Chapter 1752: And Then, Only One Remained
Chapter 1752: And Then, Only One Remained
"We could try to get more people to attack him, but these Evil Path people are not stupid," the avatar explained. "And, if we do this, we risk the chances of leaving more trail that can lead to our discovery."
"That is true," Emperor Kong nodded. "But the best way to deal with him is still his death or sudden defeat."
"But how?"
Kong pondered. "Since we can’t defeat him from the outside, we must do so from the inside."
"Assassination? While that might work, the chances are slim." The core of the issue is the Supreme Chaos Treasure set. Such powerful artifacts can automatically defend against sudden attacks; they can even detoxify poisons.
"We will use the Hidden Arrays," Kong explained.
"That might work," the avatar said with shining eyes. After the Heavenly Court deployed the Invisible Plague, countless factions started studying their version, including Emperor Kong and the academy. Their result was the Hidden Array, and while it was probably a far cry from the version used on that attack, it still had its own advantage.
"If we can find a way to place the Hidden Arrays into his body or the artifact to deactivate them at the crucial moment, then his death is guaranteed," Kong explained.
"In that case, I may have a way."
"Oh?"
"Zhu Zhong has two wives — well, to be specific, he has one wife and one concubine," the avatar explained. "The concubine was a result of a drunken night in which he forced himself on a maid. Zhu Zhong had great disdain for this concubine and wanted nothing to do with her, but his father is one of those old-fashioned, conservative scholars who believed that since he took her body, he must be responsible."
"He’s such a scumbag?" Emperor Kong gave him a knowing look.
"I tried using that information to ruin his reputation, but the effect was not as good as I wanted. His followers — and many scared scholars — don’t care about his lack of morality as long as he continues showing his strong martial prowess."
"Indeed, in times of great chaos, people favor a strong leader over idealists such as us," Emperor Kong nodded. "So, are you going to use his wife as our pawn?"
"Not his wife — his bastard son."
"A son’s involved? Interesting."
"You can imagine what their father-relationship is like," the avatar chuckled.
"The father’s disdain for the son is on par with the son’s hatred for his father?"
"Exactly. His son, Zhu Yi, even once swore he would one day surpass his old man and force him to kneel before his mother for a million yuan. It was quite a stir at that time."
"I’m guessing he failed, but how far did he go?"
The avatar sighed. "Zhu Yi was an unparalleled talent, and he probably would have succeeded if he were smarter. Unfortunately for him, his father is a ruthless man. As soon as he saw his son’s talent, Zhu Zhong plotted to destroy his son’s foundation before forcing him to absorb the Heaven Will, becoming an ordinary First Class Emperor.
"He then used the threat of his mother’s death to prevent Zhu Yi from reincarnating and starting over. After so many years, he is still stuck at the peak of the Empyrean Realm."
"With such a weak or probably shattered Dao Heart, how dare he try to survive the Immemorial Tribulation?" Emperor Kong shook his head. "However, he does sound like the perfect candidate. But how, with such a terrible relationship, can Zhu Yi get close to his father? Are you planning on convincing him to do a suicide mission?"
"That’s too risky and could reveal our objective," the avatar denied. The advantage of the Hidden Array is that it’s hard to detect — especially without knowing how it operates, making them excellent for one-time, sudden, and unexpected moves.
"While my attempt to smear his reputation could be considered a failure, there were some effects," the avatar explained. "Zhu Yi has been trying to put on a front of unity and family for the selection. He shows up at every lecture and speech with his wives and his sons. They also speak greatly of him." The avatar sneered. He could imagine the amount of resentment Zhu Yi is currently feeling, making him the perfect pawn.
"It seems you have a concrete plan. In that case, I’ll leave everything to you," Emperor Kong nodded. "Where is the list I asked you about?"
"Here."
The thick book contained pictures with a rune perfectly etched on each page. With one glance, Emperor Kong will know every life experience about the peak Empyreans listed. Using his best judgment, he picked a few of them and sent a personal invitation.
