MONSTER PARADISE

801-820

Chapter 801: God's Figurine

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After giving a vague introduction where nothing could be referred, the auctioneer then shouted its starting price, "The starting price is 20 million Life Crystals! The price increment must be at least 500,000 Life Crystals each round!"

The starting price was not considered to be high as it was the equivalent price of an ancient relic of a lower grade. However, it was an item with unknown functions. Aside from its hard material, there was nothing special about it. Most likely, it could only be used for decorative purposes. Under normal circumstances, anyone would be reluctant to spend money on it.

Even the auctioneer was worried that nobody would place a bid on it and that it would remain unsold.

However, it seemed like he had been worrying too much. The moment the starting price was announced, someone hit the bid button.

"21 million!"

However, the price was not offered by Lin Huang. It was a member from VIP room No. 1 on the third floor.

Lin Huang was stunned as he thought that nobody would bid for it. He moved his head slightly and caught a glimpse of the room next to him. He then pressed the bid button too.

"30 million!"

He raised the price to 30 million and his message was unmistakable- I want it.

Just as the bid was placed, the person next to him responded. The increment offered was not low though.

"50 million!"

Lin Huang frowned. He pondered the response of the member in VIP room No. 1. He wondered if the person simply wanted to retaliate or if he knew that it was a valuable item.

Although he was in doubt, Lin Huang hit the bid button without a moment of hesitation.

"100 million!"

Just as the bid was placed, a racket instantly came from the people in the auction hall.

"What's happening up there? Are the two Supreme members confronting each other?"

"It's a bidding war between members in VIP rooms No. S1 and S2. Did the neighbor just fight? What about neighborhood harmony?"

"That's interesting. I wonder how they're going to end this."

Many of the members in the VIP room on the second floor started studying this scenario. Some of them raised their suspicions. "Is it possible for the wood carving to be something valuable?"

Obviously, the bidding price of 100 million did not scare him away. After a moment of silence, the bidder in VIP room No. 1 placed another bid.

"300 million!"

Lin Huang smirked, looking in the direction where the VIP room was. Again, he pushed the bid button hard.

"One billion!"

"If he continues bidding for the wood carving, most probably he knows the actual function of the statue." Lin Huang frowned, looking at the statue on the auction stage. He did not expect this to happen as it was his first time bidding.

Since he had bid for it at a price of one billion Life Crystals, the bidder would know that placing his next bid with a small increment in price would be useless. If he were really eager to buy the statue, he would need to increase the price by a large margin. If he were just trying to fight back, it would be ridiculous to spend a billion Life Crystals buying a decorative item with unknown functions. A Supreme member of the Wanbao Auction would not be so irrational.

Moreover, the identity of all the guests in the VIP rooms had to be kept secret. Even if he lost the bid, there was nothing embarrassing about it because nobody would know who he was.

The price of the statue had risen from 20 million to one billion in less than a minute. It was exactly five times higher than its starting price. The people felt that it was strange and at the same time, they hoped that the bidder in VIP room No. 1 could place a higher bid.

However, the member in VIP room No.1 decided to remain silent.

In the rest of the VIP rooms on the second and the third floor, many of the members and Supreme members speculated if there were any hidden secrets. However, the price had already increased to a billion Life Crystals. Nobody dared to continue bidding for it purely based on speculation.

"One billion Life Crystals, sold!"

As the auctioneer knocked the hammer, the final decision had been made, signifying that Lin Huang had successfully become the owner of the statue.

"I've bought the statue. Can you please tell me what the God's Figurine is?" Lin Huang secretly contacted the stone tablet.

"Do you know the protoss?" The stone tablet asked.

"Yes, I do. What does it have to do with the protoss?" Lin Huang was eager to know more.

"The God's Figurine is the dead body of the protoss. To be exact, it's the remnants of the protoss's body after its death."

"Are you sure you're not kidding me?" Lin Huang could not believe it at all. "It's a palm-sized statue and it's obvious that it's made of wood. You're telling me that it's the remnants of the protoss?"

"The reason why it's only the size of a palm is that after the death of the protoss, the particles of its body collapsed and reshaped, turning into the state of a God's Figurine. Just like when a dead star collapses and becomes a white dwarf, there'll be a substantial decrease in size. The reason why it looks wooden is that wood was the main attribute of the God's Figurine before its death."

The explanation made sense to Lin Huang. However, something suddenly crossed his mind. "No, a friend of my told me before that a protoss has a perfect human figure. However, the God's Figurine looks like a mutated monster."

"Your friend is right. However, all protoss actually have three bodies. The first body is in the human state which is known as the mortal body. The second body is in the state when it's born; we call it the source body. Lastly, it's called the God's body when its body is in the form of energy.

"They'll normally appear in the form of a mortal body in their daily life. When they're engaged in a fight, they'll return to their energy form, transforming into God's body which is normally huge. The stronger it is, the larger it is. Some of their sizes are on par with whole galaxies.

"All protoss are strongest when they're in the form of their source body. Under such conditions, they can maximize their abilities with ease. However, there's a drawback for transforming its body into this form. The protoss can reshape themselves after the death of their mortal body and God's body. However, if the source body dies, they'll die for real."

"The God's Figurine basically rings the death of the protoss's source body. This is how they originally looked like."

Lin Huang could finally believe the stone tablet's explanation after he heard this.

"The God's Figurine is only as big as my palm. What can it be used for?" He immediately asked.

"As long as it possesses divinity, it can be reactivated."

"Reactivated? Do you mean that you want to revive it?" Lin Huang's eyes widened.

"No. The reactivated God's Figurine no longer has consciousness. It's just like a puppet."

"So, as long as I'm able to reactivate it, it means that I have a protoss that can fight?" Lin Huang comprehended.

"That could be true. However, its combat strength won't be on the God-level that it used to be. It depends on the strength of the soul inserted into it. If you were to insert a soul of demigod-level into it, its combat strength would be on demigod-level. If a Virtual God-level soul is inserted into it, its combat strength would be on the Virtual God-level, and so on," the stone tablet explained in detail.

When Lin Huang heard this, he suddenly recalled that when Zhu Xing was killed, he had obtained Wu Zhi's Combat Soul Card. Obviously, it could be used now. However, he then thought that he would need the combat soul when he advanced to immortal-level so that he could forge his Life Furnace. He suddenly had a headache.

"According to its description, the God's Figurine can be used as a Life Furnace to store the Divine Fire in your body." Xiao Hei's voice was suddenly heard. It was apparent that it managed to sense what Lin Huang was worrying about.

"Storing the Divine Fire? That's something spiritual. Other than the God's soul, only the spiritual god's relic and god's item can store the Divine Fire, isn't it?"

"Since the God's Figurine is the remnant of the protoss, it'll be used to store the soul of the protoss in the past. You're supposed to be able to use it as a container that stores Divine Fire. You can give it a try when you get it." After Xiao Hei had finished its sentence, it kept quiet again.

Lin Huang began pondering how the God's Figurine should be used.

Chapter 802: Items to Be Sold off at the End of the Auction

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After lunch, the second half of the auction then began.

The auction got livelier in the afternoon. Almost every item sold was exquisitely made. A majority of them were ancient relics of similar levels. All of them were sold at a price of at least 100 million Life Crystals.

Lin Huang had lost his focus as he kept on thinking about the God's Figurine and the Divine Fire in his body.

Yi Zheng found that Lin Huang had been exceptionally quiet in the afternoon and asked about his moodiness. Lin Huang just told him that he was thinking about something. Since he did not want to share much, Yi Zheng did not ask any further.

At about 5.40 p.m., 48 items had been sold.

Since the 49th item had not been brought up to the stage after a long while, the crowd knew what was going to happen soon and they were excited.

Yu Bo remained quiet for a few moments as well. He then said, "Perhaps many of you know that right up to now, we have three more items left available for sale."

"I guess many of you have been waiting for this to come for a long time. I'll stop here and now for our staff to unveil the first secret item!"

After finishing his sentence, two muscular staff brought something that was as large as a wardrobe up on stage.

Almost every person in the auction hall held their breaths, fixing their gazes on the item covered by a red cloth. They were secretly guessing what the item under the red cloth was.

"The first secret item is..." Yu Bo paused for a moment. He then pulled the red cloth away.

A transparent cabinet was unveiled.

A long saber with a scabbard was floating in the middle of the cabinet.

The handle of the saber was burgundy in color. The blade of the saber along with its scabbard emitted a faint, red glow. The oppressing aura of the demigod relic spread throughout the auction hall.

In order to give it a grandiose display, the imperial-level had temporarily activated it before bringing it up on the stage.

Since it was one of the items sold at the end of the auction, they treated the saber which Lin Huang had sent in in a completely different way. After it was activated, all of them could clearly sense the immense power of the demigod relic.

"It's such a terrifying oppression!"

"I seem to be able to smell the scent of blood."

...

Everybody was discussing it and they could clearly sense how bone-chilling the demigod relic was.

Many of the members on the second and the third floor had fallen into deep thought.

"It seems to be a saber that drinks blood..."

Yu Bo finally revealed where the three secret items came from and they were all curious about it.

"Perhaps some of you might've discovered that it's a Bloodthirster. It's forged through blood sacrifice. The Bloodthirster can grow and might even create saber spirit after engulfing sufficient blood.

"We're unsure about the history of the saber. However, based on the evaluation done by the Grade-S appraiser, it should be remnants from the old era. The main material used is the bones of unknown demigods. Most likely, they're monsters that existed in the ancient times and have gone extinct now.

"Although we don't know much about this saber, the person who sent this saber in is a demigod for real. Two days before the auction began, a demigod visited us late at night, sending three items in for sale. The saber is one of them.

"The first item to be sold off at the end of the auction is the Bloodthirster. The starting price is 33 billion! The price increment must be at least one billion Life Crystals each round!"

After finishing his words on the auction stage, three bids lit up at almost the same time from the VIP room on the third floor.

"35 billion!"

"38 billion!"

"40 billion!"

The black screen suddenly glowed continuously and large numbers were displayed.

The crowd in the auction hall exclaimed as it was the first time they were witnessing such intense bidding since the last five days.

"The bidder in VIP room No. 26 has offered a price of 40 billion Life Crystals. Is there anyone..."

Before the auctioneer could finish his words, the black screen on the third floor lit up again.

"45 billion!"

"The bidder from VIP room No. S8 has offered 45 billion..."

In less than five seconds, the bid rose from 33 billion to 45 billion. The people were surprised by what they just saw.

"In less than five seconds, the price has exceeded the final bid price of the demigod relic sold on the first day of the auction." Yi Zheng looked towards Lin Huang. "How do you feel?"

"I don't feel anything."

Lin Huang remained calm as it was completely within his expectations. "The quality of the Bloodthirster is better than the demigod relic sold on the first day. The saber can be further enhanced, so that's why it's normal for it to fetch a higher price."

After Lin Huang explained his opinion, the bid had exceeded 50 billion. It was the highest price offered so far among all the items sold.

However, it was not the end.

"55 billion!"

"The member from VIP room No. S3 has offered 55 billion. Again, he's just broken the record! Is there anyone going to place a higher bid for it?" Seeing that nobody continued to place a bid, Yu Bo grinned. "I'm now putting my job at risk to reveal some information. The Bloodthirster is the last saber for sale at the auction. It's the saber with the highest quality. If you're majoring in saber, perhaps you'll have to wait for another year if you miss out on this chance."

Soon, the black screen on the third floor lit up again.

"60 billion!" It was offered by the member in VIP room No. 6.

"The member from VIP room No. S6 has offered 60 billion!"

"65 billion!" At the next second, the black screen glowed again.

"The member from VIP room No. S8 has raised the price by five billion. The bid price is now 65 billion! Is the guest from VIP room No. S8 going to own the Bloodthirster?" Yu Bo's gaze swept through the rest of the VIP rooms on the third floor. Despite the price exceeding his expectation, he still wanted to know if the price could go even higher.

However, at a price like this, the true value of the Bloodthirster was on the low side. Those who majored in saber knew about this and the rest of the guests in the VIP room remained quiet.

Yu Bo waited for a few seconds. Since no one else continued bidding for it, he then shouted, "65 billion, going once!"

"65 billion, going twice!"

"There goes the last chance..." Yu Bo lifted his hammer and waited for another two seconds, then he shouted, "65 billion, going thrice!"

At the same time, he knocked down the hammer. "Sold!"

A smile finally plastered across Lin Huang's face who was in VIP room No. 2 on the third floor.

"That's great. It's higher than my expected price." His expected price was about 55 billion and he did not expect the final bid price to be 10 billion higher.

Selling the first item went more smoothly than expected. The final bid price had exceeded his expectations as well. He was much happier now, forgetting about the God's Figurine. He began to anticipate the bidding of the next two items.

Soon, the second item was brought up to the stage. It was the demigod-level combat sword Lin Huang provided.

As soon as it was unveiled, the combat sword that floated in the middle of the crystal-clear cabinet released a faint, golden glow, appearing very powerful.

Bloody had intentionally chosen a golden sword. Not only did it have beautiful arcs on the blade of the sword, but the blade and the sheath of the sword were also delicately made. The golden engraving on the sheath looked remarkably artistic.

"It's a demigod-level combat sword forged about 200 years ago. Based on the arcs on its blade and the degree of fineness of the blade and the sheath, it must be the work of Master Jing. Master Jing is the only female forgemaster in this era who can forge a demigod relic. She's also a demigod. There's only a small number of her artworks and it's rare to own a demigod relic forged by her. There are only three demigod relics available in the market so far. The combat sword must be the fourth one and it's also the first demigod-level combat sword she has ever forged..."

Even Lin Huang did not know about the information provided by Wanbao Auction House. He was shocked as he heard it from the VIP room.

Obviously, they had put in a lot of effort to raise the bid price of the item.

"It makes me feel like buying it..." Lin Huang mumbled.

"You majored in sword. Why don't you keep it for yourself? It's just a matter of time for you to get to imperial-level," Yi Zheng asked.

"If I want a sword, I can get a better one at any time," Lin Huang said, raising his brows. He felt that the Stairway Tree was an amazing place.

What he said startled Yi Zheng. However, Lin Huang did not seem to be lying.

Seeing the doubt on Yi Zheng's face, Lin Huang did not say anything else. However, a thought crossed his mind. "I must look for a chance to ask Yi Zheng to join the Genius Union."

Yi Zheng's abilities were on par with a genius'. If Lin Huang were to recommend him, he could definitely join the Genius Union. There was no harm asking him to join the Genius Union.

On the auction stage, Yu Bo announced the starting price of the combat sword.

"The starting price is 32 billion Life Crystals! The price increment must be at least one billion Life Crystals each round!"

An intense bidding war began immediately.

"35 billion!"

"40 billion!"

...

Five minutes later, the combat sword was sold at a price of 62 billion. The final buyer was the guest in VIP room No. A3 on the second floor. He showed his determination in buying the sword throughout the bidding process. He raised the price by one to two billion each time. The two bidders on the third floor gave up bidding for the item as they did not want to increase the price by such a large margin anymore.

After the bidding of the combat sword had ended, there was only one last item remaining and everybody was excited to know what the last item was.

Chapter 803: The Last Auction Item

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Is the last auction item a god's relic?"

"The demigod-level sword and saber have been sold. Will the last auction item be a god's item?"

The crowd was anticipating for it in suspense until the last auction item was then brought to the auction stage.

"The last item for sale today, which is also the last item to be sold off at the auction, is here." Yu Bo was not in a hurry to unveil the red cloth. "Do you want to know what it is?"

"Stop dragging. Just show it!"

"Please be quick. I'm going home to breastfeed my baby!" A man with chest hair shouted, exposing his pecs to Yu Bo.

"Hurry up. I have the urge to pee. I can't stand it anymore! I'm going to the toilet after this!"

...

The auction hall was now bustling with chatter. Many of them even neglected the point that the friendly young man was actually an immortal-level rank-9. He was only one step closer to imperial-level.

"I feel like hitting someone..."

Yu Bo did not expect the crowd to react in such a way. He used to imagine that they would be like primary school kids and would all yell, "Yes!". In fact, the adult world was much more complicated.

His emotions then completely returned to normal as he uncovered the last item. The combat armor that Lin Huang provided was displayed.

The black combat armor floated in the transparent cabinet and exuded a faint, black mist. Two beams of bloody light glowed at the helmet visor, resembling a humanoid monster floating on the auction stage that scrutinized everyone in the auction hall.

Everybody kept quiet as soon as the combat armor appeared.

The moment when they saw the bloody glow, their bodies stiffened and they had goosebumps. They felt like an extremely powerful monster was glaring at them.

Yu Bo grinned as the effect was within his expectations.

Despite him being on immortal-level rank-9, he had goosebumps too when he saw the item for the first time.

Most of them in the auction hall had not reached immortal-level yet, so they were very cautious of the appearance and aura of the combat armor.

"The demigod-level combat armor is the only combat armor available for sale at this auction. The three Grade-S appraisers evaluated that the demigod relic wasn't formed from an ancient relic. It wasn't made of the flesh of the demigod-level monsters as well. Instead, it was dropped by the demigod-level monsters after their death. The monster type that dropped the combat armor remains unknown. However, it can be confirmed that it's an abyssal monster and it's highly possible that it's an abyssal monster in the third layer of the Abyss Brink. It's in perfect condition with no damages found..."

"The starting price of the combat armor is 38 billion Life Crystals! The price increment must be at least one billion Life Crystals each round!"

After having uttered his words, the black screen on the third floor lit up abruptly.

"68 billion!"

The member from VIP room No. 3 raised the price by 30 billion. Obviously, he was eager to buy the set of combat armor.

The crowd at the auction hall exclaimed when they saw the bid price.

"Did he accidentally enter an extra zero?"

"I'm pretty sure that he didn't. It's the strategy of bidding. He's not giving others the chance to bid by raising the bid price to 30 billion higher."

"The bidder in VIP room No. S3 is amazing!"

