108. Why aren’t you dead yet!?

  The sky was swallowed by a rolling haze, endless smoke g to the night, and eerie drumbeats suddenly echoed across the ground. Headless monsters, spiders with women's faces, and evil spirits holding nterns emerged from the shadows, ung wave after wave of relentless attacks toward Li Aozi.

  Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.

  "The Great Onmyoji, Abe Tadashige, finally couldn't resist."

  Li Aozi crouched slightly, with one hand drooping on the hilt of the greatsword, holding it like a shoulder pole. The other hand casually gripped a pitch-bck katana, showing a calm demeanor toward the attag yokai and spirits.

  Looking up, he saw a middle-aged man in a wide robe, wearing a tall hat, his face pale as paper, with his teeth painted bck. His appearance was far from fttering, with age spots c his face despite the ck of wrinkles, and a sickly stench was noticeable even from a distance.

  Abe Tadashige's triangur eyes were fixed on Li Aozi. He held a mirror in one hand and a ten-fist sword iher. From the solid muscles outlined on his body, it was clear the sword wasn’t just a ceremonial tool.

  The Great Onmyoji's strength within the Gamma tier wasn’t the stro, but he was the religious leader of Tianhuan. It wasn’t just him attag; it was as if all the Onmyoji of Tianhuan had decred war on Li Aozi.

  Abe Tadashige didn’t rush to attack. His detestable triangur eyes gleamed with ing as the army of evil spirits flooded the city like tides, transf the venue of the Kowloon Gathering into a capital of demons. He spoke slowly, his voice directly eg in Li Aozi’s mind:

  "Lord Aozi, I thought Tianhuan didn’t treat you poorly."

  Despite his middle-aged appearance, Li Aozi khat most of this man's ans had been sacrificed to a great yokai, granting him the power to and thousands of evil spirits.

  Uhe Duke of Gamos, a 【Shaman】 who accumuted turies of power, Abe Tadashige, as a 【Soul Binder】, was more focused on the mind. He wasn’t just making idle versatioeo directly influence Li Aozi’s thoughts through extraordinary psychology.

  【Abe Tadashige has cast [Mental Suggestion ? Guilt] on you, dug a [Willpower] attribute check...】

  Hearing the words, Li Aozi subsciously felt a loss of face, especially uhe watchful eyes of the crowd, with drones seemingly broadcasting the se live. It was as if the entire world was witnessing his dishoy.

  【Feat ? [Autocratic] triggered】

  【Rolling... Your main attribute [Charisma] has crushed the target.】

  【You resisted the attack.】

  Li Aozi shrugged, his expression indifferent:

  "So what? Tianhuan isn’t anything good either, discriminating against Omega Energy Awakeners while using them for human experiments."

  "It doesn’t surprise me that you spew nonsense, but this snder is truly ughable. Hasn’t aaught you to respect local s?"

  Abe Tadashige’s words carried a faint tone of disappoi and sarcasm, trying hard to provoke Li Aozi's inner guilt:

  "Because of your as, five hundred million people in my try live uhe shadow of terrorism. Isn’t that atrocious enough? It was the people of Tianhuan who supported Gnt’s independe was Tianhuan’s diplomats who boldly sheltered you and exposed Frost-Pted Republic’s evil experiments—and this is how you repay Tianhuan, Li Aozi? Even if you 't repay the favor, shouldn’t you at least show a bit of basic gratitude?"

  【[Charisma] crushes, check passed】

  【You resisted the attack.】

  "Gratitude, my ass. Anyone else say that, but not Tianhuan."

  Li Aozi spat on the ground:

  "If you want to fight, then fight. Stop talking tough, because you 't out-talk me. Besides, with a surname like yours, you're destio be heckled."

  "What a pity. I had thought we could uand each other." Abe Tadashige shook his head slightly, showing no a Li Aozi's blunt response. In fact, from the beginning, Tianhuan’s attitude toward Li Aozi had always been one of "trying to win him over."

  Install the test version.

  Tianhuan now faces internal aernal problems, with threats franizations like the Akaban Squad, while the Red Arrow Empire in the north thirsts for revehe current priority should be to capitalize on the Red Arrow Empire’s i rate hikes, seize global fn exge, unch a massive invasion of Frost-Pted Republic, secure key resources, and divert the rising domestisions.

  Li Aozi's identity was too sensitive—he was from Frost-Pted Republic, a desdant ees, a Red Arrow Empire citizen, and had business dealings with Zhengxu. Eve affair had been a task entrusted to him by Tianhuan.

  If Li Aozi wao hit back at Tianhuan, all he had to do was leak certaiails of Gnt’s independeo Frost-Pted Republic. Frost-Pted could cim that their snty was being eroded and use that as grounds for iional support, ung sans against Tianhuan.

