Feather Venerable and Ice Venerable froze in shock, but Zhao Xing just grinned.
'Recover the divine power?' That cabin was just an ordinary reincarnation Dao soldier class. If the divine power was taken back, with his strength, Zhao Xing wouldn't even need to destroy the cabin—he could kill both of them through the walls.
"Ban Wu, don't! If you take it back now, you're killing us!"
"Ban Wu, you're definitely making this up! You're abusing your authority!"
"General Ban, Lord Ban—!"
At first, the two Carlos half-gods still acted tough, but when Ban Wu took out a gourd and aimed it at the cabin, and the words on the outside started turning into golden light and got sucked away, they completely panicked and started begging.
But Ban Wu just looked at them coldly. "Back then when you made your move, I warned you not to go so far. Then you went behind my back and launched an economic siege, forcing Great Zhou into a karmic war."
"Heaven's misfortune can be remedied. Self-inflicted misfortune—you're doomed."
After that, Ban Wu got annoyed with their noise and blocked all sound from the cabin.
As he absorbed the divine power, Ban Wu turned and looked at Zhao Xing. "Zhao Xing."
"General Ban." Zhao Xing cupped his hands. He always respected Ban Wu. Back during the Yuanhai Grand Assembly, when they tricked Ban Wu to come, Ban Wu was very magnanimous. He only imprisoned Zhao Xing for five hundred years, and even that was more like training, letting Zhao Xing learn the Five Finger Mountain from Wu Tian.
Later, when developing the Path of Annihilated Stars, Ban Wu helped more than he was required to as a partner. He even stopped the Carlos Family from using force. But when the karmic war started because of the commercial conflict, Ban Wu couldn't do much to help. After all, he wasn't alone—he had to consider many others.
"In the early years of the Desolate Domain Era, it was decided to set up a space-time defense node. Back then, the Great Emperor and several gods put protective measures in place for their key contributors so they wouldn't die in the Desolate Domain Era," Ban Wu explained. "During that special period when everyone was united against the enemy, a Carlos priest went to my master and asked him to inscribe something for his sons."
"My teacher used divine power to carve the virtues of a warrior onto a stone wall: benevolence, righteousness, trust, courage, propriety, filial piety, loyalty, and a warning against arrogance, indulgence, and decadence."
"After that, the Carlos priest built the wall into the starship's cabin and gave it to his sons."
"Once that was done, my master entered seclusion."
Zhao Xing listened quietly to this story.
Ban Wu went on, "You know how the empire works. The powerful have lots of privileges, especially families like the Carlos Family. So my master's inscription was really just a wish, not a real expectation that they'd be paragons of virtue."
"As long as they didn't go too far, the words carved with my master's essence, energy, and spirit would always protect them."
"But if they went too far, those words would slowly fade."
Zhao Xing realized something. "No wonder when I looked at that cabin, almost all the characters were faded, just the last three and Martial God's name left. So that's why."
Ban Wu nodded. "Right, but my master wouldn't care about little things. He only told me, if the divine power he left ever faded away, I was to come and take back whatever remained."
Zhao Xing nodded. The two Carlos Venerables had worn down the inscription, but that might not even break empire law. For example, if they killed some low-status cultivators, it wasn't against imperial law. With their power, even if they crossed a line, they could just pay a fine.
At the level of the Carlos Family, as long as they didn't rebel, they could basically keep thriving forever.
But the empire's law was just the basic moral bottom line. Martial God Yan Ao's standards were obviously higher than that.
Even if the empire didn't punish them, they wouldn't have Yan Ao's divine protection anymore.
"Zhao Xing, my task is done." The last traces of divine power faded. Ban Wu swallowed the gourd.
"Do whatever you want now."
"But my master asked me to give you a message."
"Please tell me, General Ban." Zhao Xing was respectful and didn't rush to act.
"My teacher said: You're very likely to reach the god realm. Don't waste your energy on things like this. Don't use cruel methods to torture them. Let them die quickly."
