“Brother…”
Just as Lin Huang came out of the meeting room, he ran into Lin Xin who was standing there at the door.
Naturally, he knew that more than an hour ago Lin Xin had already been waiting here; he guessed that Huang Tianfu and the others had leaked the news of his return.
He had been unable to get away from the meeting room. Lin Xin had also not barged in to disturb the meeting in session; she had continued waiting outside.
Now that he was seeing Lin Xin again, Lin Huang noticed that her combat level was already at the utmost limits of imperial-level and the intensity of her aura was infinitely approaching virtual god-level.
“I haven’t seen you in a year and you’ve grown taller again.” Lin Huang smiled, reached out, and touched Lin Xin’s head.
A year ago, Lin Xin was just over 1.6 meters tall. One year later, she was already close to 1.7 meters. Her shoulder-length hair was tied up in a ponytail and the naivete in her face had also faded a great deal. She had blossomed into a tall, slim, graceful young lady.
Lin Xin did not say anything; tears kept welling up in her eyes.
“Look, I didn’t say anything, why are you crying?” Lin Huang smiled and looked at Lin Xin. After a year of not seeing her, this girl’s personality seemed much more stable; she had obviously experienced many things in this period.
“I’m not crying!” Lin Xin covered her eyes with her palm, surreptitiously wiping away the tears.
Her tears were gone but her eyes were still red.
“Fine, you’re not crying. It doesn’t count as crying until the tears fall to the ground,” Lin Huang said as he handed her a pack of tissue.
Lin Xin reached out and took the tissues, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes. Only then did she look up at Lin Huang once more.
“Brother, I hope you’ve been well for the past year.”
Although she was outside the meeting room, she had not been able to hear what was going on in the meeting room because there had been a barrier. She had merely used her cognitive processes to infer that there were many powerhouses in the great world, and Lin Huang must have suffered a lot since he had left with combat strength below virtual god-level.
“It wasn’t too bad.” Lin Huang shook his head. “Although there are many powerhouses in the great world, I’m not one to simply make enemies for no reason. In fact, most of my time was spent on boring cultivation and running around. There weren’t many dramatic encounters. It’s not a novel where the protagonist will be hunted down for various reasons wherever he goes.
“On the contrary, you give the impression of having changed a lot this year. Not only have you reached the limits of your imperial-level, but your Sword Dao has also advanced to level-5… Well, it doesn’t seem like you’ve been lazy in your Sword Dao cultivation. I don’t know how your firearms cultivation has been going though.”
“I haven’t been lazy in my firearms cultivation either, alright?” Lin Xin said crossly, “I’m ranked on the Firearms Master Leaderboard.”
“Oh, let me take a look.” Lin Huang pulled up the leaderboard in front of him right away as he spoke. After a glance at it, his expression betrayed some astonishment.
Impressively, Lin Xin’s name was ranked first among the imperial-level firearm masters.
Lin Xin, who had been secretly observing Lin Huang’s expression, looked smug as she saw the astonishment on her brother’s face.
“Huh, not bad, you’re number one. Looks like you definitely didn’t slack off,” Lin Huang praised her with a smile.
“I can’t break through to virtual god-level so I can only spend my time practicing gun fighting techniques and sword skills,” Lin Xin muttered in a low voice.
“Can’t break through to virtual god-level?” Lin Huang was stunned to hear that. “Don’t you advance your combat levels by eating life crystals? If you go according to this method of advancement, in theory, you only need to replace the life crystal with something containing Divine Power, such as Divine Stones and Divine Crystals.”
“No, I’ve tried both Divine Stones and Divine Crystals, and there’s absolutely no response.” Lin Xin shook her head helplessly. “Mr. Fu asked me to try hunting virtual god-level monsters so I did that as well, but there was no response either after the hunt.”
“A situation like yours obviously means there are special conditions for advancement…” Lin Huang frowned slightly and thought for a moment. “Have you tried eating a Godhead?”
“Eating a Godhead?!” Lin Xin’s eyes widened when she heard that. “Don’t they say that even a True God would find it hard to destroy a Godhead? Can this sort of thing really be eaten?”
