"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?"

"I know what's going on."

"Then you should have heard of the Son of Era or the Destined One?"

"You don't mean?"

"That's right."

"That explains your monstrous talent," Mongke muttered. "So, you came here to hide?"

"No, the opposite. I came to conquer this place," Wang Wei admitted directly, making the Barbarian King squint. He paused briefly before saying:

"I have no issue serving under you," Mongke replied. "However, I have two conditions, one being non-negotiable."

"I'm listening."

"The non-negotiable condition is that my servitude is temporary until we end this era, and you cannot enslave my soul."

Wang Wei squinted his eyes. He mulled it over but did not immediately reject such a condition. "Can I ask why?"

"I am the hope and future of the Barbarian Race," Mongke replied succinctly.

"You're their Primal Paragon Seed?"

"That's right."

Wang Wei grunted softly. The Barbarian Race was not part of any of the [Thirteen Overlords], but they were a top lineage with 1 Primal Paragon. However, if they had a second one, they would meet the minimum requirements for a seat as one of the overlords.

"I can accept your condition, and we can even sign a binding contract," Wang Wei agreed after pondering about it for a while. He considered many things before making this decision, but the crux of the reason he accepted is the Barbarian Race.

Firstly, they acted similarly to the Dao Opening Sect when it came to treating their people — especially their genius. As such, Wang Wei knew there was a high chance these people would go to war with the sect for Mongke — even knowing they had a small chance at winning.

In general, the Barbarian Race is a low-key and pretty isolated faction, probably due to their different culture and customs. As such, they are neutral in most situations or events, but their only enemy is the Primarch Origin Temple—one of the [Thirteen Overlords] composed of the Innate Demon Gods. Their feud started because one of their geniuses was assassinated, and since then, they've been at odds with the Innate Demon Gods. They even formed a loose alliance with the Tribal Sacred Mountain, another Overlord ruled by the Demon Race and enemy of the Primarch Origin Temple.

Wang Wei did not want to make an enemy of the Barbarian Race, even though it may be worth it for Mongke. In the new era coming, Primal Paragons will no longer be the deciding factors of the top factions, but Half-Step Transcendent will. He hasn't known Mongke long enough to determine whether he's talented enough to walk the Path of Transcendence, and forcing him to serve him might ruin his talent. So, he accepted his proposal.

'Having the Barbarian Race as an ally should be very beneficial to the sect,' Wang Wei thought. "What's your second condition?"

"I want the opportunity to personally tear off the Earth Emperor's head," Mongke said with bloodlust in his eyes.

"He's the reason you're here?"

"That's right," Mongke nodded, his eyes containing deep hatred. "The bastard envies my talent, so he first tried to force me to become his son-in-law. When our tribe refused, he found an excuse to persecute us. To save me, the clan had to label me as a traitor and exile me, but even then, the bastard would not let it go. I had to come here to hide."

"Given the fact he might have secretly eliminated some of his talented children, I"m not surprised by this," Wang Wei commented. "Well, I have no issue with this condition. Anyway, whether you kill him or I do is fine by me — as long as he's dead."

"In that case, I'll offer you my strength and talent." Mongke raised his large win bowls, and Wang Wei followed him. They toast to their new alliance before chugging the bowl down. The next step was to sign the contract, but Mongke said his wife would negotiate the nitty gritty details, and Wang Wei was fine with that.

"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.

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