Chapter 2491

The experiment carries risk, so Su Xiao spent 1,492 battle merits to exchange for five one-star titles, embedding them in the secondary title slots of the Refining Disc, not embedding a main title, and began refining.

【Pay five soul coins to proceed with this title refining?】

Seeing this prompt, Su Xiao chose to begin refining; he had already tested this before—refining while embedding a one-star main title required spending ten soul coins, and the fuel title prices are as follows.

Refining a one-star main title costs ten soul coins, two-star twenty, three-star fifty, four-star one hundred, five-star two hundred.

With no main title, refining began, soul coin consumption halved, refining speed faster than Su Xiao imagined, completed in under two minutes.

【You obtained 'Titleless Title (★★)'.】

This is a two-star title with no attributes whatsoever, no wear value, but it can be used for title refining, making the main title's enhancement direction purer.

Checking remaining battle merits, Su Xiao began bulk-exchanging one-star and two-star titles; producing many 'Titleless Titles' is very useful—such preferential treatment at the Title Shop may not happen again in the future.

Ultimately, Su Xiao spent his remaining 36,238 battle merits plus 170 soul coins to obtain twelve 【Titleless Titles (★★★)】, each produced through repeated refining.

The limited number of titles in the Title Shop causes the cost of obtaining three-star titles to rise increasingly; these 【Titleless Titles】 are temporarily kept for future title refining.

Battle merits left: 129 points. Su Xiao does not believe attacking Sha Du will yield battle merits; on the contrary, attacking Sha Du may cause the Title Shop to be forcibly closed—this is the reward mechanism tied to battle merits.

Though attacking Sha Du seems mad and soldiers would never obey orders, in fact it is not so; if Su Xiao's guess is correct, Sha Du has only two outcomes: either rule the world, or become a hell on earth.

The 220,000 beast cavalry marched mightily; the black dragon Midees, carrying Su Xiao in flight, occasionally roared; Su Xiao had already promised it freedom within seven days at most.

The black dragon Midees possesses intelligence not inferior to humans; Su Xiao's words could make it overjoyed—it not only gains strength but is about to gain freedom; thinking of this, the black dragon Midees flies with greater effort, though it recently took over ten ballista bolts, each piercing its body, but this no longer matters.

Meanwhile, in the sleeping chambers of Luo Sai Palace in Sha Du.

A breeze stirred the sheer curtains; the Sha Emperor stood before several stone pillars, gazing down upon Sha Du; his complexion was no longer pale, he wore loose white robes, appearing like a naive youth unaware of worldly affairs, yet in truth he firmly held the Sha Yan Kingdom in his grasp.

"Kukulin, why must you use the Frontier Army for private affairs, letting the Holy Soulers handle those matters—wouldn't that be better?"

The Sha Emperor murmured to himself, finally sighing.

"Your seat has already been prepared for you; calculate the time—you should be returning soon; the military authority of Sha Yan belongs to you."

The Sha Emperor spoke these words with a smile, though he harbored some dissatisfaction: first, because Su Xiao signed a truce with the Peruvian King, a serious overreach; second, because Su Xiao used his subordinates' troops for private affairs.

Compared to Su Xiao's other actions, these two points the Sha Emperor pretends not to know about; Su Xiao has reclaimed vast territories and intimidated the Peruvian Kingdom.

In terms of actual power, Su Xiao is one of the four most powerful figures in the Sha Yan Kingdom; if the Sha Emperor's plan succeeds, the new power structure will be: the Sha Emperor as true sovereign, Su Xiao controlling all military authority of Sha Yan, Uno managing finance and official assignments, forming a new power triangle.

Creak~

The door of the sleeping chamber was pushed open; a figure entered and quickly hid in the shadows—it was Chisha.

"Have Chancellor Carolos and Queen Camela been dealt with?"

"They were executed this morning; Carolos's corpse was buried by personnel sent by Lord Uno."

"Huh?"

The Sha Emperor furrowed his brows, his gaze revealing contempt mixed with disdain.

"He hasn't changed; the remains of the last-generation Pernel family queen—his doing—make people nauseous."

The Sha Emperor sat cross-legged on the ground, but soon he recalled something.

"Where is Camela buried? Uno that scoundrel—surely not..."

The Sha Emperor's words trailed off suddenly; he heard footsteps in the secret passage—only Uno knows of this passage.

The secret door of the sleeping chamber was pushed open; Grand Sacrificer Uno emerged from within, behind him a figure clad in black robes, whose build seemed odd, as if something surged beneath the robes.

"Who goes there!"

The Sha Emperor shouted loudly; then, silence fell outside the sleeping chamber.

"Little one, are you looking for your guards? They… are quite tasty."

An ethereal female voice came from behind Uno; the black-robed figure extended a hand—the front half very pale, with some black, pointed nails; the back half of the arm had black skin, with subcutaneous flesh twitching slightly.

The black hood was lifted, revealing Carolos's face—her face unchanged, but her eyes altered: pupils pitch black, irises gold-red.

Most striking was Carolos's neck, bearing multiple lipless mouths full of sharp teeth, scattered irregularly; combined with her visage, they evoke a sense of eerie beauty.

"Chisha, you, betrayed me?"

The Sha Emperor spoke calmly, gazing into the shadows; just moments ago, he believed victory was certain.

"Chisha died this morning; to kill him, I stayed by your side for many years, finally finding his weakness."

A figure stepped out from behind the curtain; seeing this, the Sha Emperor froze momentarily—before him stood the supposedly dead Queen Camela.

