Chapter 722: Fierce and Ruthless

Feng Tianwei’s mental fortitude and cunning naturally far surpassed Feng Hengkong’s. However, the prerequisite for psychological warfare is that the opponent does not know your true strength; otherwise, the battle is lost before it even begins. This was exactly Feng Tianwei’s situation, but he was unaware of it. Even within the Phoenix God Sect, only a handful of people knew that the Phoenix God was already dead.

“Conditions? Heh, as expected of the Phoenix Grand Sect Master. You’re truly intelligent and straightforward, much stronger than your useless son who inherited the Sect Master position. I didn't act so ruthlessly before; instead, I gave you opportunities again and again. Each time I arrived, the first thing I did was actively negotiate with your Phoenix God Sect, and the negotiation terms were clearly listed. Unfortunately, you repeatedly bit the hand that fed you!”

“And now, you are the ones proactively seeking negotiations with me.” Yun Che squinted his eyes, his mocking gaze, like a bayonet, piercing directly into Feng Hengkong. “Feng Hengkong, I truly feel sorry for those Phoenix disciples, princes, elders, and grand elders who were forced to their deaths by your sheer stupidity!!”

“You!” Feng Hengkong clenched his teeth, almost spitting blood. By this point, he could not help but sorrowfully admit that he, the dignified Phoenix Sect Master and Divine Phoenix Emperor, had been utterly defeated by Yun Che.

From day one, Yun Che had appeared as a weaker party, proposing conditions that he knew his opponents would never accept and would instead consider a joke. Then, he gradually revealed his true strength, bit by bit. With each revelation, he would propose even more unacceptable conditions, making them mistakenly believe that was the limit of his power.

He did indeed initiate negotiations and propose conditions every day. However, each time, the conditions were clearly designed to be unacceptable to them! And by the time they were forced to accept, he would propose even more outrageous terms.

His revenge was not merely about causing death and injury; it was also about making them tremble, fear, feel humiliated, and regret.

And as Yun Che wished, all these emotions were mercilessly pressed upon Feng Hengkong’s soul.

Although these events were meticulously orchestrated by Yun Che, the complete loss of dignity, the shattering of Phoenix City, the deaths of the Fourth Prince, the Fifth Elder, Feng Tianqing, and Feng Tianyu—all were a direct consequence of Feng Hengkong repeatedly refusing Yun Che's demands.

Now, facing the threat of their clan's annihilation, they were forced to proactively seek negotiations!

All the previous deaths had been in vain!

This hatred, regret, and fear had caused Feng Hengkong’s heart to convulse in pain countless times, almost shattering.

Feng Hengkong knew this was Yun Che’s cruel revenge, and it had been completely successful. At this moment, Feng Hengkong was suffering a million times more than death, filled with torment and humiliation.

In front of Yun Che, he was utterly defeated; even in terms of profound energy, he was vastly inferior. Feng Tianwei himself broke out in a cold sweat when facing Yun Che, and he, the Phoenix Sect Master, no longer had the dignified position to confront him.

“What conditions did Yun Che previously propose?” Feng Tianwei turned to Feng Hengkong and asked in a deep voice.

Feng Hengkong pressed his palm against his chest, trying his best to calm his breathing, and replied, “He demanded that we withdraw our troops within a deadline, compensate three hundred billion Profound Purple Coins, and issue a letter of apology to the Azure Cloud Nation, which must be displayed on the city wall for at least ten years. Furthermore…” Feng Hengkong gritted his teeth, “He also demanded that we cede the entire Scarlet Qiong Realm to Azure Cloud, and that Ximing abolish his profound energy and serve as a hostage in the Azure Cloud Imperial City for a full fifty years!!”

“…” Feng Tianwei’s brows furrowed deeply. Compensation, apology, ceding territory, a hostage... Each demand was an unprecedented humiliation in the Divine Phoenix Nation’s history; every condition trampled upon the five-thousand-year dignity of his Divine Phoenix.

“Grandfather, although Ximing is not exceptionally powerful, he is at least the Crown Prince of the Divine Phoenix! Even if I were to die ten thousand times, I would never endure such humiliation! Our Divine Phoenix cannot suffer this disgrace!” Feng Ximing cried out in a trembling voice. Undoubtedly, he feared that under such immense pressure, Feng Tianwei might actually agree to Yun Che’s terms. He was originally the Divine Phoenix Crown Prince, but if his profound energy were truly abolished and he were sent to Azure Cloud Imperial City, then for the next fifty years, every moment would be spent in unimaginable humiliation.