Zhao Xing nodded. "I'll remember that."
Ban Wu finished speaking and left without looking back.
Inside the cabin, Feather Venerable and Ice Venerable, who could still hear Ban Wu and Zhao Xing talking, were completely stunned.
"Zhao Xing might become a god? Did I hear that right?"
"Heavens, not even our father or big brother ever got that kind of praise. Martial God Yan Ao actually said Zhao Xing has a great chance?"
"If we'd known, we never would've messed with Zhao Xing—"
Feather Venerable and Ice Venerable started trembling.
If they'd known Zhao Xing would get such an evaluation, they'd never have touched the Path of Annihilated Stars.
"It's too late to say anything now! Brother, hurry, reincarnate!" Feather Venerable said to Ice Venerable. "Reincarnation is the only hope left."
"If Zhao Xing triggers the True Spirit Tribulation, it's all over."
Ice Venerable gritted his teeth and immediately pulled out his own life-bound reincarnation Dao soldier, getting ready to perform the true spirit reincarnation.
But just then, the cabin shattered, and their reincarnation technique was interrupted.
The two of them suddenly found themselves in a blazing red world.
Zhao Xing had swallowed them both, cabin and all.
He activated the Nine Marsh God Descendant's second secret art: Heaven Ruins Five Viscera.
"The five viscera form a world of their own. They can devour almost everything that isn't a true divine item and turn it into nourishment."
"But eating them? That's just dirty." Zhao Xing snorted coldly.
His blazing eyes locked onto the two of them, piercing straight into their souls.
The second innate secret art activated—World-Burning Divine Eyes, fueled by profound soul mana. This ability boosts true spirit power.
World-Burning Divine Eyes didn't kill them outright, but instead stoked the fire of their true spirits. Zhao Xing knew that if he just killed these two in the usual way, they could probably still reincarnate as true spirits, or maybe even get resurrected by the Carlos priest. If that happened, his first-stage plan wouldn't achieve the desired effect.
So Zhao Xing chose to burn out their true spirits, forcing them to face the eleventh True Spirit Tribulation. The fire from the World-Burning Divine Eyes helped, making their true spirit flames blaze even brighter, almost like they were announcing their presence to the entire dark universe.
"The True Spirit Tribulation comes from defying the lifespan laws of the universe," Zhao Xing said. "Burning your true spirit flame might very well trigger it. That's why half-gods above the fourteenth tier rarely fight at full strength—they avoid it if they can."
Zhao Xing's eyes kept pushing the true spirit flames of the two men higher and higher. Over and over, he forced their spirit power to surge.
By the seventh push, their true spirits became stronger than ever.
Zhao Xing sensed the change and immediately threw Feather Venerable and Ice Venerable out.
"Zhao Xing—y-you're ruthless…" Ice Venerable stared up in terror as the void above his head split open, and a wind from the void swept down.
"Ice Venerable's eleventh tribulation is the Wind Spirit Tribulation," Zhao Xing observed closely.
That wind appeared suddenly, as if the very origin laws of the universe descended upon Ice Venerable.
"There are tangible tribulations and intangible tribulations. The kind that violently uses primal forces to destroy lifeforms—those are tangible tribulations," Zhao Xing thought to himself. "I've never run into one myself. I should take a good look."
As for Feather Venerable? His tribulation was still brewing, but Zhao Xing trapped him with his Void Claw gift—he couldn't escape, just wait for death. That made it even more hopeless.
"Zhao Xing, listen. I can tell you a big secret—just let me live," Feather Venerable tried to send a message to Zhao Xing, suddenly calm after seeing his brother's tribulation triggered.
Zhao Xing ignored him.
Soon, another gust of void wind appeared, trapping Feather Venerable as well.
The void wind seemed to come from across endless layers, with four walls of wind closing in to form a box of wind origin. The box kept shrinking, spinning in layers, unleashing tens of thousands of types of wind to shred Ice Venerable.