  Tianhuan found itself in a dilemma. On one hand, they couldn’t allow Li Aozi to make a se and then leave with his reputation intact. That would be too demeaning. For one of the Four Nations, known for its military strength, even if the top brass agreed, would the people accept it?

  If they couldn’t calm the public's emotions, given the current eic situation, u could easily break out.

  So, could Li Aozi be killed?

  Not necessarily, but it would be best not to. Li Aozi was a legitimate Red Arrow Empire citizen, holding a green card. At this critical moment, Tianhuan’s focus should be on invading Frost-Pted Republiot engaging in a decisive battle with the overbearing Red Arrow Empire. Otherwise, it would only allow Zhengxu and Frost-Pted to reap the bes.

  There were quite a few tries with nuclear ons. When two giants were locked in battle, who had time to worry about small nations taking advantage of the chaos?

  The Four Nations didn’t want to bee part of the Azure Star Federation, at least not yet.

  But this logic didn’t apply to the Red Arrow Empire.

  Abe Tadashige had deliberately arrived a few minutes early because he feared that the famma-tier experts would kill Li Aozi without leaving a trace.

  Li Aozi should not be killed. They didn’t want to provoke a flict with the Empire.

  The Red Arrow Empire's goal was revenge, and for that, they didn’t care about the future of this p. Without Tianhuan, Frost-Pted, or Zhengxu, it was all the same to them.

  Abe Tadashige’s iions were clear: he wao shame Li Aozi into submission. That way, before everyone arrived, he could cim, "It was I, the Great Onmyoji, who, with my superior skills aal prowess, subdued Li Aozi and made him repent sincerely."

  That way, Li Aozi could be handed over to Red Arrow uhe pretense of "deportation," saving his life.

  Otherwise, as a mere Beta-tier, why did he think he was still alive? Was it really due to his strength? Don’t be ridiculous—famma-tiers could take him down with ease.

  But that’s politics.

  Why, despite not being the stro among the Gamma-tier, was Abe Tadashige still a top leader of Tianhuan? Politics was about retionships, skillful manipution, and fht. As long as someone wasn’t an enemy, they could be a friend.

  Logically, with Li Aozi’s intelligehere was no way he couldn’t uand the unspoken message.

  Yet Li Aozi’s firm stance left Abe Tadashige feeliremely disappointed and someuzzled.

  "I left you a way out, but you turned your bad ig. Truly a pity. I believed there could be mutual uandiween humans. I thought the boween us could trahe barriers between our two tries. Now I see that I was simply too naive."

  Abe Tadashige's words were impeccably phrased, defleg all responsibility:

  "Sihat’s the case, don’t bme me for being harsh. Disrupting the ritual, the Ring of Heaven is the eternal ruler. You’ve desecrated his ceremony, and soon, the Dragon God will deliver divine punishment."

  "Who cares about you? You’re just G7+1."

  Li Aozi sneered dismissively, his gaze sweeping over the white fg with a red ring fluttering in the distahat symbol represehe Ring of Heaveernal monarch, also Tianhuan's national fg.

  But that wasn’t the fg of the people of Tianhuan.

  "Your king and god are relics of a bygone era. But it doesn’t matter, because your people will shatter your old dreams with their own hands."

  At that moment, a system message popped up:

  【You have triggered a side quest—《The Bck Sun Rises》】

  【Type】: bat/Revolution

  【Time Limit】: 3 hours

  【Mission Difficulty】: S

  【Description】:

  Did you see sunrise?

  (Did you see the sunrise?)

  Bck sadness

  (Shining with bck sorrow)

  Tell me, tell me

  (Tell me, tell me)

  Why was it born?

  (Why was it born?)

  "The Ring of Heaven is a shackle, a dog colr around the necks of the people! The old men wage wars, the financial magnates profit handsomely, but it's the poor young men who are sent to die otlefield!"

  The bck sun rose, and revolutionaries shouted aloud, with the hills and valleys eg their call:

  "They o loake away our fate, our freedom, and our property. Let the old kings and the Dragon God kneel, for we should be the true masters of this nation!"

  "Unite, we must fight! We may lose our lives, but we will gain the freedom and happiness we have never experienced!"

  "For the sake of a new world, we shall break every shackle that binds us!"

  【pletion Requirements】:

  a. 《Last Stand》—Led by Xia Jianjing, the Akaban Squad has unched an atta Shiratori Prison. You must prevent famma-tier professionals from intervening in the suppression within a short period. Reward: Skill【Savage Stomp】;

  b. 《To the New World》—By any means, you must shake the people of Tianhuan, making them realize who their true enemy is. Reward: Progress in this realization must reach 80%, after which a random Omega-tier Omega Energy will be granted.

  FAL