Even if he managed to return alive to the Divine Phoenix after fifty years, as a disabled man, he could not possibly remain the Crown Prince. People would only see him and remember the humiliating history pinned to his back.

“Yun Che, if these are indeed the conditions you’ve proposed…” Feng Tianwei’s eyebrows slanted into a ‘V’ shape. “Do you truly believe there’s any possibility of my Phoenix God Sect agreeing to them?!!”

“Oh, no, no, not at all.” Just as the aura of pressure and anger Feng Tianwei had secretly gathered was about to unleash, Yun Che’s smiling denial reached his ears, causing him to momentarily falter. Contrary to Feng Tianwei’s stern face, Yun Che’s expression was one of complete ease. “Those were merely yesterday’s conditions. Your son should know very well that today’s conditions could not possibly be the same as yesterday’s!”

“Hiss…” Feng Hengkong’s lips trembled. The memories of the past three days, like a heavy nightmare, swirled in his mind—each one more terrifying than the last, accumulating pain, resentment, roars, regret, and humiliation.

Recalling Yun Che from the first day, he seemed as benevolent as the reincarnation of the most compassionate living Buddha in legends.

“What do you mean?” Feng Tianwei’s brow furrowed even deeper.

“Imperial Father…” Feng Hengkong opened his mouth, but for a long time, no sound came out. Finally, he raised a finger, condensing the memory fragments of those days with profound energy and transmitting them into Feng Tianwei’s mind.

Immediately, everything Feng Hengkong had experienced while facing Yun Che during those days was clearly and completely laid out in Feng Tianwei’s mind. His expression remained unchanged, but his eyes showed a violent tremor.

He was not shocked by Yun Che’s cunning, but by his schemes and methods, which were more heart-killing than a demon’s and more venomous than a viper’s.

His age... Was he really only twenty-two years old?!

“Heh heh, Grand Sect Master, there’s no need to be nervous. Although I, Yun Che, am no saint, I believe I’ve shown the greatest benevolence of my life towards your Phoenix God Sect!” Yun Che said with a faint smile. His words would have been considered a joke by anyone in the Phoenix God Sect, but only he knew that he spoke without exaggeration. “The opportunities were wasted by your own arrogance and stupidity; you cannot blame anyone else. However, since the Grand Sect Master has personally appeared and taken the initiative to retreat, as a junior, I naturally must show some deference. So, compared to yesterday, I will only make three minor changes today.”

Having read the memory fragments transmitted by Feng Hengkong, Feng Tianwei now thoroughly understood that Yun Che was more than just difficult to deal with; he was practically negotiating with a true demon. He tilted his head slightly and spoke calmly, “Tell me, which three points?”

“First, the compensation fee will be changed to fifty billion Profound Purple Coins! It must be delivered to the Azure Cloud Imperial Family within thirty days, not a single coin less!!”

“Fi... fifty billion!” The Phoenix elders, who couldn't even accept Yun Che’s initial demand of ten billion, all had twitching faces. Feng Ximing gritted his teeth and growled, “Yun Che, don’t you dare daydream!”

“…You may continue,” Feng Tianwei said in a low voice.

“As for the second point…” Yun Che’s gaze swept over Feng Ximing, making him tense up. “Yesterday, I proposed that your Divine Phoenix Crown Prince visit my Azure Cloud Imperial Family as a guest. I never imagined that the esteemed Crown Prince would be so terrified he’d wet himself. It’s truly pitiful to watch. If he were to suffer a mental breakdown and go mad after arriving at my Azure Cloud Imperial City, that would be quite unfortunate.”

“Yun Che, you!!” Feng Ximing’s face turned ashen, wishing he could tear Yun Che to shreds with his bare teeth.

“Therefore, it’s probably better if this Divine Phoenix Crown Prince doesn’t set foot on my Azure Cloud land. But there must be someone to serve as a guest in my Azure Cloud Imperial City…” As everyone watched in trepidation, Yun Che’s gaze fell upon Feng Hengkong. “Then the current Phoenix Sect Master shall take his place.”

“Abolish all of Feng Hengkong’s profound energy, return with me to Azure Cloud Imperial City, and kneel before my Imperial Father Cang Wanhe’s tomb for one hundred years!”

“Not a single day less!!”

Yun Che’s words were undoubtedly a thunderbolt in the hearts of everyone in the Phoenix God Sect, making all their faces change drastically, their chests nearly bursting with rage. Even Feng Tianwei’s ten fingers let out a loud sound, like metal cracking, as if his bones were dislocating.