"This is a tangible tribulation. Once it comes, there's no escaping. Ice Venerable can only try to resist," Zhao Xing watched each kind of wind, studying closely.
"There's yin wind from the ancient Dao layer, solar wind from the largest star of the Xuanling Star System, winds from the house sea, from the extreme ice region—"
In Zhao Xing's Shennong eyes, wind is classified not just by element, but by region too. Every wind he had personally encountered, he could remember, but now, the Wind Spirit Tribulation showed him billions of winds. Many he'd never seen before. Every one was powerful. Even spirit winds here weren't helpful for Ice Venerable—they became deadly.
"Break! Break! Break!" Ice Venerable hurled Dao soldiers without care. Some were divine items of force, but under the eleventh Wind Spirit Tribulation, even divine items were worn away quickly.
The essence of the True Spirit Tribulation is that it's tied to the original laws of the universe. Even if you can resist for a moment with divine items, you'll be trapped again right away. Unless you have an extremely powerful Dao divine weapon, which can barely withstand a True Spirit Tribulation, and even then, most can only be used once. The next time, it won't work at all, because the divine weapons made from primal materials are still part of the cosmic rules.
You might dodge for a moment, but you can't dodge forever. That's why you can only use this kind of method once. It's also why half-god resources are so precious.
"Hm? This Feather Venerable is actually pretty interesting." Zhao Xing quickly lost interest in Ice Venerable—this guy wasn't tough enough. He didn't dare face the tribulation on his own, just relied on treasures.
But his younger brother Feather Venerable drew his twin sabers.
Both Feather Venerable and Ice Venerable were martial cultivators. That's why they got those words from Martial God Yan Ao. The words weren't just protection—they were also for insight, helping improve their martial skills.
Ice Venerable's twin sabers were top-tier reincarnation Dao soldiers.
"Only life-bound Dao soldiers can be fully wielded, heart and mind as one. In tribulation, unless it's some truly monstrous treasure, ordinary divine items aren't as good as top-tier reincarnation Dao soldiers."
"Clearly, Ice Venerable trusted his twin sabers the most."
"Zhao Xing, I have a secret to tell you. Spare me," Feather Venerable actually tried to negotiate in the middle of the Wind Tribulation.
Zhao Xing glanced over. Feather Venerable was dancing inside the box, twin sabers stirring up wild winds. His movements were agile, almost like a dancer, moving lightly in the shrinking space.
His blade technique was extraordinary. His left blade focused on defense, protecting himself, while his right blade kept flashing with golden light, reaching into the origin of the wind, striking out to shatter each new type of wind.
Zhao Xing looked closely and noticed that Feather Venerable's right-hand blade was yang, while the left-hand blade was yin, creating a perfect balance across his body.
Within that balance of yin and yang, Feather Venerable placed himself at the center, and a trace of vitality began to emerge.
"Each time he swings his blades, his martial golden body gets even stronger. He's actually using the Wind Spirit Tribulation to make himself stronger."
"That's the reward for surviving a tribulation."
"Not bad at all," Zhao Xing squinted his eyes a little.
"Feather Venerable seems pretty confident about passing the eleventh True Spirit Tribulation, but all the records say his older brother is the stronger one. Looks like he's been hiding his real power all this time."
If he could still beg for his life at a time like this, he must be pretty sure he could survive.
Feather Venerable definitely realized—even if he made it through the eleventh tribulation, he couldn't defeat Zhao Xing in this Hou Transformation state.
'Even if I survive this eleventh tribulation, I still won't make it out alive. And if Zhao Xing pushes me into the twelfth True Spirit Tribulation, I'll be dead for sure.' Feather Venerable's heart was filled with dread.
During the tribulation, he had no way to warn his brother or father, not that there'd be time anyway. Who could have guessed the two brothers would be ambushed? Who would have thought the words left by Martial God Yan Ao would lose their power, and Meng Wu would show up not to save them, but to collect the divine power instead?