"Perhaps 68 billion isn't too expensive for him."

...

Even Yu Bo was stunned. He thought that he had seen the wrong figure.

Before Yu Bo had the chance to mention the bid price, the black screen which was a certain distance away lit up again.

"75 billion!"

The bidder who offered it was the member in VIP room No. 5. He had never placed any bid for the previous two demigod relics.

"Is it going to be sold at an extremely high price?!"

"Can it reach 80 billion? I heard that none of the items sold at the Wanbao Auction has ever exceeded 80 billion in the past 30 years."

Yu Bo's heartbeat started racing fast. He was waiting for the others to place another bid so that the bid price could exceed 80 billion.

The highest bid in the past 30 years was 78 billion and it had happened 13 years ago.

If he managed to break the record of the highest bid price at the auction that he hosted, he would definitely be rewarded by the top management. He might even have the opportunity to be upgraded to imperial-level.

Yu Bo then calmed himself down. Just as he was about to say something to trigger the bidders' buying intention, a figure lit up on the black screen on the third floor again.

"85 billion!"

Again, it was offered by the bidder in VIP room No. 3.

Seeing the figure, Yu Bo was overjoyed. "It's broken the record!!!"

The next second, the member in VIP room No. 5 placed another bid. An even higher bid price was achieved.

"95 billion!"

The crowd felt that the members in the two VIP rooms on the third floor had gone insane.

"What's happening? It's reaching 100 billion!"

"I guess 95 billion should mean a lot to those on the third floor."

"I used to think being rich makes me happy. Right until this moment, I realize that I've no idea what the happiness of a rich man is like..."

As an auctioneer, when Yu Bo saw the bid price of 95 billion, his breathing turned into a mess. He had just been trying to break the 30-year record. However, it seemed like it had broken the 50-year record now.

After calming himself down, Yu Bo was preparing himself for what to say next.

Again, the black screen on the third floor glowed.

"120 billion!"

The golden figure lit up abruptly on the black screen in front of VIP room No. 1. Everybody exclaimed in surprise.

Nobody expected that with just one bid, the bidder from VIP room No. 1 would manage to outbid the bidders in VIP room No. 3 and No. 5 who had been fighting over the item for a long while.

Seeing the bid price, Yu Bo was feeling lost as he mumbled, "1-120 billion..."

Soon, he recovered from his thoughts and tried to figure out when was the last time when the bid price had exceeded 120 billion.

"I think the last time the bid was higher than 120 billion was 117 years ago. The highest bid price for a demigod relic was 130 billion. Within 100 years, the highest bid price for a demigod relic was 110 billion which happened 81 years ago. Does it mean that the current bid price has broken the 100-year record?!"

Yu Bo could imagine his status at Wanbao Auction House in the future. "If everything goes well, the position of the principal auctioneer will belong to me!"

After the bid of 120 billion was announced, the members from the rest of the VIP rooms remained silent.

Yu Bo then knew that that would be the final price of the item. However, he was still ambitious, hoping to push the bid higher.

"The bidder from VIP room No. S1 has bid 120 billion for it. This is, by far, the highest bid price over the past 100 years. Congratulations to the member in VIP room No. S1 for breaking the 100-year record of Wanbao Auction House!"

"I've something else to say about this item. Many of you know that the items dropped by monsters can be refined and there's no exception for the demigod relic. This demigod relic is just an intermediate-grade item. However, it's like a raw material that has never been carved to the expert refiners. There are chances that it can be upgraded to an expert-grade item. Everybody knows that there are only three demigod-level combat armors that are of expert-grade in Division 3. This could possibly be the fourth one."

Yu Bo wanted to share this earlier. However, he did not have the chance to do so, but this was a good time.

Many of them could finally understand why it was priced at a much higher price compared to the previous two weapons.

A majority of them used to think that the Supreme members on the third floor were just trying to fight one another as they bid like crazy. Apparently, they were bidding for the potential value of the combat armor. They were all clever ones.

It suddenly dawned on Yi Zheng who then looked at Lin Huang and asked, "Are there grades for demigod relics?"

"Yes, but the difference between them isn't obvious." Lin Huang nodded his head and explained in detail, "A demigod relic is classified into beginner-grade, intermediate-grade, expert-grade, and ultimate-grade. The difference between the beginner- and intermediate-grade demigod relics isn't significant. However, an expert-grade demigod relic is much more powerful. As for the ultimate-grade demigod relic, a minority of them can be compared to a god's relic without instincts.

"By looking at the price itself, a beginner-grade demigod relic can be sold within a price range of 10 to 30 billion Life Crystals. Some of them can be sold at a price of 40 billion and above. However, under normal circumstances, it won't exceed 50 billion. The price of an intermediate-grade demigod relic starts from 30 billion Life Crystals and usually ranges from 30 to 80 billion. Normally, it won't exceed 100 billion. The starting price for an expert-grade demigod relic will be 100 billion and its highest bid price can go to 300 to 400 billion. It won't exceed 500 billion. The starting price for the ultimate-grade demigod relic will be 300 billion..."

On the auction stage, Yu Bo waited for a few seconds. Since nobody placed another bid, he shouted, "120 billion, going once!"

"120 billion, going twice!"

"Is there anyone who's going to bid for it? Otherwise, the combat armor will belong to the member in VIP room No. S1."

Obviously, 120 billion had exceeded the acceptable price range of the rest of the members on the third floor. They knew very well that a subtle increase in price meant nothing to him and that they would suffer great losses if they were to increase it substantially. Therefore, they decided to give up bidding for it.

Yu Bo gazed at the VIP rooms on the third floor. He knew that nobody would place another bid. Therefore, he had to knock the gavel.

"120 billion going, thrice! Sold!"

Chapter 804: Leveling-up to Immortal-level!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The last auction item was sold at 120 billion Life Crystals and the five days of the auction had finally ended with a speech from the top management of Wanbao Auction House.

In Lin Huang's VIP room, the doorbell rang. Yi Zheng opened the door and a female staff entered.

She nodded her head at Yi Zheng and walked straight to Lin Huang. Then, she took out two items from her Emperor's Heart Ring.

One of them was the God's Figurine which Lin Huang had bid for in the afternoon and the other thing was a thumb-sized crystal card.

"Mr. Lin, this is the item that you bid for in the afternoon and the payment for the items sold. 3% of the processing fees and the money you spent buying the auction item has been deducted from the payment in the crystal card. Please check."

Lin Huang took the two items from her. He put the God's Figurine into his storage and immediately inserted the crystal card into his Emperor's Heart Ring.

The total amount for the three demigod relics was 247 billion. After deducting 3% of processing fees and the one billion Life Crystals which he had spent bidding for the auction item, the remaining amount was 238.59 billion Life Crystals.

Making sure that it was the right amount, Lin Huang then completed the transaction. He removed the crystal card and stored it in his storage space.

The transaction crystal card that could only temporarily store Life Crystals had its limit and was not valuable. Therefore, the auction house would give it to their customers each time after a transaction.

"It's exactly the right amount of money." Lin Huang nodded his head at the staff.

"The two invitation cards of the underground auction will be emailed to you before 10 p.m. Please take note," the female staff reminded, "The auction begins tomorrow at 8 p.m. It starts from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. for three consecutive days. For further details, please check the invitation card after you've received it. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Is there a list of items for the underground auction?"

"The list will be attached in the invitation email. However, that's just for your reference as the list is subject to change," she explained.

"One more thing. During the auction, can we stay at the VIP room for free?" Lin Huang came up with a shameless request. He had enjoyed staying there for the past few days.

"No, you can't. Wanbao Auction has already ended to the outside world and the VIP rooms will serve as hotel rooms again. All the VIP rooms will be cleaned up today and we'll start our usual business tomorrow. Moreover, the underground auction won't be held here. It's at another underground area."

"Okay." Lin Huang nodded.

As the staff left, the speech on the auction stage had ended as well. The majority of them had left the auction hall.

"Should we leave now or should we stay for a while?" Yi Zheng felt that it was too crowded down there and felt like leaving only when it had subsided.

"What are we waiting for? Don't you know that they're about to clean up this space?" Lin Huang stood up, tossing a red berry into his mouth and walked towards the floating staircase.

Yi Zheng then had to follow after him.

The both of them entered the floating staircase and went down to the first floor. They left the auction hall together with the crowd. They then returned to the hotel they used to stay at which was just a short distance away from the auction hall.

After bidding Yi Zheng goodbye, he then returned to his room. The first thing he did was to summon Kylie and entered her mini world.

Lin Huang was so excited to take the God's Figurine out in her mini world.

The God's Figurine was only the size of an adult's palm. It looked like a statue made of redwood. However, on it was the carving of a creature that Lin Huang had never seen before and it had never appeared in the monster guide either.

It was a humanoid monster that looked feminine and wore a red dress that looked like an inverted rose. Its upper body was completely naked. It looked like it did not have arms and there were two pairs of butterfly-like wings on its back. There were scales all over its body and it had a vine-like tail which extended from the lower edge of its dress. The tail behind its dress hung low on the floor.

After briefly looking at the shape of the God's Figurine, Lin Huang shifted his gaze towards its face.

It had a very beautiful face that looked like a lady from the West. Its head was slightly lowered with its eyes closed and it had waist-length hair that was a bit messy.

Perhaps because it had no arms, Lin Huang felt that it looked sick and weak.

"You're lucky enough. It's a matured Petal Devil. Its previous combat strength was at least on the high-rank True God-level." The stone tablet's voice was heard.

"Is it called the Petal Devil? Is it powerful?" Lin Huang asked.

"The Petal Devil isn't a monster that's skilled at fighting. However, the abilities of a matured Petal Devil can be compared to the protoss that's good at fighting. I said that you're lucky simply because they're monsters that possess the wood attribute. They're the favorites of Nature. In the True Spirit Guide that I gave you, there's a divine tree called Fusang which is also known as the sun tree. It has been said that the strongest sun tree stretches across the Milky Way. The stars and black holes are pretty much its food. It's unbreakable and immortal. The Petal Devil and the sun tree originate from the same monster. With the God's Figurine of the Petal Devil as a medium, visualizing the sun tree's combat soul can be accomplished with ease."

Lin Huang was excited when he heard this. It was a sun tree that stretched across the Milky Way and could even engulf the stars and black holes! If he could form a combat soul like this, he would have the courage to fight someone stronger than the True God.

However, after calming himself down, he felt that what the stone tablet said was deceiving.

"You said that the combat strength of the sun tree is even stronger than the True God right? Have you seen it before?"

"I've never seen the sun tree stretching across the Milky Way before. However, I've seen the engulfment of the stars and black holes for real. I've seen the sun tree extend its branches and twist around the stars. It spent 33 days to engulf everything completely."

What it said startled Lin Huang and he could not say a word for several moments.

"Don't think of creating a sun tree that can engulf the stars. As long as you can form a demigod-level plant, it's probably sufficient to defeat all the demigods in the gravel world."

Lin Huang forced a smile, shaking his head. He then took a deep breath, fixing his gaze back on the God's Figurine.

His Divine Telekinesis surrounded the God's Figurine, slowly dragging it into the world in his body.

If anyone saw what was happening to him, one would see the palm-sized wood statue slowly being dragged towards Lin Huang's chest and disappearing.

After storing the God' Figurine into his body, Lin Huang dragged it to the Divine Fire of the first Life Wheel. The palm-sized God's Figurine was instantly engulfed by the flames.

Lin Huang kept his focus on the internal changes that were happening to his Divine Fire. Soon, a huge whirlpool was formed in the flames that were tens of thousands of meters tall. Its size then began to shrink rapidly.

At the same time, the Life Power that was initially full in his Life Wheel was being overwhelmed entirely by the whirlpool. It did not happen to only the first Life Wheel... Instead, the Life Power in the rest of the nine Life Wheels was being depleted.

Lin Huang could roughly guess what was happening. He immediately used three Life Power Refill Cards to replenish his Life Power, inserting it into the whirlpool.

About half an hour had passed and all the Life Power in Lin Huang's body had been emptied. Even the Divine Fire in his first Life Wheel had completely disappeared. Only the palm-sized God's Figurine remained.

Lin Huang waited for it excitedly yet patiently. He was not worried about his Life Power having already been depleted.

About two to three minutes later, the eyes of the God's Figurine opened abruptly. Two black Divine Fires shot out of its eyes. The red flower-like dress that it was wearing initially became black as if it was dyed by ink. At almost the same time, the size of the God's Figurine began to grow. It was initially the size of a palm but it continued to grow until it was more than two meters tall. After its size had finally stabilized, the God's Figurine slowly closed its eyes. However, the color of its dress was still black in color and did not return to its original color.

The God's Figurine's black dress blew upwards a little with the circles of Life Power. It began to refill his first Life Wheel, followed by the second one, the third one... After all ten of his Life Wheels were being restored, it began to pass through Lin Huang's veins and arteries, muscles, bones, and soul...

Lin Huang was exhilarated. He could clearly sense that the Life Power in his body was transforming. His body and the strength of his soul were transforming as well.

"It can really help me to level up to immortal-level rank-1!" Lin Huang inspected his own body. "The only difference between an immortal-level rank-1 and I is that I don't have a combat soul in my body."

Under normal circumstances, one would need to kill an immortal-level monster and hunt for a monster soul in order to advance from holy fire-level to immortal-level. The monster soul would then be used as a Life Furnace that stored Life Fire. The process was known as lighting up the Life Lamp.

However, since the Life Fire in Lin Huang's body originated from a Divine Pod whereby it belonged to the true Divine Fire, only a True God-level monster soul could store it. Therefore, he had to choose a spiritual god item or god relic to store the Divine Fire. The God's Figurine was a spiritual god's item. It could be used as a container to store his Divine Fire, allowing Lin Huang to light up his Life Lamp.

Theoretically, Lin Huang knew that it would work. Therefore, he gave it a try and ended up successfully upgrading to immortal-level.

"What I shall do next is to visualize the sun tree's monster soul to create a combat soul!" Lin Huang knew what his next step was. "However, I don't think that it can be achieved in such a short period of time."

Chapter 805: Getting Kidnapped

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Congratulations, you've leveled up to immortal-level!

"There's an upgrade in some of the authorities.

"1. Summon authority of pseudo-mythical-level card is activated.

"2. The number of summoning increases from 10 to 15.

"3. Personal skill slots increase from 20 slots to 30 slots.

"4. The maximum limit of the combat strength of the monster cards is immortal-level rank-9.

"5: Activation of new cards: Duplication Card, Forge Card, Modification Card...

"6: Change of cross-ranking reward rules: You'll only obtain a cross-ranking reward by killing an imperial-level. You can no longer obtain a cross-ranking reward by killing an immortal-level.

"When on the beginner-level of an immortal-level (from rank-1 to rank-3), you'll obtain 10 card draws by killing a black gold-rank; you'll obtain 20 card draws by killing a crimson gold-rank; you'll obtain 40 card draws by killing a yellow gold-rank; you'll obtain 80 card draws by killing a white gold-rank; you'll obtain 160 card draws by killing a purple gold-rank; and you'll obtain 320 card draws by killing a demigod.

"When on the intermediate-level of an immortal-level (from rank-4 to rank-6), you'll obtain 10 card draws by killing a crimson gold-rank; you'll obtain 20 card draws by killing a yellow gold-rank; you'll obtain 40 card draws by killing a white gold-rank; you'll obtain 80 card draws by killing a purple gold-rank; and you'll obtain 160 card draws by killing a demigod.

"When on the expert-level of an immortal-level (from rank-7 to rank-9), you'll obtain 10 card draws by killing a yellow gold-rank; you'll obtain 20 card draws by killing a white gold-rank; you'll obtain 40 card draws by killing a purple gold-rank; and you'll obtain 80 card draws by killing a demigod."

"Remark: You can't use a Function Card to assist in a cross-ranking kill."

...

"I can't use a Function Card? I guess I'm not cheating if I were to use the Knight skill and Integration skill to achieve an upgrade in my combat strength, right?" Lin Huang mumbled with an evil smile, "I can first upgrade the combat strength of the monster that I'm riding on to immortal-level rank-9. With the overlaying effect of the Knight and Integration skills, my combat strength can be upgraded to at least black gold-level or even crimson gold-level..."

"That's too much. According to the strength of your body and soul, black gold-rank is your limit. If you were to advance it to crimson gold-level forcefully, your body and soul will probably collapse in an instant. Therefore, given the restriction of the system, you'll only be able to obtain the minimum overlaying effect of Knight and Integration and your combat strength will only reach black gold-rank. There'll be an exception if you level up to the intermediate-level of the immortal-level."

"Black gold-rank. That's great." Lin Huang did not feel upset at all. "With my abilities on black gold-rank, it won't be difficult for me to fight crimson gold- and yellow gold-ranks. Bai and the rest of their combat strength can be upgraded to immortal-level rank-9 too. Furthermore, I have two pseudo-mythical-level monster card: evil spirit type and Regal Sword Killer. Despite not being able to use the Combat Strength Upgrade Card, they can fight in a team and see if they can kill white gold-rank monsters..."

There was actually a significant increase in Lin Huang's abilities as he leveled up to immortal-level. Nevertheless, he knew that there was still room for improvement.

Training the monster soul could allow him to own the combat soul. The training of the Seamless skill would enable him to create more telekinetic threads, expanding the region covered by his telekinesis. The training of his Sword Dao that had begun to plateau could be further improved. Also, the tremendous improvement in his combat strength unsealed many of the memories inherited...

As he thought of this, Lin Huang knew that he had a lot of things to do.

After returning from Kylie's mini world to the hotel room, it was already 10 p.m.

He felt strange as he could detect with his territory that Yi Zheng was not in the room.

"Did he go for supper?"

Lin Huang did not think too much about it since he had entered Kylie's mini world after they got back from the auction hall. Most likely, because he had seen that he was not in, Yi Zheng had gone out for supper on his own.

After taking a shower, Lin Huang began reading the news on the sofa.

