Chapter 295: Anyone Can Be the Seven Deadly Sins

Su Mu set aside the newspaper and shifted into Dreamwalking Mode with a single thought. In the blink of an eye, he arrived at the Chiyan Imperial Palace, wanting to see how the royal family planned to handle this overt scheme.

The moment he reached King Chi's Bedchamber, even before he stepped through the doors, he heard the sound of smashing objects and the furious voice of King Chi herself.

Crash! Smash! Crash!

King Chi hurled several priceless vases to the floor. Still seething with rage, she leapt right onto the jagged porcelain shards, stomping on them furiously.

"I'm furious!"

"How exactly did Pride make a fool out of me? It was obviously Pride who was too much of a coward to fight me head-on!"

Off to the side, Dongfang Yuan and Gongsun Quan furrowed their brows.

"This is a problem."

"That blasted Blood Moon Empire. To think they've infiltrated the Chiyan Empire this deeply—they even got their hands on intelligence on Prison 749," Dongfang Yuan said angrily. "Have the spies been found?"

"The spies have already been found," Gongsun Quan replied. "But they aren't the real issue right now. The problem is how the empire should respond."

"How to respond?!" King Chi appeared before the two men as if teleporting. "I'm going to kill Pride and the Undead King!" she snapped furiously. "I'll kill them both!"

"Your Majesty, please calm down. Right now..."

"Calm down?! How do you expect me to calm down?! I am a majestic Gold King, the ruler of the Chiyan Empire, and the most beautiful woman in the world, yet someone is practically sitting on my neck and shitting on my head!"

Su Mu: "..."

Watching the drama unfold from the sidelines, he felt that the more he interacted with King Chi, the more absurd she seemed. Was the royal family completely out of people? How on earth did she become king?

Dongfang Yuan and Gongsun Quan spent a long time gently coaxing her, finally managing to calm King Chi down.

"Gongsun Quan, in your opinion, what should we do?" Dongfang Yuan asked, looking at the strategist.

Gongsun Quan furrowed his brow, pacing back and forth across the hall.

"This is an overt scheme. Whether Her Majesty strikes out against Pride or not, we will be playing right into the Blood Moon Empire's hands. The only exception is if we can track down Pride's true body and kill him without deploying the Supreme Heaven."

King Chi raised an eyebrow. "Do you think I don't want to find Pride? The empire's Shadow Guards deployed a long time ago, but there isn't a single clue to be found. A powerhouse like that seems to have materialized out of thin air, without any past."

Dongfang Yuan's eyes flickered with an idea. "Then we start with the Revolutionary Army. Since Pride rescued their leader, the two of them must know each other. Perhaps we can find some clues there."

"That won't work," Gongsun Quan said, shaking his head. "There are too many uncertainties. Just because Pride knows Specter doesn't mean Specter knows Pride's true identity. They might merely be working together. Moreover, the Revolutionary Army has always hidden in the shadows, and rooting them out would take far too much time. The Blood Moon Empire has already made its move. We must respond swiftly; we cannot afford to stall."

"This won't work, that won't work! Then tell me what will!" King Chi snapped, growing increasingly disgruntled.

Gongsun Quan pondered for a moment before speaking slowly. "Your Majesty, I have a plan."

"Hurry up and tell me, then."

"The crux of the matter is that the Undead King plans to use Pride to undermine your prestige. Deploying the Supreme Heaven to kill Pride would certainly restore that prestige, but it would also waste a wish and consume a significant portion of the empire's foundation. The cost far outweighs the benefit.

"In other words, we cannot kill Pride—at least, not right now."

"Ugh, enough with the analysis, you're making my head spin! Just tell me the solution!"

Gongsun Quan looked slightly helpless. "Yes, Your Majesty. The solution is to have the Seven Deadly Sins wreak havoc in the Blood Moon Empire."

King Chi stared blankly. "What nonsense is that? I don't even know the Seven Deadly Sins, so how am I supposed to make them wreak havoc in the Blood Moon Empire?"