Queen Camela's tone was flat, as if speaking meaningless nonsense, but she was stalling for time.

"Wail, beg for mercy—just as our mother did before she died."

Now half-monster, Carolos spoke; her hand shot out, seizing Uno's 'vital point'.

Pfft—

As if something was crushed, Uno's eyes widened, his body trembled.

"Ah!!"

A hysterical scream rang out; Carolos's head leaned against Uno's cheek.

"After my mother died, you still insult her—you truly deserve to die."

Pfft!

Carolos's hand gripped, tearing Uno apart from the center; his corpse fell left and right.

As Chancellor, Carolos had always drawn the Sha Emperor and Uno's attention; she worked with Uno, who had always led her by the nose.

Carolos disguised herself as what the Sha Emperor most wanted to see—an ambitious, capable ruler; Sha Yan needed such a person; she continually exposed her weaknesses, making the Sha Emperor feel she remained controllable—and indeed she was; the Sha Emperor could always remove Carolos.

According to Carolos's plan, she must 'fail'—or rather, she intended to 'fail'; only by her 'dying' would the Sha Emperor and Uno lower their guard—this is the essence of her scheme: find life in death.

Carolos's sister, Queen Camela, only had one task: find Chisha's weakness; only by eliminating Chisha could the Sha Emperor be killed; to this end, Camela used her innate ability to hypnotize herself, making herself utterly devoted to loving the Sha Emperor.

Pretense always has flaws, so Camela chose to genuinely love the Sha Emperor; she even sealed part of her memories, making her subjective consciousness view the Sha Emperor not as an enemy, but as her most important person; for the Sha Emperor, she would not hesitate to betray her own sister.

Through the Holy Soulers' means, the Sha Emperor learned of Camela's attitude toward him while she was half-asleep; at the time, he felt it both laughable and astonishing, but soon realized this woman's method of disposing of Chancellor Carolos was excellent—preventing Carolos from losing control.

The Sha Emperor needed Carolos, for the threat from Peru was great; but once the Peruvian threat was eliminated, he would immediately send people to eliminate Carolos.

Carolus worked with Uno, while Camilla lurked near the Sand Emperor, inside and out, these two sisters had long planned all of this.

"You should have died."

The Sand Emperor narrowed his eyes; he could confirm that he had already dealt with these two sisters this morning.

"Yes, we truly 'died' this morning—I was slain by my sister, my sister was silenced by the Red Sand, everything proceeded according to your plan, we truly could not match you."

Carolus slowly walked toward the Sand Emperor; the Sand Emperor showed no fear, slightly lifting his chin.

"You are disappointed—we have come back to life. The God of Lush Growth represents rebirth; I devoured the God of Lush Growth, my sister devoured the Goddess, so we have been reborn, standing before you."

Carolus placed her hand on the Sand Emperor's head; compared to her hand, the Sand Emperor's skull was the size of an apple—not that the Sand Emperor had shrunk, but the current Carolus stands over three meters tall, her upper body still human, while inside her black robe's lower half writhes with 'things'.

"You are too arrogant, descendant of the false king—had you fled just now, the soul seal in the inner chamber would have restrained me, I could not have harmed you at all, so my sister and I have been chatting with you for so long."

Hearing this, the Sand Emperor's expression turned somewhat ferocious; he merely wished to lose with dignity. As for the soul seal, he seemed to recall his father mentioning it—something capable of briefly suppressing the Devouring Divine Spirits clan—but unfortunately, he is now seized by Carolus, unable to escape.

Carolus leaned her head toward the Sand Emperor's ear, her thin lips parting, and spoke beside his ear:

"Do you know? I am actually called… Peniel·Aliya. Afraid of your suspicion, the name Aliya—I dare not even use any of its syllables; this is the name my father gave me, my actions no longer worthy of it, so… now I am called Peniel·Carolus."

After Carolus finished speaking, an inscription inside the inner chamber shattered.

Carolus knew the moment had come; she exerted force with her hand—*crack*—the Sand Emperor's skull was crushed by her grip, effortlessly, like crushing a small watermelon.

"Sister, we have succeeded, hahaha!"

Carolus, her face streaked with blood, laughed near madness—for this moment she had waited sixteen years, every minute, every second thinking only of one thing: revenge, for the Peniel family, for the true Wang Zu of the Sand Flame Kingdom, to achieve this she did not hesitate to strip her sister's face, give her sister a beautiful visage, personally deliver her sister to the enemy's side, letting her share bed and pillow with the foe.

"Sister, as long as we eliminate that fellow on the front lines, the glory of the Peniel family will once again shine upon Sand Flame; before his death, we should thank him—without his attack on Peru, we would not have succeeded, thanks to him for helping us find the God of Lush Growth."

Carolus slowly bent down; her sister Camilla climbed onto her back, the two sisters' heads leaning against each other.

A gentle breeze brushed the curtain; the inner chamber regained silence, the two sisters of the Peniel family closed their eyes, enjoying the sweet fruits of victory; nearby lay two corpses—one was the Grand Priest Uno, the other the Sand Emperor.

In this contest, the victors are the sisters of the Peniel family; as for whether they can ultimately prevail, that is hard to judge—for in their view, Su Xiao is merely a Grand Marshal with some strength, far inferior to them who have devoured two divine spirits and whose bloodline has fully awakened.

The sisters of the Peniel family do not yet know that they need not seek Su Xiao—Su Xiao is already marching toward the Sand Capital.

ps: (I was stuck for hours, today two chapters, crouching, head in hands, awaiting a kick.)