Duravia Trade Prefecture.
The falling snow was as cold as Prince Qian's heart, chilled to the very core. He had received the intelligence report. Those bastards from Skynet… they had surrendered to the Li family!
He had dispatched Skynet to wipe out the Li family, but he hadn't achieved his goal in the slightest.
The Li family was perfectly fine, while Skynet had become a dowry for another.
The news that the Skynet members were now working for the Li family could no longer be contained. At the same time, Prince Qian received a letter from the Hall of Heavenly Principle...
It thanked him for the gift he had sent to the Li family for marrying the ugly woman.
That gift, of course, was Skynet.
But even so, Prince Qian's expression remained calm. He had lost… but that didn't mean he was utterly defeated!
A black mist materialized within the grand hall.
The figure reported, "Your Highness, in accordance with your command, we have had the various regions of the Duravia Trade Prefecture provide disaster relief. As for the Eternal Sun Prefecture, the Li family is also providing relief. Their Azure Cloud Army has already reached the border, and all the major powers within the prefecture that supported you have been purged. Many of them have gone into hiding."
"You are dismissed."
Prince Qian waved his hand. Half a year had passed.
For the last six months, the intelligence reports had been the same almost every day.
He had originally intended to plunge Eternal Sun Prefecture into chaos, but it had all been a trap—a snare that had used him as its centerpiece.
Every time a report like this came in, he would inevitably remember the three words Li Yaozu had whispered in his ear that day.
Huu.
He let out a long breath, the vapor clouding clearly in the winter air.
Footsteps echoed in the grand hall. It was the ugly woman and Ah Xiu, walking in.
The two of them must have been enjoying themselves playing outside, as they both had smiles on their faces. But the moment they stepped into the hall, their smiles vanished in unison, and they quietly lowered their heads.
"This Prince is not some man-eating demon."
Prince Qian walked past the two of them with a gentle smile. "You two may do as you please. Ah Xiu, if you have any news of your master, I hope you will let me know."
"Yes."
Ah Xiu nodded repeatedly, but the word had barely left his lips before his face contorted in agony. "Ah!! My head hurts so much! It's those eyes again!"
Seeing Ah Xiu's state, Prince Qian simply furrowed his brow. He couldn't care less if Ah Xiu lived or died, and so he turned and walked away.
From behind, he heard only his 'wife's' anxious cries. "Ah Xiu, it's alright, I'll hold you. A pat on the head will make it better."
"Hmph."
A moment later, Prince Qian walked to a grand formation in his mansion, formed an incantation seal, and vanished from the spot.
But unseen within the mansion, a figure stared at his departing back, then instantly vanished into thin air.
After the grand formation flashed, Prince Qian appeared inside a subterranean cavern. Within the cavern was a bottomless cliff.
Pinned to the cliff face by numerous spikes was a blood-soaked man!
As if hearing the footsteps in the cavern, the man weakly raised his head, struggled for a moment, and then fell completely still again.
It was the God of War!!!
"This is the price for betraying me!" Prince Qian sneered coldly. "You have one last chance. Pledge your allegiance to me, and I will have the curse on you removed."
He had already floated into the air and now drove another spike deep into the God of War's abdomen!
In that instant.
Veins bulged on the God of War's body, but he didn't let out a single scream.
Instead, he just gave a muffled grunt through gritted teeth and stared deathly at Prince Qian.
After a long moment, he said weakly, "You are unworthy. Not a single one of us has ever taken you seriously. How do you think you got your Duravia Trade Prefecture? How do you think you came to control all of us? It was we who seized it all for you."
"You…"
The God of War's face was pale, but he gave a mocking laugh. "You are nothing."
You are nothing…
Those words pierced Prince Qian's heart. The Li family looked down on him, and even his own subordinates had never truly respected him!
He floated up again and began to viciously beat the God of War with his fists and feet, only stopping after a long while.
"I am nothing?!! Ridiculous!"
Prince Qian laughed loudly. "Just you wait until this Prince contacts Min Youguo! Once my reinforcements arrive, you just watch how I take down the Eternal Sun Prefecture! You dare fight me? I'll have every last one of you nailed up in this cavern, never to see the light of day!"
With that, he left the cavern.
But who would have thought…
A moment later, a figure appeared inside.
This person wore a bamboo hat. Wasn't he the very Skynet member who had colluded with the cultivators of Eternal Sun Prefecture back then?
A handsome face was revealed from beneath the hat.
He stared intently at the God of War's wounds and, one by one, pulled the spikes from his body.
He shook his head.
"People like us," he said quietly, "we never escaped from the Imperial Prison."
Afterward, he carried the God of War and departed from the cavern.
...
Solaria City was the busiest city in the Eternal Sun Prefecture.
With the war raging on, whenever the great powers of Eternal Sun encountered an enemy they could not take down, they would invariably send people to Solaria City to request reinforcements.
The city was also located in the very center of the prefecture, so in such a year of conflict, it had naturally become a major hub for trade and transactions.
On this day, the branches and leaves of the Li family's Old Tree swayed, its ancient roots winding up its trunk.
Outside the teleportation array of the Merit City Grotto-Heaven, the members of the Li family emerged, all with grim expressions. Following them were Dongfang Xuan and the others from Skynet, their faces equally dark.
On the empty street before them, a stranger approached through the snow, carrying a blood-soaked figure in his arms.
"Boss!"
Gu Yinming quickly ran towards the man in the bamboo hat. Looking at the God of War in the man's arms, he probed his aura, and his expression changed drastically.
"What a vicious curse!"
At that moment, all the members of Skynet gathered around.
In the heavy snow, the Li family members exchanged glances, then turned to watch the assembled Skynet agents.
According to the intelligence reports, these people were all criminals, and from their interactions, it was clear there wasn't a single truly good person in Skynet.
That was how the Li family saw it, and how the rest of the world saw it. But among the members of Skynet themselves, that wasn't necessarily the case.
After just a moment, the members of Skynet walked over to stand before the Li family.
This was the first time the Li's had seen Skynet's Boss.
The man was frowning and said not a word.
Dongfang Xuan had already spoken to the members of the Li family in a low voice:
"Everyone, the Li family spared our lives, and in these past days, we have repaid that life-debt. We ask that you now show us leniency and allow us to depart. We still have important matters to attend to."
The moment these words were spoken, every member of Skynet revealed their killing intent, and the snow falling over Solaria City seemed to freeze in mid-air.
The members of the Li family frowned.
They remembered it. On the day they had surrounded these Skynet members at the Grand Hall of Region Prince Jiang, these criminals had all stood back-to-back.
And Skynet's Boss, even while fleeing for his own life, had still come back today to save the God of War.
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