Chapter 209: King Chi

"Yes, boss." Taoist Priest Xuanqing immediately stopped his Longevity Daoist Magic. Wearing the Silver-White Mask, Su Mu slowly walked over to the fallen Xueyuan.

Resentment and bitter defiance filled Xueyuan's dim eyes. The humiliation of being played for a fool was worse than death.

He struggled to raise a pale hand, gripping Su Mu's trouser leg in a vice-like hold. From his glare, it looked as though he would tear a chunk of flesh from Su Mu even if it killed him.

Su Mu offered a faint smile. The contemptuous expression on the Silver-White Mask burned itself deep into the eyes of this Gold tier powerhouse. Su Mu raised his foot and slowly brought it down, pinning Xueyuan's hand firmly to the floor.

He ground his heel in lightly. Xueyuan groaned in pain, the hatred and soaring killing intent in his eyes making him look like a vicious ghost crawling out of Hell.

Su Mu slowly leaned down. His gentle eyes observed the dying Xueyuan as he let out a soft laugh. "How ugly. It turns out that a Gold tier powerhouse is no different from an ordinary person when facing death."

"I'll..." Veins bulged on Xueyuan's face as he roared through a mouthful of bloody froth. But a split second later, a pale cyan tentacle violently thrust into his mouth.

Xueyuan's eyes bulged wildly. His lifespan rapidly drained away, and within moments, he was reduced to a dried corpse.

Taoist Priest Xuanqing looked enviously at Su Mu's Divine Touch. Sensing the mighty power of the Celestial Sovereign of Longevity emanating from it, his gaze grew increasingly reverent.

He possessed tentacles too, but his came through a blessing from the Celestial Sovereign of Longevity. Compared to the genuine Divine Touch, they were nothing more than crude imitations.

What made him even more envious was that Su Mu's Divine Touch possessed the ability to absorb and store lifespan.

As a believer of the Celestial Sovereign of Longevity, he could extract an enemy's lifespan as well. But his situation was like a laborer working for a capitalist—no matter how much profit he generated, the capitalist pocketed it all, leaving him without a single cent.

Su Mu was different. Wielding Divinity was the equivalent of holding company shares. No matter how much profit he brought in, he could take a cut of the dividends.

After finishing off Xueyuan, Su Mu felt the absorbed lifespan and frowned slightly. "Not even ten years? Didn't they say the Blood Clan possessed endless lifespans?"

Taoist Priest Xuanqing immediately cleared up his confusion. "Lord Divine Envoy, don't listen to the Blood Clan's boasting. They publicly claim their lifespan is infinite, but it's complete bullshit. They only stay alive by constantly feeding on the blood of the living. If they go without feeding for a while, they just drop dead.

"In truth, their bodies can hardly store any lifespan at all. Even with an endless supply of fresh blood, they will die sooner or later. A body might survive on blood, but a soul cannot. As their souls gradually age and wither, they eventually turn into mindless, man-eating monsters known as ghouls.

"This spiritual decay only gets worse the more blood they consume. When they drink from the living, they inevitably absorb fragments of their victims' thoughts, corrupting the purity of their own souls."

"I see." Su Mu nodded. That made much more sense. If the Blood Clan truly possessed endless lifespans, the Blood Moon Empire would have conquered the world ages ago. How could they still be struggling to take down the kingless Chiyan Empire even now?

"Say, Lord Divine Envoy, as you can see, this humble Daoist put in quite the effort this time, even burning through a significant amount of lifespan..." Old Taoist Xuanqing hurried over, his face plastered with a fawning smile.

Su Mu was quite generous. With a flick, his Divine Touch landed on Taoist Priest Xuanqing, transferring Xueyuan's extracted lifespan over to him.

He didn't need lifespan at all. In the truest sense, he was already a dead man with zero lifespan remaining. He was only kept alive by the sustaining power of the Sea God Divinity.

Besides, as far as he was concerned, lifespan was a resource littering the streets. He could harvest it whenever he pleased.

...

...

At the Star City Law Enforcement Bureau, a streak of lightning abruptly flashed, shattering a window as it crashed into the main hall.

The on-duty Law Enforcement Bureau officers turned pale with fright. Assuming it was an enemy attack, many of them instantly drew their weapons.

Only when they got a clear look at the intruder did they finally lower their weapons.

The intruder was none other than Sikong Zhen.

"Lord Sikong Zhen? What happened to you? How did you sustain such terrible injuries?!" one of the officers cried out.

At this moment, Sikong Zhen looked completely wretched. Covered in blood and dressed in shredded clothes, he looked as though he had just survived a horrifically brutal battle.

"Hurry and get your director! Now!" Sikong Zhen roared anxiously. He couldn't be sure if Envy would catch up, but between his severe injuries and the overwhelming backlash from the Rage Potion, he lacked the strength to flee all the way to the Imperial Capital. He had no choice but to retreat to the Law Enforcement Bureau first.

If Envy did catch up, this pack of Law Enforcement Bureau cannon fodder could at least buy him a few moments.

Shortly after, Sikong Zhen met with the director. Completely ignoring the man's shocked expression, he barked out a string of orders. "Quick, get me the best healing medicines you have in the bureau! And prepare a car to take me to the Imperial Capital! Hurry!!"

"Yes, yes, right away." Faced with Sikong Zhen's commands, the director didn't dare say no. He scrambled off to make the arrangements.

The Law Enforcement Bureau acted with stunning efficiency. In less than five minutes, Sikong Zhen was strapped into a vehicle and speeding away. To be safe, he deliberately arranged for multiple cars to depart simultaneously to throw the Seven Deadly Sins off his trail.

Little did he know, however, that the Envy pursuing him was already dead.

In the car, Sikong Zhen pulled out an encrypted phone and dialed a number known only to him.

"What is it?" an elderly voice answered from the other end of the line.

"I need to speak with Her Majesty, King Chi!" Sikong Zhen urged. "Hurry! It's critical intelligence regarding the Seven Deadly Sins."

The elderly voice paused briefly before replying with a flat, "Wait."

A moment later, a young but profoundly authoritative female voice echoed over the line, carrying the commanding presence of an empress who dominated the world. "What is it?"

"Your Majesty!" Sikong Zhen blurted out. "Something terrible has happened. Envy, a member of the Seven Deadly Sins, is of the Blood Clan! And I learned a massive piece of intelligence from him—the Blood Clan has already infiltrated the Empire!

"The Seven Deadly Sins knew about our suppression operation in advance. There's a traitor inside the Empire! Furthermore, we suspect all seven members of the Seven Deadly Sins are Gold tier powerhouses. Envy, Lust, and Gluttony took action this time, while Pride only appeared once as a clone. Shentu Lie was brutally murdered, and I am severely injured. I beg Your Majesty to send someone to extract me!"

"Understood," King Chi replied. Her tone remained completely serene. Despite the shocking news Sikong Zhen had just delivered, the absolute confidence in her voice hadn't wavered in the slightest. It was as if neither the Seven Deadly Sins nor the Blood Clan posed any real threat in her eyes.

Click!

The line went dead, but Sikong Zhen let out a long sigh of relief. He knew he was essentially safe now that the message had been delivered. He possessed absolute, unshakeable confidence in King Chi.

That remained true even if the rest of the Seven Kings refused to recognize King Chi as one of their own. They viewed her and her family as mere usurpers who had stolen a nation and crowned themselves, claiming that the true ruler of the Chiyan Empire was an entity who had been erased from existence.

Nevertheless, Sikong Zhen fully believed that King Chi's strength was by no means inferior to that of the other Seven Kings. She might even be stronger!