Chapter 2648: Tribute

Zu An was startled.

I’ll lose a tenth of my life force if I kill an assassin, and ten assassins placed the Mark of Annihilation on me earlier. Won’t I be dead if I kill all of them?

The abilities of the path of annihilation were downright underhanded. It was fortunate he was learning about them here, or else it would have been worse if he had been caught off guard by a stronger enemy in Dreamland.

Two black figures suddenly flanked him and attacked his vitals. These people were the most elite assassins of this world—they understood their craft and knew how to efficiently kill or incapacitate their target.

Zu An’s expression darkened. He raised his hand and struck the two assassins. The two assassins didn’t have time to react before they collapsed to the ground, dead.

He wasn’t so dumb as to blindly trust the enemy’s words; it would be wiser for him to verify the facts himself.

Soon, however, he felt two-tenths of his life force seeping away.

Zhao Yuan wasn’t lying about the Mark of Annihilation’s ability.

The way Zu An effortlessly dispatched the three elite assassins sent a shiver down the spines of the rest. There was a vast disparity in their fighting prowess. Even when buffed by annihilation power, they were still no match for him.

So, they opted for long-range attacks instead, but these tools couldn’t hope to hurt Zu An. He neutralized them with ease, too.

“How can you be so powerful despite having lost half your strength?” Zhao Yuan roared angrily.

He couldn’t make sense of the situation. He'd thought that their annihilation power buff, their numerical superiority, and the Mark of Annihilation debuff were enough for them to rival Zu An. It should have been an easy victory for them.

So why is he still making quick work of us?

Zu An didn’t bother answering Zhao Yuan’s question. They could have stood a better chance against him had they been in another world, but in this world, he was god.

Meanwhile, he'd figured out another function of the Mark of Annihilation—it allowed the caster to locate the target. He was traversing the void, yet the assassins could locate and launch a coordinated attack against him. It was as if they had planted a tracker on him.

He decided not to hold back anymore. He raised his hand and declared, “Void traversal is forbidden in this land.”

This wasn't soulspeak—he was rewriting the world laws with his authority as the world's master.

Zhao Yuan and the other seven assassins reappeared in midair. Their bodies were weirdly distorted, likely because they had been squeezed into small spatial cracks. They hadn’t expected to be revealed at Zu An’s command.

Initially, the crowd in Phoenix Pass had been worried when all of them suddenly disappeared. The rebels were worried about Zhao Yuan, whereas the imperial court was worried about Zu An. The Shadow Group’s elite assassins were notorious, and they wielded the fearsome annihilation power. How could they not be worried?

When they saw Zu An reappearing safe and sound, whereas the elite assassins had lost three of their comrades, the imperial forces breathed a sigh of relief.

Zu An flitted to Zhao Yuan’s side and struck his head, not giving the latter a chance to react. He couldn’t be bothered to spare Zhao Yuan’s life, knowing that the latter would remain relatively intact under the annihilation power’s protection. It would be easier to question him with his authority as the netherworld’s master.

But his body soon stiffened. He realized that the person he had just struck wasn't Zhao Yuan, but a nearby elite assassin.

The elite assassin’s eyes were popping out. He had no idea how he had suddenly gotten here when he should have been some distance away.

Zu An frowned. He glanced at Zhao Yuan.

That fellow must have used a secret art to swap places with his subordinate, turning the latter into his scapegoat.

“You are truly...” Before he could finish speaking, his eyes suddenly narrowed, and he anxiously dodged to the side.

The elite assassin he had just smacked to death abruptly exploded, and the terrifying shockwaves that ensued distorted even the surrounding space.

Zu An could have easily avoided the explosion, but he could sense how powerful the shockwaves were. If he left the explosion be, the entirety of Phoenix Pass would be destroyed, and many would lose their lives. He raised his hand and sealed off the surrounding space to limit the explosion radius, but the more he tried to restrain it, the greater the backlash he felt. It also didn’t help that the explosion was imbued with annihilation power. Evidently, this body explosion was also an ability from the path of annihilation.

Even with Zu An’s strength, the tremendous shockwave still tore through his finger webbing, and blood seeped from the corner of his lips.

Zhao Yuan’s eyes lit up. “I see the regent has much that he cares about. That simplifies things.” As the Shadow Group Master, he knew that assassins excelled not in their physical prowess, but in exploiting all factors to create the ideal conditions to assassinate their target.

Zu An’s expression turned cold. “You don’t even hesitate to sacrifice your subordinates. Many of your brethren are in the rebel army. They would have been caught in that explosion too.”

“Don’t try to drive a wedge between us. Those who pursue the path of annihilation should be prepared to die at any time. To us, death is not an end, but rather glory.” Zhao Yuan gazed down on Phoenix Pass. “It’s their fate if they get caught in our battle and die. All beings eventually have to die anyway.”

Many rebels cursed him for being so heartless as to leave them in the lurch, but Zhao Yuan was unfazed by their remarks.

Zu An sighed. “If you truly believed that death is an honor, you wouldn’t have used your subordinate as a scapegoat earlier. You don’t seem to be a devout believer of annihilation.”

Zhao Yuan looked flustered. “Don’t you dare insult me! You have no right to doubt my faith in my master!”

He took out a dagger and plunged it into his chest. “Master, I offer you my fresh blood. Please grant me power.”

The remaining elite assassins also plunged their daggers into their chests and murmured some obscure chant.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The crowd in Phoenix Pass was taken aback. They wondered if Zhao Yuan and his elite assassins were out of their mind.

But Zu An frowned. He suspected that this was a skill to offer their blood essence in exchange for a temporary burst of power.

Flames enveloped Zhao Yuan and the seven elite assassins, and their auras grew two times stronger. Black runes appeared on Zhao Yuan’s face, making him look even more creepy and deranged than before. “Regent, you may be strong, but you are ultimately mortal. The likes of you can’t hope to withstand my master’s might!”