Maybe someone had considered it, but they'd been comfortable and in charge for too long. They didn't even bring their best divine artifacts—after all, this was just a routine assimilation mission.
But disaster always strikes when you least expect it.
Zhao Xing's overwhelming strength had put them in a desperate situation.
There was no choice left but to bow and beg.
"The laws of the universe always leave a little hope. Zhao Shennong, as a model for all Shennong, won't you spare me? If I tell you my secret, I'll immediately reincarnate. The Great Emperor has a rule for all the elder families—once a child reincarnates, they lose all protection, and all karma is wiped away. I'll never be a threat to you again!"
Feather Venerable was desperate to survive.
By now, both his and his brother's wind tribulations were slowly fading. But his brother was already gone—dissolved and scattered into the origin of the wind, drifting across the universe, never to be reformed.
Feather Venerable survived this Wind Spirit Tribulation, but Zhao Xing was still right there. That was the real danger!
"Ice Venerable's origin aura is completely gone," Zhao Xing noted as the void wind faded away. "There's nothing left, and it can't be pieced back together. If you die to the True Spirit Tribulation, there's no bringing you back, no matter how you try to reverse time. In this era, he's truly gone."
Theoretically, if some powerful God King wanted to, they could take Ice Venerable from a point in the past, bring him forward, and let him live in an earlier time. But who'd go through all the trouble of crossing layers of sealed time just to save a nobody like Ice Venerable? Besides, the Ice Venerable of the past would just be confused—'I'm alive and well, and you're telling me I'll die in the future so you want to take me away? Are you crazy?' People would just think it was some evil god nonsense.
"Feather Venerable, go ahead and speak," Zhao Xing said calmly. "Think carefully. You only get one chance. If your secret doesn't satisfy me, you'll die anyway."
"Yes." Having survived the eleventh True Spirit Tribulation, Feather Venerable's tone was extremely humble. He started flattering Zhao Xing desperately, "With your talent and power, I'm nothing. After I reincarnate, there's no way I'll ever catch up to you. I'll never be a threat."
"Enough. Just say it," Zhao Xing interrupted.
"Zhao Shennong, this secret is about the Black Abyss and the Lord of Cold Food," Feather Venerable said.
"Ever since Bowe released an avatar of the so-called Lord of Cold Food, a Black Abyss appeared near the Black Heaven Barren Land, along with many altars."
"Evil god altars, right? You call that a secret?" Zhao Xing interrupted again. "I'm close to reaching godhood. Don't you think I could have learned about that myself?"
"No, no—" Feather Venerable was sweating. "I don't mean that, of course you could know. But as someone from the Carlos Family, I know a lot of the details."
"Back then, divine-level cultivators from Origin Heaven Palace went to investigate, and later sent a lot of half-gods to monitor the barren domains. After all, if you want to hide, the barren domains are the best place."
"You surely know the big picture, but the info I have is from my own analysis."
Seeing Zhao Xing getting impatient, Feather Venerable hurried up. "Besides the Black Abyss in the Black Heaven Barren Land, which is out in the open, there are probably similar altars in other barren domains."
"In the past two years, lots of Origin Realm and Dao Domain geniuses have popped up all over the Xuanling Star Domain. I looked into their backgrounds, and they all have something in common—they entered a barren domain and then suddenly experienced massive growth."
"All this data comes from vassals controlled by the Carlos Family, or from overseas demon territories, so only I know about this theory."
Zhao Xing stared at Feather Venerable for a long moment, then took out a mirror and reflected Feather Venerable in it.
"Senior, is what he said true?"
"There's some truth to it," replied the Eight Directions Divine Mirror's spirit.
"Divine-level cultivators see things from a different angle. If they only focus on high-level power and treat these transmission building events as a short-term, high-intensity accident…"
"If the evil gods set up time-space altars not to tempt Emperors and half-gods, but instead target Origin Realm and Dao Domain cultivators, then they're playing the long game."