After reading all the news and browsing through social media, it was about 11 p.m. but Yi Zheng had not come back yet.

Lin Huang began to worry about him. He thought for a while. Then, he opened the communication page and decided to call Yi Zheng.

Soon, the call was connected. However, after waiting for a long while, only a beeping could be heard. Until the sound ended after a minute, nobody picked up the call.

"What happened to him?" Lin Huang frowned.

After calming himself down, he texted him. "I called you just now but nobody picked up. Where are you? Please get back to me soon when you see this message."

After the message had been sent, one minute passed, then two minutes, three minutes... Nobody replied to him and Lin Huang panicked.

The Emperor's Heart Ring was different from the usual mobile phone on Earth. It was worn directly on the finger and would not be taken it off even when they were taking their shower. As long as they received a call or text message, it would vibrate. It was impossible that they could not sense it. Even if they were too busy to pick up the call, replying a voice message would only take them a few seconds. Yi Zheng had grown up in the military and he used to be really efficient at work. Normally, he would reply to text messages within seconds.

Since he did not reply Lin Huang after so long, it indicated that something had happened to him.

After making such a conclusion, Lin Huang immediately entered Yi Zheng's hotel room.

It was so clean and tidy inside the room and there were no traces of any scuffle or conflict. Lin Huang scanned the area with his Divine Telekinesis several times but he discovered nothing apart from the balcony door being open.

However, no evidence was found at the balcony.

"Yi Zheng normally closes the balcony door before going out and locks it." Standing at the balcony, Lin Huang checked if he had missed out on anything. "That guy must be strong. He managed to control Yi Zheng in an instant as soon as he entered from the balcony and kidnapped him. When did he get targeted by the kidnapper?"

Lin Huang frowned as he carefully recalled whether somebody had been following after them or spying on them. However, he discovered nothing.

"Regardless of who his target is, if somebody is following me, I'll be able to detect it with my territory. If the opponent is using a spiritual detection skill, I'll be able to detect it easily with my Divine Telekinesis. However, nothing has been detected in the past few days when Yi Zheng was with me."

Lin Huang could not understand it. He had no idea when they got targeted by the kidnapper or why would this happen.

Just as Lin Huang was in doubt, his Emperor's Heart Ring suddenly vibrated. A message came through.

He immediately tapped opened the communication page and unexpectedly, the sender was Yi Zheng.

"He replied?" Lin Huang was stunned. However, it was 20 minutes ago when he had sent the message to Yi Zheng. He did not expect him to reply at this moment. "Did I overthink?"

As he read the message, Lin Huang's pupils dilated.

"If you want to save him, come to Yangui Tower before midnight. Bring along all the auction items you bid from the auction hall and come here alone. If you don't bring all the items you have or you have someone following you, you have to bear the consequences."

"Someone has caught him!" Surprisingly, Lin Huang felt relieved after receiving the message.

Firstly, the person was using Yi Zheng's Emperor's Heart Ring to send him the message. That being said, Yi Zheng was still alive and it was good news.

Secondly, the reason why he kidnapped Yi Zheng was obvious. It was because of the auction items. Therefore, it was less likely that the person would kill Yi Zheng before the deal had been made.

Yi Zheng and Lin Huang had a total of five auction items. The four items that Yi Zheng bought were ancient relics. It was not worth doing so for those items. The only item Lin Huang got was the God's Figurine.

Lin Huang smirked as he understood everything that had happened and could roughly guess the identity of the kidnapper.

"He's coming after the God's Figurine! During the auction, the only person who bid for the God's Figurine was the member in VIP room No. 1 on the third floor. Most probably, he knows the truth about the God's Figurine and that's the reason why he's giving his all to get it. If I'm not mistaken, he's the kidnapper!"

Chapter 806: You've Been Thinking About Dating My Sister All the Time!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Given Yi Zheng's abilities, if he got kidnapped without having the ability to fight back, it meant that the kidnapper was probably an imperial-level.

Had it happened last time, Lin Huang would have feared him.

However, he felt smug now and was excited to fight him. He hardly had the chance to fight an imperial-level.

Furthermore, he was just estimating his abilities based on theory. In order to know how powerful his abilities were, he had to engage in a real battle.

Since the opponent came to him first, Lin Huang was thrilled.

As for Yi Zheng who got kidnapped..."Hmm... Let's fight the kidnapper first," he thought to himself.

After making the decision, Lin Huang flew up to the sky from the balcony, transforming into a black meteor and headed towards the west of the city.

Guiyan Tower was an abandoned building site at the west of Wanbao City.

The buildings used to be part of a temple during ancient times. However, the temple had turned into a rubble of debris and broken bricks now. Only the lower half of the tower remained.

When the abandoned site was first discovered, the Union Government had sent people in to inspect the site. However, they only managed to dig out some of the books and bones of ordinary people. They then concluded that it was just an ordinary temple.

In the past hundred years, many people came to explore this place. However, nothing was discovered and the number of people who came here subsequently decreased.

In addition, it was too far from the center of Wanbao City. It was more than 2,000 kilometers away and it covered only a small area. Considering the extremely pathetic visitation rate of the ordinary tourists, the Union Government did not make it a tourist spot. Therefore, it was now an abandoned land.

Aside from visiting a few of the tourist spots, Lin Huang had not been to other places ever since he came to Wanbao City. Of course, he had not been to Guiyan Tower.

If the kidnapper had not mentioned it, he would have forgotten that there was such a site during the old era.

Activating his double acceleration, it took him about 20 minutes to arrive at the west of the city. He could see the abandoned site with a half-burnt tower and broken bricks all over from afar.

He could obviously sense that there were two figures on the first floor of the abandoned tower in the region covered by his territory.

A person was leaning against the wall while another stood, lifting his head and looking in his direction. Obviously, he had been discovered.

Lin Huang gradually landed on a hillside with broken bricks all over it. It was about 20 meters away from the abandoned tower and he could maintain a safe distance.

"I came as promised. Can you come out?" Lin Huang remained calm and both of them in the tower heard his voice clearly.

At the entrance of Yangui Tower, a pale, skinny man appeared along with Yi Zheng.

As the moonlight shone on him, Lin Huang could evidently see how the kidnapper looked like.

He looked so pale and ill. He was like the classic vampire described in most novels. He was about 1.8 meters tall and had a skinny and slender body. With very ordinary looks, he could hardly stand out from the crowd.

Without sensing the strength of his aura, Lin Huang would think that he was just an ordinary person.

"You're really an imperial-level. The first rank of an imperial-level - black gold-rank."

After sizing him up, Lin Huang had a rough estimate of his combat strength. He then shifted his gaze towards Yi Zheng.

Yi Zheng's Life Power had been emptied and must have been sealed by some sort of secret skill. However, it seemed like the kidnapper had not tortured him as he still looked fine. However, his face turned ghastly as he saw Lin Huang. "He's an imperial-level. You shouldn't have come."

"You didn't answer my call and reply to my text. What could I do?" Lin Huang smiled with his palms up. "If I don't do anything and you die here, I've no idea how to explain this to your sister."

"The conversation shall end here." The pale man pressed his hand against Yi Zheng's shoulder. Yi Zheng groaned and stopped talking.

"Give it to me and I'll let him go." The man lifted his head and looked at Lin Huang threateningly.

"What's that? You have to tell me clearly," Lin Huang challenged.

"Stop bullshitting me. You know that I want the God's Figurine!"

"Indeed, he knows what the God's Figurine is." Lin Huang's heart sank. However, nothing strange could be picked up from his facial expression. "I really have no idea what the God's Figurine is."

"You've no idea?! Why did you bid for it at the auction?" The man narrowed his eyes. "I've just scanned through his memory. Don't think that I don't know both of you were the members in VIP room No. 3 on the third floor. You're the one who bid for it."

"I bid for it? Oh... Are you talking about the wood carving?" Lin Huang looked like he was suddenly enlightened. "I just found out that it's called the God's Figurine. As an imperial-level, you kidnapped my friend because of the wood carving? It seems to be something valuable."

"Stop talking nonsense. Give it to me!" The man was impatient.

"If you give it to him, the both of us will die," Yi Zheng said calmly.

"I'm not allowing you to talk!" The man pressed against Yi Zheng's shoulder hard with his left hand and the sound of the bone being broken echoed. It was so painful that sweat dripped from Yi Zheng's forehead. He was startled and kept quiet.

"Don't fight first. I'm not saying that I won't give it to you," Lin Huang immediately said, "I can give it to you, but I have one condition. Let him go first."

"I'll let him go after you've given it to me," the man said without any facial expression.

"No, I can't do so. I don't trust you. My friend was right. You might probably kill us after getting what you want," Lin Huang insisted. "He's the brother to a female friend of mine. If he dies, his sister will definitely blame me. Even if I die, she'll hate me forever. Let him go and I'll stay. You know that the item is with me and not him. As long as he can leave here safely, I'll give it to you. If you want to break your promise, just kill me. As long as he's still alive, his sister won't blame me for not taking good care of him. She'll miss me every day because I sacrificed my life for his brother. Thinking of her long legs, it's worth dying for." Lin Huang acted like a drooling pervert.

"Lin Huang, you're thinking about dating my sister all the time!" Yi Zheng glared at Lin Huang. He was so angry and accidentally called out his real name.

"Do you think that I'm treating her like a friend?" Lin Huang raised his brows. "There's no pure friendship between a man and a lady. It's general knowledge that all adults should know."

"You..." Yi Zheng was too mad to the point that he could not say anything.

"Humans really are boring and low-class creatures..." The pale-faced man mumbled. He lifted his head and looked at Lin Huang again. "Alright, I promise you. However, I have another request. I want to have a look whether you've really brought what I want. I'll let him go immediately upon confirmation."

"Alright, keep your promise." Lin Huang grinned.

The man was staring at Lin Huang's hand movement. However, he was laughing on the inside. "Keep your promise? Such an innocent fella. If it weren't because I'm not sure whether you brought the God's Figurine along, I wouldn't have talked so much nonsense to you. After confirming that the item is with you, both of you must die! The only thing I need is the Emperor's Heart Ring."

Chapter 807: Lin Huang Versus the Imperial-Level

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang extended his right arm with his palm facing up.

A palm-sized God's Figurine instantly appeared on his palm, floating a few centimeters off his palm.

"Can you see it now?" Seemingly, Lin Huang was not worried that he would snatch it away. He did not put it away after showing him the God's Figurine. "Can you let him go now?"

"That's great!" The pale man grinned. "Since you've brought it along, there's no use keeping both of you alive."

After finishing his sentence, the man gradually faded away from his original position and appeared right in front of Lin Huang without a trace. He penetrated through Lin Huang's chest as he struck a blow at him.

At that moment, his facial expression changed as Lin Huang's body distorted slightly and disappeared.

"Kylie, bring Yi Zheng away."

In front of Yi Zheng, two figures appeared abruptly. One of them was Lin Huang whereas the other one was Kylie.

Kylie grabbed Yi Zheng's arm and the both of them instantly disappeared.

Seeing Yi Zheng being brought to Kylie's mini world, Lin Huang grinned. He lifted his head, looking at the pale man with an insulting expression.

"An illusion? You did a great job." The man soon responded to him coldly.

"It's just a trick. Not worth mentioning though," Lin Huang said calmly as if fooling an imperial-level with his ocular skill was just a small matter.

"Why didn't you run away? Do you think that I won't kill you?" The man did not panic when Yi Zheng was evacuated.

"Make another guess." Lin Huang smiled.

The man squinted and glanced at Lin Huang for a while. "You look confident. It's either a big bluff or you have a trump card in hand which makes you think that you're capable of fighting me."

"You're smarter than I can imagine." Hearing the answer, Lin Huang smiled again. "However, I need to correct you. I'm not thinking that I'm capable of fighting you. Instead, I know that I have the ability to kill you."

"That's a funny joke. I don't feel like killing you now. If I were to make you my pet, you could tell me jokes when I'm bored..." The man tilted his head slightly, looking at Lin Huang. "Hmm... Let it be. It's too troublesome to have a pet. I shall just kill you to make a new leather bag."

"A leather bag?" Lin Huang could not understand his rationale. However, before he could ask further, Kylie walked out from her mini world.

"Your pet is back. I've been waiting for her." After uttering his words, an invisible wave spread out from his body, passing through Lin Huang and Kylie and spread further away.

Lin Huang could instantly feel that it was causing their surroundings to freeze. He took a glance at where Kylie was at and the same thing seemed to happen there.

"Is it a dimensional territory?" Lin Huang raised his brows, looking at the pale man.

"You've got 20/20 eyesight." He stared at Lin Huang and grinned. "To stop you from running away like what you did just now, I purposely waited for the return of your pet before sealing the dimension."

"Nothing is affected as the entrance is still open," Kylie contacted Lin Huang through her mind.

Lin Huang grinned. Even if Kylie had not told him about it, he knew that his effort of sealing the dimension would be rendered useless. Kylie's mini world was left on this land by someone who was at least on the Virtual God-level. Regardless of how powerful the imperial-level's territory was, it was impossible for it to affect it.

"Would you believe me if I tell you that I'm not going to run away?" Lin Huang spoke the truth with a smile.

"It doesn't matter whether if I trust you or not. You're going to regret what you said." The man's killing intent immediately grew. He was not going to secretly attack Lin Huang as he was going to kill him from the front, snatching his Emperor's Heart Ring away.

"Such a strong intent to kill. You're scary." Lin Huang sounded like he was teasing him. However, he was really careful. From the aura he released, Lin Huang could sense that he was not an opponent that was easy to deal with.

"Come out, Charcoal!"

Lin Huang then summoned Charcoal whose height had been reduced to only five meters tall.

A non-humanoid monster was needed to activate the Knight skill.

Seeing the appearance of Charcoal, the pale-faced man squinted. "A dragonkin?! And the concentration of its blood isn't low!"

Sensing Charcoal's blood purity, instead of being fearful, the man got more excited. He extended his tongue, licking his own lips. "I can't wait to taste the delicious monster!"

Although he was just mumbling to himself, Charcoal who had just been summoned could hear everything clearly. He immediately targeted the pale man, spitting black dragon flames towards him.

The black dragon flames gushed out like the tide, instantly enveloping the area where the man stood.

Right at this moment, Lin Huang's pupils dilated. He immediately grabbed Kylie's wrist and rode on Charcoal's back.

"Knight!"

"Integration!"

The two skills were unleashed simultaneously.

Kylie then transformed into a beam of black light and penetrated through Lin Huang's chest. Lin Huang's combat strength then began to advance.

Immortal-level rank-1!

Immortal-level rank-2!

Immortal-level rank-3!

...

Immortal-level rank-9!

Charcoal received a similar upgrade in its combat strength.

The entire process sounded long but it actually happened within seconds.

After the upgrade in combat strength, a figure appeared on top of Lin Huang. Impressively, it was the pale man who was shrouded in the dragon flames earlier.

"That's your trump card!?"

He then struck a blow from the sky. A black, gigantic claw that was formed by his Life Power went after Lin Huang and Charcoal. The gigantic claw could be compared to the size of about four basketball courts. Lin Huang and Charcoal had nowhere to flee.

Seeing the gigantic claw on top of him, Charcoal's bloody eyes flashed with a trace of fury. Just as it was about to spit its dragon flames, on its back, Lin Huang swiftly dashed his sword forward.

A black glow that resembled a crescent moon streaked across the sky, crashing into the black, gigantic claw in an instant.

In the next second, the huge claw was sliced into half like tofu, revealing a smooth surface.

After slicing through the gigantic claw, the glow of the sword that was akin to a crescent moon did not collapse. Instead, it went towards the pale man who was in the sky immediately.

Witnessing what had just happened, a flicker of fear flashed through his eyes. For the first time, he had a serious expression on his face.

The glow of the sword arrived right in front of him in an instant.

Just as the sword was about to strike him, he grabbed the blade of the sword. Exerting force on the black glow with five of his fingers, the black glow collapsed into pieces like broken glass.

Updated by BOXNOVEL

Although he managed to dodge Lin Huang's attack without getting injured, he did not look fine. He had to admit that the young man in front of him was really capable of fighting him.

He was not being naïve or swashbuckling.

Chapter 808: You Can't Imagine the Happiness of Spitting Dragon Flame

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Mid-air, Lin Huang was standing on Charcoal's back.

It was his first time combining the two skills: the Knight skill and the Integration skill. He was quite satisfied with the effect.

Charcoal was on immortal-level rank-5 and the combat strength of the two skills could only be upgraded three levels higher. However, there were some uncertainties about the advancement of the combat strength as it could increase anywhere from one to three levels higher. However, Lin Huang combined the two skills and his combat strength was four levels higher. He managed to reach his pinnacle - immortal-level rank-9.

It was his first time fighting an imperial-level with the combat strength he currently possessed.

Lin Huang could confirm that the estimation he made for his ability was correct in just one blow.

The pale man who was on black gold-rank was pinned down by him.

Despite the fact that it was also his first time engaging in a fight while standing on Charcoal's back, the both of them could communicate really well with the help of the Knight skill. Lin Huang felt that Charcoal was an extension of his body. Apart from being able to instantly express what he wanted to Charcoal without saying anything, he could even see how the world looked like from Charcoal's point of view.

It was unbelievable that the combination of the Integration and Knight skills could result in such an effect.

After combining with Kylie, not only did she share her abilities and skills with Lin Huang, but she also shared them with Charcoal too.

Aside from possessing Kylie's speed and agility, Charcoal had perfectly inherited all the skills she owned as well.

Lin Huang felt that he had never been so powerful before.

However, the pale man did not have a good time there.

He was familiar with Lin Huang's identity as an Imperial Censor and could tell that Lin Huang might have had a provisional upgrade in his combat strength. He knew this clearly because he had seen Yi Zheng's memory before.

However, he did not expect Lin Huang to be able to level up from immortal-level rank-1 to rank-9. It was unbelievable that Lin Huang, who was on immortal-level rank-9, was capable of fighting him and even possessed the ability to suppress him.

