cannot be won without you."
"That's why I dared to speak that Word before the fight even started."
Zhao Xing instantly understood. He placed his hand on Ji Si's shoulder.
Light bloomed from the back of Zhao Xing's hand, blossoming into an Blue Flower that surged into Ji Si's body.
Ji Si shuddered all over, lowering his head in disbelief to glance at Zhao Xing seated in the flowered chair.
Zhao Xing gave a small shake of his head, signaling Ji Si not to be surprised—focus on handling the enemy first.
With the infusion of Blue Flower Divine Power, Ji Si's strength skyrocketed as if he had taken some potent elixir.
"Boom~~~"
The karmic manifestation outside Tang Menghe's barrier shattered first.
In the karmic river, Ji Qiujun suddenly realized she had lost track of the Word.
"How is that possible?! How can his Word move so fast?!"
Ji Qiujun's heart sank. She had been certain she could capture Ji Si's Word and rewrite it, forcing Ji Si to suffer karmic backlash. After all, her mastery of the Dao of Time and Space surpassed Ji Si's.
But suddenly, Ji Si's cultivation surged! It was like two Fate Officers racing on the Dao of Time and Space. She had been about to catch up, yet Ji Si had suddenly slammed the accelerator and soared ahead, reaching the critical moment when the Word took effect.
How could she not be shocked?
At that moment, in the real world, the time-encoded message finally broke through the barriers of the Dao of Time and Space and landed in Ji Qiujun's hand.
Her fate was cut short!
"Crack, crack, crack, crack~"
Ji Qiujun, who had just transformed into a slender beauty, rapidly withered into a shriveled old crone.
Her hair turned white and fell out in clumps.
Ji Qiujun stared at the message in her hand, which carried a faint trace of azure energy. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make sense of it.
Frantically, she tried to grasp the falling strands of her hair. Half her mind reached into the karmic river, desperately trying to grab Ji Si's Word.
As if trying to seize her own destiny.
But her hand began to crumble, her skin peeling away, even her bones turning to ash.
"I never imagined… I would die at the hands of a mere Dao Domain cultivator…"
Ji Qiujun realized her fate and ceased struggling.
Summoning all her remaining strength, she let out her final sigh, leaving her last words in the world.
"The mysteries of Heaven are unfathomable… destiny is ever-changing…"
"Ji Qiujun!" Lord Fengyang sensed the death of his companion and immediately broke off his fight with Yang Baihe, rushing to where Ji Qiujun had been—only to find nothing but a pile of ash.
"Ji Qiujun… is dead." Lord Fengyang stood silently.
He and Ji Qiujun had grown up together in the Shadow Sanctuary, undergoing brutal training. Out of countless prodigies, only he had survived as a Star Historian, and only Ji Qiujun had survived the Fate Officer selection. The rest had all perished in the training.
He had always known that this path walked the razor's edge of life and death, but even so, he couldn't help but feel a wave of sorrow.
"To die by karmic technique in the Transmission Realm Tower… not even a chance to be resurrected."
After a brief moment of grief, only deep fear remained.
Without hesitation, Lord Fengyang crushed the Boundary Jade in his hand, ending this mission.
"Buzz~"
In the next instant, space-time condensed, and his figure disappeared from this timeline, returning to the Barren Domain's Second Era.
"Mission failed." Emerging on the sixth floor of the Transmission Realm Tower, Lord Fengyang still looked dazed. "Running away and abandoning the employer… I'll face punishment from the Shadow Sanctuary, but at least I'm still alive."
As for revenge for Ji Qiujun? That thought didn't even cross his mind.
Even if it did, that was all it could ever be—just a thought.
"Ji Si, as a disciple of the Imperial Celestial Master Manor, killed Ji Qiujun, who had already reached the Emperor level, while still in the Life and Death Dao Domain. This is insane. Such a monstrous talent must have already been accepted as the direct disciple of that Celestial Master."
Revenge? There was no way someone like him could seek revenge.
But… he could report this event to the Shadow Sanctuary. Maybe that would offset some of his punishment.
Taking a deep breath, Lord Fengyang left the Transmission Realm Tower without looking back.
"Bastards! Both of you!"
Lord Sangyu roared in fury from the skies above Haodong City, drawing glances from the surrounding cultivators.
When Lord Fengyang fled, Lord Sangyu immediately lost his tracking connection.
And at that moment, he realized—this guy had just abandoned him and run.
At the same time, he sensed that the soul contract between him and Ji Qiujun had vanished. This confirmed that Ji Qiujun was already dead.
One dead, one escaped. He couldn't believe it had come to this.
They had just secured a World Heart, everything had seemed perfect. Who could have predicted that it would all collapse in the blink of an eye?
Where was that "exceptionally smooth mission" they had promised him?!
"Damn trash from the Shadow Sanctuary!!" Lord Sangyu's face darkened as he flew out of the bustling city district.
