Chapter 0431: Has the Phoenix Clan Colluded with the Demons?

“Prince Huang Sheng? The Emperor hasn’t arrived?” Upon hearing Sea God Kaul’s question, Huang Sheng laughed. Seeing that Huang Sheng didn’t answer but instead laughed, Sea God Kaul was puzzled and frowned. However, given the other party’s status, he couldn’t reproach him.
Although Huang Sheng wasn’t the Emperor of the Four Seas Empire, he held a very high position within it, second only to Emperor Huang De.
“Prince Huang Sheng, why are you laughing?” Sea God Kaul asked calmly.
“Nothing much. I just suddenly remembered something amusing,” Huang Sheng replied with a smile.
Sea God Kaul stared at Huang Sheng. Suddenly, he felt that Huang Sheng was somewhat unpredictable—he couldn’t fathom his true intentions. He had met Huang Sheng a few times before, but this time he seemed different from those previous encounters; yet he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was different.
Still, Sea God Kaul didn’t delve deeper into it. After all, the other party was a prince of the Four Seas Empire, his ally.
At that moment, Krade from the Blue Whale Clan and Nicole from the Phoenix Clan also glanced at Huang Sheng in confusion.
“Well, since everyone has arrived,” Sea God Kaul turned to address the sea creatures in the square. After glancing at the members of the Phoenix Clan, he continued, “Then, our sea clan’s once-every-sixty-years sacred sea festival begins now!” With that, he waved his hands, sending four streams of energy toward the four stone pillars surrounding the altar. Mysterious runes on the pillars began to glow.
“Bring the humans here!” Sea God Kaul ordered.
Instantly, the sea clan warriors obeyed respectfully and brought a hundred pairs of young human men and women onto the altar.
Huang Sheng, Krade, and Nicole frowned upon seeing this.
After the sea clan’s sea festival had been ruined by the Yellow Dragon two thousand years ago, the altar was rebuilt. Back then, Sea God Apton made some changes—for example, to activate the altar’s magic, it wasn’t necessarily required to use the blood of a hundred pairs of young humans; the blood of various magical beasts could also suffice. As a result, in subsequent festivals, the sea clan used the blood of a hundred pairs of magical beasts to activate the magic. No one expected Sea God Kaul to revert to using the blood of young humans this time.
After the sea clan warriors secured the hundred pairs of young men and women on the altar, they raised their sacrificial knives, ready to strike at Sea God Kaul’s command.
“Wait!” Suddenly, three voices rang out at the same time.
Sea God Kaul and the others turned to see that it was Huang Sheng, Krade, and Nicole who had spoken.

Sea God Kaoer saw Klard and Nicole spoke up, a cold glint in her eyes. But when she saw Huang Sheng, she frowned. This time, he intended to restore the ancient Sea Tribe ritual by using the blood of a hundred human young men and women to awaken the power of the sacrificial map, and he had also consulted Huang De, who had no objections.

Huang Sheng slowly walked up to the altar and then stood still.

“Huang Sheng, Emperor, what are you doing?” Although Sea God Kaoer guessed Huang Sheng’s intentions, he still wanted to ask to confirm what he meant.

“Why does the Sea Tribe ritual need to use humans to awaken the power of the sacrificial map?!” Huang Sheng asked bluntly without any courtesy.

However, if Huang Sheng, as an emperor of an empire, had asked Sea God Kaoer this way before, it would have been considered “bold and presumptuous”!

Sea God Kaoer grew angry inwardly but tried hard to suppress his fury. His expression darkened as he said, “Is this the will of your Great Emperor?” By “Great Emperor,” he naturally meant Huang De.

Hearing this, Huang Sheng nodded and said, “Indeed, it is the will of the Great Emperor of our Four Seas Empire!” He meant himself, the current Great Emperor of the Four Seas Empire.

Sea God Kaoer became even angrier. Previously, Huang De had had no objections to his actions, and now he sent Huang Sheng to stop him—was this some kind of mockery?! No wonder Huang De hadn’t come himself but instead sent Huang Sheng.

However, given their past “relationship,” his anger dissipated in the blink of an eye. Then he ordered, “Release the humans.”

Sea Queen Tiff wanted to speak, but at that moment, the Sea Tribe warriors respectfully obeyed and released the humans. The humans, not expecting to have a chance of survival, rushed over after escaping the Sea Tribe warriors, kneeling on the ground and expressing their gratitude to Huang Sheng repeatedly.

Huang Sheng waved for them to stand up and then ordered a few Sacred Domain Dragon warriors to take away the hundred human young men and women.

Yet he hadn’t expected Sea God Kaoer to release them so easily. Realizing it was due to Huang De, he thought to himself that Huang De was somewhat useful after all.

“Lord Sea God, we have released the humans, but we haven’t prepared any blood sacrifices for the magical beasts. How will we activate the power of the sacrificial map then?” Seeing the humans taken away by the Sacred Domain Dragon warriors of the Four Seas Empire, Sea Queen Tiff couldn’t help but speak up.

Sea God Kaoer raised his hand and smiled instead. “Magical beasts? How could the blood of those inferior animals possibly activate the power of our sacred sacrificial map?”