"If the Black Abyss altar is just a decoy out in the open, and once it's destroyed everyone thinks the crisis is over, then it's easy to overlook the real details."
Zhao Xing thought for a moment. "So, Feather Venerable actually gave me some pretty good intel."
"This contribution shouldn't be small, right? Did Feather Venerable just not have time to report it?"
The Eight Directions Divine Mirror's spirit said, "I doubt he didn't have time. He probably wanted to try it out for himself. He's got that spy mentality, thinking about being a time-space agent."
"Don't kill him yet. Take him back and interrogate him. I have a feeling you can still squeeze more info out of him. It'll help with your plan, too."
Zhao Xing nodded, grabbed Feather Venerable, and immediately cast the Desire Dream Technique, trapping him in endless illusions.
"Martial God Yan Ao told me not to torture him out of hatred, so I don't let my heart get clouded and affect my Dao Heart. But this time, I'm doing it for the safety of the whole Xuanling Star Domain, not for fun."
Zhao Xing was calm. He started heading back to imperial territory, while in the dream, he split a part of his mind off to observe Feather Venerable's repeated experiences.
When someone's trapped in a dream, their mind is at its weakest, so any secret could slip out. Plus, the soul doesn't collapse. Other interrogation methods can easily destroy the true spirit.
Zhao Xing used the Desire Dream Technique to torment Feather Venerable for a long time, but he never gave up any secrets.
Even as his true spirit was on the verge of collapse, he still resisted.
Zhao Xing was puzzled. He carefully observed hundreds of cycles and finally figured it out.
"Killing Feather Venerable is easy. Forcing information out of him? That's even harder than dealing with Fu Mengzhen."
"He's been blessed by the God of Freedom. He can be killed, but he can't be possessed or enslaved."
"It's either death, or his soul stays independent. This is a form of protection from one of the Empire's mind gods."
"The Desire Dream Technique is strong, but it's useless for prying out Feather Venerable's secrets. Looks like I'll have to take him back and strip away this protection first," Zhao Xing thought.
"But this works too. He can be a bargaining chip in the second stage against the Carlos Family."
With that, Zhao Xing took Feather Venerable straight back to the Primordial Domain.
In the seventy-fifth year before the end of the second era of the Barren Domain, the news of Ice Venerable's death and Feather Venerable's capture spread fast.
It caused a huge shockwave.
"What? Two half-gods from the Carlos Family, one dead and one captured? Who did it?"
"I heard it was Zhao Xing."
"No way, when did Zhao Xing become a half-god?"
"Why not? Zhao Shennong's mastery of techniques is incredible. Outsiders have no idea. To us Shennong, he's always been half-god level."
"Now that the Path of Annihilated Stars was sold, with his power, isn't it normal?"
"But those are half-gods from the Carlos Family! That's insane. He made so much progress in just two thousand years?"
"The Carlos Family is just unlucky. They got used to bullying people and finally ran into a brick wall."
"Oh really? How's the Carlos Family unlucky? Give me the details."
"It's a long story. When Zhao Shennong was developing the Path of Annihilated Stars, those two ambushed him and set the project back a lot."
"..."
Public opinion spread like wildfire, shocking more than half of the Xuanling Star Domain.
Since the Barren Domain Era began, with all the wars against the demon race and the pioneering war in the Tianze Star Domain, the total number of half-gods who died over two eras hadn't even reached twenty.
But now, one died all at once. The news was explosive.
The Carlos Family—especially Ice Venerable's three older brothers—were furious.
"This is outrageous. Zhao Xing actually killed Bing'er? Didn't even let him reincarnate?" A man with fiery red skin and a black crescent mark on his forehead slammed the table.
"Yeah, big brother, we have to strike back. If we don't, the Carlos Family will lose all its prestige!" The person next to him, who looked exactly the same, stood up in anger.
"Yi Ping, Yi Le, sit down." At the head of the table, a green-robed man stroked his zither and spoke calmly.
