Chapter 227: Pride and the Commander of the Revolutionary Army

It seemed this affair involved him after all. Since he had provided the intelligence on Supreme Heaven, the Revolutionary Army was preparing to make its move against it.

The purpose of the caged prisoners was also obvious. Since Supreme Heaven's wishing ability required equivalent exchange, these inmates were naturally the sacrifices.

Buzz!

Supreme Heaven radiated a dark golden light, but at that exact moment, a sudden change occurred.

Inside his cage, Yang Dongqing suddenly unleashed a thunderous roar. A surge of liquid black light materialized out of thin air and washed over him. In an instant, the dark radiance solidified into a ferocious set of Asura Armor that encased his entire body.

A pitch-black longblade materialized in his grasp. Slash!

An ink-black blade aura flashed outward, instantly cleaving a massive hole in the cell. Yang Dongqing charged out through the breach. The other prisoners stared in stunned silence for a brief second before fleeing like madmen, throwing the entire area into absolute chaos.

Just as the ensuing chaos drew the attention of everyone present, Ba Ba made his move. He appeared beside King Chi as if teleporting and struck with lightning speed, severing her wrist with a single slash of his blade.

The pale, delicate hand fell along with Supreme Heaven. Ba Ba snatched the bloody appendage out of the air and turned to flee without a single moment of hesitation.

He completed every movement in a single flowing motion, a truly fluid execution.

"Is this your plan?" Su Mu shook his head slightly. He found the scheme far too reliant on variables and completely imperfect; it was only because they were inside a dream that it could be executed so flawlessly.

Yet he also understood that any plan would inevitably have flaws. For the Revolutionary Army, this was a risk they simply had to take—it was their only chance to get their hands on Supreme Heaven.

Right at that moment, another anomaly struck!

With a sharp crack, a colossal, pitch-black fissure tore through the otherwise clear and cloudless sky. An instant later, countless tiny fractures began to spiderweb wildly outward from the center of the rift.

Su Mu's eyes flickered. In a fraction of a second, the Silver-White Mask materialized over his face.

Ba Ba, who had been fleeing at top speed, slammed to a sudden halt. As if sensing something, he snapped his head around to stare directly in Su Mu's direction.

His pupils contracted sharply, and he spat out a single chilling word: "Pride!"

Crack!

The world completely shattered, reducing everything to a void of nothingness.

Within this absolute emptiness, only two figures remained, confronting each other from afar.

"Heh." A dismissive chuckle drifted from beneath the Silver-White Mask. "You truly live up to your title as the commander of the Revolutionary Army. To think you could actually detect my presence."

Ba Ba's expression darkened. Hidden currents swirled within his deep eyes, making it impossible to read his true thoughts.

"You have the wrong person."

Su Mu shook his head slightly. "Although we have never met, there is only one person within the Revolutionary Army with the nerve to orchestrate the theft of Supreme Heaven right out of King Chi's hands. I can only assume you are the famed commander of the Revolutionary Army, the legendary number one under heaven, Specter."

"My fame pales in comparison to yours, Head of the Seven Deadly Sins, Pride!" A flicker of intense wariness flashed through Specter's eyes. This was the very first time anyone had managed to pry into his actions so deeply. Had he not noticed the surveillance in time, this man might have uncovered every single secret the Revolutionary Army possessed.

"Let's skip the mutual flattery," Su Mu said. "Though I should thank you for putting on such a spectacular show. I never would have guessed you would lower yourself to play the role of a prisoner here just to get to Supreme Heaven.

"Tell me, if I were to leak this little secret to the Chiyan Imperial Family, wouldn't things get incredibly interesting?"

Specter suddenly let out a soft chuckle. "It would be interesting, yes, but I do not believe you have any reason to do so."

"The fact that it's interesting is the greatest reason of all. Don't believe me? Don't you possess mind-reading abilities? Why don't you take a look and see if I'm bluffing?"

An obscure light glinted in Specter's eyes as he activated his mind-reading skill. The results made his expression change drastically: at this very moment, Pride truly did intend to leak the information to the Chiyan Imperial Family—and his sole motivation was simply that he found it amusing!

'Damn Pride! What a complete lunatic!'

"You managed to detect my presence and you possess mind-reading abilities. If my guess is correct, your power must fall under the mental category," Su Mu analyzed with genuine interest.

This was the first time he had ever encountered someone capable of seeing through his presence. Not even a mighty Gold-tier powerhouse like Sikong Zhen could pull that off, yet Specter, the commander of the Revolutionary Army, had managed it effortlessly.

Specter did not follow up on the analysis. Instead, he spoke in a solemn tone. "Your Excellency Pride, we share a common enemy. I see no need for us to be at each other's throats. As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Perhaps we could sit down and discuss this properly."

"I don't make friends with people who try to stab me in the back."

Specter narrowed his eyes slightly. "What do you mean by that? You and I have already collaborated once, and our partnership was quite pleasant. Where does this talk of backstabbing come from?"

Su Mu flashed a contemptuous smile. "Let's stop beating around the bush. We're both smart men—must I spell it out for you? The true reason your Revolutionary Army approached me in the first place was precisely to lay the groundwork for what you did today, wasn't it?"

Specter's expression darkened further, but he remained silent.

"Supreme Heaven operates on the principle of equivalent exchange. That means before it can be activated and a wish granted, it must first be charged with a corresponding amount of energy. The only window your Revolutionary Army would ever get to touch Supreme Heaven was precisely during that charging process.

"However, as long as the Chiyan Imperial Family kept Supreme Heaven securely stored away without using it, that opportunity would never arise. So, you needed someone to cross the Imperial Family's bottom line and force their hand.

"That pawn couldn't be too weak, otherwise it wouldn't be enough to force them to deploy Supreme Heaven. While your Revolutionary Army could certainly have played that role, drawing out Supreme Heaven would have spelled the absolute destruction of your forces.

"Because of that, you decided to borrow the strength of another faction to push the Chiyan Imperial Family into a corner, and the Seven Deadly Sins became your primary choice. We killed nobles right in front of the public eye while remaining entirely at large—a perfect fit for your requirements.

"If my guess is correct, Gongsun Quan—the man you hired the Seven Deadly Sins to assassinate—had close ties with King Chi. Killing him naturally succeeded in provoking her.

"Even though the execution went slightly off script, you still achieved your ultimate goal. The Seven Deadly Sins bore the brunt of Supreme Heaven's strike for you. Come to think of it, we were only saved by the fact that Envy belongs to the Blood Clan, which forced the Chiyan Imperial Family to shift their focus onto a much larger threat. Otherwise, my organization would have suffered devastating losses."

Su Mu delivered his analysis at a leisurely pace. With every word he spoke, Specter's expression darkened a fraction more.

"Once suspicion takes root, the verdict is practically set in stone. Since you have already made up your mind, there's no point in me defending myself," Specter said. "However, I refuse to believe Your Excellency Pride is someone who acts purely on impulse. Right and wrong mean nothing to men like us. The only thing that truly matters is profit.

"Ruining my plan right now brings you absolutely no benefit, nor will it cause me any genuine harm. I can simply abandon this operation altogether. If I truly wish to leave, Prison 749 cannot hold me.

"Therefore, wouldn't it be far better for us to negotiate a new collaboration that benefits us both?"

Su Mu actually admired Specter's attitude. He neither admitted to the scheme nor denied it, and above all, he never rejected the possibility of cooperation.

For those destined to achieve great things, the first thought that crossed their minds when facing a threat was always how to maximize their interests and turn an enemy into an ally.