He had underestimated him previously as he used to think that he could pin him down easily. However, he now had to go through a big obstacle getting the God's Figurine.

"I've underestimated you," the pale man admitted unwillingly. He then glanced at Lin Huang vengefully. "You're hiding your skills well!"

"I didn't. It's just that you've underestimated me. " Lin Huang laughed. "Everybody thinks that an immortal-level rank-1 is just an ant to the imperial-level and that they can be easily defeated. However, they never knew that ants could kill too."

"Regardless of how powerful your combat strength is, your time is limited. After that period of time that you receive an upgrade in your combat strength, I can still do whatever I want to you." Despite the fact that Lin Huang's ability had surprised him and he was in disbelief about it, the sallow man still had good control over the battle as he was not blinded by fear. "Regardless of what upgrade you've experienced in your combat strength, you're just an immortal-level rank-1. That's my greatest advantage."

After finishing his words, a monster soon formed in front of the man. Soon, there were seven monsters and each of them was on imperial-level.

Seeing what just happened, Lin Huang frowned.

His opponent was not an Imperial Censor and the monsters that appeared were not summoning monsters. Instead, they were combat souls.

Their combat strength had been upgraded from immortal-level rank-9 to imperial-level. Of course, they would have nine combat souls.

After getting to imperial-level from immortal-level, the combat souls would transform as the souls were strengthened, leveling up to imperial-level. The combat souls would again be the greatest assistance to the imperial-level.

The pale man had excellent control over them, the reason being regardless of how many ranks higher Lin Huang's combat strength could reach, he was just an immortal-level rank-1. He would only have one combat soul.

Seven imperial-level combat souls were summoned and there were two more that had not been summoned yet. Lin Huang could not confirm if the two remaining combat souls were the strongest ones or if they had been destroyed and could no longer be summoned.

However, it was difficult for him to kill the seven combat soul monsters.

Among the seven combat souls, two of them had gone through their third mutation. There were also two undying species that could hardly be killed.

Seven of them had appeared at the same time. Even Lin Huang felt that it was difficult to defeat them.

Lin Huang would, of course, had a higher number of summoning monsters. After getting into immortal-level, his summoning authority had been activated. The number of summoning monsters he was allowed to summon increased from 10 to 15.

However, most of his summoning monsters were on immortal-level rank-5. They could not join the fight.

A thought suddenly ran through Lin Huang's mind and he decided not to summon Bai and the rest.

"Charcoal!" Lin Huang shouted and soon, Charcoal received Lin Huang's instruction in detail in his mind. Flapping its wings, its huge body then strangely disappeared from its original position.

In the next moment, a human and a monster then appeared on top of the monsters.

"Dragon flames!"

At almost the same time, Charcoal and Lin Huang opened their mouths wide. Dragon flames then spewed out of their mouths.

The two flames did not repel each other. Instead, they grew stronger rapidly, gushing towards the seven combat souls and the pale man.

Black flames then engulfed the eight of them like a tsunami, spanning tens of kilometers from where they were and turning the entire region into a black ocean.

Unexpectedly, the force that resulted from Charcoal and his dragon flames did not just double. Instead, it went far beyond that. Its damage and power had multiplied many times. Although the effect might not be as powerful as what Charcoal could achieve when it officially leveled up to imperial-level, the effect was similar.

"It's less likely that they can get rid of our attack as the range of attack is very wide. Most probably, they'll be forced to fight back. If that happens, even if we can't kill the seven combat souls, they'll be severely injured," Lin Huang thought to himself.

This was also the reason why he had activated this skill. He wanted to reduce the number of enemies that could threaten him.

It would be terribly disastrous to be besieged by seven imperial-levels. Despite the fact that they were merely combat souls with no real bodies, their abilities were not much weaker than those with physical bodies. He would feel more relieved even if only one of the combat souls got injured.

The spitting of dragon flames lasted for several minutes. Lin Huang and Charcoal had no means of stopping.

Under normal circumstances, as a dragonkin, Charcoal would not spit dragon flames in such a way. The spitting of dragon flames lasted for just a couple of seconds each time, the longest one lasting for only about 20 seconds. It never lasted longer than half a minute.

It was because the use of dragon flames depleted a large portion of its Life Power. The Life Power in its Life Wheel drained drastically every second like a tidal wave.

It was very important for a dragonkin to rationally distribute the use of its Life Power.

If the time it took to spit dragon flames got too long, its Life Power would be exhausted and it would become a drawback. If the dragon flames were unable to kill its enemy, it would be killed by its opponent.

However, it was not a problem to Lin Huang as he possessed Divine Fire in his body. Compared to the rest of the people, the speed at which his Life Power could be restored was like the difference between a nuclear power plant and a hydraulic power plant. After possessing the Divine Fire, the Life Power in his body was inexhaustible. He could constantly channel it to Charcoal.

Spitting dragon flames for a month would not be a problem to him, let alone a few minutes. Of course, their jaws would feel tired if they were to spit dragon flames for a month.

Charcoal got to enjoy the satisfaction of spitting dragon flames for the first time after getting a constant supply of Life Power from Lin Huang. Nobody could imagine its delight of spitting dragon flames.

Its brutish nature and its desire to destroy things could finally be satisfied. It was like a Husky, which had been kept indoors for a long period of time, happily tearing apart a leather sofa that cost tens of thousands of Life Crystals, three pairs of Armani jeans, a Louis Vuitton bag, and an iPad...

Chapter 809: Lin Huang Had a Headache

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

10 seconds...

20 seconds...

30 seconds...

The pale man was secretly counting the time Charcoal took to spit the dragon flames. As time passed, his face turned ghastly.

When Lin Huang and Charcoal spat the dragon flames, he thought of sacrificing two combat souls to interrupt the spitting of the flames. The area covered by the dragon flames was too vast and it was unavoidable. There were only two ways to deal with such an attack. They had to either interrupt it or dodge it.

However, he knew that the time for a dragonkin to spit dragon flames would be limited. He only needed to bear it for about 20 seconds as it would drain a huge portion of its Life Power. The depletion of its Life Power had far exceeded the Life Power consumed by his defensive skill. It would be beneficial to him if a large amount of its Life Power became exhausted.

Therefore, he chose to fight against them.

However, half a minute had passed and the flames did not weaken.

He could clearly sense that apart from the two triple mutated combat souls, there were some problems with the defense layer of the five combat souls. "Hold on a little longer. Their Life Power won't last that long."

He had miscalculated. One whole minute had passed and the dragon flames were still as powerful as ever.

He began to panic.

The defense layer of the five double mutated combat souls was shaking and could collapse at any time. Despite the demigod-level armor which he was wearing completely isolating him from the dragon flames, he was pressured as the armor was constantly exhausting his Life Power.

"It's lasted for a minute..." The sallow man then looked at the combat souls in front of him. Only the two triple mutated combat souls could still bear the dragon flames and were moving against them. The closer they were to the origin of the dragon flames, the higher the damages and the temperature. The combat soul might become destroyed if they were to go against the dragon flames. As he thought of this, the man ground his teeth and decided to bear it. "According to the consumption of Life Power of the dragon flames, I don't think it can still last any longer!"

One minute and 10 seconds...

One minute and 15 seconds...

One minute and 20 seconds...

He continued calculating the time. Every second was a torment to him.

After one minute and 23 seconds, the defense layer of the first combat soul had collapsed. The Life Power of the combat soul was being depleted, turning into ashes in less than two seconds after being burnt by the dragon flames.

After one minute and 26 seconds, the defense layer of the second combat soul collapsed as well...

After one minute and 32 seconds, the third combat soul was destroyed.

After one minute and 36 seconds, the fourth...

After one minute and 42 seconds, the fifth...

As for the two undying species, after their Life Power was drained, there was no way of reviving them and they were burnt to ashes as well.

The defense layer of the two remaining triple mutated combat souls began to collapse...

A third of the Life Power of the pale man remained.

He had made many mistakes in this battle and suffered great losses.

The spitting of dragon flames had lasted for more than one minute and 40 seconds. Still, the flames did not weaken to his utter shock. He could not understand why the dragon flames were now stronger than what he had seen coming from Lin Huang's mouth earlier.

At that moment, he felt regret instead of shock.

He regretted not interrupting the spitting of dragon flames. He regretted choosing to fight Lin Huang in terms of Life Power consumption. If he had made the right decision, there would still have been losses, but not to such an extent.

Seeing the two triple mutated combat souls about to collapse, he had a steely determination in his eyes. Two palm-sized statues suddenly appeared in his hand.

Mumbling, he looked at the two statues in his hand. "God Master, I've ruined your treasure. I'll offer my apology with death when I return."

After finishing his words, he pressed the two statues against his chest.

In a short while, two figures appeared in front of him.

They were two mutated monsters. Their aura barely managed to cover the aura of the two triple mutated monster souls.

One of them looked like a cat but had a wry skeleton-like face. It had sharp teeth that looked like steel nails. Its body was long and it looked like a magnified cheetah with stripes all over its body.

The second one was a snake-headed monster and its lower body looked like a hoofed mammal. However, it had metallic scales all over its body and four extremely huge hooves that could be compared to a basin. Most of the monsters feared being trampled on by the hooves.

Lin Huang had no idea what the name of the two mutated monsters was. They were standing in the middle of the ocean of dragon flames without any defenses. Seemingly, they were completely fine in the ocean of flames.

"Stop the spitting of the dragon flames!" After receiving the instruction from the pale man, the two mutated monsters then looked into the sky. Soon, they could locate where Lin Huang and Charcoal were.

The two figures then blasted off into the sky, heading towards the dragon flames.

The black dragon flames that possessed terrifying destructive power and extremely high temperature surged towards the two mutated monsters. However, it did no harm to their bodies as if they were completely immune to the dragon flames.

Of course, Lin Huang and Charcoal realized this. The dragon flames were like a huge territory to them and they could sense whatever that happened within it easily.

Lin Huang could clearly see the pale man take the two statues out.

"How is it possible for him to have two God's Figurines?!"

Lin Huang's face turned grim as he saw the man pressing the two God's Figurines against his chest. In fact, it was within his expectations when he integrated the God's Figurine with his combat soul, summoning two combat souls with the figurine.

The tablet had told Lin Huang about the characteristics of the God's Figurine.

Although the combat strength of the combat soul would not increase after the integration of the God's Figurine with his combat soul, the combat soul would obtain a god-level body. It would be impossible for any force below god-level to leave any trace on its body, let alone destroy it. The physical defense of such a combat soul could be completely immune to forces below god-level.

This was also the reason why the two combat souls could resist the dragon flames without the use of any Life Power. They could easily go against the dragon flames.

The two mutated monsters gushed out of the dragon flames and pounced towards Charcoal and Lin Huang. The second Lin Huang saw that, he immediately took out his sword. His attack transformed into a crescent moon-shaped black glow and struck the two mutated monsters.

The two mutated monsters howled, but they did not dodge the sword attack and went after it.

Just as they collided with the sword, the glow of the sword that was capable of fighting a black gold-rank collapsed.

The two mutated monsters dove towards them without any obstacles.

Lin Huang's Life Power immediately sheathed the blade of the sword and it turned completely black. Lin Huang leaped down from Charcoal's back and headed for the two mutated monsters.

Bang!

A loud thud was heard just as the blade crashed with the claws of the mutated monsters. The impact stirred the atmosphere.

Lin Huang could feel that there was a force flowing through the blade of the combat sword. The aftershock of the force had far exceeded all the forces he had ever encountered in his life. His combat sword almost detached from his hand when they crashed into each other. The blade shrouded by his Life Power immediately collapsed and the cracking of bones could be vaguely heard coming from his arms.

The next moment, Lin Huang's body flew away and landed on the ground very far away.

Of course, the two mutated monsters were not completely fine. Although their bodies were strong and nobody could break through their defenses, they were not completely immune to the impact that resulted from Lin Huang's sword. They flew away as well and two huge pits were formed on the ground.

Charcoal immediately stopped spitting dragon flames. It flapped its wings and soon, it appeared on top of Lin Huang. Worriedly, it gazed down at the ground where a pit was formed.

"I'm fine."

Thanks to his Divine Regeneration, Lin Huang's broken arms were recovered in the blink of an eye. His injuries resulting from the aftershock were almost recovered as well.

He then got onto Charcoal's back.

The pale man returned to the sky as well after getting rid of the dragon flames. He then recalled the two triple mutated combat souls back into his body. Although they had not collapsed, their Life Power was almost depleted and they could no longer fight.

Apparently, Lin Huang had won the fight as he managed to deal with seven combat souls with just one skill.

Seeing the two monsters that got out of the pits without any injuries and appeared right in front of the man in a flash, Lin Huang felt a headache coming on.

Chapter 810: To Catch Bandits, First Catch the Ringleader

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The greatest advantage of the God's Figurine was that it had an unbeatable body. As long as the opponent's damage was unable to destroy the God's Figurine body (or the protoss' body), it would be immune to all kinds of injuries. The protoss was at least on the True God-level. One could imagine how strong its body was.

Nobody in the gravel world could destroy a God's Figurine combat soul, let alone Lin Huang.

Fortunately, only the physical body of the God's Figurine combat soul could be strengthened, but its combat strength would still depend on that of the combat soul. The combat strength of the two combat souls was only on the first rank of imperial-level: black gold-rank. They were not invincible.

The problem was how could he get rid of the two God's Figurine combat souls.

The pale man was happy on the inside.

He clearly saw that Lin Huang was injured as he fought the God's Figurine combat soul.

"The dragon flames no longer work and you can no longer engage in close combat. I'd like to see what you can still do!" The pale-faced man dominated the two God's Figurine combat souls and again, he pounced towards Lin Huang.

However, Lin Huang had learned from the first lesson. He did not use any sword skill to deal with the two God's Figurine combat souls anymore. Instead, he activated his Dark Mirror.

The defense power of the Dark Mirror was 10 times mightier than Lin Huang's strongest attack. Moreover, it possessed a 100% reflection effect. The attack power of the two God's Figurine combat souls would not exceed the Dark Mirror's maximum defensive power. Therefore, regardless of what kind of attack they were going to launch, their attacks would be reflected by the mirror.

Although Lin Huang would be affected by the aftershock, it was much better compared to the aftershock he faced from the front. The consumption of his Life Power was relatively lower as well.

Noticing that the attacks launched by the God's Figurine combat souls in mid-air were rendered useless, the pale man's face turned grave. Soon, he noticed that even he himself and the God's Figurine combat souls would be unable to break through Lin Huang's defensive skill.

He stared at Lin Huang for a moment and soon, he shifted his gaze from Lin Huang to Charcoal.

"In order to control Lin Xie, the both of you must first kill the dragonkin!"

Sensing that he was unable to break through Lin Huang's defense, the pale-faced man decided to attack Charcoal.

"I don't think that your defense skills can protect the dragonkin!"

After receiving new instructions from the pale-faced man, the two God's Figurine combat souls soon changed their target and gave up fighting Lin Huang. Charcoal was now their hunting target.

The pale man then pounced towards Lin Huang.

He knew very well that the ability of his close combat was incomparable to that of Lin Huang. However, as long as he was not going to fight him face to face, it should not be a problem to gain a little control over him.

Watching the man who was advancing towards him, Lin Huang laughed. "You choose to come to me by yourself."

Just as Lin Huang wondered how he could approach the while being bugged by the two God's Figurine combat souls, he did not expect the man to come to him by himself.

Catching a glimpse of the direction where the two God's Figurine combat souls were heading, Lin Huang instantly knew his intentions and he grinned.

The pale man went right in front of Lin Huang at lightning-fast speed. He opened his hands wide and his sharp claws were about to seize Lin Huang's head.

The hellish claws gathered by his black Life Power then grabbed Lin Huang's head with a deadly aura.

Lin Huang picked up his sword and his black Life Power immediately enveloped the entire blade of the sword. A black beam with a crescent moon-like glow then instantly gushed out of the blade of the sword, streaking across the sky!

The crescent moon-like glow then ripped the sky apart, instantly colliding with the claws mid-air.

Just as they crashed into each other, the terrifying claws were ripped apart. It was akin to a paper that was rent into half in a split second. It then collapsed, turning into black ashes, and faded away.

The wan man did not dodge. A flash of fury flashed through his eyes and he struck several blows with his claws. He completely ignored Lin Huang's sword attack.

On the other hand, the two God's Figurine combat souls launched an attack towards Charcoal.

The snake-headed monster pounced towards Charcoal, raised its hooves up high and was about to stomp hard on Charcoal's head.

The wry-faced monster was agile as it quietly went next to Charcoal. It lowered its body, extending its sharp claws and aimed for Charcoal's abdomen.

Charcoal's eyes flashed with mockery.

Just as the monsters' attacks were about to strike it, two Dark Mirrors were instantly formed.

The two God's Figurine combat souls were stunned when they saw the Dark Mirrors. However, it was too late for them to stop their attacks.

The snake-headed monster stomped hard with its hooves and it struck the mirror. An immense force reflected and struck its hooves, sending it flying away

The wry-faced monster encountered the same thing as well. As it stealthily attacked Charcoal with its sharp claws, its attack was reflected by the mirror and it sailed away.

Not far away, the pale man who was engaged in a fierce fight with Lin Huang could sense the situation of the battle on the God's Figurine combat souls' side. His face turned grave.

In order to control Lin Huang, he had put on demigod-level combat armor to battle him. He did not defend against his attack and was continuously attacking Lin Huang. However, Lin Huang still barely managed to pin him down.

He did not expect that the control he had over Lin Huang could do nothing to him. He initially wanted to make use of the two God's Figurine combat souls to get rid of the dragonkin. However, the dragonkin had similar defensive skills to what Lin Xie possessed, so the two God's Figurine combat souls could do no harm to it.

After the failed attempt, it was meaningless to fight Lin Huang any longer. The sallow man stomped in an attempt to get away from the fight.