This was the first son of the Carlos High Priest—Fu Jin.
"What you want to do, I already wanted to do three hours ago," Fu Jin said quietly. "But as soon as I made a move, I got a warning from Mind God General Qi Luo."
"What?" Yi Ping and Yi Le immediately sat down.
Among the empire's higher-ups, Mind God General Qi Luo was even more famous than Yan Ao.
Martial God Yan Ao had legendary achievements and great strength, but he never cared about small squabbles between those below him.
Mind God General Qi Luo, though, was known as the empire's Divine Judge.
The Red Star Empire inherited some systems from the Five Emperors Era. The Divine Judge managed the gods—obviously a terrifying job. The Red Star Empire didn't have as many gods as the Five Emperors Era, so even half-gods with the potential for godhood were under his watch.
Below half-god, though, no one was worth his attention.
If Qi Luo gave a warning, it meant their two brothers had violated some taboo—or at least, something dirty!
"Big brother, are you saying Bing'er and the others broke a taboo?" Yi Ping and Yi Le asked cautiously.
"I'm not sure. But the ban on using force is a warning," Fu Jin said. "I heard Feather is still alive, so let's wait and see."
The Carlos Family decided to observe, but Zhao Xing's second wave of attacks had already begun.
Zhao Xing gathered his old partners: Du Yun, Tuo Sen, Yang Baihe, Black Sea Emperor of Mirage Sea Tower, Emperor Chengxing of Ziwu Divine Hall, TianMartial Emperor of Origin Heaven Palace, who owed him a favor, Chixiao Emperor he'd met on Extreme Star Island, Prince Liang Rui of Tianyou Kingdom, now king, Yushu Emperor of the Ancient Kingdom Alliance, and more. Together, they declared war on the Carlos Family.
Seventy years before the end of the second era in the Barren Domain, a new battle began—an economic siege in name, but a battle of karma in truth.
"Ji Si, put this on," Zhao Xing handed Ji Si the palm bone of the Fortune God of Xuerei, then gave him the Eight Directions Divine Mirror.
Ji Si had seen plenty of big scenes before, so he calmly accepted both items. But the next moment, he blurted out, "What the—?"
All the karmic avatars in the Hall of Mind turned to look at him.
"Lord Ji, what happened?"
"Ji Venerable, is there a problem?" Black Sea Emperor from Mirage Sea Tower quickly asked.
He had just ordered the cutoff of the Carlos Family's maritime supply from South Spirit Sea. Did he make the wrong call?
"Ji Venerable, was our pressure not strong enough?" Black Sea Emperor probed, since the first step was to cut off the Carlos Family's overseas market—an absolutely crucial move.
Most of the Carlos Family's debt was owed abroad. The reason was simple: they could borrow cheap money from overseas, so of course they would.
"No, it's not you guys—keep going," Ji Si realized he'd lost his composure and quickly put on a calm face.
No one suspected anything, so they kept moving.
But Ji Si was actually shaking with excitement.
He opened a private barrier to chat with Zhao Xing. "Grand Shennong, where did you even get stuff like this? It's... it's eye-opening!"
"Is it useful?" Zhao Xing asked.
"Too damn useful!" Ji Si couldn't help but curse.
The Xuerei Fortune God's bone instantly raised his Fortune to Derivation Thirty. The Eight Directions Divine Mirror was a Fate Officer's divine treasure.
If he'd had these two things during the last karmic war, would he have had to brush so close to death? Would he still be having nightmares every night?
He'd never fought a battle this well-equipped before!
"As long as it's useful," Zhao Xing laughed. "Just give the bone back to me after. As for the mirror, you can try to get the artifact spirit's approval."
"Alright, alright!" Ji Si was suddenly full of confidence.
As soon as the fight started, Zhao Xing's side took the upper hand.
With Feather Venerable captured alive and then handed over to Mind God General Qi Luo via Starfire Venerable's channel, the Carlos Family was now wary and timid.
