Battle Royale of the Sinners

Upon death, Jiang Man's two damaged souls were released from his dead body. As if it held a deep grudge, the cracked ball of Jiang Man's soul lingered around Liu Bei and Yuan Shao for a while.

While it circled around the two, Jiang Man's ball of soul continued to fade.

As it noticed the crisis that its existence was in danger, the soul parted from Liu Bei and Yuan Shao. It went to the direction that it felt the most comfortable and safe.

One of them went into the body of Guan Yu!

The other one went into the body of Zhang Fei!

Guan Yu, who did not notice the soul, was still staring at his lost fourth brother in sadness. He neither cried nor lamented, but Guan Yu continued to look at Jiang Man's unsettled expression in a daze.

The memories about him and Jiang Man appeared in Guan Yu's mind as he tried his best to remember this sworn brother of his.

Guan Yu swore that he would not forget this man!

Zhang Fei almost went berserk after he realized that Jiang Man had died. He took his serpent spear and threatened to kill all servants and the cooks that poisoned Jiang Man.

Guan Yu managed to stop his third brother before he caused more scenes.

Meanwhile, Liu Bei continued pretending to cry, receiving all sympathy from all lords. On the contrary to his outward expression, his thought was on something else.

'Hahaha! He's dead! This fake sucker is finally dead! One of those motherfOOking immortals is dead! Why are you calling yourself an immortal when you can die like a dog! Well, I'm thankful for whoever poisoned this bastard. If you can do me a favor and poison all immortals in this land, I'll be grateful!'

Surprisingly, Liu Bei had always wanted his fourth brother, Jiang Man, to die a dog's death. He never valued Jiang Man's talent. Instead, Liu Bei was afraid that Jiang Man would use his status as an immortal to grow bigger than himself.

It was Liu Bei's jealousy that made him hate his own sworn brother. He always gazed at Tong in envy as he also wanted one of that superpower they had.

.

<<Ding>>

<<Your clan master has committed suicide.>>

<<Your clan has been disbanded.>>

Yuan Shao and Tian Feng saw a couple of messages in the system window in front of them. They almost burst in laughter as they were freed from this otherworlder's sorcery.

'Finally, another one of them has gone to hell!'

'The heaven is still on our side. Those immortals are not so immortal at all!'

Yuan Shao and Tian Feng exchanged glances. They confirmed that even an immortal could still be killed.

Tian Feng took the chance while all eyes were on Liu Bei and the dead body of Jiang Man. He whispered to his Lord.

"My Lord, let's frame Zhang Tong with this incident. Since both of them are immortals, and everyone here knew about the rivalry between them. Let's cause a scene that Zhang Tong assassinated Jiang Man."

Yuan Shao grinned, "Of course. Even if you haven't told me that, I will still throw dirt on him."

Standing up, Yuan Shao bowed to everyone inside the hall.

"Gentlemen, Lord Liu Bei, I think I have a prime suspect for this incident."

Liu Bei's eyes gleamed and stared at Yuan Shao in suspicion. Pretending to be angered, he also stood up.

"Who is it!? Who killed my brother!?"

Yuan Shao turned to everybody in the hall one more time before he spoke in a loud voice.

"Zhang Tong!"

The crowd stared at Yuan Shao in disbelief. Tong was their grand commander, and they were doing well in this expedition. Why would he kill his ally?

Tao Qian stood up, "From what evidence or basis that you think Zhang Tong did it?"

"Immortal rivalry, has any of you heard of it?"

All minor lords and Tao Qian had investigated into the immortality, immortals, and their powers. They also heard about rumors that these immortals killed each other for a mysterious reason.

At this moment, Liu Bei was also interested in the subject, "What is this immortal rivalry? Can you clarify it for us, Lord Yuan?"

"All of you should know that my Yuan Clan and Zhang Tong's forces are not in an excellent term."

Everyone nodded.

Yuan Shao continued, "When my forces and Zhang Tong bared fangs at each other, I investigated about his power and his pasts, and I found many things interesting. Surrounding Zhang Tong, many weird events and supernatural incidents happened one after another. Everything connected to Zhang Tong and his superpower, of course. Those incidents told me one thing."

He paused to pique the interest and create dramatic storytelling, "Among all incidents, it involved other immortals like Zhang Tong. For example, many years ago, we found that there were six unique young people with great abilities traveled to Julu, but they were killed in the middle of the night in a gruesome manner. Two people were seen getting away from the crime scenes that same night. Do you know who they were?"

Yuan Shao smiled, "One of them was Zhang Tong. The other was Hua Shi, Zhang Tong's first wife!"

The crowd sucked in cold breath. Hua Shi was known as the Goddess of Death because of her deadly archery and her light arrows. Her existence as an immortal was well-known.

"When I investigated the dead youths, I found that they were immortals like Zhang Tong and Hua Shi as well! None of them should have a grudge or an enmity with the others since they were so young back then, yet they slaughtered the others in cold blood."

Tao Qian protested, "That incident alone should not be the evidence of this poisoning, right?"

"Lord Tao, you have grown senile. Have you forgotten that the previous emperor, Liu Ping, was also an immortal!?"

"T-This!?"