“Normally cultivators don’t eat life crystals either, but you’ve eaten who knows how many of them like peanuts,” Lin Huang could not help grumbling, “If you don’t want to try it, we’ll think of something else instead.”
“Then…let’s give it a try,” Lin Xin hesitated for a moment but nodded.
Lin Huang randomly retrieved a Virtual God rank-1 Godhead from his storage space and handed it to Lin Xin.
Lin Xin took the Godhead, her expression rather odd.
This Godhead was completely red with a few black striations. It looked a bit like a gem.
Lin Xin brought the Godhead in front of her and studied it for a while, then she closed her eyes and stuffed it into her mouth.
“If you can’t bite into it then don’t force yourself, and don’t swallow it directly,” Lin Huang hurriedly added.
He noticed the current expression on Lin Xin’s face was even odder. “You said that a little too late; it’s already slid down.”
“…” Lin Huang was speechless. “Don’t you feel like you’re choking?”
“No, the texture’s a bit like pudding. It immediately melted once I put it in my mouth and I accidentally swallowed it.”
“What pudding… I can’t even bite into this thing.” A virtual god-level Godhead could be said to be the hardest thing within a Virtual God’s body, harder than even god relics. Even if it was just a Virtual God rank-1, the Godhead in the body was so strong it could only be damaged by Rule Bending Power. For ordinary cultivators, it was naturally inedible.
That was why when Lin Xin described the Godhead’s texture as pudding-like, Lin Huang found it hard to imagine.
“Do you feel anything at all? Or do you have to spend some time refining?” Seeing that Lin Xin did not look as if she had eaten something unclean, Lin Huang asked again.
“It really seems to be working!” Lin Xin sent her consciousness into her inner world for a moment before responding. “The Godhead automatically disintegrated in my inner world. Not only is there a lot of Divine Power surging from it, but it’s also leaving behind a lot of inheritance memories. One Godhead doesn’t seem to be enough though…”
As soon as Lin Xin finished speaking, Lin Huang, who was standing to one side, immediately grabbed a handful of Virtual God rank-1 Godheads and brought them out.
“These Godheads ought to satiate you; it just depends on many you can eat.”
Lin Xin took the entire batch of Godheads, tossed them into her mouth one by one, and swallowed them quickly as if she were eating jelly beans.
She ate nine Godheads in a row before she stopped.
“It seems like it won’t be much longer. I can feel that the Divine Power within me is at saturation point; I need to go home and begin closed-door cultivation!”
After she finished speaking, she handed the remaining Godheads back to Lin Huang.
“Hold onto them yourself—what if you need them later?” Lin Huang did not take the Godheads; instead, he handed his sister a storage ring. “In addition to the rank-1 to rank-9 Virtual God Godheads in here, there are also some Divine Crystals. Go ahead and use them first for now.”
“Thank you, Brother!” After Lin Xin had thanked Lin Huang, she turned with a trace of urgency and departed in a great hurry.
She could not wait to advance to virtual god-level.
‘This girl—her constitution is really enviable.’ As he watched Lin Xin departing, Lin Huang could not help sighing in his heart, ‘I want to have this kind of constitution. Not only could I have eaten my way to lord level, but I would also definitely have already eaten my way to heavenly god-level!’
After the meeting, Lin Huang was seen on his way back to the Emperor Palace, so the news of Emperor Lin’s return spread like wildfire. Even secretly taken photos were posted on the Dynasty internal forum, becoming the hottest news of the day.
Just as Lin Huang arrived at the entrance of the Emperor Palace, he found that a figure was already waiting at the gates.
“Xiao Mo? How come you’re here?”
“I’ve just received the news so I knew that you’re back. I figured you would definitely return to the Emperor Palace, so I just waited here.” Immediately after Xiao Mo saw the news on the forum, he had gone to wait at the gates of the Emperor Palace at once.
“Come on, we’ll chat inside,” Lin Huang said as he pushed open the doors of the Palace and walked into the depths of the main hall with Xiao Mo.