Before they could even roar in anger, Yun Che’s voice continued, “Third, for the next two hundred years, starting this year, your Divine Phoenix Empire will annually pay tribute to my Azure Cloud Imperial Family: at least one billion Profound Purple Coins, thirty thousand catties of purple crystal, five hundred thousand catties of profound iron and profound stones, five thousand weapons forged with Phoenix flame, and five thousand sets of armor forged with Phoenix flame!”

“And every ten years, the quantity will increase by twenty percent.”

“No less, only more!!”

No matter how many millennia of mental fortitude and self-restraint Feng Tianwei possessed, at this moment, he wished he could point at Yun Che’s nose and unleash a torrent of curses.

Everyone in the Phoenix God Sect had faces that had turned ghastly, looking worse than if they had swallowed fifty thousand kilograms of dog excrement. Even though Feng Tianwei used all his strength to suppress his rage, his voice could no longer remain calm; instead, it trembled violently. “Yun… Che! I made a concession to you because you saved Xue’er, but don’t… don’t go too far…”

He simply couldn’t find any words strong enough to describe his current emotions. The phrase “going too far” couldn’t even express a fraction of his fury towards Yun Che!

“Going too far?” Yun Che’s eyebrows lowered, and his smile turned utterly cold. “Fifty million lives in my Azure Cloud Nation perished because of you! Countless people were displaced, cast into hell... These, let alone a mere fifty billion Profound Purple Coins, even five hundred billion, or fifty trillion, couldn’t bring back a single life!!”

“Is a fifty-billion compensation even slightly excessive?!!”

“The former Emperor of Azure Cloud, Cang Wanhe—my Imperial Father and Cang Yue’s father—always held your Divine Phoenix in the highest regard, never harboring any enmity or even disrespect. Yet you brutally killed him... As an emperor of a nation myself, my Imperial Father was cruelly murdered by you, and Feng Hengkong, who deserves death ten thousand times over, I haven’t even demanded his life. I’ve only asked him to atone for a mere hundred years. Is that even slightly excessive?!!”

“Since the founding of my Azure Cloud Nation a thousand years ago, we have paid tribute to your Divine Phoenix Empire for generations, for a full millennium, without a single year’s lapse! Now you Divine Phoenix have trampled my Azure Cloud to this extent, and I’m merely asking you to pay tribute to my Azure Cloud for a mere two hundred years... Where is there any excess in that!?”

“Feng Tianwei, why don’t you explain to me: am I truly bullying your Divine Phoenix too much, or has your Divine Phoenix been bullying my Azure Cloud too much?!!”

As his final words fell, Yun Che’s voice resonated with such force that dust swirled throughout Phoenix City, deafening and shaking their souls.

“Yun Che, you don’t need to engage in a battle of wits with me.” Feng Tianwei’s gaze was stern, veins bulging on his forehead. “My Divine Phoenix can pay the fifty billion Profound Purple Coins in compensation to the Azure Cloud Imperial Family, not a single coin less. We can even cede the Scarlet Qiong Realm to your Azure Cloud! But this is the absolute bottom line my Divine Phoenix can tolerate. As for the rest…”

“You don’t need to waste your breath with such useless talk,” Yun Che scoffed mercilessly. “You only need to tell me whether you agree or not. You have no right to bargain.”

“Not at all!!”

Yun Che’s words struck like thunder, leaving no room for negotiation.

“Grand Sect Master, neither our Divine Phoenix Empire nor the Phoenix God Sect can possibly endure such humiliation and trampling!” cried the Fourth Phoenix Elder.

“We are protected by the Phoenix God! If he truly intends to destroy Phoenix City now, the Phoenix God will surely appear. Every word this beast utters is nothing but a daydream!!”

“Yun Che, prepare to face the Phoenix God’s retribution and wrath!!”

“Silence, all of you!” Feng Tianwei abruptly waved his hand, generating a surge of air that burst forth. In the minds of the Phoenix elders and disciples, the Phoenix God was still alive, so despite their extreme anger, they remained confident due to the perceived presence of the “Ancestral Phoenix God.” However, the immense psychological pressure on Feng Tianwei, Feng Hengkong, and Feng Ximing was undoubtedly tens of millions of times greater than theirs.

Only they knew that what they faced now was very likely a true cataclysm.

If it truly came to that, the destruction of Phoenix City would only be the beginning; the chain reaction triggered by the revelation of the Phoenix God’s death would be the most terrifying.

Therefore, no matter what, they absolutely could not allow Yun Che to unleash his destructive domain.

But how could they possibly agree to the conditions he proposed?!

“Very well, truly excellent.” Feng Tianwei glared at Yun Che, his body trembling slightly. At this point, his only reliance was to use the “Ancestral Phoenix God” to intimidate Yun Che. “What if I refuse!”

