Chapter 317: Are You Actually Greed?

"Report!"

A guard's shout suddenly echoed outside the great hall.

"Lord Dongfang requests an audience with Your Majesty."

"Enter."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Moments later, Dongfang Yuan and Sikong Zhen walked in, both heavily injured. Three coffins floated in the air behind them.

Gongsun Quan’s expression shifted slightly at the sight.

Faces grim, Dongfang Yuan and Sikong Zhen bowed to King Chi.

"Your Majesty, You City has been slaughtered, but Gongyang Shuo and the others..." Dongfang Yuan sighed heavily, looking as if he had aged ten years in an instant. The white hair at the old man's temples seemed even more pronounced.

"Lord Dongfang, are the two of you the only ones to return alive?" Gongsun Quan narrowed his eyes, covertly sizing up Sikong Zhen in his peripheral vision.

"Yes. If the Blood Clan hadn't suddenly retreated, I fear even I would not have survived. The entire matter is incredibly bizarre. I cannot make sense of it..."

"Lord Dongfang, your survival is tied to Pride. You were fighting in You City, so you aren't aware of what happened in the Blood Moon Imperial Capital, but the Empire's spies have already sent back news.

"Pride led Lust, Wrath, and the Provisional Third Seat to wreak havoc in the Imperial Capital. Pride then stormed the Imperial Palace alone. He is suspected to have opened a gate to the Nightmare World, summoning endless seawater and undead monsters. The aura of a God even descended, completely destroying the entire palace.

"The specific details inside the Imperial Palace remain unknown, but it ended with the Undead King compromising. He ordered all members of the Seven Deadly Sins to leave."

Dongfang Yuan shuddered, indelible shock surfacing on his weathered face. He remained stunned for a long time. He opened his mouth, but seemed completely at a loss for words.

"Pride... Pride, who... what exactly is he!?"

The great hall fell silent. No one could answer him.

Pride was simply too mysterious. He came and went like a phantom, his abilities were incredibly bizarre, and every appearance shattered the world's understanding of him.

His first appearance was when he publicly killed a noble, shattering the unspoken rules of the Empire's nobility. He instantly killed the Murong Family Head, a Silver 3, with a single strike, shocking the entire nation. The world assumed he was a Gold expert who dared to trample on the rules.

During his second appearance, his true body did not show itself, but his subordinates killed Shentu Lie, a Gold Noble, along with over a hundred elites from the Law Enforcement Bureau. The terrifying organization known as the Seven Deadly Sins surfaced, suspected to be composed entirely of Gold experts. Their threat level surpassed even the Revolutionary Army.

Upon his third appearance, the Provisional Third Seat of the Seven Deadly Sins killed a Gold expert from Federal Pharmaceuticals. Only then did the world realize that not only were the primary members of the Seven Deadly Sins Gold, but even their provisional members were Gold!

His fourth appearance saw Pride reveal himself at Prison 749, rescuing the commander of the Revolutionary Army right in front of King Chi. No one could stop him. Coupled with the Blood Moon Empire secretly fanning the flames, rumors arose everywhere that Pride was a Gold King. At this point, the world thought they had seen his limit. Little did they know, this was merely the tip of the iceberg.

The fifth time, he appeared in the Blood Moon Empire, wreaking havoc in the Imperial Capital and flooding the Imperial Palace, forcing even the Undead King to compromise. No one knew what the Undead King had gone through, but everyone knew the Undead King was not someone who compromised. There was no one in the world who could make him yield. Perhaps Pride wasn't human at all, but exactly what he claimed to be: a God of the new era!

"More than Pride's identity, I am actually curious about something else." Gongsun Quan suddenly looked toward Sikong Zhen.

Sikong Zhen frowned, somewhat confused.

"Lord Sikong, our operation to impersonate the Seven Deadly Sins was known only to the few of us present. Yet, when the operation took place, the real Seven Deadly Sins appeared. Furthermore, even Lord Dongfang has returned heavily injured, and Lord Gongyang and the others are dead. Forgive my bluntness, Lord Sikong, but everyone else involved in this operation was a veteran Gold expert. I am not surprised that Lord Dongfang made it back alive, but you..."

Sikong Zhen's expression drastically changed. "Are you suspecting that I am a spy for the Seven Deadly Sins!?"

Gongsun Quan stared at him in silence. Dongfang Yuan also realized something was amiss; he had already found it strange that Sikong Zhen was the one who survived.

"Well then, Sikong Zhen! To think someone with your honest face would actually betray the Empire!" King Chi snapped, so furious she momentarily dropped her regal demeanor.

Dongfang Yuan and Gongsun Quan had no time to pay attention to her, though. They just stared straight at Sikong Zhen.

Thud!

Sikong Zhen dropped to his knees before King Chi in terror. "Your Majesty! I am innocent! The Sikong Family has been loyal to the Royal Family for generations! Heaven and earth can bear witness! I am absolutely not a spy for the Seven Deadly Sins!"

Gongsun Quan continued, "I was wondering before. Back when you and Shentu Lie were hunting down the members of the Seven Deadly Sins, why did everyone else die while you alone survived? Three Gold experts were present at the time: Envy, Gluttony, and Lust. They had already killed Shentu Lie. Three against one, they could have easily killed you, yet they did not.

"Can Lord Sikong explain why that is?"

"Naturally, because I am stronger than Shentu Lie and excel in speed. They couldn't keep me there," Sikong Zhen replied without hesitation.

Dongfang Yuan suddenly spoke up. "Lord Sikong, rumors out there claim you are the Empire's true number one God of War. They say things like 'Dongfang is old, Sikong shall rise,' simply because you managed to escape the Seven Deadly Sins. Yet, during this mission, your performance seemed to fall short even of the deceased Lord Gongyang and the others...

"Has the rumor been repeated so often that even you believe it, or have you been hiding your true strength from the very beginning? Have you been desperately concealing your identity as a member of the Seven Deadly Sins?

"Lord Sikong, you... you wouldn't happen to actually be Greed, would you?"

At those words, Sikong Zhen's heart nearly burst. The expression on his face twisted into something almost beyond human limits as he pointed at himself in disbelief.

"Me..." he trembled, "...Greed??"

Dongfang Yuan narrowed his eyes, his analysis turning even sharper. "As far as I know, Greed has appeared a total of two times, and both times, he was impersonated by you. If you are not Greed, then where is the real Greed?"

Sikong Zhen: "..."

He was losing his mind. This time, he was truly losing it. He never imagined that by merely playing the role of Greed twice, he would genuinely be labeled as Greed in the end. Wasn't this way too unjust!?

Most importantly, he had no way of explaining away Dongfang Yuan's logic! Because even he didn't know why he had managed to survive those two encounters.

"Perhaps... there is no Greed at all?" Sikong Zhen offered hesitantly.

His suspicion was entirely reasonable; Greed had never appeared, and the Seven Deadly Sins had allowed him to impersonate Greed every time. If a real Greed existed, why hadn't they come looking for trouble?

He refused to believe that the Seven Deadly Sins—who dared to destroy the Blood Moon Imperial Palace—would be too afraid to come after him.