“You’ve changed quite a lot within this one year. Your combat strength is already at Virtual God rank-3 level and your aura is also a lot more stable. You’ve probably done a fair bit of actual combat training, right?” Lin Huang commented by way of greeting as they walked.
“This year I spent more than half the time in the deep sea area of the Peaceful Ocean.” Xiao Mo nodded slightly. “But it’s been a bit difficult to advance after rank-3; there are too few monsters above rank-3 in the gravel world.”
“When this crisis is resolved, you can go to the great world with me. Over there, virtual god-level is just the starting point.”
“That’s what I planned.” Xiao Mo nodded.
The two went into the depths of the main hall. After they sat down, Lin Huang looked at Xiao Mo with a serious expression. “Is there any particular reason why you came looking for me?”
Xiao Mo was silent for a moment. It seemed as if he was sorting out what he wanted to say; only after that did he speak.
“Ever since I advanced to virtual god-level eleven months ago, all I have to do is fall asleep and I’ll have strange dreams,” Xiao Mo said and paused. He glanced at Lin Huang before continuing, “The contents of my dreams are all related to the Crow God.”
Lin Huang frowned slightly. “Do you remember any concrete specifics of your dreams?”
“The scenes in the dreams are very fragmented and messy. But I saw the Crow God’s will projection on the Peaceful Ocean. He appears to be planning something.”
“Are you certain it’s the Crow God’s will projection?” Lin Huang had his doubts about this because he had personally seen the Crow God’s will projection disappear during battle.
“I’m pretty sure it is. Although he occupies a human body, his aura is far too familiar to me.” Xiao Mo, who had once existed as a Crow Spirit, was naturally familiar with the aura of the Crow God.
“I did actually see the Crow God’s will projection vanish with my own eyes at the time, but I can’t completely rule out that he played a hand with Golden Cicada Molting.” After Lin Huang considered things for a while, he felt there might be a possibility that the Crow God’s will was still alive. “So you spent the better part of the year in the Peaceful Ocean to try and find him?”
“Yes. For one thing, it’s to verify whether or not my dreams were true. For another, I also want to dispose of him in case he causes even more problems. I’ve also considered the fact that I’ve advanced to virtual god-level and resources are limited in the gravel world. Even if his combat level is higher than mine, it can’t be that much higher. If I can’t beat him, I can always escape. Also, I only have to ascertain that he really is alive; there’s no need for me to face him head-on alone. I can absolutely ask Huang Tianfu for some virtual god-level helpers and join forces to kill him!”
Xiao Mo was afraid that if his dreams were just dreams and had nothing to do with reality, hastily asking for backup from Huang Tianfu would be rather awkward. Therefore he thought that he would first locate the Crow God’s will projection, confirm that he still existed, and then obtain reinforcements.
“You probably didn’t find him, did you?” Lin Huang guessed.
“No…” Xiao Mo shook his head, “I suspect that he might be able to spy on my movements in reverse. In the past six months I’ve located at least seven or eight sea areas in the Peaceful Ocean that are extremely similar to my dreams—but after searching according to what I saw in them, I never once managed to find him.”
“If you can see him, it’s very likely that he can see you too. After all, you used to be a Crow Spirit. For some reason, it is possible to have this kind of spiritual two-way connection with the Crow God.”
Although Xiao Mo did not have concrete evidence to prove that whatever had happened in his dreams was real, Lin Huang still believed that the lad might have established a certain special connection with the Crow God.
“How about this—I’ll get a few people to go with you to the Peaceful Ocean and they’ll help you solve this matter of the Crow God.” Lin Huang felt that it was time to release the Sword Servants.
“But what if my dreams are just dreams and have nothing to do with reality—won’t they have gone all the way for nothing?” Xiao Mo was still a little embarrassed.
“It’s okay, if it ends up being nothing, they can consider it a holiday,” Lin Huang said and summoned all the two hundred and sixty-eight Sword Servants within the scope of his authorization.
After elevating to virtual god-level, his control authorization over the Sword Servants had also increased—now he could summon all the Swords Servants ranked after the number one hundred.