Their counterattack was incredibly weak. Other than verbally protesting with the partners who broke their agreements, they barely took any real action.
This softness caused a huge problem right away.
Old noble families saw the writing on the wall. They began to hedge their bets—some tried to stay neutral, not offending the Carlos Family, but also started sending money to Zhao Xing's side.
In just five years, over half the Carlos Family's foreign businesses were cut off. Only those with official imperial backing remained. Almost all private business ground to a halt.
This left all the big trading powers with their jaws on the floor.
How did the almighty Carlos Family become so weak all of a sudden?
"Hurry, sell off all the Carlos Family debt notes!" shouted the vice-island lord of Myriad Heart Mother River, yelling in a star-mirror hall.
"Lord, it's too late—no one's buying!"
"Sell them to Zhao Xing's side! They want to attack the Carlos Family, they'll need this!" The commercial vice-island lord's voice trembled.
He could see countless karmic threads rising through the business world, about to flood the star systems of the empire.
"Lord, what price should we even ask?"
"Don't even talk about price. Sell at a loss if you have to—just get money! Go negotiate with the Great Zhou Chamber of Commerce!"
"Yes, right away!"
In the Four Seasons Palace, the Lord of Summer Palace was meeting with four other palace lords.
"Raise prices! Raise them to the damn sky! For all agricultural goods sent to Carlos-controlled star systems, raise prices by fifty times!"
"Recall all the outbound freight starships immediately!"
"Teacher, if we do that, won't we take a huge loss ourselves? What if the Carlos Family buys seeds through other channels?" someone questioned.
"Cut the nonsense, just do it. The loss will be recouped quickly. Carry out the order now!" The Summer Palace Lord roared.
When the disciples left to carry out the orders, he checked the intelligence sent by Starfire and broke into a cold sweat, but also felt deeply relieved.
"Even Five Venom Venerable is openly supporting us now. All sixteen original envoys are in on it. What cheap seeds can the Carlos Family even buy?"
"Fifty times? Give it another year and they'll have to buy at a hundred times the price!"
"Regular business bans are nothing," said the Midsummer Palace Lord. "But for cultivation seeds used by those above the Origin Realm, with regional life-source zoning, nothing in Carlos territory can survive."
"This must be the Venerable's work, right? How is it even possible to enforce such a ban from the Primordial Domain?"
Winter Palace Lord chuckled, "Don't wonder. Of course it's the Venerable's work. Don't you know, over a thousand years ago, when Five Venom was just an Emperor, he was forced out of closed-door cultivation by the Carlos Family while attacking a True Spirit Tribulation after getting profits from the Great Zhou Chamber of Commerce disciples?"
"They eventually reconciled, but everyone knows Five Venom's temper."
"He's got no family, no private power—being obstructed on his path was the ultimate grudge. No way he'd let it go."
"Exactly," Summer Palace Lord nodded. "There's never really any letting go. It's just that sometimes you have to give up because you're not strong enough."
"Now Five Venom has become a Venerable. The Carlos Family is in real trouble."
"Why is everyone shorting the Carlos Family all of a sudden? What happened?"
"Don't worry about it. If you short Carlos right now, you'll make money. Bro, quit cultivating and hurry up—borrow some money and make your move!"
"On it!"
During this karmic war, the Carlos Family was losing ground at every turn.
By the last sixtieth year of the Second Era of the Barren Domain, the Carlos Family could barely even resist, let alone fight back.
"A family that's always been so tough—once they show a bit of weakness, everyone jumps in for the kill."
"Since the empire began developing the barren domain, a ton of wealth got split up. The power structure inside is about to be reshuffled."
"The Great Emperor never spends the poor's money. You could see that from the development policies for the Ancient Path. The big powers lose money year after year. But the small and mid-sized groups? They usually make a profit."