"Trying to run away? It's too late!" Lin Huang smirked.

The next moment, the man felt that there was a force dragging his ankles down. He saw nothing as he looked downwards. After several moments, his facial expression changed drastically.

"Telekinesis?!"

Although he could not see it, he could feel that both of his ankles were being tangled by at least tens of threads. He then detected the terrifying scene with his spiritual strength.

Aside from his ankles, his wrists, neck, knees, elbows, and other joints were entangled by countless telekinetic threads. There were more than thousands of them.

If Lin Xie wanted to do so, he could turn the pale man into his puppet.

The man's back was drenched in sweat as he had not realized that at all.

"Did you just understand the situation you're in?" Lin Huang smiled calmly.

"With my demigod-level combat armor, even if you're able to control me, you can't kill me. There's a time limit for the advancement in your combat strength. As long as the upgrade in your combat strength ends, I'll still be the winner!" The man still did not think that Lin Huang was capable of killing him.

"It's true that I can't break through the defense of a demigod relic. What if the Life Power in your body is depleted?" Daggers gushed out from his sleeve like swimming fishes. They were all arranged in a row in front of him, totaling to about 7,000 daggers.

Witnessing what just happened, the pale man was upset.

He knew very well that his Life Power would be consumed in order to maintain the defensive power of a demigod relic. The consumption of Life Power would increase each time when he was being attacked. Once his Life Power was drained, the demigod relic would return back into his body as it no longer had any energy supply. His body would need to endure all of Lin Huang's attack by then. Without any Life Power to protect himself against those attacks, he was as weak as tofu when he was attacked by a sword that carried imperial-level power.

Chapter 811: The Pale Man's Trump Card

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

There were three ways to kill the God's Figurine combat soul.

The first way was to kill the God's Figurine. However, only a True God could do so.

The second way was to kill the monster soul inside the God's Figurine. However, the strength requirement to kill the combat soul was extremely high. Since the pale man's combat soul was on black gold-rank, only a combat soul that was at least two ranks higher, which was yellow gold-rank, would be capable of killing it.

As for the third way, it was to exhaust the Life Power of the God's Figurine.

This method was very time-consuming. Since the God's Figurine defense was exceptionally strong, it could sustain the attacks with its body and its Life Power would not be consumed at all. Therefore, in order to deplete the God's Figurine Life Power, the only way was to let the God's Figurine attack continuously so that their Life Power would be constantly used during the fight.

Another way was to kill the owner of the God's Figurine in the combat soul.

As long as the owner of the God's Figurine in the combat soul died, the combat soul inside the God's Figurine would collapse. Consequently, the God's Figurine would return to its initial form which was a palm-sized statue.

Lin Huang was unable to execute the first two methods. The third method was way too time-consuming. Therefore, he chose the fourth method.

Lin Huang was still thinking how to get rid of the two God's Figurine combat souls and approach the pale man. He did not expect him to instruct the two God's Figurine combat souls to surround Charcoal and come to Lin Huang by himself.

It was a fantastic chance and, of course, Lin Huang would not miss it.

The two God's Figurine combat souls would certainly fail to kill Charcoal. To avoid the pale man from running away after the failed attempt, he secretly set up everything with his telekinetic threads, so the man did not discover anything.

This explained everything that had happened up till now.

The man's limbs and neck got entangled by thousands of telekinetic threads. He was now being strung up in mid-air like an insect trapped in a spider web. He could not break free from it at all.

"I don't know where you're from and I don't need to know either." Lin Huang stared at the man coldly. "It's because there'll only be one type of person who'll hurt me and the people around me, which are the dead."

After finishing his words, Lin Huang pointed in the direction where the pale man was.

The telekinetic daggers then sped towards the pale man, resembling piranhas that were attracted by the smell of blood.

The man became a live target as he was entangled by the telekinetic threads.

The daggers struck the pale man like swimming fishes and the sound of colliding metal could be heard. The sound could be heard so frequently as if it was a torrential downpour.

As he was protected by the demigod relic, he did not sustain any injuries. Still, he looked upset because he could clearly sense that the Life Power in his body was gushing out uncontrollably in an attempt to restore the Life Power of the demigod relic.

"I can't let this continue. It can last for five minutes at the most and my Life Power will be drained." He immediately contacted the two God's Figurine combat souls, issuing a new instruction.

The two God's Figurines got out of the deep pit, appearing right in front of the man in a flash.

One of them surrounded its sharp claws with Life Power, striving to tear the telekinetic threads apart. Another one stood right in front of the man, blocking all the attacks.

"You're really naïve." Lin Huang was amused.

He moved his fingers slightly and the telekinetic threads then headed out for the wry-faced monster. It immediately dodged the threads and was unable to assist the man.

Again, Lin Huang snapped his fingers.

The trajectory path of the telekinetic daggers began to change. They avoided the snake-headed monster that was blocking the front of the man and continued attacking him without any obstacles.

The man's plan had failed again. He was furious.

"Don't worry about me. Activate ranged attack and destroy all the telekinetic daggers!"

After receiving a new instruction, the two God's Figurine combat souls did as they were told.

The snake-headed monster lifted its hooves up and stomped hard on the telekinetic daggers surrounding it. The wry-faced monster extended its sharp claws as well, attempting to destroy the telekinetic daggers.

"Although it's stupid, it's still acceptable." Lin Huang guffawed when he saw that. He had a plan in store.

After patting Charcoal's head, Lin Huang and Charcoal opened their mouths at almost the same time. Black dragon flames rushed out of their mouths again, enveloping the entire area where the wan man was.

Although the spitting of dragon flames looked the same as the last time, in fact, Lin Huang and Charcoal had hidden a spiritual attack within the flames. They wanted to avoid affecting the impact of the telekinetic threads and the telekinetic daggers.

They did not intend to attack with the spitting of dragon flames. Instead, they wanted to create an environment that was beneficial to them.

Of course, this sped up the consumption of the pale man's Life Power as well.

Seeing the arrival of the dragon flames from mid-air, the man had an urge to criticize and curse out loud.

The next moment, everything in front of him turned dark. He could not even see the two God's Figurine combat souls.

He could sense that they were not far away from him.

Still, the two God's Figurine combat souls who were drowned in flames stood there without any defenses.

Aside from the black flames, both of them could not see anything. They were unable to attack the telekinetic weapons now.

The black daggers moved freely in the flames. It was hard to even trace these black daggers as they were covered by the dragon flames.

However, the coverage of the dragon flames was akin to a huge territory whereby he could sense everything that happened inside. The same went for the pale man's position. The daggers managed to accurately strike his body each time.

In addition to the burning effect of the dragon flames, the consumption of Life Power in the body of the pale man did not slow down; it sped up instead.

The energy reaction of the dragon flames had far exceeded the telekinetic power. Although they were very close to each other, as long as it was not visible to the naked eye, the two God's Figurine combat souls would be unable to sense the existence of the telekinetic daggers. They seemed completely blind.

They could occasionally sense the position of the daggers that were slightly nearer to them. However, before they could react, the daggers had disappeared into the dragon flames.

Sensing the condition of the two God's Figurine combat souls, the pale man had to admit that he was doomed.

"Lin Xie, I admit defeat now. Please let me go and I promise that I'll not get you into trouble in the future."

"Admit defeat?" Lin Huang raised his brows when he heard that. "Do you think that you're playing a game now whereby you can replay after you've lost the game?"

"What do you want? Are you asking for compensation?" The pale man looked in the direction where Lin Huang was through the dragon flames. "Make me an offer."

"It seems like you have a bad memory." It was obvious that Lin Huang was not going to let him go. "I've made everything clear just now. Only the dead will attack me and the people around me! You kidnapped Yi Zheng and even attempted to kill me in order to snatch away the God's Figurine. It's enough for you to die twice!"

"Are you sure you want every one of us to die?" The man's tone became calm. In fact, he could not see Lin Huang, but could roughly tell where Lin Huang was, shifting his gaze towards him.

"Just use whatever skills you have since you don't have much time left." Lin Huang was not worried that the man could threaten him. "If I'm not mistaken, you have one minute left and your Life Power will be completely drained. You won't have any chance by then."

"I'll do as you wish then. I hope that you won't regret it later!"

After finishing his words, the man's Life Power that was depleting was restored abruptly.

Lin Huang could even feel that there was a breakthrough in the pale man's combat strength. His aura grew stronger and stronger.

Just as his aura reached the pinnacle of black gold-rank, it lasted for about three seconds and again, he made a breakthrough in his combat strength, leveling up to crimson gold-rank! His aura continued to grow and it had no means to stop.

Lin Huang was stunned as he sensed the changes. He felt even more surprised by what he had just seen.

A claw that looked like a sharp blade extended from the head of the pale man. Looking from the top, it seemed like a sharp claw had penetrated through his head. The blood stains could still be seen clearly.

As the claw penetrated through the man's head, it moved down slightly, resembling a paper cutter cutting a piece of paper.

Lin Huang frowned when he saw this.

The sharp claw continued to move downwards and blood spurted wherever it passed. The claw stopped cutting when it reached his abdomen, retracting back into the man's body.

After a moment of silence, the squishing of the flesh could be heard. Blood began to ooze out from the man's wound. The shape of his body began to change as if there was something struggling in his body. He looked like he was in so much pain as he let out some weird sounds that no normal human being could.

Lin Huang's eyes were wide open as he fixed his gaze on the tremendously terrifying scene.

The man's wound was being stretched open by an invisible force and there was blood all over his body. A ferocious monster then gradually crawled out of the wound on his body. The man had died, turning into bloody flesh as if he had lost his skeleton.

Chapter 812: The Defensive System of Grade-A Foothold

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As the moonlight shone on it, Lin Huang could clearly see the monster's features.

It was a humanoid monster that was more than three meters tall. There were blood stains all over its body. It had four limbs like a human and could stand straight on both of his legs.

However, unlike humans, it had no skin. It also had no scales or feathers like the rest of the animals. It looked like a human specimen with its skin ripped off. There were countless disgusting pustules on its body.

It had a peculiar head. There were no human organs and the only organ it had was a ferocious mouth that occupied almost half of its face. Steely fangs crowded in its mouth. If one were to describe it, it was like an egg with a wide mouth and pustules all over it.

Lin Huang had seen many ugly monsters in the monster guide. However, this was the ugliest one he had ever seen.

"It has no winky for real. It's too ugly to be loved," Lin Huang thought to himself. Soon, his facial expression became serious.

The moment it got out of the pale man's body, its combat strength had increased three ranks higher to yellow gold-rank.

Regardless of how it looked, it was undoubtedly strong.

After sizing it up, Lin Huang's face suddenly turned solemn. His change in mood was not because of its combat strength but because of the disgusting yet devilish aura it exuded from its body. Lin Huang hated it as soon as he sensed the aura just like how an ordinary person would detest seeing a cockroach. However, his hatred was hundreds of times stronger.

"An abyssal monster..." Lin Huang knew where the monster came from the moment he sensed its aura.

It was not his first time fighting an abyssal monster. He had the same feeling each time, but it was rather obvious this time.

The dragon flames on the ground had stopped burning.

The skinless monster staggered before it managed to balance itself.

At that moment, a beam of dazzling red light struck from the sky and the position of the skinless monster was the center point. The area with a circumference that spanned hundreds of meters was enveloped by the red light. At the same time, a red warning page popped up on Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring and a short buzzing sound like an alarm was heard.

"Warning! It's suspected that an imperial-level monster has invaded foothold No. 3A5!

"Preliminary inspection shows that it's an abyssal monster of yellow gold-rank!

"Target has been identified. Please head over to this location and kill it!"

It was a message sent by the defense system of the Grade-A foothold. The defense system would inspect all the safe zones every minute. If it happened to sense any unusual aura from monsters, they would immediately mark down its coordinates and send a warning message to those who had authority over it.

The skinless monster was on imperial-level. Therefore, only imperial-level would receive this message.

Coincidently, Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring was granted this authority as well.

He had heard about such a defense system at the Grade-A foothold earlier in Division 7. However, it was his first time encountering the activation of the defense system.

All the imperial-level in Wanbao City received the warning message at almost the same time.

"Is this a loophole in the defense system of the Grade-A foothold? Or is there any new monster type that managed to get rid of the detection of the defense system? If it's the latter, I'll have new research material."

"Is there a monster invasion? I'm bored. I can now get into the fight and get some materials! Eh, it's on yellow gold-rank. It seems like I can't fight it..."

"It's at the west of the city and it's too far away from me. If I were to go from the east, it's about 1,800 kilometers away. Why doesn't it come to the east of the city? There are so many beautiful ladies here..."

"I can make soup with the yellow gold-rank monster. I hope it's not a humanoid monster or an extremely ugly monster. Now, that'll spoil my appetite."

...

Many imperial-level then headed towards the west of the city.

There were very few people there and it was an abandoned plot of land. In fact, nobody was willing to save the coordinates of any location near this place since they could not be transported and had to fly over there.

"Warning! You're reaching your target. You're 237 meters away from the monster. Please get ready!"

The message suddenly popped up on Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring. He then turned off the notification, lowering his head to look at the skinless monster which aura had reached its peak.

The skinless monster gradually raised his head, taking aim at Lin Huang in mid-air with its head that had no eyes. It slowly opened its ferocious mouth wide and said in the voice that sounded exactly the same as the pale man's, "It's so difficult for me to get into the human foothold. I've been particularly careful over the past few months as I was afraid that my identity will be discovered. I even managed to get into the Grade-A foothold a few days ago. I never expected that I'd bump into you..."

Lin Huang was speechless. Before the skinless monster revealed itself, he really had no idea that it was a monster. He thought that it was the top management from the underworld.

"If you had listened to me just now and let me go, perhaps you could still survive for a short period of time. However, since my identity has been exposed, I don't need to hide my true abilities any longer. It's time to deal with you..."

"Eh, are you sure that you're going to waste your time on me?" Lin Huang pointed at the beam of red light that emerged from the sky. "The defense system of the foothold has been activated. All the imperial-level in Wanbao City are rushing over here. If you were to stay here for another minute, perhaps you'll be besieged by a few of them."

"I'm not worried about them. I don't even need a minute to kill you." After uttering those words, the skinless monster then disappeared from its original position.

The next moment, Lin Huang could detect that the skinless monster that was within his territory appeared right in front of him. He was unable to pull out his sword in time as the monster's sharp claws were about to strike the left of his chest.

Lin Huang had no choice but to create a Dark Mirror, blocking the attack right in front of him.

At almost the same time when the Dark Mirror was created, the ghost-like claws then hit the surface of the Dark Mirror.

Just as they collided with each other, a crack was instantly formed on the surface of the Dark Mirror that used to be unbreakable. It was like a tempered glass being struck by a heavy object. There were white cracks that were visible to the naked eye all over it. However, the cracks lasted for less than a second and eventually, the Dark Mirror collapsed, turning into broken shards.

Lin Huang's eyes dilated as it was his first time witnessing the Dark Mirror being destroyed in one hit.

After the Dark Mirror was broken, the remaining force struck Lin Huang. In the next second, his body flew away from Charcoal's back like a meteorite. He then landed on the ground and a deep pit was formed.

"Are you still alive?" The skinless monster could clearly sense that Lin Huang's aura was still there.

It took a glance at Charcoal, but did not fight it. Instead, it appeared right on top of the pit where Lin Huang landed in a flash.

It extended its claws and was about to make another attack. However, it could sense that there was a heat wave coming from behind.

As it turned its body around, it had no idea when Charcoal appeared behind it. Charcoal opened its mouth wide and dragon flames began to gush out of its mouth.

"If you're on imperial-level, I might be afraid of your dragon flames. However, you're just tickling me now." The skinless monster struck a blow with its claws and it managed to get rid of the dragon flames.

A trace of fear flashed through Charcoal's eyes as its opponent had managed to get rid of its dragon flames. It knew very well that its opponent's ability was far beyond its own.

Catching a glimpse of the deep pit below it, Charcoal shifted its gaze, staring deadly at the skinless monster. Nevertheless, it did not retreat.

"Dragonkins used to be arrogant and it was impossible to tame one. You're an exception. You're so faithful to the human." The skinless monster laughed. Of course, it knew that Charcoal was trying to protect its master.

"Why are you commenting about me? Didn't you follow someone's instructions too?" Charcoal stared at the skinless monster, confronting it. It secretly hoped that it could buy Lin Huang some time so that he could recover from his injuries.

"My master is on True God-level rank-9. It's known as the God Master in the virtual world. You can't compare despicable creatures like humans to my master..." After finishing its words, the skinless monster realized that something was wrong. "Are you buying time for that human?!"

The skinless monster was mad as it extended its claws and again, it pounced towards the deep pit below it.

Right at that moment, Charcoal appeared right in front of him and bit its head.

Before Charcoal could sink its teeth into its disgusting head, an immense force reached Charcoal's torso and it flew away, landing in a deep pit that was hundreds of meters away.

"I'm not going to kill you because you're a dragonkin and the concentration of your blood is close to pure blood. If I were to catch you alive for the God Master, I can probably train a few of the dragonkins with pure blood. I can level up to a True God by then." The skinless monster looked at Charcoal coldly. "However, if you were to continue bugging me, I have no choice but to kill you. I'll bring your dead body back. The sorcerer can make you into a dead puppet."

Chapter 813: The Imperial-Level Versus the Imperial-Level

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

At the bottom of the pit, Lin Huang was quietly resting. There was a bowl-sized hole on the left side of his chest that penetrated all the way to the back of his chest. He had even lost his heart.

His breathing was extremely weak and his body was about to die. However, he still had his consciousness.

Flesh grew out of nowhere in his chest. In less than two seconds, a heart was quickly formed, connecting all the blood vessels. His body was then further healed.

Lin Huang's breathing slowly stabilized and he gradually opened his eyes. He then realized that he had almost died just now. However, his Divine Regeneration had saved him.

