Chapter 230: What a Treacherous Annihilation Operation

Qi Suian and Bruce had struck a deal and entered into a temporary partnership.

But both of them had their own ulterior motives. Qi Suian, for his part, was thinking, ’I’ll just rip his bones out and toss them into the Melting Furnace for fuel.’

As for what Bruce was plotting, Qi Suian had no idea, but he knew the man was scheming something.

However, with their deal sealed, the Steel Brotherhood entered a new phase.

They had always been suppressed by the Pure-blood Sanctuary, but now they had launched a major counterattack.

The situation was still far from optimistic. They were never a match for their enemy to begin with. Did they really think switching from a defensive to an offensive strategy would suddenly make them an even match? There was no logic in that.

It had to be said, Bruce was quite skilled when it came to controlling the Steel Brotherhood.

As a former lord, he had a few tricks up his sleeve.

He was especially formidable when it came to boosting morale and influencing the thoughts of his people.

The mutants were like mindless drones, foolishly charging forward at his command.

As for Bruce and Qi Suian, the two of them went off to attack the Tier One Sanctuaries.

The Frost Queen’s Sanctuary, ranked last among them, had its Grand Elder—who was also the Corpse Eater Pope—eaten by Bruce.

The reason he was eaten was that he had taken Bruce’s right arm.

So this time, they went straight for the fifth-ranked Lion Tyrant Sanctuary.

Along the way, Bruce launched a direct assault. Relying on his own former body, he actually managed to tear through the Sanctuary’s defenses.

At first, he had the Grand Elder of the Lion Tyrant Sanctuary completely overwhelmed, but a drawback soon became apparent.

Bruce’s body of flesh and blood gradually began to drag down his combat strength.

From this, Qi Suian learned another of Bruce’s weaknesses: his lack of stamina.

Of course, this weakness might have been a deliberate display on Bruce’s part, intended to deceive Qi Suian.

As for Qi Suian, he also joined the fight, but he appeared weak and was constantly on the defensive.

In reality, Qi Suian was just biding his time, looking for an opportunity to strike at Bruce and kill him.

Bruce was extremely valuable, but killing him for a lump sum was far more worthwhile than slowly shearing wool off a sheep.

The main reason was that the man was genuinely dangerous. Cooperating with him was like trying to skin a live tiger, so Qi Suian was determined to take what he could, when he could.

Qi Suian didn’t care about the future. For people like him, if you weren’t strong in the present, there was no future to speak of.

The Grand Elder of the Lion Tyrant Sanctuary also noticed the bad blood between the two and tried to sow discord from time to time, hoping to incite them to fight amongst themselves.

It was a good idea, but very difficult to execute.

Inciting infighting wasn’t something you could achieve with just words. You had to create a tangible conflict of interest between them.

Otherwise, on the surface, the two were inseparable allies.

The simplest way would be for the Sanctuary Grand Elder to risk his life to severely injure either Qi Suian or Bruce. Only then might the other one make a move.

Otherwise, his empty words were ignored by Qi Suian and Bruce, who, in fact, only increased the intensity of their attacks on him.

The result, naturally, was the death of this Sanctuary Grand Elder. By the time he died, he barely even looked human.

All that remained was the cleanup. Before Bruce could say anything...

Qi Suian launched a sneak attack without hesitation. If this blow landed, it would definitely be enough to tear off Bruce’s White Bone Right Arm.

Without the formidable attack power of that arm, Qi Suian was confident he could even twist Bruce’s head off.

Unfortunately, Bruce was already on guard. He countered, once again shattering the Tai Sui God’s shield, and his White Bone Right Arm plunged straight through the Tai Sui God’s torso.

If not for the Dimensional Folding Space, Qi Suian’s own body would have been left with a gaping hole.

The AI quickly controlled the transformation module to break free.

"As expected of a former Tier Five Lord. That strength is truly awe-inspiring," Qi Suian said nonchalantly, as if nothing had happened.

Bruce also realized that he hadn’t killed Qi Suian directly; his opponent had used some unknown spatial ability to escape.

"I’m nothing compared to you, Jack. You’re the number one survivor. Back when I was ranked among the lords, I was nothing special," Bruce said, retracting his White Bone Right Arm, also acting as if the previous exchange never happened.

Qi Suian mentally labeled Bruce as ’incredibly patient.’

If it were him, he definitely wouldn’t have tolerated it. If someone dared to sneak attack him, he wouldn’t stop until he’d twisted their head off.

"Hahaha, you’re a real comedian, Bruce," Qi Suian replied casually as the Tai Sui God’s body rapidly retreated.

He narrowly dodged another of Bruce’s attacks, and then he changed that mental label from "patient" to "insidious."

The man hadn’t tolerated it at all. His expression and words were just a ploy to lower Qi Suian’s guard before attacking.

What he didn’t know, however, was that the Tai Sui God wasn’t just controlled by Qi Suian, but also by an AI.

The AI’s reaction time and movements were far superior to Qi Suian’s.

"Alright, we’re even," Bruce said, pulling back his hand. "I hope there won’t be a next time. Otherwise, you’ll find I’m not a very good-tempered person."

Of course, Bruce couldn’t just let Qi Suian do as he pleased. There had to be consequences for a sneak attack. But since the target dodged his counterattack, he’d let it go. He had, after all, already defended against Qi Suian’s initial ambush and struck back.

