Chapter 1230 MÖngke
"Indeed," the Barbarian King nodded. This feeling is still terrible." He'd only been defeated a handful of times in his life, and it was never a positive experience.
"That's true," Wang Wei nodded.
"You've tested defeat?"
"Once, well, a few times, but only once that I truly acknowledged," he nodded.
"Someone has defeated you? I would love to meet such a talent."
"Dead."
"That makes sense," the Barbarian King nodded. He took a moment to break the seal from his body as he did not like the sense of weakness he was currently feeling. "My intuition tells me you came here for a purpose, so let's talk somewhere private." He punched the air to create a space passage, and Wang Wei followed him.
They soon arrived in a lavish palace, and as soon as they landed, a beautiful woman rushed into the Barbarian King's arm.
"Mongke, are you alright?"
Wang Wei looked at this woman. She wore an elegant dress that reminded him of Mongol Royalty from Earth, especially with the over-the-top headdress. She was taller than him but still looked tiny before the Barbarian King.
'The Barbarian Race's culture and identity resembled Mongolia from Earth. Why is that? Could there be other races inspired by Eastern Asia? What is the connection with Earth? Why is Grand Dao allowing their existence but not other races from the Prehistoric World?' Wang Wei had these thoughts for a while after meeting the Barbarian Twins during Gu Xuan's trial. However, they resurfaced after today's meeting, and he hoped he could find some answers.
"I'm fine," Mongke reassured his wife. He then introduced her to Wang Wei. "This is my main wife, Dulgun."
'Main wife?' Wang Wei thought, but he did not state that out loud. He saluted: "It's a pleasure to meet you, madam."
"You have defeated my husband in combat, meaning you're our honored guest. So, the pleasure is all mine," she saluted back.
"Give us some privacy while I talk to him," Mongke said, and his wife nodded. The Barbarian King led him to a beautiful garden with a waterfall that spewed rainbow-colored water. Wang Wei's eyes lit up since this garden was even more marvelous than the one he built in his court.
"Your wife's work?" he asked.
"It looked so, doesn't it?" Mongke laughed. "But no. I built this place to reduce my bloodlust and calm my mind."
"That's a wise move," Wang Wei praised. It's one thing to love battle but another to be obsessed with it. The two sat down, and Mongke served his best wine reserved for opponents that he respects.
"What did you want to talk about? Before that, I don't even know how to address you."
"The name's Wang Wei, meaning great king."
"I'm Mongke, representing 'eternity' in our language," the Barbarian King replied.
Wang Wei nodded. "I'll be direct. Are you not completely cut off from the outside world?"
"Can I ask about this Pagoda?" "You can use it, but you can't have it."
Wang Wei's lips twitched. "I didn't want it; I simply wanted to know its details."
"I see. Well, this is what I received from my [Blessing Ceremony]."
"You received a Supreme Chaos Treasure from your ceremony?"
"That's right."
"No wonder your race has so much faith in you," Wang Wei sighed. The Barbarian Race was not a monolith, meaning they were divided into tribes and different bloodline lines. One thing they had in common was their spiritual practice, which involved worshiping spirits. As such, each Barbarian Tribe had a different Spirit Temple, the most famous ones being the War God Temple, the Wolf Spirit Temple, and the Life Tree Temple.
Every barbarian child between the ages of 0 and 10 must experience a blessing ceremony in one of the temples, which usually increases their luck and talents or allows them to receive gifts from the temple.
Mongke smiled proudly. Stories of his ceremony are still talked about to this day in the clan. Many people even argued that he was responsible for the War God Temple's current domination over the other two.
"Enough with the chit-chat," Wang Wei said. "Tell me your opinion on my attempt to conquer this place."
"Hmm, your biggest obstacle should be the Hidden Master and the Ruthless King," Mongke responded.
"Why is that?"
The Ruthless King will not surrender to anyone, no matter what. His pride is too high, so he won't ever serve under someone else. On top of that, he technically has the biggest force in this place since the Martial Outlaw Gang is one of his hidden powers."
Wang Wei nodded. "What about the Hidden Master?"
"Him? He will only intervene when the Lawless Zone faces an external threat, and he might interpret your actions as such."
"So, what makes him so dangerous?"
"He's a Paragon that survived the cleansing," Mongke said.
"Are you serious?"
"I don't need to lie about such a thing."
"How did he survive? Is he that powerful?" Wang Wei asked.
"I think it has more to do with his hiding abilities," Mongke explained. "From what I know, he always hid once the parasites came to this place together to clean up the hidden Paragons and only fought them individually."
Wang Wei frowned. "What about the Suns?"
"There are no records of them entering this place."
"That's odd."
"Indeed," Mongke nodded.