When he saw more than two hundred individuals appearing at the same time, Xiao Mo was taken aback at first. Once he sensed the terrifying aura of the group, however, the expression on his face instantly turned to one of shock.
All of the two hundred and sixty-eight Swords Servants were affected in combat strength by Lin Huang; their actual combat abilities were now at third-rank true god-level. Even if their auras were not openly displayed, it was enough to shock all the virtual god-level powerhouses.
“Lord Swordmaster!”
Once all the Swords Servants had been summoned, they greeted Lin Huang in unison immediately.
“This is the gravel world which has incomplete rules. The highest combat strength that can be accommodated here is only Virtual God rank-9. If you want to move around freely, you’ll have to temporarily seal your combat strength at Virtual God rank-9.
“If you don’t want to stay in the gravel world, you can also return to the Great Heaven Territory first. Once I return to the great world, I’ll summon you again.”
After Lin Huang finished speaking, not a single person mentioned returning to the Great Heaven Territory. They all sat down one by one and sealed their combat strength.
These two hundred Swords Servants—Swords101 to 300—had just left the Great Heaven Territory for the first time in hundreds of thousands of years. Now that they had been released, naturally, they wanted to stay longer and take in more of what was outside the Great Heaven Territory.
As for the other sixty-eight people—Sword301 and the rest—although they had been released in the God Territory previously, they had stayed for less than a month. They were also much more curious about the gravel world that they were about to explore.
Since the gravel world had rule restrictions, even if their combat strength was sealed at Virtual God rank-9, they were still top-tier in terms of combat strength. So, without any hesitation, everyone sealed their abilities right away.
“These people are…” Only after hearing that everyone was going to seal themselves at Virtual God rank-9 did Xiao Mo realize that these two hundred over people were True Gods.
“They are members of the organization that I established in the great world,” Lin Huang briefly explained, “Although the organization has not been officially established yet.”
“They are all True Gods?” Even though he was seeing it with his own eyes, Xiao Mo still felt slightly incredulous.
“They are all True Gods.” Lin Huang nodded.
It did not take long for the Sword Servants to complete the sealing of their abilities, keeping their combat levels at Virtual God rank-9. The faint, ever-present sense of rejection from this world that they felt from before had finally faded.
“Who among you is good at tracking and investigation?” Lin Huang asked the group of Sword Servants in front of him.
As soon as he finished speaking, more than a dozen people raised their hands one after the other.
“Alright then, it will be the twelve of you. Take a trip to the Peaceful Ocean with Xiao Mo and take care of this issue with the Crow God,” Lin Huang glanced at the others as he spoke, “In this gravel world, I have two organizations under my command. One is called Dynasty and the other is called Misery. I would like to have another twenty people remain here to temporarily join these two groups, ten per organization. Those who join will be treated as highest-level guest officials and they will also be able to voluntarily participate in the high-level meetings of both organizations…”
Before Lin Huang could even finish speaking, a large number of Swords Servants raised their hands immediately.
He glanced over the assembly; at least more than 80% of Swords Servants had raised their hands at the first instance.
“Sword101, Sword102, both of you select a team of ten people each. Pay attention to how their abilities match.”
It took less than two minutes for the two Sword Servants to quickly form two teams.
“The rest of you will be led by Sword 103 as the team leader. In this gravel world, form a Sword Alliance.
“The mission that I entrust to all of you is this—to find people with a talent for Sword Dao in the gravel world. Get them to join the Sword Alliance and train them into powerful sword cultivators!”
The formation of the Sword Alliance was not simply a whim that had suddenly occurred to Lin Huang.
The long-term plan that Bloody had drawn up included cultivating talented young geniuses as an inherent part of it.
However, the suggestion that Bloody had put forward at the time was to let Dynasty and Misery recruit more young blood.
Lin Huang had also not yet become heir to the Great Heaven inheritance.
Now that he had obtained the Great Heaven inheritance along with the support of several hundred Sword Servants, he saw this as an opportunity to do something for sword cultivation and train up even more excellent Sword Dao cultivators.
This was how the idea of imitating Great Heaven and forming a pure sword cultivator organization had emerged.