He could feel an immense pain throbbing from every part of his body, accompanied by numbness as if he had experienced an electric shock. Through his Territory skill, he could sense that the skinless monster had appeared on top of him. He wanted to get out of the pit, but he was unable to do so. Even moving his fingers was difficult for him.

Fortunately, Charcoal appeared and blocked the skinless monster's attack.

"The difference in ability is too large..." Lin Huang forced a wry smile.

The skinless monster managed to break the Dark Mirror with its claws. The remaining force even penetrated the Dark Mirror and struck its chest with ease, almost killing Charcoal.

"After returning to its real body, aside from its combat strength that's being upgraded to yellow gold-rank, even its strength and speed have changed," Lin Huang secretly analyzed the difference between them in his mind, "It seems like I need to upgrade my combat strength to imperial-level."

"Xiao Hei, if Charcoal's combat strength is advanced to immortal-level rank-9, which level can I upgrade my combat strength to?"

"Normally, your combat strength can be four ranks higher, bringing you to crimson gold-rank. However, there's a limit on your body. The maximum limit is only black gold-rank. Therefore, you can only reach the peak of black gold-rank."

"That should be enough. I'll use four Monster Upgrade Cards and upgrade Charcoal's real battle ability to immortal-level rank-9," Lin Huang instructed without a moment of hesitation.

"Consuming Monster Upgrade Card x4.

"Monster card used. Charcoal has obtained an upgrade in combat strength.

"Its new combat strength is Immortal-level rank-9!"

After Xiao Hei had finished its sentence, Lin Huang felt an immense strength gushing into his body.

There was an instant breakthrough in his combat strength, leveling him up from immortal-level rank-9 to imperial-level.

The aura of the black gold-rank that was released from his body grew stronger. It then stopped growing as it reached its peak and was about to get to the imperial-level. (The Knight skill is activated after the first ride on the summoned monster. The user does not need to be riding the summoned monster all the time.)

After attacking Charcoal, the skinless monster was about to instruct the two God's Figurine combat souls to capture Charcoal alive. It then sensed that Lin Huang's aura was growing drastically from the deep pit.

"Did he just level up to imperial-level?!" The skinless monster was shocked. Soon, it realized that Lin Huang's aura had stopped growing as it reached black gold-rank. Sarcastically, it said, "I might be afraid of you if you were to level up to crimson or yellow gold-rank. If you're just a black gold-rank, perhaps you can only stay alive for a little longer."

"Is that true? I think a black gold-rank is enough to kill you!" Lin Huang steadily rose from the deep pit, holding a golden ink sword in his hand. It was a demigod relic that he had just gotten from the Stairway Mall.

The sword name was Ba Huang and Lin Huang had exchanged 120 million points for the sword. It was an expert-grade demigod relic.

The skinless monster soon noticed the combat sword in Lin Huang's hand.

"It's an expert-grade demigod relic! Why do you have such an awesome weapon?" Greed filled the skinless monster's eyes.

Lin Huang stood up straight with his sword, pointing the tip of his sword towards the skinless monster.

The skinless monster opened its mouth wide and it disappeared abruptly from its original position.

On the other hand, Lin Huang's body transformed into a silhouette and gradually faded away.

In mid-air, the two figures crashed into each other again and again like lightning bolts.

Each collision resulted in an blast like a nuclear explosion. The ground that was thousands of meters away shook as if it was afraid of the collision between the both of them.

The vibrations even stirred up the atmosphere and radiated everywhere. The wind was blowing strongly along with howling in the air.

The ground that was hundreds of meters away from the two of them became flat. Even the grass could no longer be seen.

On the other hand, Charcoal continued to fight the two God's Figurine combat souls.

Charcoal had leveled up to black gold-rank and the combat strength of the two God's Figurine combat souls was affected by the skinless monster whereby they had leveled up to gold flame-level.

Basically, Charcoal was incapable of fighting the two God's Figurine combat souls. It was difficult for it to fight even one of them since there was a huge difference in combat strength.

However, it decided to fight in a nasty way by hiding behind the Dark Mirror all the while.

If the two God's Figurine combat souls happened to launch an attack, it would block the attacks with the Dark Mirror.

Since it could use all the skills possessed by Lin Huang, the effect of the skills would be exactly the same. That being said, despite Charcoal being the one who activated the Dark Mirror, the defensive effect would still be the same. The defensive power of the Dark Mirror was not 10 times of its maximum attack power but was that of Lin Huang's attack power instead.

Of course, the two God's Figurine combat souls would be unable to break through it. They hit it again and again, but they were reflected again and again.

Charcoal was secretly laughing behind the Dark Mirror. "Haha, it's such a magnificent skill to use."

...

Thousands of kilometers away, many imperial-levels were heading towards the battleground where Lin Huang was.

Many of them bumped into their friends and they headed towards the battleground together.

"You've just leveled up to black gold-rank. Why are you going over there? It's a yellow gold-rank monster!" An old man with a white beard who was about 1.6 meters tall frowned as he lectured a man who was at the age of 40 with a height of about two meters tall.

"I'm going over there for fun. I'm not going to fight." The middle-aged man scratched his head. He did not expect to bump into his teacher. "Sir, I thought you've gone to Division 1."

"I just came back two days ago." The old man took a glance at his disciple. "Stop distracting me! Just watch the fight later. Don't fight! Don't you know how strong you are? It's a yellow gold-rank monster. I need to be careful too..."

The middle-aged man suddenly raised his head, looking in the direction where the monster was. "The vibrations are strong. That person arrived so quickly!"

The old man's face turned grave as he turned in the same direction. "There's more than just one vibration wave. There are three of them! One of them is extremely strong and the remaining two are slightly weaker. All of them are on imperial-level! You can only feel one of them because the frequency of its collision is much higher to the point that it's covered the other two vibration waves."

"Do you mean that there are three battles happening simultaneously at one battleground?" The middle-aged man did not sense the two collisions that were slightly weaker.

"No. From the collision itself, it seems like there are two monsters being blocked by three humans. It could also be there are three monsters attacking two humans. However, there must be more than one monster!" The old man's facial expression was stern as he said this.

Chapter 814: The Imperial-Level Life Palace

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang had crashed into the skinless monster more than 10,000 times within five minutes.

The skinless monster appeared to be nervous as it knew very well that its aura had been discovered. The imperial-levels of Wanbao City would be there at any time.

He wanted to leave with the dimensional portal right after killing Lin Huang. However, he was unable to kill him now and was even bugged by him now. It was difficult for it to get rid of Lin Huang.

To its dismay, the two God's Figurine combat souls had to deal with Charcoal and were unable to help it.

As for its opponent Lin Huang, he only got stronger and stronger in the fight.

After leveling up to imperial-level, there was an increase in his abilities. Still, it was hard for him to get used to the new combat sword.

Soon, he adapted to the new combat sword after colliding with the skinless monster several times. He then had perfect control over his combat strength and Life Power.

Lin Huang noticed that the skinless monster was being impatient. Of course, he knew the reason behind that, so he grinned widely.

"Are you regretting that you didn't kill me before my combat strength was upgraded to imperial-level?"

The skinless monster remained quiet but secretly agreed with what Lin Huang had just said.

"Before upgrading my combat strength, you had the chance to run away. However, that opportunity is gone now.

"Most of the imperial-levels in Wanbao City have gathered at the center of the foothold. They're about 2,000 kilometers away. Your aura has been targeted by the defense system of the foothold. In less than half an hour, more than 80% of the imperial-levels will reach here.

"Five minutes have passed. I need to fight you for another 25 minutes and the reinforcements will arrive. White gold-ranks or even the purple gold-ranks might turn up. I personally think that you might be captured alive.

"Once you're captured alive, the people from the Union Government will start digging secrets from you. For example, they'll ask how you sneaked into the Grade-A foothold? Why do you want to collect the God's Figurine? Who's the God Master that you just mentioned? The answers to all these questions will soon be revealed..."

"Should I thank you for thinking from my point of view?" The skinless monster interrupted Lin Huang.

"I'm just telling the truth." Lin Huang shrugged his shoulders.

"If I'm not mistaken, the time limit for the upgrade in your combat strength should be stricter, shouldn't it? How long can it still last? Half an hour? 20 minutes? Or is it even shorter than that? You're telling me this because you hope that I can end the battle before the upgrade in your combat strength ends."

Lin Huang laughed and did not deny the skinless monster's speculation. "Do you think that you have any other choice? If you want to drag the battle on, I can do it with you. However, can you afford to do so?"

Again, the skinless monster remained quiet. He knew that that was part of Lin Huang's trick. However, he had no other choices because he really could not afford to let the battle drag on.

The reinforcements from Lin Huang's side could arrive at any time. The battle was now at a standstill. If the reinforcements arrived, even if there were only one or two of them, its chances of running away would be much lower.

The skinless monster soon made its decision after thinking thoroughly.

"Lin Xie, you've no idea what kind of monster you've offended," said the skinless monster in a low voice as it slowly raised its head. It placed its hand in front of its chest and mumbled.

Lin Huang found that it was strange as the skinless monster looked like it was mourning. A huge shadow soon appeared on top of its head.

He frowned as soon as he saw the shadow. It was a very huge altar made of countless white bones.

Lin Huang could see more than 10 types of skeletons. There were palms of giants, a dragonkin's spine, a wolf's fangs, and a god's blood skull...

There were nine dragon's teeth that were tens of meters long surrounding the altar.

A raised platform that was about three meters tall stood at the center of the altar. It was made of tens of skeletons of different sizes.

On top of it, there was a god's blood skull that looked similar to a human's skull. It was slightly bigger in size and was golden in color. It seemed like it was made of gold.

Lin Huang's face turned grave as he could recognize that it was the skinless monster's Life Palace at a first glance.

An imperial-level's Life Palace would usually be created in their body.

One might think of a palace when they came across the name of Life Palace. They might think that creating a Life Palace was like creating an actual palace in their body.

However, that was far from the truth. A real Life Palace could take any form. It could be a building, a mutated monster, or even a human. It could also be in the form of a weapon, armor, or a spaceship.

The form of a Life Palace would depend on its function.

The function of a Life Palace that resembled a weapon would be related to the increment in combat strength. For instance, it could be upgrading one's skill, attack power, or obtaining attack skills with immense power.

Most of them who majored in sword would choose a Life Palace like that as it was the simplest one.

The function of a monster-like Life Palace was basically related to the skill of the monster itself. Some of them would create a Life Palace of an undying monster. With the Life Palace they had, they could probably inherit the traits of the undying species so they could hardly be killed. Some of their Life Palaces would be in the form of a dragonkin whereby they could obtain dragon flames.

The most peculiar type of Life Palace was the prop type of Life Palace.

The owner of a Life Palace like that would obtain strange auxiliary abilities.

Lin Huang had heard from Mr. Fu before that a few of them possessed such a Life Palace.

Someone even had a Life Palace that looked like a clock. The ability of his Life Palace was to stop the time of the region covered by his Life Palace. Of course, it could last for only three seconds at the most.

Another person's Life Palace was a multi-faceted dice with a total of 160 numbers on the dice. The number obtained from the dice would be the number of times of increment in his attack with the highest being 160 times.

...

However, Lin Huang knew that the Life Palace could not be created based on one's preferences.

First of all, the form of a Life Palace depended on the Life Base of the imperial-level monster killed by an imperial-level.

Aside from that, it also depended on the skill level mastered by the person, their Elemental Enlightenment and many other aspects.

Thirdly, the Life Palace would be created randomly.

Even twins who had similar qualifications and had obtained similar Life Bases could have completely different Life Palaces formed.

The Life Palace could take any form on and would result in different effects.

Just like the altar of the skinless monster which was made of skeletons, Lin Huang had no idea what its function was.

The altar was then completely formed.

The skinless monster gradually raised its head, pointing its finger and slitting its left wrist.

Blood started oozing out of the wound on its wrist, flowing towards the altar like a river.

Soon, the blood flowed into the god's blood skull through its hollow eyes.

After a couple of moments, two beams of red lights flashed through the eyes of the god's blood skull at the center of the altar as if it had suddenly opened its eyes!

Chapter 815: Altar

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The Life Palace was the most common building one would come across. In fact, most of the imperial-levels would build a Life Palace in this form due to the training system of that era.

Most of their Life Palaces were in the form of a pavilion or a palace. Among the two of them, many of them had palaces.

Since a majority of them had a Life Palace, they would occasionally compare who had the better palace. Soon, the Life Palaces got more and more luxurious. Some of them could be compared to an actual palace whereby it would be called an imperial palace. As time passed, people then got used to it and named the combat strength of this level imperial-level.

Lin Huang had heard about the building of Life Palaces from Mr. Fu.

Most of the tower type of palaces had a suppressing effect.

As for the totem type of Life Palace, it possessed a summoning effect.

The function of a palace type of Life Palace was rather complicated. It could be a storage space whereby it could hold armed forces. Some of them possessed a suppressing effect whereas some of them could teleport like a spaceship.

As for the Life Palace that looked like an altar, Mr. Fu had never mentioned it before and Lin Huang was seeing it for the first time.

At first glance, he thought that it exuded a dangerous aura. He felt the same as when the skinless monster had first revealed its real body.

Seeing the skinless monster cutting its wrists and offering sacrifices to something unknown, Lin Huang felt insecure.

The ancient daggers blasted off and headed towards the skinless monster, controlled by Lin Huang's Telekinesis since he was now an imperial-level in an attempt to interrupt the sacrifice.

However, they were blocked by an invisible defensive layer which was tens of meters away from the skinless monster. The daggers then struck from another side.

Lin Huang frowned and immediately surrounded the skinless monster and the altar above him with more daggers, trying to find its flaw.

Lin Huang activated his ocular skill but could not find anything odd. The defensive layer was like an invisible eggshell, enveloping the skinless monster and the altar above him. It was faultless.

Attempting to attack with his dagger in an irregular fashion several times, his effort was still in vain. Lin Huang did not want to waste his energy any longer.

Although he had no idea what would happen after the sacrifice, he still had to wait patiently to see what would happen next.

After a short while, the sacrificial ceremony on the skinless monster's side finally ended.

At the center of the altar, two crimson glows shot out of the eyes of the golden god's bloody skull as if it had awakened from a deep slumber.

Lin Huang could feel that the aura released at the center of the altar had reached its pinnacle, and it was hundreds of times nastier than that of the skinless monster.

He gripped his demigod-level combat sword tightly, putting his guard up. He was afraid that something might happen.

In the middle of the altar, after the god's bloody skull opened its eyes, it fixed its gaze on the skinless monster. After sizing it up, the skull began to speak, "Little brat, I can smell the scent of the masked old witch from your body..."

"Sir, my God Master is the Mask Master for real." The skinless monster slightly bent its body as a sign of respect. Since it dared to address its God Master in this way, perhaps it was a True God that was as strong as the God Master. Even if it was not, it would not be that much weaker as well.

"I rarely have any contact with the old witch. It seems like we don't have any conflict to break the contract with you. The function of your Life Palace is quite special as it managed to lead my conscience over here. Do tell. What's your deal?"

"If I want to level up to demigod-level, what do I need to do?"

"Three ultimate-grade demigod relics," the skull said, "If you're just asking for a provisional upgrade, one ultimate-grade demigod relic is enough."

It expected to pay for it. However, the skinless monster did not expect that the demands would be so greedy.

"What... What about leveling up to purple gold-rank?" It did not reply the skull and made another request instead.

"For a permanent upgrade, you'll need an ultimate-grade demigod relic. For a provisional upgrade, you'll need an expert-grade demigod relic."

If the skinless monster had brows, he would be frowning. One could now see that its mouth was turned down.

"I don't have an expert-grade demigod relic..."

"There'll be a time limit for the provisional upgrade. It keeps you on the purple gold-rank for three days with an expert-grade demigod relic. If you only need a three-hour provisional upgrade in combat strength, an intermediate-grade demigod relic will suffice. If you only need it for 10 minutes, then a beginner-grade demigod relic will do."

"Exchanging a beginner-level demigod relic for 10 minutes..." It would be trading at a loss. However, the skinless monster had no other choice. Remaining quiet for a short while, he eventually agreed to trade.

"Deal!"

It then took out a beginner-level demigod relic from its storage space and gave it to the skull.

The skull then opened its mouth and sucked it. The beginner-level demigod relic then transformed into a beam of light and entered its mouth, completely disappearing.

At that moment, the skull opened its mouth again, shooting a black beam towards the skinless monster. It penetrated the position between its brows.

The aura of the skinless monster immediately grew and it broke through the yellow gold-rank in less than two breaths. After getting to the white gold-rank, its combat strength continued to grow. Soon, it leveled up to imperial-level rank-5 and was a purple gold-rank.

Its combat strength continued to grow until it reached the peak of purple gold-rank.

The skinless monster felt energized and extremely powerful.

Lin Huang witnessed what just happened with a sinking heart.

Although he could not listen to the conversation between the skull and the skinless monster, he could see that the latter had given a demigod relic to the skull. Soon, the skull spat out a black glow towards it. Its combat strength then began to evolve until it reached purple gold-rank.

Lin Huang's face turned grave.

Right at that moment, the skull turned its head and looked in the direction where Lin Huang was.

It did not shift its gaze away though. Instead, it fixed its gaze on Lin Huang and sized him up.

It then turned its body around and told the skinless monster, "The little brat won't die today."

"What?" The skinless monster was stunned.

"I'm saying that the human brat that you want to kill today won't die. There was no deadly aura that lingered around his body. Even if you were to level up to demigod-level, you can't kill him." The skull continued by saying something strange, "Since your Life Palace looks pretty interesting, it'd be a waste if you were killed. Let me give you another piece of advice. There's a deadly aura that lingers all over your body and it's getting stronger and stronger. There are high chances that you'll die here today. Try to leave this place as soon as possible. Perhaps you can survive..."

After finishing its sentence, the skinless monster did not ask anything else. Looking at the center of the altar, the two red glows disappeared swiftly as if nothing had happened.