“Then that’s truly excellent!!” Without the slightest hesitation or disappointment, Yun Che’s face instead showed an excited expression, as if he had been hoping for Feng Tianwei to respond this way. “Then let this Phoenix City vanish from the world forever!!”

“Hahahaha!” Feng Tianwei threw his head back and burst into wild laughter. “I admit I cannot negate your flame domain. But do you truly believe your meager power can destroy Phoenix City? As I just said, although our sect’s Ancestral Phoenix God rarely appears in the mortal realm, if you dare unleash that domain, the Phoenix God will surely manifest, as the safety of Phoenix City is at stake! With the power of the Phoenix God, in just an instant, this destructive domain, and you, can be utterly obliterated from this world!”

“Alright! Then I’ll unleash this destructive domain right now! Let me see what your Phoenix God Sect’s so-called Ancestral Phoenix God truly looks like!!”

Feng Tianwei never in his wildest dreams imagined that Yun Che, upon hearing him invoke the “Ancestral Phoenix God,” would show not even the slightest hint of deterrence or hesitation. Instead, his entire aura surged violently, flames erupted all over his body, and he prepared to unleash the domain directly.

“Stop… Stop it!!!!” Feng Hengkong roared with all his might, his voice hoarse and distorted. Yun Che’s action nearly scared the wits out of the three of them.

Rumble… The sound of profound energy surging echoed from above like rolling thunder. The crimson-gold domain slowly churned like a sea of lava covering the sky. The already scorching air temperature violently soared once again, and an aura like the end of days ruthlessly enveloped the entire Phoenix City.

Under Feng Hengkong’s terrified roar, Yun Che’s arm movements immediately halted. Although the destructive domain fluctuated, it was not unleashed. Yun Che lowered his gaze and sneered, “What’s wrong, Phoenix Sect Master? You have the great Phoenix God protecting you. Even if I unleashed this domain, it wouldn’t harm Phoenix City, let alone that I’d be seeking my own death. Is the Phoenix Sect Master perhaps worried about my life?”

Not just Yun Che’s voice, but his gaze and aura, all conveyed absolute certainty. At this point, Feng Tianwei finally began to vaguely sense that Yun Che seemed to know the truth about the Phoenix God’s death.

Otherwise, how could he be so decisive and calm when facing the “Ancestral Phoenix God,” who held absolute deterrence over the Four Sacred Lands?

If this were indeed the case, then he had lost his last bargaining chip against Yun Che.

“Yun Che,” Feng Tianwei closed his eyes, his voice becoming long and low. “Must you be so utterly ruthless!”

“Ruthless?” Yun Che’s cold sneer was his reply. “If I had returned just one day later, there would be no Azure Cloud Nation left on this Profound Sky Continent! Anyone in this world can utter those words to me, but only you Divine Phoenix… have no right!”

Feng Tianwei: “…”

Rumble… The inferno in the sky churned more and more violently. Hot, chaotic energy waves continuously crashed down from above, especially at the edges of the domain, where the boiling crimson-gold flames had already begun to slowly descend. Yun Che looked up, squinted his eyes, and stated in a deep voice, “This destructive domain, I’ve only used it twice in my life. Both times, they were bestowed upon your Phoenix God Sect. Feng Tianwei, you should have almost sensed it; the power I have left cannot sustain this state for too long. In at most sixty breaths, it will completely escape my control, and by then, even if I wanted to retract it, it would be impossible.”

“In other words, I can grant you at most sixty breaths of time… to choose between survival and destruction!”

The air’s heat had reached a level where an ordinary person would instantly perish upon contact, yet Feng Tianwei, Feng Hengkong, and Feng Ximing felt as if they had fallen into an ice abyss. The Phoenix elders also began to sense something was amiss, their gazes all focusing on Feng Tianwei, not daring to utter another word.

“Grandfather…” Feng Ximing looked at Feng Tianwei’s back, his face pale and bloodless. He could never have imagined that Yun Che, whom he had disregarded years ago, would, in just three years, hold the very survival of his Phoenix God Sect in his hands.

“Imperial Father…” Feng Hengkong murmured weakly, then slowly extended his right hand, his palm silently pressing against the core of his profound veins.

Just as his profound energy was about to be released, an incredibly familiar aura heavily touched his soul, making him lift his head as if struck by lightning.

Almost at the same instant, Feng Tianwei, Feng Ximing… everyone’s gaze converged on a single spot.

Yun Che’s expression also suddenly froze at this moment.

“Brother Yun… is… that… you…?”

A dream-like girl’s voice came from behind him, as soft and beautiful as a cloud, and like the gentle sigh of the wind.