Everyone was puzzled.

Huang Sheng, however, vaguely guessed Sea God Kaoer’s intention.

At that moment, Sea God Kaoer waved his hands sharply and ordered, “All sea tribes, obey! Surround the Phoenix clan!” Although Kaoer’s order was sudden, the millions of powerful sea tribe warriors in the square were stunned for a moment before responding respectfully and surrounding Nicole and the others from the Phoenix clan. Nicole’s expression turned cold. Kaoer continued, “The Phoenix clan has always harbored ill intentions toward us sea tribes. I’ve heard that recently they’ve even colluded with the Hell Demons, aiming to rule over all sea tribes and turn us into their slaves!” “Today, we will use the members of the Phoenix clan as blood sacrifices on the altar to activate the power of our sacred ritual diagram!” Hearing this, some warriors who were unaware of the situation became agitated. They stared at the Phoenix clan with hatred in their eyes, and many began to shout angrily. “Kill the Phoenix clan! Use their blood as sacrifices!” “Yes! We must not spare these traitors!” “Kill them! Kill them all!” For a moment, intense hatred filled the area around the altar. Of course, many of the powerful sea warriors were simply following Kaoer’s lead, deliberately inciting hatred among the crowd! The Phoenix clan colluding with the Hell Demons? The Hell Demons were far away in hell. If they launched an attack on the Hengyuan Continent, they would surely be detected by various forces there. How could the Phoenix clan be so foolish as to ally with them? Moreover, the Phoenix clan never left Phoenix Island and had no desire for power—so how could they claim to rule all sea tribes? This was nothing but an excuse for Sea God Kaoer to eliminate the Phoenix clan. With this excuse, his actions would seem justified. Huang Sheng watched the sudden changes and thought, “As expected!” He had predicted that Kaoer would try to eliminate the Phoenix clan. The members of the Phoenix clan gathered together, bracing themselves. Nicole coldly watched as Kaoer fabricated this ridiculous excuse and sneered, “Kaoer, you claim we’ve colluded with the demons. Where’s the evidence?” “Evidence? This is the best evidence! Bring that demon general here!” Kaoer waved his hand, and several sea warriors obediently brought down a demon general. “It’s a demon!” “It really is a demon!” Some of the incited sea warriors had still doubts, but now, after seeing the grotesque and ugly demons on the altar, most of them believed it. Their hatred toward the Phoenix clan grew even stronger, and curses erupted like a tide. “Kill the Phoenix clan!”

“Kill, kill, kill!”
Sea God Kaul was satisfied. He raised his hand to silence everyone, then shouted at the demon general, “Speak! What scheme do you demons and the Phoenix clan have?”
The demon general trembled as he replied, “The Phoenix clan has colluded with us demons, planning to attack the sea people soon after their sea sacrifice with our massive army!”
At these words, the square erupted into chaos.
If the sea people’s leaders hadn’t known the truth, they might have believed it too.
Sea God Kaul turned to Nicole and demanded, “This is a demon general sent by the demons to contact your Phoenix clan on Phoenix Island. Now that I’ve captured him and he’s revealed the truth, Nicole, do you still have anything to say?”
Nicole remained calm and unshaken, sneering, “A demon general? Kaul, you’re quite good at acting. Just bringing in any demon general to accuse my Phoenix clan of colluding with demons? Why not bring a demon commander instead? Who can prove what this demon general says is true? If I brought a demon commander and accused you of colluding with demons to rule the entire Hengyuan Continent, could that also be considered true?”
Nicole’s words spread throughout the square, and once again, the shouts of anger subsided.
Nicole didn’t stop there and continued, “You might use this as an excuse to destroy my Phoenix clan now, and who knows, you might use it to destroy the Four Seas Empire later!”
Sea God Kaul’s expression darkened. “Nicole, stop sowing discord here! It’s ridiculous that you Phoenix clan dare to collude with demons yet refuse to admit it. From now on, you Phoenix clan are enemies of our sea people!”
“Warriors of all sea clans, obey my order! Kill the Phoenix clan!”
“Yes, Lord Sea God!”
Just as the warriors of the sea clans prepared to attack the Phoenix clan, two voices suddenly rang out together, “Wait!”
It was like thunder crashing in the square. The warriors immediately stopped and turned in surprise toward the two speakers—Huang Sheng and Krade.
No one was surprised that Krade spoke up to stop them, but everyone was shocked that Huang Sheng spoke up as well.
Sea God Kaul’s eyes flashed as he said, “Duke Huang Sheng, Nicole was just trying to sow discord. Don’t believe her words.” He was referring to Nicole’s claim that after destroying the Phoenix clan, he would destroy the Four Seas Empire.
Huang Sheng smiled upon hearing this and said, “What if I did believe her?”

Everyone widened their eyes, including Nicole. Everyone could tell that she had just been speaking ironically. Could Huang Sheng really believe it? Weren’t they saying that the Sea God Kao Er wanted to eradicate the Phoenix clan, mainly because of Huang De? Why does it seem now that Huang Sheng actually means something else?!