Chapter 242: Butterfly Effect

The elder's face darkened. "Your Majesty, these are extraordinary times. You absolutely must not go out as you please again. Furthermore, I will personally investigate every single person you came into contact with during your previous outing."

King Chi pouted and began to mutter. Though her voice was soft, it was pitched perfectly for the elder to hear—nothing but crude curses about his future sons being born without assholes.

The elder ignored her. Clearly, after all these years, he was already used to being cursed.

"Gongsun Quan, what is your plan next?"

Gongsun Quan pondered for a moment. "It is time to initiate the Dragon Seeking Plan."

The elder immediately furrowed his brow. "Initiate it now? Won't the risks be too great?"

Gongsun Quan shook his head. "I can only say that Pride's appearance came at the worst possible time. I originally believed that using the False Supreme Heaven to obliterate the Blood Clan within our borders would deter any lesser threats. Just letting the other empires know we still hold the Supreme Heaven should have bought us more time.

"By then, the Nightmare Apostles we sent to search for the former king would have had enough time. The former king has been missing in the Nightmare World for years and has most likely met with an untimely end, but the Supreme Heaven cannot be left behind in the Nightmare World. It is the very foundation of the Chiyan Empire.

"Unfortunately, this deterrence plan can only be considered half a success. Although it intimidated the Blood Moon Empire, it failed to suppress Pride. The news of Pride wreaking havoc in Prison 749 probably won't stay secret for much longer.

"Once the Blood Moon Empire learns of what Pride has done—or if Pride frequently provokes the Chiyan Empire and we remain completely helpless to stop him—they will inevitably grow suspicious."

"You are right. The False Supreme Heaven is the Empire's final resort. It only has two uses left, and they absolutely cannot be wasted on Pride."

"Why can't they?" King Chi suddenly demanded, puffing out her cheeks in anger. "Use it on Pride! Right here, right now! Even if we use it, we'll still have one charge left anyway."

Gongsun Quan replied calmly, "Your Majesty, relying on the Supreme Heaven to obliterate a powerful foe is highly irrational. Eradicating an enemy is only a one-time use, but strengthening yourself will allow you to kill countless powerful foes on your own. Therefore, I believe the most optimal way to use the final two charges of the Supreme Heaven is to elevate the purity of your bloodline, helping you reach the level of the First Red King as quickly as possible.

"That, and assisting the Empire in finding the true Supreme Heaven. These two matters hold the absolute highest priority. The artifact must not be used for anything else."

"Then hurry up and elevate my bloodline purity! Once my strength takes another step forward, a mere Pride..."

"Your Majesty, your current strength is more than enough to suppress the Empire's internal factions. Until the critical moment when kings meet kings, there is no need to waste a wish. Furthermore, you are still young and possess extraordinary talent. Perhaps in a few years, you will naturally reach the level of the First Red King on your own. Thus, the wish absolutely cannot be used now. It would be a sheer waste."

"I can't do this, I can't do that. Just keep it then! Save the wish and use it when we're all about to die!" King Chi complained.

"Gongsun Quan, we will do as you say," the elder said. "Initiate the Dragon Seeking Plan. Recruit Silver Grade Nightmare Apostles across the entire nation, have them sign contracts, and send them into the Nightmare World to search for the Supreme Heaven."

"Mm." Gongsun Quan nodded. "Relying solely on the Nightmare Apostles under the Royal Family is too inefficient. Even knowing the former king's general location in the Nightmare World, it would take far too much time. Now, we can only mobilize the strength of Nightmare Apostles nationwide. When the time comes, I will announce that their mission objective is to find the former king—alive or dead—as well as the former king's belongings. Anyone who succeeds will be exceptionally granted the title of noble."

Standing off to the side, Su Mu listened intently to their loud scheming, finally getting a complete grasp of the situation. The former king of the Chiyan Empire—the father of the current King Chi—had, for some unknown reason, also become a Nightmare Apostle. He had taken the true Supreme Heaven into the Nightmare World and never returned.

For the sake of security, the former king had used a wish from the true Supreme Heaven to create a False Supreme Heaven, leaving it behind for the Royal Family to use as a backup. Although the False Supreme Heaven could only be used three times and demanded double the price, the other empires were completely unaware of this secret.

The Chiyan Empire only needed to maintain the illusion that the Supreme Heaven was still present to intimidate all the major empires.

That was why, upon discovering the Blood Clan invasion, the Chiyan Empire had deployed the Supreme Heaven and instantly cowed the Blood Moon Empire.

But because they failed to suppress him, and because he had even slapped King Chi in the face, the other empires would definitely get ideas once the news leaked.

The Seven Deadly Sins had walked all over King Chi, yet they were still alive and kicking. How could King Chi endure this without using the Supreme Heaven? Even if the price to obliterate the Seven Deadly Sins was too great—since they were, after all, Gold Grade powerhouses—she could at least wish to uncover their true identities and then eliminate them by force, rather than letting the Seven Deadly Sins freely expand their power.

When that happened, the more clever individuals out there would likely realize something was wrong with the Supreme Heaven. If they did, the Chiyan Empire—already the weakest of the empires—would be in grave danger.

Therefore, the Chiyan Imperial Family was forced to activate the Dragon Seeking Plan, recruiting Nightmare Apostles nationwide to search for the former king and his relics. They didn't dare state openly that the Supreme Heaven was missing, so they could only use this as a front.

It made perfect sense this way. He was, after all, their former king. His descendants had every justification to recover his remains and belongings to give him a proper burial.

Having sorted it all out, Su Mu found it highly amusing. He had never imagined that the Seven Deadly Sins—an organization he had casually fabricated to help Murong Mengli—would end up stirring up the entire Chiyan Empire, and even affecting the state of the whole world.

Basically every move the Chiyan Imperial Family made was related to him.

If he hadn't tricked Xueyuan into becoming Envy and leaked the news to Sikong Zhen, the Chiyan Imperial Family wouldn't have used the False Supreme Heaven to eradicate the domestic Blood Clan.

And because he had wreaked havoc in Prison 749, the Royal Family was terrified that someone would discover the Supreme Heaven was a fake. That was why they had to initiate the Dragon Seeking Plan, taking the risk to expand the search teams looking for the former king.

"Interesting." Su Mu thoroughly enjoyed this butterfly effect, because it represented the unknown—it represented surprises.

At the same time, he formulated his next plan: join the Dragon Seeking Plan and find the Supreme Heaven!

He was determined to obtain the Supreme Heaven. It was the best way for him to completely resolve the issue of his infinitely expanding mental energy.

Ordinary methods of strengthening his physical body merely treated the symptoms, not the root cause. He could still rely on the Law to enhance his physical constitution for now, but what about when he reached Gold Grade?

If his mental energy continued to grow without limit, what would he do then? His hopes still lay with the Supreme Heaven.

In other words, he would have to use the Supreme Heaven sooner or later. Since the opportunity was right in front of him, and the Royal Family would even be helping from behind the scenes, he naturally wouldn't let such a once-in-a-lifetime chance go to waste.

As for the rule that the Supreme Heaven could not be used by anyone outside the Royal Family, that might be an insurmountable chasm to others, but to him, it was nothing more than a matter of hypnosis.

It wasn't as if everyone in the Royal Family was as powerful as King Chi. There would always be loopholes to exploit.

Su Mu listened to Gongsun Quan and the others loudly plotting for a while longer before quietly leaving. He needed to make his own preparations. The most pressing matter was breaking through to Silver, reaching the minimum threshold for the Dragon Seeking Plan.