"Grand Shennong, you—" After the battle ended, Ji Si couldn't help but glance at Zhao Xing, still full of shock.
When Ji Si had spoken that Word, he hadn't actually expected to kill Ji Qiujun.
Even though she had only just reached the Emperor level, Ji Si hadn't been confident at all.
The reason he dared to believe he could succeed was that he thought he could withstand Ji Qiujun, not kill her.
A Life and Death Dao Domain cultivator standing against an Emperor was one thing. Killing an Emperor was something else entirely.
And yet, the final outcome was that Ji Qiujun had died. Even Ji Si hadn't seen that coming!
When he had looked into the possible futures of this battle, the best scenario he had seen was saving Tang Menghe and Liang Rui, while the others died. Ji Qiujun would sense the historical void and choose to retreat without further entanglement.
That was the result he, Yang Baihe, and Zhao Xing had been aiming for together.
But everything had changed the moment Zhao Xing transferred his divine power to him.
As soon as that power entered him, the future had shifted.
Zhao Xing didn't respond. After all, he couldn't explain the Heart-Sealing Technique. He could only smile and say, "Congratulations, Master Ji. You've just set a record for Fate Officers—killing an Emperor while still in the Life and Death Dao Domain. I doubt the empire has seen anything like this in a very long time."
Yang Baihe also snapped out of his shock, exclaiming, "Just what kind of monster are you?"
Ji Si had no words. He could only chuckle wryly, "Just luck, that's all. Didn't Grand Shennong already kill an Emperor back when he was in the Origin Realm?"
"How can that even compare?" Yang Baihe shook his head. "Sparks investigated that thoroughly. That was a joint effort by a group who borrowed the eruption of Boundary Fire to pull it off. Besides, that old turtle wasn't even fully dead. Even so, the credit still went to Zhao Xing and his fifty-man team."
"But you… you killed an Emperor-level Fate Officer alone."
"The empire hasn't seen anything like this in countless years."
If before, Yang Baihe had considered Ji Si a top-tier genius, now he saw him as a full-blown monster.
How had the Great Zhou produced two monsters like this?!
"I really ought to go to Great Zhou and have a child myself."
Zhao Xing couldn't help but laugh.
In truth, this result wasn't completely out of the blue. Based on what he had observed, Ji Si's combat power among Fate Officers was already nearing Emperor level. With the boost of Blue Flower Divine Power, his strength had skyrocketed even further.
In Fate Officer duels, you didn't need overwhelming superiority. Just the slightest edge was enough to land a fatal blow.
Unlike Qi Cultivators, who needed a massive power gap to overcome another thick-skinned opponent.
"By the way, who was that Ji Qiujun? Practicing Karmic Evil Spirits is not something you see in the mainstream. How could an Emperor like her be so unknown?" Zhao Xing asked, shifting the topic.
"Sparks has no intel on her," Yang Baihe replied, frowning. "Practicing Karmic Evil Spirits isn't accepted in the mainstream cultivation world. That leaves only one possibility."
"What possibility?"
"She was cultivated by the Shadow Sanctuary," Yang Baihe said. "The Shadow Sanctuary is a superpower. Very mysterious. Even Sparks can't trace them. But they do operate frequently in the Red Star Empire."
"As for information on the Shadow Sanctuary? There's barely anything. All we know is that they've existed for a very long time."
"They'll take on just about any mission, as long as the price is right."
"Sounds like they've got Godhood-level backing," Ji Si added.
Yang Baihe nodded.
You couldn't expect every cultivator, even those at Godhood, to follow the rules.
"Alright, no need to dwell on this," Yang Baihe said. "The assassins from the Shadow Sanctuary usually don't take revenge for personal reasons. A job's a job—unless there's a client."
"So even if we encounter them again, we don't have to worry."
"I just fought Lord Fengyang. Turns out he ran off. Speaking of which, how are Tang Menghe and Liang Rui? How bad are their injuries?"
Ji Si was about to respond when he suddenly looked toward the edge of the fountain plaza. "They're coming."
"Here to repay the karmic debt," Yang Baihe chuckled. "Looks like they're here to settle accounts. I wonder what kind of treasure the Seventh Prince of Tianyou Ancient Kingdom has on him."
"The Seventh Prince of Tianyou Ancient Kingdom?" Zhao Xing's heart skipped a beat. "Captain, you mean this Liang Rui is the same Seventh Prince from Tianyou Ancient Kingdom in the Barren Domain's Second Era?"
"Yep. Liang Rui, the seventh son of the King of Tianyou. A peak veteran-level practitioner," Yang Baihe explained. "Beloved by the king, respected by the people. He was the leading candidate to succeed as the next king."
"Zhao Xing, I'll leave handling this karmic debt to you."
"Captain, you were involved too," Zhao Xing protested. "Why do I have to take care of it alone?"
"Didn't I tell you? I'm just here on vacation," Yang Baihe grinned. "When I go to Great Zhou to have a kid, you, as Grand Shennong, had better look after them."