"Don’t worry. Honesty and trustworthiness are among my virtues," Qi Suian said, spouting complete nonsense.

Bruce naturally didn’t believe a word of it. His words were about as meaningful as a fart.

"Here’s the Fire Seed you wanted." Bruce casually tossed the Lion Tyrant’s Fire Seed to Qi Suian.

He didn’t need Fire Seeds. After all, he was the source of the Fire Seeds.

Theoretically, he could absorb the power within the Fire Seeds to make himself stronger.

Unfortunately, theory was just theory. If it were that easy, he wouldn’t have been made into the Fire Seed Source in the first place.

Qi Suian caught the Fire Seed and, without any hesitation, threw it directly into his Melting Furnace.

There was no need to put something that had passed through an enemy’s hands into his Subspace Pocket. Since its final destination was the Melting Furnace anyway, he might as well burn it sooner rather than later.

"What about the remaining two Sanctuaries, Scepter Sovereign and Holy Angel? When do you plan to move on them?" Qi Suian asked casually.

"Tomorrow, maybe. Or you can go by yourself," Bruce replied, clearly not intending to continue.

"Fine," Qi Suian agreed readily. Destroying the Sanctuaries wasn’t the main point; ambushing Bruce was. "But I am curious, why haven’t you destroyed these Sanctuaries yourself?"

Bruce’s combat power fluctuated wildly, but even so, how could he possibly be incapable of destroying a Tier One Sanctuary?

"What do you think?" Bruce said before turning and leaving, with no intention of answering Qi Suian’s question.

Qi Suian didn’t press the issue. He had actually already guessed the reason.

Bruce was using this method to force the Grand Elders of the Tier One Sanctuaries to enter the Triumphant Eden to obtain the power of the Fire Seed Source Fragments.

In other words, to bring out his former body parts.

As for why he didn’t go himself? It was either because he couldn’t get in, or because some great danger lurked inside.

’Honestly, even a half-assed excuse would have been better than this.’

"Wouldn’t you agree, Corpse Eater Pope, Mr. Fos?" Qi Suian’s gaze shifted to the side, where a one-armed old man with a prominent scar on his face slowly emerged.

It was a new wound, one that even a Corpse Eater’s regenerative abilities couldn’t heal.

"Jack, you are truly a genius, but I must warn you: Bruce has gone mad."

"I transplanted his right arm and gained his memories," the Corpse Eater Pope, Fos, said in a cold voice.

Qi Suian studied him carefully. "I’m curious. Why didn’t you run? Why do you dare to show your face here?"

Bruce had broken his arm and completely wiped out the Frost Queen’s Sanctuary. Under these circumstances, he should have run as far away as possible. Why would he choose to get closer to Bruce?

More importantly, he had only appeared after Bruce left. Qi Suian reasonably suspected that this was a trap set up by Bruce to deal with him.

Fos’s expression flickered slightly, but he quickly composed himself and said, "I only came to warn you."

Hearing this, Qi Suian thought, ’He’s just being stubborn.’

Qi Suian spoke six words: "Now that you’re here, you can rest."

The meaning was, since you’ve come, you might as well be buried in his Melting Furnace.

Qi Suian couldn’t be bothered with whatever plots or schemes he had, nor did he have any intention of torturing him. He could just go into the Melting Furnace and wait for death.

The Tai Sui God seized Fos’s head and began to squeeze.

"Wait, I have something to—" Fos didn’t even get to finish his sentence before the Tai Sui God crushed his head.

Due to his power, he wasn’t dead yet. His body was already trying to regenerate a new head.

But at this point, Qi Suian naturally wouldn’t let him stay alive.

So the Tai Sui God grabbed Fos’s body and threw it directly into the Melting Furnace.

’Something to say? It couldn’t have been anything important.’

"If it were really that important, why would he drag it out until the very moment I was about to kill him?" Qi Suian said calmly.

To say there was no scheme involved would be a lie.

And since it was a scheme, there was no need to know the details. As long as the man was dead, that was enough.

He didn’t need to worry about the rest.

Whether Bruce was truly pulling the strings from behind, as he suspected, didn’t matter.

From the very beginning, he had never intended to play games of conspiracy and intrigue with his enemies. He only relied on methods of slaughter like sneak attacks and brute force.

He worked so hard to become stronger precisely so he could rely on his fists instead of his brain.

If he wasted his brainpower on all these messy schemes, how would he ever get stronger?

"I hope I make some progress tomorrow. I’m not asking for much, just taking off that White Bone Right Arm of Bruce’s would be nice," Qi Suian muttered to himself before heading back towards the Steel Brotherhood’s location.

On the way, Qi Suian pondered how he might be able to provoke Bruce and make him completely lose his judgment.

That way, he could magnify his opponent’s weaknesses and deliver a fatal blow.

’What if I try slaughtering the entire Steel Brotherhood? Maybe that’ll make him have a complete meltdown.’

"Or maybe attack his weakest point." The "weakness" Qi Suian was thinking of wasn’t a kick to the groin—he didn’t even know if Bruce had the corresponding parts—but the act known as betrayal.

’That probably wouldn’t work either. He’s already anticipated my betrayal.’

’It would have to be one of his own subordinates. What a pain.’

’Yeah, slaughtering the Steel Brotherhood is the better plan.’

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