However, unlike Great Heaven who directly recruited powerful sword cultivators as his subordinates, Lin Huang hoped that he could do more. He aimed to train more sword cultivators from the grassroots, and discover more sword cultivator talents and geniuses.
Of course, he had not given up the idea of training up other non-sword cultivator novices. Neither Dynasty nor Misery had stopped recruiting newcomers.
In all honesty, when they heard that Lin Huang was about to form a Sword Alliance, almost all the Sword Servants’ eyes lit up. They had not expected Lin Huang and Great Heaven to have similar visions; in fact, the new swordmaster cast his sights even further.
After he had arranged Xiao Mo’s affairs and where all the Sword Servants would go, Lin Huang contacted Huang Tianfu again to tell him about the Sword Servants taking up residence, and then asked for a portal.
Although Huang Tianfu was rather astonished by the Sword Servants settling in, he did not raise any objections.
After receiving the portal from Huang Tianfu, Lin Huang immediately led a team of ten Sword Servants across the portal threshold and appeared at the Misery headquarters.
Over on Misery’s side, Zhi Ji and the others had known about the news of Lin Huang’s return from very early on.
They were not surprised that Lin Huang had appeared. It was only that the ten Sword Servants were all unfamiliar faces and each of them had an astonishing aura, which made it difficult for everyone in Misery to ignore their existence.
“Zhi Ji, summon all the Red Robes for a meeting in conference room No. 1!”
Lin Huang finished speaking and walked toward the meeting room right away with the ten Sword Servants.
Zhi Ji let the other Red Robes hurry to catch up while he began contacting the other Red Robes one by one.
Ten minutes later, all fifteen Red Robes from Misery had arrived.
However, when the Red Robes saw that there were ten unfamiliar faces in the conference room, they vaguely anticipated that Lin Huang might be making a big move this time.
“From today onward, these ten individuals will be official guests of Misery, enjoying the same privileges and authority of the Red Robes.” Lin Huang gestured to the ten Sword Servants standing behind him.
It was not hard for Zhi Ji and the others to sense that these ten individuals were all Virtual God rank-9s. With fellows at this level of combat strength joining Misery, the organization’s overall abilities would naturally be greatly improved. However, the Red Robes also harbored a great many worries within their hearts. They were afraid that Lin Huang was planting these ten people within the organization to remove the current Red Robes from power.
“You don’t need to arrange positions for them. If the ten of them need anything, do cooperate as much as possible on Misery’s side,” Lin Huang finished speaking, turned his head, and said to the ten Sword Servants, “The formal meeting will begin next. The ten of you can stay if you want to sit in. If you don’t want to, you’re free to do whatever you want.”
After hearing Lin Huang’s latter comment, many Bloody Robes, including Zhi Ji, were secretly relieved.
They had originally assumed that Lin Huang had brought these ten individuals along to take the place of the existing Bloody Robes and slowly remove the current upper levels from power.
However, not only had he not arrange for any positions for the newcomers, but they also had the choice to listen in on the meeting or not, which proved that Lin Huang really did not intend for these ten people to take over Misery.
As several Sword Servants got up and left, the initially weighty atmosphere in the meeting room lightened up considerably.
“Zhi Ji, tell me about Misery’s expansion over the last year…”
Lin Huang very quickly brought up the main topic of the meeting.
The meeting with Misery ended after more than half an hour.
Unlike the people of Dynasty, the people of Misery were also curious about Lin Huang’s trip to the great world but no one ventured to ask about it.
Lin Huang only spoke briefly about what he had seen and heard in the great world, emphasizing that “virtual god-level is only the starting point of cultivation”.
After setting down the next stage of development for Misery, Lin Huang left the ten Sword Servants behind and returned to Emperor City on his own.
As soon as he returned to Emperor City, his communicator suddenly began vibrating.
When he pulled up the communication web page, it was a group message from a social media platform. The sender was Yi Zheng and he had tagged Lin Huang.
This group was a small one established by Lin Huang before he left the gravel world. Basically, all his friends were in it.
