Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king - Chapter 552: A Parley(1)

Waking in a strange yet familiar room the main character now will rise to the top of one most dangerous worlds of fiction with his new cheat.

A striking man of mysterious origin and peerless talent, he looks back at the world, in all its entirety, with utter disdain. And yet, in the treacherous and unpredictable ultimate formation of the Boundless Secular World, he guards a breathtaking ancient qin with broken strings, waiting silently for the destined one to arrive!

A boy encounters him, and knows for the first time that the world beneath the Heavens is a fickle place. Not even demons, devils, ghosts and monsters can match the frivolity of human nature!

A slender physique, and jade-like beauty, but the sword that strikes between heaven and earth is not unlike a streaming rainbow!

The vastness of the starry sky, the seven emotions and six desires! Greed, anger and ignorance! The teachings of Buddha will grant you boundless strength!

A sea of blood will come, at the cost of all mortal beings full of honest hope!

The ghosts wail as the gods roar, but the sea of blood has no end!

Where, pray tell, is the path I should take?

Since there is no path, no matter how bitter and bloody the sea, even if my boat is made out of bones, I will soar to the heavens above!

- Description from Novelupdates

In her past life, Shen Xi always longed for love and validation from her parents, members of the wealthy Su family. Unfortunately, the attention that she yearned for was stolen by the family’s fake heiress – her elder sister, Su Ruowan.

Kyros was no hero—nor was he a villain. A pragmatist to the core, he turned Earth into a chessboard of chaos, bending nations and empires to his will before meeting his end. But death was only the beginning. The Devil intervened, pulling Kyros into Hell with an irresistible proposition: a second chance at life in a world far removed from Earth—a world named Neva.In this fantastical realm of knights, nobility, magic, and divine power, Kyros becomes the key piece in a wager between God and the Devil. Reborn as Rasmus Blackheart, a disgraced young noble, his task is clear: unleash chaos and topple the order of Neva, just as he did on Earth. But the Devil has added a twist to the game—he’ll serve as Rasmus’s companion, not as a guide but as a mischievous, manipulative force, more likely to hinder than help.Navigating a world brimming with intrigue and divine interference, Rasmus must survive, scheme, and rise from ruin to reshape Neva in his image. Will his cunning be enough to outwit his foes—and his so-called ally—or will this chaotic partnership lead to his downfall?