"This time, with Great Zhou leading the charge and targeting the Carlos Family, there's only one rule," Zhao Xing explained in a partner expansion meeting. "Out of all the wealth we take from the Carlos Family, Great Zhou will only take a small share. I've already adjusted the profit-sharing according to the old Chamber of Commerce ratios."
"When the small attack the big, the harder you push, the better the result!"
"Everyone, check the new contract."
Du Yun glanced at the new dividend plan Zhao Xing distributed and was secretly shocked.
His advisors were warning him: if Great Zhou runs into any resistance, the damage would be serious. Even if they pull off the harvest, Great Zhou probably won't see much profit in the short term.
"Brother Zhao really goes hard, huh? He'd rather take a loss himself if it means bringing down the Carlos Family?"
"But only someone with this kind of guts could go up against a family with a hundred eras of business experience."
Du Yun immediately ordered his advisors, "Go, pull every liquid asset from my entire territory—forget about currency conversions or exchange rates. As long as it can make it into the empire, put it in. I'm joining Brother Zhao's dragon-slaying!"
"And, gather every talented Fate Officer. Let Ji Si lead them. Make sure they seize this chance!"
"If we win this karmic war, they'll all end up as lords!"
"Yes, Lord," Du Yun's advisors replied, rushing to organize people and funds.
By the last forty-fifth realm-star year of the Second Era of the Barren Domain—
Fu Jin sat in his palace, watching bad news pile up on his desk, his brow furrowed tight.
In front of him was an upright bagua diagram, next to a star map.
The map marked Carlos Family territory and all their business sites.
Now, more than sixty percent of the sites were lit up with red dots. That meant dangerous warning signals—severe trouble with non-military threats.
The other half were all on high alert too.
Especially the mid-to-high-end cultivation crops, herbs, and soldier breeds—they were the disaster zones, showing extreme shortages!
"In just over thirty years, we're falling apart this fast."
Fu Jin's gaze went through the palace wall, falling on another bagua hall.
This was where the Carlos Family's Fate Officers were gathered. All their elites were here now.
For more than thirty years, these Fate Officers had done nothing but strategize and swallow pills. Even so, over half of them now had white hair.
"Xin Yue, how much chance do we have left?" Fu Jin walked into the Fate Officer Hall and asked the highest Fate Officer.
She was a half-god Fate Officer. Before entering this life-and-death battle, she'd been beautiful—pale skin, fine features, elegant, almost fairy-like.
Now, Xin Yue just looked like an old woman.
She was the Carlos Family's strongest Fate Officer, but in just thirty-five years she'd become like this.
Xin Yue had known Fu Jin since they were kids.
Seeing her like this, Fu Jin couldn't help but feel bad.
"Young master, if we keep only resisting and don't fight back, at most we have eighty years left," Xin Yue said.
"That short?" Fu Jin had hoped to last until his brother's situation was settled, but Xin Yue said just eighty years.
"Yes. Time and fate are both on Zhao Xing's side now," Xin Yue hinted.
Fu Jin understood. "Father's held power for years, has all the resources, but still can't break through to the god realm. Zhao Xing is much more likely to become a god. Gu Luohe let Five Venom set that ban, Mind God General Qi Luo is stalling on my brother's judgment, so we can't act. And now Father's been sent to explore the Black Abyss—"
Suddenly, Fu Jin realized: it wasn't just time and fate on Zhao Xing's side. The gods were on Zhao Xing's side. The Carlos Family had been abandoned by the gods.
No matter how hard they fought, this battle was lost.
Fu Jin even felt that if things kept going, the family would see their final collapse the moment Mind God General finally delivered the verdict.
He could almost see countless Zhao Xings outside, all grinning at him.
It was time to give up, Fu Jin thought.
He sighed, then gave Xin Yue a spirit pill. "Xin Yue, use the karmic lines to contact Zhao Xing for me."
"Are you sure, young master?" Xin Yue hesitated. "I still have some fight left in me."
"No. There's no point." Fu Jin's voice was calm. "We admit defeat."