Not only were Fatty, Yi Zheng, and Leng Yuexin in it, but Chan Dou, Liu Ming, Xiao Mo, and the rest were part of the group as well.
As soon as he clicked on the message to read it, Yizheng sent one sentence, “Are you back?!”
After that, Yi Yeyu and Li Lang immediately followed up with a question mark emoji.
“What’s the situation? Brother Zheng, what news did you get?” Chubby Yin Hangyi asked in a text message.
After some thought, Lin Huang guessed that Yi Zheng must have received the news from the Union Government. After all, his family was in the upper levels of the Union Government’s military department.
Since this sort of thing would come out sooner or later, Lin Huang did not bother covering it up and directly replied to the message in the group.
“I’m back.”
As soon as his message was sent, the group immediately bubbled over with questions.
“Are there many powerhouses in the great world?”
“How have you been in the great world this past year?”
…
Many of their questions were about the great world.
When Lin Huang saw the situation, he simply clicked on the video chat.
Everyone there also joined in the group video chat.
“I haven’t seen all of you in a year, I hope everyone is doing well,” Lin Huang greeted everyone first.
“You’re also aware you haven’t seen us in a year and you won’t even say hello to us when you come back,” Li Lang laughed and teased Lin Huang.
“I was busy. I haven’t been back for a year and there’s a ton of stuff to take care of on Dynasty’s side. I’ve been busy all day and I’ve only just stopped to rest,” Lin Huang explained with a smile.
“If everyone is free in the next two days, let’s find a time to meet up. However, I may only be able to spare a day or two. After the next couple of days, I’ll be preparing to go into closed-door cultivation. I won’t be able to come out for at least three months.”
“Let’s fix it for the next two days then; I’m preparing to go into closed-door cultivation too.” The speaker was Chan Dou, who hardly ever sent a message in the group.
“More and more I’m beginning to feel that I won’t be able to catch up with both of you in my lifetime. I’ll just wait for a good reincarnation in my next life at this rate.” Seeing that Lin Huang and Chan Dou could not go 3 sentences without talking about cultivation, Li Lang almost wanted to give up on his efforts.
The most terrifying kind of person in this world was—a hard-working prodigy.
Lin Huang and Zen Dou were undoubtedly such individuals.
“Reincarnation is also a skill. Just because you want to reincarnate into a good person doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to do so,” Fatty said with a smile.
“Fatty, how’s your store’s business coming along?” Lin Huang immediately asked when he saw Fatty speaking.
“Fatty’s business is doing extremely well. It’s almost becoming a Dynasty cafeteria; we can’t even get a place in the queue when we come to eat,” Yi Yeyu joked with a smile.
“Didn’t I reserve seats for all of you? When did I ever let you all queue up?” Fatty demanded, aggrieved.
At this point, Leng Yuexin’s video feed finally connected.
“It’s good that you’re back. Let me know when you’ve fixed when to meet. I can’t chat much today, I have training later.”
“Alright, go do what you need to do. We’ll let you know later on,” Lin Huang greeted.
Leng Yuexin nodded and disconnected the call after that.
Everyone continued idly chatting with each other for a while before Yi Zheng finally set the time of the gathering.
“We’ll set the meeting for tomorrow then. See you at Fatty’s restaurant in Emperor City at nine o’clock tomorrow morning.”
Fatty had opened his restaurant near Dynasty’s headquarters in Emperor City. Due to his relationship with Lin Huang, its location was fairly superior. It was practically the best location in Emperor City and Dynasty had never collected a single penny for rental.
People from Dynasty often patronized Fatty’s restaurant because of his culinary skills. Fatty also did not collect life crystals as payment for meals; he let Dynasty provide a batch of ingredients every week.
He might have opened this restaurant, but he had not given up on his dream of being a food hunter. Instead, he now realized this dream in a different way.
Fatty no longer hunted for ingredients on his own but obtained them through the people of Dynasty. He was only responsible for preparing the ingredients and turning them into culinary dishes.
Contrary to expectations, this manner of cooperation with the people of Dynasty had improved his cooking skills extremely quickly and his earnings were quite considerable.