Chapter 816: Killing the Skinless Monster

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang had no idea what the function of the skinless monster's Life Palace was since it was in the form of an altar.

However, witnessing the trade between the skinless monster and the skull, he could roughly guess what it was.

"It seems like it allows communication with the God through a blood sacrifice. They then trade... I suppose they're exchanging something for abilities."

He watched the skinless monster take a demigod relic out and give it to the skull, which then released a black beam of light and inserted it into the skinless monster's body. Its combat strength then began to grow. Lin Huang guessed that was the function of the Life Palace.

In fact, Lin Huang did not find it rare. When he was at the Hunter College, he had read through most of the information regarding the Life Palace. Besides that, Mr. Fu had explained to him before. Theoretically, a Life Palace could possess any function.

His opponent's combat strength was the most troublesome thing to him.

After the trade at the altar, the skinless monster's combat strength advanced from yellow gold-rank to purple gold-rank.

The purple gold-rank was the last rank of an imperial-level. It was the most unattainable level for anyone below the demigod-level.

Lin Huang knew that his opponent would have a backup plan. However, it was out of its expectations.

"I'm in trouble."

When the skinless monster was still a yellow gold-rank, he was barely able to suppress it as he was on black gold-rank. However, as the combat strength of his opponent became two ranks higher and managed to get to purple gold-rank, even a black gold-rank could not handle that.

Lin Huang secretly contacted Xiao Hei. "If I were to continue upgrading my combat strength, how long can my body bear the additional burden?"

"Without Divine Regeneration, your body will completely collapse after three minutes at the most if you were to level up to crimson gold-rank.

"With Divine Regeneration, your body can sustain for about 20 to 30 minutes on crimson gold-rank. Your body will collapse after 30 minutes. You can last for about two to three minutes on yellow gold-rank. You'll definitely die if you stay at this level for more than three minutes."

"What about white gold-rank? How long can my body sustain?" Lin Huang continued asking.

"It's quite meaningless to ask this question. At 10 seconds the most, your body and soul will collapse."

"I know. Activate two Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Cards."

...

After its combat strength was stabilized, the skinless monster said, "Lin Xie, regardless of how strong your secret skill is, you'll just receive an upgrade in combat strength. You can't become a true imperial-level!"

It actually believed what the skull said regarding the deadly aura because it was now in Wanbao City. An imperial-level could appear at any time and it would be killed. Perhaps this was also the reason why its body released a strong, deadly aura.

"I have to admit that you're really an amazing opponent. However, it should end here." After finishing its sentence, the skinless monster then appeared right in front of Lin Huang.

It pointed its finger between Lin Huang's brows.

At that moment, Lin Huang's combat strength grew immediately and had broken through crimson gold-rank, getting to yellow gold-rank.

He extended his palm and the Dark Mirror was quickly formed again, blocking the front of Lin Huang.

The skinless monster's finger that was initially pointing at Lin Huang's brows then aimed at the Dark Mirror, but its attack was soon reflected.

The skinless monster was caught unaware and again, it flew away.

It was difficult for it to balance itself in mid-air. It then stared at Lin Huang in shock. "Your combat strength... How could it be?!"

"Nothing's impossible."

Lin Huang then transformed into a shadow. There was a spark in the air as his demigod relic streaked across the sky.

"Since you've used your trump card, let's see who will be the winner of this battle!"

After uttering those words, he hurled his sword forward.

In mid-air, the collision between the figures had instantly intensified and it was 10 times stronger than before.

The area that was hundreds of kilometers in circumference was affected by their battle as well.

The clouds had cleared away and the bird monsters had fled. Even the ground began to crack open and a huge gully was formed. The mountains collapsed and the peaceful lakes were stirred.

The explosive sound of the battle spread throughout the entire Wanbao City. The rumbling of thunder could be heard late at night, awakening many of the ordinary people.

Those who were heading towards the battleground clearly sensed the energy fluctuation as well, and their faces turned grave.

"The battle's become much more intense now!"

"Perhaps only the purple gold-ranks can result in such an energy fluctuation."

"The battle is so intense. Perhaps they've used their trump cards!"

Right at this moment, a warning from the defense system of Wanbao City was issued.

"Warning! The combat strength of the invader has increased!"

"Its combat strength is now on purple gold-rank!"

Seeing the warning, many of the imperial-levels who wanted to watch the battle began to wonder if they should go to the battleground.

If the combat strength of the monster was only on yellow gold-rank, it would probably miss out on achieving black gold-rank if it were injured. However, it was now on purple gold-rank and was just one step away from getting to demigod-level. Perhaps there were less than five of them in Wanbao City who could fight it. They would be seeking death if they were to go to the battleground.

"The monster is skilled!" The old man squinted his eyes. "The human who's blocking its way isn't weak."

The middle-aged man next to him was upset. "I was still wondering if I could benefit from the fight. It seems like I have no chance to do so now."

At the battleground, Lin Huang crashed into the skinless monster again and again.

After getting to yellow gold-rank, he knew that he did not have much time remaining. He only had three minutes at the most.

If he failed to kill his opponent within three minutes, he would die.

Even if his body did not collapse, the skinless monster would not let him go when he returned to being immortal-level rank-1.

The skinless monster was extraordinarily hostile. Its opponent's Sword Dao was way too powerful. Even though it had leveled up to purple gold-rank and was only one step away from getting to demigod-level, it was still pinned down by the yellow gold-rank.

Despite the fact that it was wearing demigod-level armor, it became slightly injured after each collision.

"No, I can't let this continue. I might be the one that dies."

The skinless monster panicked. It knew that the upgrade in Lin Huang's combat strength would be limited in terms of time. However, it did not know that he only had three minutes. As it thought about what the skull said, it felt that Lin Huang's reinforcements would arrive very soon. Again, he recalled the skull commenting that there was no deadly aura lingering around Lin Xie's body. It had used up all its skills and had no way to defeat Lin Xie, so it wanted to retreat.

It did not show any hint of its fear to Lin Huang and set its plan in mind.

After a short while, it shouted at Lin Huang, "Lin Xie, since I can't run away, let's die together!"

As soon as it finished its sentence, blood started oozing out of its skinless body.

The blood then coagulated at a speed that was visible to the naked eye and flesh was formed. It continued to grow. In just the blink of an eye, the skinless monster's body became much more muscular.

It was originally three meters tall and it looked slightly skinny. It was now four meters tall and was even brawnier.

Again, Lin Huang battled the skinless monster. Unexpectedly, a metallic sound was heard as his sword struck it. There were no wounds and only white stripes could be seen wherever his sword made contact.

The skinless monster smiled wryly, opening its big hand and pouncing towards Lin Huang.

Lin Huang frowned. Again, he brandished his sword, piercing it through its chest. He retreated as he felt the impact traveling up his arms. He then managed to block most of the impact.

At that moment, the flesh on the skinless monster's spine began to creep across its body. A figure was then formed in the blink of an eye.

Lin Huang caught a glimpse of it. It was another skinless monster. The muscular humanoid monster was now an empty shell.

Unexpectedly, the empty shell pounced towards Lin Huang.

The real body of the skinless monster took out a dimensional portal and looked at Lin Huang with an insulting expression as it pushed open the door. "Have fun with my clone. See you!"

It did not know that when its real body got out of the empty shell, Lin Huang had secretly contacted Xiao Hei.

"How long can my body sustain if I were to use another Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card?"

"Three seconds."

"That's enough." Lin Huang nodded his head.

...

"Do you think that you can run away?" Seeing the skinless monster that was standing at the entrance of the dimensional portal, Lin Huang gave an insulting smile.

The skinless monster was afraid of him and immediately took a step forward.

Just as it strode into the dimensional portal, a black glow appeared out of nowhere. At almost the same time, it felt a chill coming from its knees. It lowered its head and blood stains extended from its knees to its head.

Before losing its consciousness, it finally saw that the one who had attacked it was Lin Xie who was less than two meters away from it. As it shifted its gaze, it saw that there was another Lin Xie who stood where its clone was. The most surprising fact was that both of them were not on yellow gold-rank but white gold-rank instead.

The dimensional portal collapsed on its own. Obviously, Lin Huang's attack had struck the dimensional portal as well.

The dead body that was cut into half fell to the ground. The skinless monster's real body had died while its clone became limp and turned into flesh.

The two God's Figurine combat souls that were fighting Charcoal transformed into two palm-sized God's Figurines. Charcoal gripped them in its mouth, flying towards Lin Huang.

"Fortunately, the Cloning Card can create a clone anywhere within my territory." Since he was bugged by the clone, not only did Lin Huang activate a Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card and level up to white gold-rank, but he had used a Cloning Card as well. He had created a clone of similar abilities to kill the skinless monster. He actually got the idea of using a Cloning Card from his opponent's clone.

Removing the effect of the Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card, Lin Huang's body that was about to collapse had been stabilized.

Lin Huang removed the Knight and Integration skills as well, and his combat strength quickly returned to immortal-level rank-1. He felt extremely weak instantly.

Kylie then took all the spoils of war before riding on Charcoal's back and leaving the battleground. Lin Huang then took out his dimensional portal and returned to the hotel.

Chapter 817: Memory Pieces

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After Lin Huang had left for less than 10 minutes, two figures arrived at almost the same time at the battleground where Lin Huang and the skinless monster had fought.

They were an old man and a skinny man.

The elder was about 1.6 meters tall with white hair. However, what stood out was his pair of bright piercing eyes, carefully sizing up the surroundings.

The skinny man was about 1.8 meters tall and he looked like he was 30 years old. He had a gloomy expression. Nobody had offended him but he was born with that face.

"Didn't your disciple follow you?"

"He's over there. The vibrations of the battle ended just now. He's such a burden, that's why came over here first." The elder did not turn his head around and continued sizing up the surroundings.

Obviously, the two of them were very close to each other, so they did not need to be really polite when talking to each other.

"I think it's because he has just leveled up to imperial-level. That's when he likes to watch battles the most," the skinny man said.

"He just got to imperial-level and he thought he can go anywhere he wants. He has no idea how dangerous the world is and he'll have to bear the losses later on," the elder grumbled. He then changed the topic. "Let's not talk about him. What do you think about this battleground?"

"No dead bodies were discovered. Aside from the traces of the battle, only two pieces of flesh could be seen on the ground. I've no idea where they're from. We'll need a forensic expert to evaluate it. However, looking at the traces of the battle and the remaining energy, the situation should be almost the same as what we sensed when we were on our way here. There were five of them, two of whom were extremely strong. The last explosion was on par with a purple gold-rank's power. The other three should've been in a two versus one battle whereby their abilities were relatively weaker..."

"Yes, what you said is along the lines of my observation. Just as the energy fluctuation ended, the warning reported by the defense system was removed. The monster must've been killed and its dead body was probably brought away." The elder nodded his head.

"We can't eliminate the possibility that the hunter might've been killed and the monster has won the fight either. Since the monster was capable of sneaking into the foothold, it means it has the ability to get rid of the defense system. It's possible for it to do the same thing again."

"That could be true but that's less likely to happen. I'm more inclined to another possibility whereby the monster was killed. If what you said is true, it's not difficult for us to ask around whether there's a missing person on yellow gold-rank but possesses purple gold-rank abilities."

While both of them were chatting, the rest of the imperial-levels arrived one after another.

After the defense system had removed the warning alert, they no longer needed to go there. However, almost everybody decided to go as they wanted to see the battle of the purple gold-rank.

Some of them hoped that the hunter had not left yet as they wanted to know him.

While everybody was still searching for clues, Lin Huang had already gone back to his hotel room.

After recalling Charcoal back into its card form, Yi Zheng was released from Kylie's mini world.

Just as Yi Zheng got out of her mini world, he saw that there were blood stains all over Lin Huang's body.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Lin Huang smiled, shaking his head.

He was injured but thanks to his Divine Regeneration, he quickly healed. Only blood stains remained on his clothes.

"Where's the imperial-level? Did he chase after us? He knows that we're staying here." Yi Zheng thought that Lin Huang had escaped from the imperial-level and that it was not safe to be in the hotel room.

"Don't worry. He's dead."

"He's dead?" Yi Zheng was startled. He then looked at Lin Huang with an incredulous expression.

"Yes. He's really strong. I've almost used up all my trump cards to kill it." Lin Huang briefly told him what had happened and was not going to explain any further. He did not want to tell Yi Zheng that the imperial-level was actually not a human but a yellow gold-rank monster instead. He was not trying to hide his abilities but it would take him a lot of effort to explain himself.

When he heard this, Yi Zheng knew that he should not ask any further. Since it involved Lin Huang's trump cards, even though they were friends who trusted each other, he did not need to know about it.

He then recalled the independent dimension where Kylie had brought him to. He gave up his intention of asking any further.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

However, he was still worried about whether Lin Huang's body was fine. The bloodstains looked like it was not an ordinary wound. In fact, he was injured because he had saved his life.

"Look at me."

Seeing that Yi Zheng was still worried about him, Lin Huang sighed, taking off his clothes and revealing his upper body. There were muscles rippling across his body but no scars could be found.

"I have a secret skill that can heal my body. As long as I have sufficient Life Power in my body, I can recover regardless of how serious the wound is."

"Don't worry that your combat strength is now sealed. The person who sealed your combat strength has died. Perhaps in less than an hour, the seal in your body will be destroyed and your combat strength will be restored. There's an underground auction tomorrow. Go back to your room and rest well."

After sending Yi Zheng off, Lin Huang burnt the stained clothes and took a shower, cleaning all the blood on his body.

He took out the two palm-sized God's Figurines from the bathtub.

Most of the rewards were still in his opponent's Emperor's Heart Ring. He was not going to take them out yet. After all, the most valuable items were the two God's Figurines.

One of them looked like a cat with a wry face. It had a slender body and there were cheetah stripes all over its fur.

Another one was a snake-headed hooved monster with black scales all over its body, resembling a statue made of black metal.

Lin Huang had never seen the two monsters in the monster guide before.

If he managed to train the two God's Figurines, he could level up to immortal-level rank-3. However, he knew that it was not the time yet.

One of the reasons was that Yi Zheng was with him. It was difficult for him to explain to him how he managed to move up by two ranks in a day.

Another reason was that he knew that the people from the Wanbao Auction paid close attention to his identity. He would be in trouble if there was an upgrade in his combat strength.

Putting the two God's Figurines away, his body slowly submerged into the water. He closed his eyes, recalling the battle that had just happened.

Lin Huang had to do his homework this time.

Each time after experiencing an intense battle, he would recall the entire process of the battle, analyzing every detail. He had to figure out what he did wrong so that he could avoid making the same mistake the next time. Another thing he had to do was to analyze his opponent's strength and determine if there was anything he could learn from his opponent. Also, he would also think from a different perspective, reviewing the entire battle and thinking about whether there could have been a better solution.

Those scenes constantly ran through his mind...

Yi Zheng had been kidnapped. He had saved Yi Zheng and got engaged in an intense fight with the imperial-level. The monster then revealed its real body, offering a sacrifice to the God's Figurine combat souls and its Life Palace.

His brain played back all those scenes very quickly and he recalled all the details. He replayed them again and again.

"I actually had the chance to kill it when it revealed its real body before the appearance of the God's Figurine combat souls and the Life Palace. Before it offered the sacrifice to the Life Palace, I had a chance to kill it as well. I missed two chances..."

"The dragon flames with Charcoal was effective. I've defeated five of its combat souls."

"Nobody can withstand the attack by a demigod relic, not even a demigod. Its clone managed to block my attack as a result of the integration of the clone and the demigod-level. Such a secret skill must've been derived from the cloning skill. Luckily, I figured it out in time and knew that the demigod-level armor isn't on its body but on the clone's body instead. I eventually made the right decision, killing it with my clone."

"It was too risky to make such a decision. If I misjudged and its real body was wearing the demigod-level armor, I wouldn't have been able to kill it. The dimensional portal would've been destroyed and I'd have killed myself since the effect of the combat strength upgrade can only last for three seconds..."

Before he could finish analyzing everything, a few scenes suddenly flashed through his mind. He calmed himself down and began checking what they were. After a short while, he finally found out the sources of those scenes in his Life Lamp. "These are the memories of the skinless monster..."

Chapter 818: The Images in His Head

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the God's Figurine which had a Divine Fire burning, a cloud of pure spiritual energy hovered above the flames and was covered by a layer of faint green glow. It was the protective layer created automatically by the God's Figurine in order for the spiritual energy to block any interference from the Divine Fire.

After some investigation, Lin Huang realized that the images flashing through his head came from the cloud of spiritual energy.

To be exact, the God's Figurine had absorbed the skinless monster's soul automatically after he killed it. With the help of the Divine Fire, it turned the monster's soul into pure spiritual energy.

Since it was filtered through the Divine Fire, most of the information in the cloud of spiritual energy, which was the storage of the monster's soul, vanished. Only a small amount of it remained and was not completely wiped off.

The few images that flashed through Lin Huang's mind was the only remaining information.

"Unfortunately, there's no more information left." Lin Huang did not manage to find out more after checking out the contents of the spiritual energy.

Lin Huang lost his mood for a bubble bath, so he put his clothes on again and returned to the bedroom.

He was initially exhausted physically and mentally from the intense fight. However, he did not feel sleepy at the moment.

His eyes were opened despite lying on the bed as he recalled the few images that had flashed through his head earlier.

The first image was the back of a man.

Although he could only see the man's back, he could discern that the man was young while his body was not exactly strong. He even seemed a little skinny and weak.

The second image was the interior of a hall. There were two rows of powerhouses sitting on both sides in the bright and magnificent hall.

There was a massive golden throne further in the hall with someone sitting on it. However, it was just a black silhouette of which no details could be detected and he could not even determine the person's gender.

The third image was a sky full of blood mist. Under the bloody sky was a variety of monsters gathering all over the land. There were at least millions of monsters within his field of vision.

Meanwhile, the fourth image was a black crack that looked like a spider web. It was a massive crack situated in the sky. The image was dark while the crack was sucking in air rampantly from all directions.

