Chapter 2801: A Forced Compromise

Zu An couldn’t be bothered to waste his breath. “Did you bring the Sacred Fire Tokens here?”

Cult Leader Shi and Left Envoy Yi were taken aback. We thought he was here to reinforce us, but it looks like he’s after the Sacred Fire Tokens.

The Treasure Tree King and the Three Envoys of Wind, Cloud, and Moon were enraged. How dare this fellow covet our Sacred Fire Tokens? The former yelled, “Hand that goatskin to me, and I’ll spare your life!”

Even the great leader of the Ming Cult and its Radiant Left Envoy had been subdued by them. He didn’t think a young man in his twenties could be stronger than them.

Zu An shook his head. “That won’t do. My friend needs the Great Cosmic Shift manual.”

Isabella chuckled from the shadows, her laughter bringing a tinge of sweetness to the dull secret chamber.

“You’re courting death!” The Treasure Tree King thrust his palm at Zu An.

Zu An stood his ground and confronted the palm head-on.

“Be careful! There’s something peculiar about his inner energy!” Cult Leader Shi warned them. While this mysterious fellow didn’t appear to be an ally, he harbored greater animosity toward the Persians. The Treasure Tree King’s peculiar inner energy had overwhelmed him with pain earlier, resulting in his eventual incapacitation.

“It’s too late!” the Treasure Tree King sneered. His inner energy morphed into thin needles to pierce Zu An’s palm acupoints.

It was their signature skill, Bone Penetrating Needles. It involved manifesting one's inner yin energy into needles as thin as a hair, transmitting it into an enemy’s body and repeatedly piercing the enemy from within. The pain inflicted was so great that it would briefly stun anyone. They also had another skill called the Yin Gale Knife. They could manifest their inner energy as invisible blades to pierce the enemy’s hand acupoints to inflict considerable damage.

It was with these attacks that they'd subdued Cult Leader Shi and Left Envoy Yi with ease. Their unorthodox martial arts played a part, but these skills were the ones that had allowed them to catch their enemies by surprise.

But Zu An took his palm without flinching in the slightest.

“Impossible!” The Treasure Tree King was certain he'd hurled out a few Bone Penetrating Needles, but they seemed to be ineffective against Zu An.

Bewildered, he quickly manifested more Bone Penetrating Needles, but the moment he channeled his inner energy, it began gushing out toward Zu An’s palm like a breached dam.

To his relief, the Three Envoys attacked at that moment, forcing Zu An to release him.

Sheesh, the simplified version of the Heaven-Devouring Sutra I modified for this world is nothing compared to the real deal. Otherwise, I could have sucked the Treasure Tree King dry there and then.

Even so, that brief contact left the Treasure Tree King sweating profusely. He anxiously shouted a warning, “Be careful, he’s capable of sorcery! Avoid physical contact with him!”

The Three Envoys were startled. Their attacks required physical contact to send their Bone Penetrating Needles and Yin Gale Knives into their enemy’s body. Otherwise, their power would be greatly decreased. But they had also seen what happened to the Treasure Tree King earlier, so they obediently changed their moves.

The Three Envoys employed bizarre martial arts that martial artists of the Central Plains struggled to deal with, but with his sharp eyes, Zu An easily deciphered them.

The trio hurriedly changed their moves, but in the midst of doing so, they revealed a huge opening for a brief instant. Zu An unhesitatingly charged in and struck the Wind Envoy and Cloud Envoy, causing the two of them to collapse like sacks of mud.

Horrified, the Radiant Moon Envoy immediately turned around to flee, only to find herself immobilized. To her horror, Zu An’s palm was already on her shoulder.

Cult Leader Shi and Left Envoy Yi gasped in shock. Having crossed blows with the Persians, they knew that they were difficult opponents. Yet Zu An had made quick work of them.

“Spare me, young master. I’m willing to serve you...” The Radiant Moon Envoy attempted to seduce Zu An. Her beauty had never failed her. She had even charmed the Flowing Cloud Envoy and Profound Wind Envoy, which was why the other two died first even though she was the weakest in the group.

“My women are a hundred times better than you.”

Zu An was about to end her when a voice suddenly spoke up, “Please have mercy!”

Isabella held up her skirt and rushed out. Faced with Zu An’s questioning gaze, she quickly explained, “Big sister Radiant Moon took good care of me at the Persian headquarters.”

Zu An recalled that there were two other holy maidens in the Persian Ming Cult. Isabella will need helpers to become the cult leader. So, he nodded. “I’ll spare you for Isabella’s sake.”

“Thank you, great hero! Thank you, holy maiden!” The Radiant Moon Envoy was extremely relieved to have survived this crisis.

The Treasure Tree King was infuriated. “Isabella, you traitor! How dare you collude with outsiders against us?”

Isabella’s expression turned cold. “Our cult leader ordered me to infiltrate the Central Plains Ming Cult to obtain the Great Cosmic Shift, but your actions have compromised my position in the Central Plains Ming Cult. Who is the traitor here?”

Zu An was impressed by Isabella’s air of majesty. He was so accustomed to her little sister vibes that he nearly forgot that she was the Acadias’ big miss, a powerhouse in the Universal Conglomerate.

The Treasure Tree King sweated profusely. He could tell that Zu An was on close terms with Isabella, and he happened to be the supporter of another holy maiden. Seeing that he had lost the upper hand, he roared and feigned an attack, only to abruptly turn around and flee. After seeing what the latter was capable of, he didn’t dare to confront Zu An.

But when he realized he was being dragged back into the chamber, fear swiftly gripped him.

Zu An wasn’t about to let him escape. He pulled the Treasure Tree King into his grasp with the simplified Heaven-Devouring Sutra and siphoned his inner energy dry.

Earlier, he had chosen not to siphon the inner energies of the Three Envoys, as it would risk revealing an opening for his enemies to exploit, but since the battle had already ended, there was no harm absorbing the Treasure Tree King’s inner energy to bulk up. The stronger he was, the more prepared he would be for future crises.

When they saw the brawny Treasure Tree King withering in an instant, Cult Leader Shi and Left Envoy Yi felt shivers run down their spine.

Zu An looked at the duo. “Where are the Sacred Fire Tokens?”

Cult Leader Shi raised his head and declared, “Go ahead and kill me. I’ll never hand you our cult’s sacred treasure!”

Isabella interjected, “He just saved your lives. Isn’t that worth the Sacred Fire Tokens?”

Cult Leader Shi snorted, “How can I trade the Sacred Fire Tokend for my life? I wouldn’t be able to face my predecessors when I die!”

Left Envoy Yi nodded in agreement. “Our cult leader is right. Kill us if you want to. We don’t need your pity!”

Isabella wanted to continue persuading them, but Zu An stopped her and said, “It’s also fine by me if you don’t want to hand over the Sacred Fire Tokend. I’ll just kill the two of you, strip your bodies, and tell your people that you were messing around in the cult’s sacred land. How does that sound?”

Both Cult Leader Shi and Left Envoy Yi were horrified. “How dare you!”

“You despicable scum!”

The more they berated Zu An, the colder his expression became. In the end, Cult Leader Shi had no choice but to surrender. “I’m powerless to stop you from stealing the Sacred Fire Tokend. Do you dare leave your name behind?”

“Me?” A thought suddenly popped into Zu An’s mind. “I am from the Beggar Sect.”

He remembered that in ‘Heavenly Sword and Dragon Slaying Saber’, the Beggar Sect had obtained the Ming Cult’s Sacred Fire Tokens from their 31st Cult Leader Shi.

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