His restaurant was often visited by cultivators and his menu basically consisted of specialty ingredients that only food hunters could prepare properly.
The profit in life crystals after one of these meals was equivalent to a few months’ income for other restaurants.
There were even many ordinary people who had heard that the owner of this restaurant was a food hunter. They would patronize the place out of admiration, wishing to try the fabled culinary skills of the food hunters of legend.
This had also led to long queues in the restaurant every day before nine o’clock in the morning. It should be noted that Fatty did not serve breakfast at his restaurant.
However, on this day, Fatty arrived at his shop around eight o’clock in the morning.
Seeing that there was already a line at the door, he smiled and brought out a sign that read ‘Temporarily Closed’.
“My apologies dear patrons, we are closed today. I have booked the space to entertain some friends.” Before the people waiting in line could complain, he continued, “If you are in line now, you are eligible for a 50% discount coupon from the waiter over there. With this coupon, you can enjoy the one-time privilege of a priority seating at any time within this year.”
The people who originally had complaints immediately simmered down and quickly went to the waiter to obtain their coupons.
Not only were they getting a 50% discount, but they also had priority seating privileges—which meant that the next time they came to the restaurant, they would not need to line up as they were doing now.
After seeing to the customers in the queue, Fatty brought out the decorations that he bought last night and assigned a few waiters to decorate the shop.
By the time they were done setting up, it was almost nine o’clock.
Yi Zheng and the others arrived one after the other.
When Lin Huang arrived, everyone was already there except for Leng Yuexin and Chan Dou.
“Where are Xiao Mo and Lin Xin?” Seeing that Lin Huang had come alone, Yi Yeyu asked in some curiosity.
“Xiao Mo is on a mission, Xin Er is in closed-door cultivation.”
Lin Huang glanced at Yi Zheng and his sister. He noted that the two had not changed much; they were still the same, but their combat levels had advanced significantly.
“It seems that both you siblings haven’t slacked off this year; the two of you have advanced to imperial-level.”
“This year, our cultivation speed has improved a lot. Also, with so many people to compete against in the Heaven Alliance, we dare not relax.” Yi Zheng shook his head and smiled. After using the Flawless Card, his inherent genius talent and potential had immediately elevated to the level of a super genius. Naturally, he had worked even harder at cultivation after that.
As for Yi Yeyu, she was bidding fair to outstrip her older brother in terms of talent and potential, to the point that her abilities were comparable to the level of the Five Princes, including Chan Dou. Not long after Lin Huang left the gravel world, she had also joined the Heaven Alliance under Yi Zheng’s recommendation. After that, she had become the Heaven Alliance’s main protégé. In the Genius Union, she was even named one of the Three Goddesses by a large number of male cultivators there. Some time ago, when she broke through to imperial-level and left the Genius Union, many fans even held a farewell party for her at the Stairway Tree.
Of course, Lin Huang did not know about these matters.
Since advancing to imperial-level, he had hardly paid any attention to the affairs of the Genius Union, let alone after he had left the gravel world for a year.
“Indeed, competition makes people more motivated. I initially used Brother Chan as my ideal and worked hard toward that.”
Before Lin Huang came along, the Five Princes were the five insurmountable obstacles for everyone in the Genius Union. At that time, Lin Huang also worked hard toward his goal of becoming like Chan Dou, who was one of the Five Princes.
However, Lin Huang had ended the rule of the Five Princes later on through his own prowess and became the unprecedented Genius Emperor of the entire Genius Union. (He had always used the name “Lin Xie” within the Union.)
After chatting for a bit with Yi Zheng and his sister, Lin Huang quickly turned his attention to Li Lang.
Unlike Yi Zheng and his sister, the changes in Li Lang were considerable. In the previous video call, Lin Huang had noticed that the lad had a buzz cut, but now that he was face-to-face with Li Lang, he realized that his friend’s aura was a lot steadier.
“Are you losing your hair or something?” Lin Huang teased him, laughing.
“You’re the one who’s losing hair! What’s wrong with your eyes? It’s obviously just shaved short,” Li Lang retorted in annoyance.