The last three images were all God's Figurines.

Not only did they include the two items that Lin Huang had just obtained, even what he had just refined in his hand was included too.

"These must be the more important memories which it put away deep in his soul without realizing to the point that the memories weren't erased in the preliminary filtering in the Divine Fire. Now, they're just static images with the audio removed.

"The bloody sky in the third image doesn't seem like it happened in our land.

"The crack in the fourth image looks like the Abyss Brink's crack, possibly the other side of it. If that's the case, it must have passed through the air crack and arrived at the human foothold via the Abyss Brink. That's a reasonable explanation. In this case, the bloody sky in the third image could possibly be the virtual zone connected to the Abyss Brink.

"The black silhouette sitting on the throne in the second image should be the God Master the skinless monster mentioned but I can't identify the man in the first image.

"The three God's Figurine images should be the reason why the skinless monster came to our land but I've no idea why would it have or if it looked for the God Figurines. It shouldn't have just created God's Figurine combat souls for all the effort that they're putting in. The nature of a God's Figurine combat soul isn't much more powerful than an ordinary combat soul's. It's just harder to kill..."

Lin Huang thought a lot about the images that he saw but the connection between the images were insufficient. He could not come up with a complete theory.

"If this monster really came from the Abyss Brink's crack, then there might be a change to the five-year catastrophe from the Abyss Brink. It seems like I'll have to visit Abyss Brink after the auction ends." Lin Huang's mind was fully occupied that night. He finally fell asleep when it was past four in the morning as a result of his physical and mental exhaustion.

Around three hours after that, Yi Zheng was going to ask Lin Huang along for breakfast after washing up.

The seal was removed automatically the night before. He was relieved now. It was rare that he could relax.

Just when he was ready to knock on Lin Huang's door, he heard the Voice Transmission coming from Bloody behind the door.

"Master's just fallen asleep a while ago. Let him rest during the day. I'll inform him before the auction starts in the evening."

Although Yi Zheng did not communicate much with Bloody, he knew about its existence, so its voice was not a stranger to him. He nodded immediately after hearing what it said. "Sure, then I won't disturb him. I'll be on my own during the day. I'll see him in the evening."

After sending Yi Zheng off, Bloody dashed back to the couch where it proceeded to work on the Heart Network.

Lin Huang slept all the way past four in the afternoon. He only woke up after sleeping for approximately twelve hours.

Although the major fight which took place in the middle of the night did not leave any after-effects on him, it exhausted him gravely. His exhaustion only went away by 60 to 70% after sleeping.

"It's 4.21p.m.? Have I slept for twelve hours?!" Lin Huang projected the clock from his Emperor's Heart Ring as soon as he opened his eyes and was shocked when he saw the time.

"You've overworked your body, so sleeping a lot from the exhaustion is normal. Generally speaking, you'd need three days at the most to recover completely." Bloody floated into the bedroom slowly. "The underground auction only opens at 7.30 p.m. You can sleep for a few more hours if you're still tired. I'll wake you up by then."

"There's no need. My exhaustion won't be completely taken away even if I sleep for the entire day." Lin Huang hopped off the bed directly.

"Then, eat something. I asked Yi Zheng to bring you some food at noon. It's in the cooler box," Bloody had arranged everything accordingly.

Lin Huang nodded and headed straight to the kitchen. He took the food out from the cooler box and brought it to the dining hall.

He asked while eating after sitting down, "Is there any news today?"

"What happened in the middle of the night is up on the local news. The media says an anonymous powerhouse killed the monster that invaded the foothold. From the news on the media, nobody knows who exactly killed the monster. Otherwise, they would've come to you for interviews."

"What else?" Lin Huang asked again after swallowing the fried egg in his mouth.

"Also, many people from the underworld are investigating this. Some of the forces are trying to find out who killed the monster that invaded. Most of them should be interesting in recruiting the killer."

"How about the God's Figurine? Did you find anything about it?" Ever since he elevated to immortal rank, Lin Huang planned to find as many God's Figurines as he could so that he could elevate to immortal-level rank-9 as quickly as possible.

"No clue. I can't find anything on the Web. I suspect the Union Government secretly did something. There's no news from the black market as well but it's only been a day, so it's normal that we haven't heard anything yet."

"It's been blocked by the Union Government? Seems like the Union Government knows what the God's Figurine is..." Lin Huang squinted lightly.

Chapter 819: The Underground Auction Begins!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It was early autumn at the beginning of September. The weather was turning cold while the heat from the summer was long gone. The sky turned completely dark before it was even 7 p.m.

After dinner, Lin Huang and Yi Zheng rushed to the Wanbao Auction together. The underground auction was not held there; it was just a hub.

A few staff welcomed them as soon as they entered the entrance of the auction.

One of them asked, "May I know if the both of you are participating in this together or do you want to be separated?"

"Let's do it together," Lin Huang answered.

"Please follow me." The staff who asked the question led the both of them to an elevator as soon as he was done speaking.

"The elevator will take the both of you to a random vacant room underground. You can pick a mask and cloak that you like. Please go to Room B1 after the both of you put on the mask and cloak. Someone will bring you to the underground auction." The staff tapped open the elevator doors after the simple explanation and watched the both of them enter.

Soon after entering the elevator, the doors opened again and they arrived at an exhibition hall that was more than 100 square meters in size.

There were hundreds of simulation models in the exhibition hall. Each of them wore a different mask and cloak.

Only a minority did not have any cloaks or masks. It was clear that they had been picked by people who arrived before they did.

Yi Zheng was dazzled by the choices at the moment and he had no idea which one he should go for.

However, it was not an issue for Lin Huang. Each and every mask and cloak became clear to him in his head as he scanned through them with his Divine Telekinesis.

He picked the mask and cloak that he desired in less than a minute.

The material of the mask was a light alloy with a silver base and there were not many patterns on it. It seemed extremely plain and simple.

For the cloak, Lin Huang picked a black, long robe. Just like the mask, there were no patterns or decorations on it while the hoodie covered most of his face.

Although he had put on the mask and cloak, Yi Zheng, on the other hand, had not even picked any.

"Aren't you quick to pick?"

"I'm a psychic. I'd be able to see through all of the masks and cloaks with a scan of my Divine Telekinesis. Naturally, it's easy for me to pick them." Lin Huang only realized that his voice had changed after speaking. It must have been a function that came together with the mask.

"I'm dazzled by them. Maybe you should pick for me." Yi Zheng did not bother to choose his own any longer. "Just get something that's similar to yours. The simpler, the better. I don't want anything with patterns or decorations."

"Sure." Using his Divine Telekinesis, Lin Huang soon picked three masks and four cloaks for Yi Zheng.

Yi Zheng picked a set among the shortlisted ones that Lin Huang had picked out for him. He selected a golden mask that had no decorations and a long, black robe similar to the one Lin Huang was wearing.

After Yi Zheng put the mask and cloak on, Lin Huang finished putting the remaining masks and cloaks back on the models.

"Let's go!" The both of them then pushed the door open and left the room.

They lifted their heads and found out that the room that they were in was Room B18. The room numbers got smaller as they walked along the left side of the corridor.

After walking ahead for a moment, the door to Room B11 swung open suddenly. A person in a white robe and a painted mask walked out of the room. The person was skinny and one could not tell if the person was a man or a woman since the robe did a good job at shrouding the person.

The person was slightly surprised to see Lin Huang and Yi Zheng, but soon snapped back to his or her senses and walked towards Room B1 as he turned.

Lin Huang and Yi Zheng were less than 30 meters behind the person. They were following him all the way but were not in a hurry to catch up with him.

When they arrived at the entrance of Room B1, the white-robed person turned around and glanced at them before going into the room.

Lin Huang and Yi Zheng soon followed and entered the room.

The interior of Room B1 was similar to that of a meeting room. There were already 18 people sitting at the long table while there were still three vacant seats.

Among the 18 of them, 17 of them wore cloaks and a variety of masks including the white-robed man earlier. The man who sat at the main seat of the table was the exceptional one. He wore a mask that was as white as a piece of jade but donned a black suit. He did not fit in with the rest of them.

Almost everyone had their eyes on Lin Huang and Yi Zheng.

However, since the masks and cloaks had the function of blocking out detection, nobody could find out anything about the both of them.

Lin Huang glanced through everyone present and his eyes landed on the man in the suit. He figured that man was the staff of the underground auction.

"Take a seat." As expected, the man in the suit spoke after observing them for a little while, "The dimensional portal can transport 20 people each time. We're only lacking one more person now excluding me."

Lin Huang and Yi Zheng then sat down in the vacant seats that were close to them.

The room with 20 people soon fell into a dead silence.

None of them knew each other. Moreover, since their bodies were completely covered, not only were their personal details blocked, but their trust towards each other had dropped to the lowest. so there was nothing that they could talk about.

Although they would check each other out, their eyes usually would not stay on the same person for too long because they could not see anything from just looking. Secondly, some hot heads would treat that as a provocation and that would bring unnecessary trouble to oneself.

Everyone knew that people who were invited to an underground auction were not ordinary people, so none of them wanted to make enemies.

Fortunately, the dead silence did not last for too long as a newcomer came in.

The man in the suit stood up when there were a total of 20 of them. He then brought out a white Dimensional Portal and got everyone to walk through it after activating the transportation coordinates.

As the Dimensional Portal shut slowly, Lin Huang and the rest realized that they had arrived in a hall as a flash illuminated before their eyes.

Lin Huang looked around after hearing chattering.

There was an auction stage not far away. A lady wearing bunny ears was standing on it and she was looking at Lin Huang and the rest of them.

"To the guests who have just arrived, please take a seat wherever you like."

Lin Huang turned to the other side and found that most of the seats were vacant, but around 100 of them were taken. There seats on the first two rows were almost occupied.

The chattering came from there.

Lin Huang glanced over and saw a few pairs of people talking to each other. He figured that they must have come together.

The 20 of them scattered and found their seats after listening to the lady on the stage.

Noticing there were no more seats in the center zone on the third row, Lin Huang found two vacant seats in the middle of the fourth row and sat down with Yi Zheng.

"This venue's so small. There are only a total of 1,200 seats," Lin Huang said through Voice Transmission and smiled.

"The underground auction's usually small-scaled. Moreover, Wanbao City's under the ruling of the Union Government. They'd need to give face to the Union Government, so they have to keep it low," Yi Zheng explained, "The more people they invite to auctions like this, the more trouble there might be."

They were chatting out of boredom since there was still time before the auction began.

More and more guests were transported to the venue while the seats became occupied.

When it was almost 7.50p.m., the 1,200 seats were all filled at the venue as all the invitees arrived.

The lady in the bunny ears finally spoke again when it was 8 p.m. sharp, "Good evening, our honorable guests. Welcome to the auction. I'm the auctioneer of the current auction, Bunny Ears. There's no need to suspect my name. It's obvious that it's not my real name. I hope we can have an enjoyable evening today and that everyone will purchase something that they desire."

"Let's cut to the chase and send the first collection to the stage!" She corrected herself as soon as she was done speaking, "To be exact, this is the first set of collections."

As she spoke, 20 naked men walked onto the auction stage and stood in two rows. The opening act caused many of the guests to discuss among themselves.

"Are they human slaves who have been castrated?" Lin Huang frowned while Yi Zheng looked displeased.

There were no traces of genitals on the lower half of the 20 naked men.

"Isn't the surgery pretty darn clean-cut?" The gray-robed man who sat behind Lin Huang could not help but say out loud.

"It seems like I must explain myself," Bunny Ears spoke again, "These 20 men aren't human slaves like what all of you are thinking. Although they look exactly like humans, they're actually artificial men made with genetic technology. This batch is just the first whereby they're small-scale tests. All of them are on the combat level of immortal-level rank-9."

"There are 20 of them and the opening price will be 100 million Life Crystals each. The bidding increment has to be at least five million Life Crystals. We'll begin the auction with No. 1!"

Chapter 820: Mutant

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Each and every artificial man was different. The auctioneer only gave a simple description like a summary about them due to the time constraint at the auction.

At the same time, the organizing team projected the detailed information of each of the artificial men on the screen behind the auction stage.

From the projected information, it was clear that these artificial men were very different from one another.

Some of them were proficient in either Sword Dao, Saber Dao, close-distance combat or telekinesis.

"They have an ability on par with a double mutated monster and come with five skills. They're similar to customized summoning beasts in the form of humans and their price is equivalent to purchasing an immortal-level rank-9 summoning beast."' Lin Huang raised his eyebrow after reading the details. "But coupled with the fact that obtaining new skills from learning makes them more powerful than summoning beasts, I just can't understand why their price is higher than summoning beasts."

Lin Huang was not exactly interested in artificial men like those. He already had more than ten summoning beasts which talents were more powerful, so it was unnecessary for him to purchase such artificial men. Moreover, such living creatures could not be made into cards directly like how he could with Bai and the rest. He would not mind purchasing one if they could be made into cards so that he could train them bit by bit.

However, Lin Huang had no idea if artificial men were classified as humans or monsters. If they were humans, there would be no Monster Card given when they were killed. The most one could get was Skill Cards. If they were monsters, the chances of getting Monster Cards were slim even if all 20 of them on the stage were killed.

Lin Huang decided not to participate in the auction after giving it some thought.

"Lend me some Life Crystals if I don't have enough later," Yi Zheng who was sitting beside him said through Voice Transmission suddenly.

"Sure." Lin Huang nodded directly. He did not lack money and he was not afraid that Yi Zheng would not return the money.

The artificial men were sold one after another on the auction stage.

Yi Zheng, who sat next to Lin Huang, suddenly called his bid when they were auctioning the sixth artificial man.

"150 million!" Lin Huang was stunned to hear his price and turned to ask, "What do you want to do with this thing?"

"I want the military to study them," Yi Zheng replied through Voice Transmission, "If possible, I'd like to purchase three of them: a spear cultivator, a sword cultivator and one that's proficient in close-range combat."

"Sure, let me know if you're out of Life Crystals." Lin Huang nodded.

Yi Zheng had grown up in a military family and he actually had a job in the military. However, it was just a cinch whereby he had little power in his position.

The objective of him going to Division 3 to train was mainly for him to add colors to his experience. Just like those who were studying their Ph.D. on Earth, many of them were required to study abroad.

Although Yi Zheng's direction of development in the military had nothing to do with research, it would be an achievement for him to bring the artificial men back. Furthermore, the military would definitely reimburse his spending.

After intense bidding, Yi Zheng managed to purchase the sword cultivator at 270 million.

Later on, he purchased a spear cultivator at 230 million and a close-range combat cultivator at 240 million.

The man in red mask right behind Lin Huang and Yi Zheng could not help but mumble out loud, "I wonder what's he going to do with so many male artificial men given that all of the ones he purchased are strong." He was judging Yi Zheng beneath his mask.

"I'd like to purchase an artificial female, but the thing is, there isn't any..." Yi Zheng forced a smile while shrugging helplessly.

Most of the other bidders only purchased one while a minority of them purchased two. Yi Zheng had purchased the most and he happened to purchase the three strongest ones. However, he was analyzing the three artificial men's abilities and the fact that they possessed the skills and test reports from the factory. He did not notice how the artificial men looked like at all.

In reality, just like the man in the red mask, most of them were hoping to see the female version after seeing this batch of artificial men. However, the auctioneer revealed they had yet to perfect the manufacturing technique of the artificial females, so none were produced this time. It might be next year if the technical issues were solved.

Soon, the 20 artificial men were all sold out. Bunny Ears then presented the second collection.

The staff brought ten cabinets that were around two meters high onto the auction stage.

Ten metal cages were revealed when the red cloths were lifted. There was a lady in each cage. They were naked and seemed no different from humans, just that their breasts were much larger than ordinary ladies'.

"Busty women..." Lin Huang frowned. It was not his first time seeing busty women being auctioned. He had seen them once when he went to the Mystery Auction with Leng Yue Xin in the past.

Busty women were not human; they were mutants produced by human and busty monsters.

However, these mutants almost went extinct 800 years ago. It was impossible for ten of them to exist even if they were the Descendants of the Sin.

Clearly, these ten busty women were created through genetic modification elixir made of living female bodies through genetical technique. One wondered how many women died from the modification process for them to come up with ten end products.

"This Wanbao Auction must be related to the Mystery Auction." Lin Huang had not thought of that earlier when the artificial men were auctioned. Now that he saw these busty women, he figured that these two auctions must have the same supplier or may even be run by the same person.

Soon, the busty women created an outburst that was even bigger than before.

It was clear that Wanbao Auction had arranged that on purpose. They auctioned male artificial men first to gauge the crowd's anticipation of artificial females. Although there were no artificial females, they could get many busty women.

Although he pitied these women, Lin Huang did not participate in the bidding while next to him, Yi Zheng did not bid since his last purchase.

The reason being that it was redundant for him to purchase them. As long as there was no end to the production of such mutants, there would be more busty women and other mutants sold at various auctions.

As he thought of the mutant's situation, Lin Huang could not help but think of Xiao Mo who he met at the Purple Crow training camp. The kid was a mutant too.

Although he seemed like a human on the surface, there was a Descendants of the Sin's mark on his body. It was a mark of shame for him that would follow him for the rest of his life.

"I wonder how's that kid Xiao Mo now..."

Soon, the ten busty women were sold out in the heat of the crowd's enthusiasm

The third item was a batch of combat-type mutants.

Lin Huang was in deep thought when he saw the third batch of items.

"There must be an organization that does genetic modification exclusively behind this Wanbao Auction which captures humans illegally and creates these mutants in mass production. These artificial men might even be related to the organization. They dare to do this in the ruling area of the Union Government, so perhaps even the Union Government's internal department isn't that clean too."

Lin Huang thought of the bunch of demigods who had plotted to kill Mr. Fu as he thought about this. He was frowning even more now.

"They knew the catastrophe from the Abyss Brink is coming soon, but they're still thinking of ways to benefit themselves unscrupulously."