Chapter 241: Pride is a Coward!!

Specter scanned his surroundings and found that Pride had vanished. On the empty, desolate mountain, there was only himself and the unconscious Yang Dongqing, who was still wearing the Seven Halls Yama.

His gaze flickered as he looked at Yang Dongqing. Since His Excellency Pride had chosen to save Yang Dongqing, it meant the man still had value. And now, Pride had left him in Specter's hands...

"In that case, I'll take you back to the Revolutionary Army. However, you've worn the Seven Halls Yama for far too long this time and suffered heavy injuries. I'm afraid your body and will have already collapsed. I can try injecting activated Mithril to repair your physical form, but as for your will... you can only rely on yourself."

With a single thought, invisible Psychokinesis spread from Specter's body, lifting Yang Dongqing's battered frame. The two flew into the sky and vanished.

Inside the Chiyan Imperial Palace in the Imperial Capital.

"Ahhh! I'm so mad!" Atop the dark gold throne, King Chi rolled around throwing a tantrum like a schoolchild who had just lost a video game. She clutched a plush rabbit in her hands, twisting and tearing at it.

Her thrashing was so exaggerated that her pinned-up hair tumbled down, obscuring her breathtaking face. She looked exactly like a madwoman.

Below the throne, an extremely ordinary-looking elder and Gongsun Quan maintained their usual expressions, completely unfazed by the sight.

"Damned Pride! Stinking Pride! He actually looked down on me and called me a braggart?! Ah! I'm going to kill him!"

"Always acting so mysterious, wearing a mask all day long—he must be unbelievably ugly in person! Too ashamed to see anyone! That damn eyesore!" The furious King Chi had escalated to petty personal attacks.

In a dimension invisible to them all, Su Mu stood quietly beside King Chi, watching her throw her fit. Her delicate, alluring red lips were pouting so hard they practically reached the sky.

He truly never expected King Chi to have such a hidden side. Her usual peerless elegance and world-dominating aura formed a jarring contrast with this tantrum-throwing, name-calling schoolchild.

No wonder they said women had two faces.

"Gongsun Quan, what do you make of this?" the elder asked.

Gongsun Quan shook his head. "We have too little intelligence on Pride to form an accurate judgment. However, even though he broke the Dark Nightmare Talisman, he didn't exchange blows with King Chi. I suspect his true strength isn't quite as immense as we imagine."

"Perhaps he felt that fighting King Chi in the Imperial Capital would put him at too much of a disadvantage. After all, the Imperial Capital is our stronghold; we can mobilize a massive number of experts at a moment's notice."

Gongsun Quan pondered for a moment. "Not necessarily. This Pride is boundlessly arrogant. While that might be a disguise, a person's eyes cannot lie. I noticed that when he looked at King Chi, there was not a single shred of dread or fear. It was definitely not false bravado. There was only... only..."

He thought for a long time before finally finding the right words. "The joy of the hunt! It was as if he had found someone interesting. His delight carried a faint anticipation—anticipating what kind of surprises King Chi could bring him.

"Someone with that kind of gaze could never hold back from striking. Therefore, the reason Pride didn't make a move is simple: either his strength isn't enough to defeat King Chi, or he doesn't want to expose his identity, or his true body is tied up by something else, rendering him temporarily unable to act."

Upon hearing those sensitive words, King Chi suddenly darted over. Gritting her teeth, she declared, "You're right! He's just afraid of this king! That's why he didn't dare show his face! He's just a coward! Pride is a coward!!"

A flash of helplessness crossed the faces of Gongsun Quan and the elder. Ignoring her completely, they continued their discussion.

"There is one thing this old man still cannot figure out," the elder said. "Why was Pride unafraid? Even the Undead King hasn't dared to make a move recently after witnessing the divine might of the Supreme Heaven. What right does Pride have? Is he truly not afraid that the Royal Family will use the Supreme Heaven again?

"Even if the price of using the Supreme Heaven to erase him is astronomical, the Royal Family could simply change the wish, downgrading it from erasure to weakening.

