Wrath floated above the sky, looking down at Tong Ruobing in the forest. She knew she was late and someone had killed the defector. The air around her twisted as she tried to reign in her anger. It was one thing to have no hope, but the despair or disappointment is even worse once it's crushed right before her.
She landed on the floor, calling out her sword. Her actions immediately alerted Tong Ruobing, and she became on guard. Feeling a sense of dread, Tong Ruobing immediately activated her Proving Dao Artifact, creating a pink crystal on her forehead.
"Who are you?" asked Tong Ruobing; however, she received no answer.
[Heaven Eradicating Stab]
A dark red sword energy flew from Wrath's sword to swallow Tong Ruobing, so she used Defensive Talismans and Redirecting Talisman to deflect the attack to its enemy.
Her tactic failed miserably as the Redirecting Talisman broke apart under the sheer power of the sword. Meanwhile, her Defensive Talismans barely blocked the attack by forcing her dozens of steps behind.
"You're a devil!" Tong Ruobing's surprise came from Wrath having no physical traits of any devil subspecies. Even her bloodline did not give away her identity; she only discovered it because of the innate maliciousness devil contained deep in their souls due to their ability to absorb negative karma.
"No, you're more like a human with a devil bloodline," commented Tong Ruobing.
"Does that matter?"
[Heaven Killing Slash]
The surroundings turned dark red with a swing of Wrath's swords; cries of agony could be heard as if the Heavens roared in pain because of that sword.
Tong Ruobing acted swiftly to use Teleportation Talisman for short-distance space travel to evade the sword. She discovered [Kings] could teleport short distances when they engaged in battle. Regrettably, her attempt failed.
"A sword that kills the Heaven must be mighty and encompassing. So, how could you evade?" said Wrath with a sneer.
After being hit by that slash, Tong Ruobing felt every atom of her body was about to sever. Her defensive capabilities were like a mortal child fighting a Body Refining Stage Cultivator. Immediately, she activated her trump card, one of her best talismans: The Reality-Illusion Conversion Talisman.
She converted many of the attack's potency and injuries into an illusion to save herself.
"Wh-Who are you? And what do you want?" asked Tong Ruobing, lying on the ground missing her left arm, the right side of her brain, and many holes in her body. She knew she would have perished if the opponent did not control their strength.
"The Myriad Emperor World is truly experiencing a resurgence," sighed Wrath after detecting Tong Ruobing's Immortal Veneral 3-Leaf strength. What's more, the latter still had more potential.
Besides her, only three of the other sins had Immortal Venerable Strength, but they were only in 1 to 2 leaf and had to rely on treasures and secret techniques to reach higher strength. However, this number should have been much higher, given who and how they were trained.
Wrath looked at Tong Ruobing, "You should thank your luck." She then flew away; she controlled herself despite her emotions. She knew she could not start killing these Heaven Chosens–otherwise, the plan would be ruined.
After returning to her castle, Wrath headed directly to one of the rooms where a red sword floated above a dark red blood pool. A mysterious aura came from different locations to enter the sword.
'My 9-Leaf Strength is not enough. I need to reach the Dao Ancestor level of power, and this is my only chance.' She squinted at the sword before leaving.
Sloth Territory:
The group had finished subduing Fang Lijuan's troops and was camping when Wang Wei sensed something.
"What is it?"
"I think something happened to Fang Lijuan," he replied.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know since I cannot calculate Heaven's Secrets in this place. But I sense a shift in the River of Fate; her Heavenly Luck was stripped from her because of her betrayal, so something bad definitely happened to her–she might even die."
"I say good riddance," stated Yan Liling.
"If it's true, I would be sad," said Li Jun, shaking his head.
"And why is that?"
"She is technically the first real opponent I've ever had in my cultivation journey. I don't know. Somehow, I feel sad knowing she was dead."
"I could understand you feeling that way–if she did not become a traitor."
