437: Chapter 437 Betraying You Is Human Nature

Above a city, a golden broken sword appeared out of thin air. Subsequently, a powerful suppressing force descended, rendering all living beings in the city unable to move and instantly locking down all space.

When the sword had fully materialized, it began its descent.

The entire city seemed to be inundated by a golden ocean, with countless golden waves surging through the streets and alleys.

Upon closer inspection, one could see that these waves were composed of golden threads, each of which was a strand of Sword Qi compressed to the extreme.

From the convergence of the giant sword to the creation of the tidal waves and their eventual dissipation, less than a minute had passed.

No one knew where the sword came from; they only knew that after the golden ocean vanished, the air in the city felt significantly fresher.

If not for the fact that the city's population had suddenly plummeted by a tenth, they might have thought some mighty expert had shown mercy and come to purify the city's air.

In a magnificent, even slightly ostentatious office, King Dong's fingers were rhythmically tapping the armrest of his chair.

He wasn't sitting in the chair, but on the floor, leaning his back against the armrest.

Directly in front of the desk, several light screens were displayed, which were simultaneously darkening and disappearing at a rapid pace.

In the final frames of these screens, golden waves appeared most frequently, followed by multicolored lights—essentially just a few variations repeated—but the speed at which the screens vanished was increasing.

By the time the last frame was engulfed in purple-black flames, the entire office had fallen into complete silence.

Only the sound of King Dong's finger tapping remained. His expression was calm, making it impossible to tell if he was happy or angry.

“So this is your plan?”

“It really has caused me a massive loss.”

The tapping of his fingers finally stopped, and he pulled a crystal-clear stone from his robes.

King Dong looked at the stone and fell into deep thought.

All of this had happened just as Zhou Yan disappeared.

Originally, King Dong and that earthy-yellow figure were waiting for the opportunity the other had mentioned to arrive.

Then, he received an emergency notice from the Truth Cult, demanding that all combat forces at the Soul Transformation stage and above head to the Desire Realm as quickly as possible.

If necessary, they were to abandon research data, resources, and territory to ensure their safety as much as possible.

At the same time this order was issued, as the leader of the School of Life, he quickly received a flood of messages from within the school.

This sudden alarm undoubtedly threw the School of Life, which was already prepared to stir up trouble, into complete disarray.

They all came to ask him, their leader, what was happening. But before he could reply to them one by one, a Soul Transformation expert fell on the spot, and even their Golden Leaf could not be recovered.

His alertness as a merchant made him realize what was happening in an instant. He directly abandoned all his assets in the city and used a special item to return to the Desire Realm.

Only after he returned did he begin to reply and notify the people of the School of Life.

However, the response was already a bit late. Anyone with half a brain had seen their colleagues' signals rapidly vanishing and had already fled.

As for the slow or foolish ones, they could no longer be contacted.

It was only when he urgently deployed special equipment used for monitoring them that he learned what had actually happened.

The School of Life... no, it wasn't just the School of Life, but the entire Truth Cult that had been struck by unknown powerful experts.

This was an utterly absurd situation. As a current first-rate power, the Truth Cult even showed signs of returning to its former status as a top-tier power after its pre-integration.

For such a massive organization to be suddenly attacked without the high-level leadership resisting—instead fleeing to the Desire Realm and only notifying the mid-to-high levels after they had all escaped—was simply disgraceful.

However, he soon understood the origin of these experts. All of them were there because that idiot Ma Hao had suddenly attacked the Three Sects' forces in the Eastern Extreme.

After the Secret Realm ended, right in front of the Three Sects' leading Elders, he had killed one of their Saints on the spot and injured the best of their younger generation.

In their fury, the Three Sects had organized a temporary task force and launched a lightning strike against all Truth Cult faction strongholds, including the School of Life.

There was no telling how many Soul Transformation experts died. Although the Eastern Domain was never short on people, after this incident, it truly was.

To think that he had pocketed two Golden Leaves only to end up with this result. After this sudden attack, only eight Soul Transformation experts remained in the School of Life.

With only eight people, could it even be called a school anymore?

Might as well call it a club!

Soon, however, the previously crystal-clear stone began to glow.

“Don't be so nervous, my friend.”

A familiar voice came from the rock; it was the same earthy-yellow figure who had spoken with King Dong previously.

His reflection surfaced within the rock, and the rock's light pulsed as if breathing; for every word he spoke, the light provided a different feedback.

King Dong just watched him quietly, not saying a word.

“Alright, alright, I admit I didn't tell you in advance, which might have caused you a bit of a tragic loss, but you have to look on the bright side.”

“With this purge, when the Truth Cult takes back the territory later, you'll be able to claim a much larger share.”

“Not to mention that resources in the Eastern Domain were already tight. Now that there are so many fewer people, the resources will be more abundant, won't they?”

Seeing that King Dong still hadn't reacted, the figure continued his persuasion.

“I'm truly afraid of you now. Weren't you a pretty cheerful person before? Why can't you crack a smile?”

“Even though many of your people died, you still have me. My plan can completely compensate for your shortage of manpower.”

“Remember Taiyi City, which I asked you to look after? Because they had no high-end combat power and no direct connection to the Truth Cult, they still maintain their own territory and order.”

“But nominally, they still belong to the Truth Cult, to the School of Life.”

“They can now be considered one of the only Truth Cult forces that can stand openly in the Eastern Domain, and they are in your hands.”

“As long as you absorb them, your influence will naturally increase significantly.”

Only then did King Dong show a smile, his tone becoming amiable, though his gaze remained icy, with something seemingly hidden in his eyes.

“According to what you're saying, I should even thank you?”

In a place where the earthy-yellow figure couldn't see, King Dong silently pressed a button.

“Of course you should thank me, King Dong.”

The earthy-yellow figure didn't notice a thing, still trying to demonstrate how excellent he was.

“You know, if everyone is strong, it's the same as no one being strong. If everyone is weak, it's naturally the same as no one being weak.”

“You aren't truly part of the high-level leadership, so you don't need to worry about the future of the Truth Cult. You only need to care about your own prospects.”

“Now that everyone has suffered heavy losses, nothing has changed for you.”

“As long as you can bring Taiyi City under your command, your influence will increase by a large margin. It's not impossible to take another step up.”

“In fact, because the Truth Cult's personnel have plummeted, the original promise that a Soul Transformation expert could be crowned as a King can finally be realized from an empty dream.”

“The Truth Cult is currently desperate for people. With the addition of such a strategically significant large city that possesses Divine Rank power itself, the Council will agree to crowning a King.”

“You'll likely soon see your other colleagues starting to recommend large numbers of unworthy people for Kingship as well.”

“I believe that by using this condition and spending some resources, you can easily take over Taiyi City.”

“As long as you... Fuck! What did you do! You betrayed me!”

The coldness in King Dong's eyes finally became fully apparent, but his smile also became more genuine and intense.

“Mr. Kun Gou, betraying you is only human nature, is it not? I thought you would have been used to it by now.”