Meanwhile, the avatar started his work: persuading Zhu Yi was the easiest part of the plan. The man was jumping at the opportunity, and the avatar did not need to put much effort into convincing him to sign a binding soul contract. The next step was the attackers. It took a while to persuade these Evil Path bastards that someone would deal with Zhu Zhong’s armor, but in the end, everything was set in motion.
...
Emperor Kong looked at these ten Empyreans — which include both women, men, youths, and the elderly — and nodded in satisfaction. And while he was observing them, they were too. Great Sage Qi looked no different from before, but that’s only on the surface. All ten of them could feel a hidden bitterness, a hidden hatred, a hidden sorrow behind the facade of peace and virtue.
"The sage truly loved his disciple," they thought.
"Sit."
The Empyreans paid their respect to the Great Sage Qi before sitting down on the cultivation futon. Emperor Kong did not waste time before starting to preach to the ten of them. Great Sage Qi practiced the Dao of Virtue, which is a law that combines the Dao of Soul, the Dao of Good and Evil, and a bit of the Dao of Causality.
Using his philosophy, Emperor Kong preached that people should use what fits each person’s unique personality and Dao. Once that was done, Kong did not stop. Instead, he used a Literary Way Technique: [Experience Sharing]. Through a causal link, he allowed these ten Empyreans to experience his Immemorial Tribulation from both third- and first-person perspectives.
"For the next part of this sermon, I —"
Emperor Kong glanced in the distance. He saw a vision of Heaven and Earth mourning, which symbolizes that a Paragon had fallen. While there has been a lot of chaos lately, and a few of these visions, none were as prominent as this. Intrigued, he did a brief calculation.
"Pathseeker Zhu Zhaong is gone?" Great Sage Qi sighed deeply. "Although we were competitors, he is someone I respect dearly. How could this be?" A look of pain and grief flashed in his eyes. He sighed deeply again. "The world is truly chaotic."
The Great Sage Qi waved his hand to summon his people to travel to the Zhu Clan and give his condolences. Then, he continued his sermon. Besides his and the Great Sage Qi’s experience, Emperor Kong shared the experience of another dozen other Paragons to help his people prepare for the tribulation. Finally, he also offered them the best resources possible.
...
"Despite my best effort, only 8 out of the ten survived," Emperor Kong sighed. However, it seems like an 80% success rate, but that was not the truth. All ten of these Empyreans were the most talented of his followers and had the highest willpower, Dao Heart, and ambitions.
"Although we’ve lost two Empyreans’ votes, we’ve also gained 8 Paragons," the avatar assured him.
"I know, but I’m just sad for these talents," Emperor Kong sighed. Was he being hypocritical, given that he was plotting against their world? Yes, but that did not stop him from appreciating the talents of this timeline. "You did a great job with Zhu Zhong."
"I didn’t expect things to go so smoothly," the avatar smiled. Death was the best-case scenario, so he was prepared to send the latter into Limbo, and then he would use this defeat to erode his prestige slowly.
"I’m curious what happened to the lad, Zhu Yi."
"He’s dead."
"Oh? Was his treachery discovered?"
"No. After Zhu Zhong’s death, he took his mother away and even contacted me, asking that I look after her for a while. Then, without an ounce of hesitation, he committed suicide and reincarnated."
"It seems his ambitions have not died down," Emperor Kong smiled. "If he can get through this ordeal, his future will be limitless."
At least, that would have been the case if not for our presence," the avatar added. Their existence will forever alter the fate of this world. So, whatever bright future might await Zhu Shi might be nothing but an illusory dream.
"Why did you ruin my good mood?" Kong sighed.
"Stop acting so hypocritical — you’re not Wang Wei, so you can’t charmingly pull it off."
"I won’t argue with you," Kong shook his head. "Now that we have only one obstacle on our path, how do we eliminate it?