Li Jun shook his head and did not explain. He disdained Fang Lijuan's actions despite understanding she did it out of fear of death. Nevertheless, he still felt nostalgic for some reason.
"Hmmm?" muttered Wang Wei as he looked in one direction, garnering the group's attention. Soon, they sensed the same thing as him as someone approached them.
"Wife?" he said.
"Surprised?" said Wu Hong with a smile.
"I am. I thought you didn't want to come."
"I only said that to surprise you later on."
"Well, that was a great surprise," replied Wang Wei with joy written all over his face.
"I knew you would like it."
"More than like it. With you here, I can figure out the ends and out of this stupid game." With his wife by his side, he's like a tiger with wings attached to him, becoming a hundred times deadlier and more efficient as a hunter.
Bang!
Wang Wei punched straight through Wu Hong's heart, blood splashing on his clothes and the ground. Then, with a calm and indifferent gaze, he removed his bloody fist, looking at her kneeling on the floor.
"H-How did you know?"
" Every time I see her, my heart flutters, and the world seems brighter. In our more than 100,000 years spent together, this has always been the case–even if I slept next to her and lay eyes on her in the morning, this has never changed until today."
There are a few other reasons Wang Wei knew she was fake; he did not sense their fate connection, Wu Hong would not have easily changed her mind after saying she would not interfere, and if she wanted to surprise him with her personality, she would have appeared out of nowhere to see his flustered reaction.
However, the sensation he felt after laying eyes on her was the first thing he noticed that made him think something was wrong.
"Only because of this?" Lust could not believe her plan failed because of such a stupid reason.
"Yes."
"What if you were wrong?"
"Then I would be wrong," replied Wang Wei. If he were wrong, Wu Hong would only ask him why he attacked her before beating him until his mother could not recognize him.
"Y-You're a ruthless man. You did not hesitate in the slightest," said Lust, with blood dripping from her mouth.
"If the role were reversed, I guarantee you she would also not hesitate."
"This is not over, Wang Wei. I will have the last laugh," said Lust before disappearing, still with Wu Hong's visage. Wang Wei was not surprised as he detected she was a clone or projection after attacking her. He sneered as he followed the Karma Connection he had just made to a place far in the distance.
The real Lust opened her eyes a thousand meters away and coughed a big mouthful of blood. Immediately, she sensed her aura drastically decreasing.
'Damnit, the attack traced back to my main body.' She was careful and used a clone; she even used this secret technique that allowed the clone to hide its [Existence], intending to make it more difficult to detect it was an imitation and trace it back to her. Unfortunately, she underestimated Wang Wei's capabilities; to be precise, even if she overestimated his ability for this plan, it was not nearly enough.
"I don't have much time left," she concluded after analyzing her condition. She hurriedly activated her Alliance Authority to return to Sloth Castle before teleporting to her territory.
After returning home, she immediately took out a Chaos Treasure. After passing the trial, each of the Seven Deadly Sins received one. She did not hesitate to sacrifice and ruin the treasure to heal her injury. However, Wang Wei's Nine Stage Duyi Realm was a nightmare, so she could barely stabilize her injury.
"Danmit, do I have to ask Wrath for help?" Lust pondered with gritted teeth, "No, there is another way: Di Tian."
She is a Lust Devil; after passing the trial, she also inherited the Lust Dao. Her bloodline with the Dao granted her immense power and two special abilities. The first one is to turn into a perfect physical replica of what a person loved the most; it could be their friends, family, lovers, or child. Although this technique was not flawless, she used other methods to enhance its capabilities.
The second ability is she could inherit a person's strength or power after sleeping with them. So, she planned to steal Wang Wei's power once she fulfilled this condition.
'As long as I get his power, I can heal myself and even have my revenge.'
After thinking for a moment, Lust prepared. She had to worry, but she also was not sloppy. She found a way to hide her injuries and prevent Di Tian from detecting something. Unfortunately, she was too weak to create another clone and had to take the risk.
Once the preparations finished, he headed to his destination.