Beside her, Dongfang Yuan's eyes lit up. "Brilliant! This plan is absolutely brilliant! Your Majesty, what Gongsun Quan means is this: since the Blood Moon Empire is trying so hard to build up the reputation of the Seven Deadly Sins to damage your prestige, if the Seven Deadly Sins were to suddenly cause chaos in their territory, wouldn't the Blood Moon Empire lose face as well?

"If one person loses face, everyone mocks them. But what if everyone loses face together?

"Then the world will simply conclude that the Seven Deadly Sins are too powerful and utterly vicious. They won't think that you are incomp— Cough, cough, cough..."

He caught himself just in time, nearly letting his true thoughts slip out.

Fortunately, King Chi wasn't paying attention to that; she was still stuck on the previous issue.

"Hold on, you still haven't explained how we're supposed to order the Seven Deadly Sins to go to the Blood Moon Empire."

Dongfang Yuan offered a faint smile. "Your Majesty, the Seven Deadly Sins hide behind masks. Do you know their true identities?"

"Nonsense! If I knew, would I still let them run rampant?!"

"Your Majesty, think about it. If even you don't know the true identities of the Seven Deadly Sins, would the commoners know?"

King Chi blinked in surprise. "Naturally, they wouldn't either."

"Exactly. Since no one knows who the Seven Deadly Sins really are, anyone can be the Seven Deadly Sins. It could be me, it could be—"

King Chi's beautiful eyes snapped wide open. "Aha, you old geezer! So you were the Seven Deadly Sins all along!"

Dongfang Yuan: "..."

"Your Majesty," Gongsun Quan interjected, "Lord Dongfang means that we can send our own people to impersonate the Seven Deadly Sins and stir up trouble in the Blood Moon Empire. At that point, the Undead King will be in the exact same predicament as you. You won't have to rush to deal with the Seven Deadly Sins at all; you can just sit back and let the Blood Moon Empire handle them."

"But what if the Blood Moon Empire discovers that the Seven Deadly Sins are imposters sent by us?"

Gongsun Quan smiled faintly. "So what if they find out? Who would believe them if they told anyone? Thanks to the Blood Moon Empire, the whole world knows about the bitter feud between you and Pride. Anyone in the world could be the Seven Deadly Sins, except for you.

"So they'll just have to suffer this loss in silence. Besides, given the current timing, they would never expect us to dispatch imposters to strike as the Seven Deadly Sins."

Listening to their scheme, Su Mu had to fight the urge to applaud. Brilliant! Fascinating! The political maneuvering between empires certainly had its moments.

What a brilliant move to shift the blame. The Blood Moon Empire had used the Seven Deadly Sins to undermine King Chi's prestige, so the Chiyan Empire would just turn around and impersonate the Seven Deadly Sins to undermine the Blood Moon Empire right back.

It was just as they said: since no one knew the true faces of the Seven Deadly Sins, anyone could be the Seven Deadly Sins!

Having heard the entirety of their rather loud conspiracy, Su Mu quietly slipped out of the Imperial Palace. It was time for him to make some preparations of his own. The two great empires were engaging in such an intricate game of chess around the Seven Deadly Sins—how could the Seven Deadly Sins, the star of the show, fail to make an appearance?

His plan was simple: when the snipe and the clam grapple, the fisherman profits!

When the Chiyan Empire's fake Seven Deadly Sins made their move, it would inevitably draw the full attention of the Blood Moon Empire. That would be the perfect moment for the real Seven Deadly Sins to strike their rear and pillage the Blood Moon Empire for all it was worth!

Transcendent Tier materials, Artifacts, Totem Stones, Mithril, and more...

He wanted it all!

Of course, plundering resources was only a secondary goal. Su Mu's true objective was to teach the Blood Moon Empire a lesson. They needed to learn that the Seven Deadly Sins were not a tool just anyone could casually use.

The Undead King's motives were downright sinister. He might have helped build the reputation of the Seven Deadly Sins, but it was painfully obvious that he was just trying to force King Chi to kill Pride.

Faced with the Undead King, a man he had never even met but who had still sent him such a generous "gift," Su Mu had no choice but to return the favor.