"Could it be..."

A subtle look of terror surfaced on the elder's face.

Gongsun Quan's expression darkened as he finished the thought: "He knows the Supreme Heaven is a fake!"

An eerie silence fell over the two men. Inside the grand hall, King Chi was the only one still rolling around on the floor.

"That's impossible!" The elder was the first to deny his own theory.

"The true Supreme Heaven was taken into the Nightmare World by the late king and vanished along with him. Only the few of us know about this matter; it could never have been leaked. Furthermore, to ensure the stability of the Chiyan Empire, the late king specifically used the power of the Supreme Heaven to create a False Supreme Heaven.

"Although the False Supreme Heaven is inferior to the real one—requiring double the price to fulfill a wish and limited to only three uses—it is otherwise identical to the original.

"Not even the Undead King suspects that the Supreme Heaven is a fake. How could Pride possibly know?"

Off to the side, Su Mu nodded earnestly and quipped to himself, You guys told me.

Gongsun Quan's eyes narrowed as a thought struck him. "We both swore an oath before the Supreme Heaven; we could never betray the Royal Family. If the information was truly leaked, it definitely didn't come from our mouths. It could only be..."

In perfect mutual understanding, the two of them turned to look at King Chi, who was gloomily crawling across the throne.

Feeling their stares, King Chi glared back viciously. "What are you looking at me for?"

The elder's gaze flickered, his complexion souring. "Your Majesty, have you secretly snuck out of the palace recently?"

King Chi's heart skipped a beat. "N-no, I didn't," she replied guiltily. "Why would I leave the palace?"

Seeing her guilty demeanor, the veins on the elder's forehead visibly bulged. Gritting his teeth, he demanded, "Where did you go when you left the palace, and who did you come into contact with?"

"Old fogey! You're old and your ears are shot! Didn't you hear this king say I never went out?"

"Your Majesty! This is not the time for your nonsense! Do you realize that the intelligence regarding the Supreme Heaven might have already been discovered by Pride? It might have been leaked when you left the palace!"

King Chi felt increasingly guilty, but she stubbornly retorted, "Why does it have to be me? Maybe it was you two who leaked it!"

"It's impossible for us to have leaked it!"

"You can't say for sure! What if you two talk in your sleep? Especially you, old fogey! You recently took in a few new concubines, didn't you? They must have overheard you talking in your sleep. That's right! That's exactly it! Gongsun Quan is too frail, and he's still a virgin who sleeps alone in an empty room, so it can only be you, old fogey!"

"Enough!" the elder roared in fury. "Your Majesty, this matter concerns the stability of the Empire. You must answer honestly: when did you leave the palace, why did you go, and who did you meet?"

King Chi shrank back and pouted. "About half a month ago."

"What did you do?"

"Went looking for a man."

"What!?" The elder's eyes bulged in rage.

"Oh, come on, I've reached that age. Isn't it normal to look for a man? I want a sweet romance too!"

"You are the ruler of the Chiyan Empire! You are King Chi, one of the Seven Gold Kings! How could you just go outside looking for a man on a whim? Do you have any idea how precious the phoenix bloodline flowing in your veins is? In order to guarantee the purity of your bloodline, you must find a man who possesses an equally noble lineage!

"You... y-you-you!"

The elder's chest heaved violently. After a long while, his anger finally dissolved into a heavy sigh. "Did you... sleep with him?"

A trace of confusion flashed in King Chi's eyes. She replied matter-of-factly, "Of course I slept. Who doesn't sleep?"

"That's not the kind of sleeping I'm talking about! I mean, did you sleep with a man!?"

"Tsk." King Chi curled her lips. "If you mean get into bed, just say get into bed. An old geezer who's married dozens of concubines doesn't need to be so euphemistic."

"Did you sleep with him or not!?"

"No." King Chi waved her hand dismissively. "I just didn't find a suitable one, alright? The handsome ones are too fickle, the honest ones aren't romantic, and the romantic ones aren't loyal..."