"Everyone, please continue listening to me. Emperor Liu Ping has never known Zhang Jiao or Zhang Tong since he had been raised within the Capital City. Yet, why was he so adamant on killing Zhang Tong years ago? Do you remember that day when he ordered the mobilization of the imperial forces?"

The crowd murmured. All warlords could notice the big picture and Yuan Shao's point now.

"Liu Ping was an immortal, and he wanted Zhang Tong dead because they were both immortals!"

Tao Qian stuttered, "B-But, Hua Shi and Zhang Tong were both immortals. Why haven't they killed the other?"

"Liu Ping also had an immortal consort named Wang Li! He also killed her in his bedroom and blamed her because of her sorcery! Among the dungeon of the imperial clan, Liu Ping lured many immortals with his mysterious writing flyers and killed them all in the dungeon! During the battle at Jinyang, there are rumors that Liu Ping was killed by a mysterious immortal! Don't you see it? Every immortal are aiming to kill each other!"

All the deeds that both Liu Ping and Tong did came to light. Liu Bei, who was still wet with tears, stared at Yuan Shao in astonishment.

He could partly understand the big picture now! Jiang Man was using him as a tool to kill Tong!

Liu Bei understood why Jiang Man acted like he did not like Tong. He also remembered that Jiang Man wanted him to pretend to be Tong's ally, so they could backstab him when Tong did not expect it.

Furthermore, Jiang Man acted very suspiciously when he visited Yuan Shao. Thinking back, both Yuan Shao and Jiang Man seemed to have a weird relationship between a master and a servant.

'Bastard! Yuan Shao knew something, and Jiang Man must have told them! They conspired behind my back!'

All warlords in the banquet hall were also not stupid. They also connected the dots and their personal's intelligence from their men.

They also knew about Pu Jing, Sun Fang, Li Jing, Li Feihong, and Te Langpu. These people were the confirmed immortal entities within China.

Because they knew about Te Langpu and Li Feihong, something still did not make sense. If they were that hostile against each other, why Tong had gathered so many immortals to work with him.

Tao Qian was about to ask, but Tian Feng interrupted them as he had predicted their questions.

"Our forces used to employ Te Langpu, one of the immortals. After we crashed with Zhang Tong at Anping, Te Langpu encountered with Zhang Tong and surrendered to him. As for Li Feihong, I think he tried to fight with Zhang Tong long ago. I'm sure you remember about the incidents in Jinyang where Lu Bu and Zhang Tong fought. They ended up reconciled and worked in the same force later on, which I think they came to a truce. If you have noticed, Li Feihong and Zhang Tong never stayed inside the same city!"

Yuan Shao inserted, "Both Li Feihong and Zhang Tong formed an alliance to kill other immortals. It was a relationship that all of you politicians can understand."

Everyone here had conspired against their friends or their colleagues more than once. Thus, they believed that if they could form an alliance to kill the others, then all immortals could do the same.

Sun Fang and Li Jing also fell into this criteria. Both of them might have joined forces when they realized that they could not kill Zhang Tong on their own.

Hua Shi and Tong also might have formed an alliance early on and disguised their relationship as a husband and wife. However, some of the lords believed that they married for real.

Then, their attention came to Pu Jing, who was serving under Cao Cao.

If the theory about the rivalry between immortals were true, every incident behind the fight between Tong and other immortals could be easily explained. The motive behind the service of Pu Jing could also be seen as an attempt to manipulate Cao Cao into fighting Tong.

Xiongnu King was also an immortal. With this theory, it explained why Tong gathered everyone here. Everybody here was used as pawns, so Tong could kill the Xiongnu King!

Now that the Xiongnu King escaped, it was not hard for them to put themselves in Tong's shoes. If they were Tong, what would be his next move if he wanted the another immortal dead?

"Then, the first suspect of this poisoning …"

"Of course! The first person who would want Jiang Man dead is no other than Zhang Tong!"

Liu Bei's eyes beamed as he found a reason to gather everyone to kill his target of envy, Tong. He stood up and took the lead, "Everyone! I need justice for my fourth brother! Zhang Tong plotted to use our forces to kill the Xiongnu King, then he planned to discard us. I hope to borrow all of your forces to kill this tyrant!"

Tao Qian stared at Liu Bei in hesitation.

"What about her majesty!? Do you forget that he's the prince consort!?"

Yuan Shao retorted, "I don't think she's the real empress! It should be one of Tong's superpower trick to disguise someone as the empress! Do you think someone with her caliber will lower herself to favor a son of rebel!? Impossible! That empress is an imposter!"

Liu Bei agreed, "That's right! That's an imposter!"

Zhang Miao stood up as he also followed suit, "I don't believe she can be this low. That's an imposter!"

"Imposter!"

"That's Zhang Tong's trick!"

"We're not fools. That is not the empress!"

The crowd in the banquet erupted as they believed in Yuan Shao and Liu Bei.

Yuan Shao grinned at Liu Bei while Liu Bei glared at the Yuan Shao in an annoyance. With their experiences in the politician world, they understood their underlying façade as they knew what the other's goal was.

'I'll use you, Yuan Shao!'

'A nasty actor, I like a lowlife like you!'