“I think you didn’t get a buzz cut; you want to become a monk.”
As soon as Lin Huang said this, Yi Yeyu and Yi Zheng hurriedly sent him some pointed looks.
Lin Huang knew right away that he had said the wrong thing, but did not quite understand what had happened.
At this time, Senior Brother Liu Ming took the initiative to defuse the situation.
“All right, stop teasing him about his hair. Why not pick a less sensitive subject, hmm?”
“It’s okay, it’s nothing that can’t be disclosed. It’s over anyway.” Li Lang waved his hand and smiled. “It’s just a breakup, that’s all.”
“Huh?” Only then did Lin Huang understand why Li Lang had not yet broken through to imperial-level. The lad had spent his time conducting a love affair.
“I don’t know who has been posting this message in the group every day for several months—’There will always be sudden encounters and unexpected joys in this world. Of course, there will also be unexpected goodbyes and unrelenting exits’. What an inexplicable saying,” Yi Yeyu grumbled on the side.
Beside her, Yi Zheng hurriedly gave his sister a swat and shook his head at her.
“Why not put your efforts into cultivation? The great world is full of beautiful women. The sooner you advance to virtual god-level, the sooner you’ll get to go to the great world—isn’t that a good thing?” Lin Huang smiled and patted Li Lang on the shoulder.
Lin Huang did not ask for any further details about Li Lang’s situation, but turned to look at his Senior Brother Liu Ming.
Liu Ming’s current combat strength had reached the peak of imperial-level purple gold-rank, and he was only one step away from virtual god-level.
“Senior Brother’s combat strength has improved considerably this year.”
“All thanks to you. After that day, my cultivation talent and potential improved substantially. Initially, I thought that as I got older, the cultivation path would become more and more difficult to follow, but I didn’t expect that my speed of cultivation this year would be even much faster than when I was young.” The elevation of Liu Ming’s talent was naturally the effect of Lin Huang’s Flawless Card. He already had a solid foundation; after the advancement of his potential, not only had his combat strength soared, but his ability had as well.
“How’s the preparation going for your advancement to virtual god-level? Have you targeted a monster?”
“I’ve found one; my preparations are almost complete too. I plan to make a move next week!” Liu Ming had planned it all out from early on.
“Do you need any help? I’ll ask Tianfu to find some people for you.”
“I’d already contacted Huang Tianfu before you came back. The members of the team are all ready to go.”
“That’s good.” Initially, Lin Huang was worried that Liu Ming would be resistant to hunting in a team, but now it seemed that he had over-thought things.
As the few of them chatted, Leng Yuexin and Chan Dou arrived at the scene almost simultaneously at nine o’clock sharp.
Lin Huang noticed that Leng Yuexin’s combat strength had also elevated to imperial-level. It was already at imperial-level crimson gold-rank even, which was a little higher than Yi Zheng and his sister.
As for Chan Dou, he had already advanced to virtual god-level. Although he was only at rank-1, his aura was very stable. Moreover, Lin Huang was also very aware that this fellow’s true abilities were definitely far beyond Virtual God rank-1.
Once everyone had arrived, Fatty began serving up the food.
Everyone chatted while eating and drinking, and the topic soon came around to Lin Huang.
“Lin Huang, what rank is your current combat strength at?” It was Chan Dou who asked this question.
Chan Dou was also at virtual god-level but he could not sense how strong Lin Huang’s aura was at all. However, he was very sure that Lin Huang must have advanced to virtual god-level.
When the other people at the table heard this, they all quietened down, obviously very curious about Lin Huang’s current combat level.
“Currently it’s at rank-3.”
There was no need for Lin Huang to conceal his combat strength in front of this group of friends. Given that there was too big a gap between his actual ability and his combat level, even if any outsiders knew about his actual combat level, it would not affect him much.
“Rank-3…” Chan Dou frowned when he heard Lin Huang’s answer. “How much do you know about the invaders who want to attack the gravel world?”
“I don’t know much. The area corresponding to the space rift is a battlefield between the territory of the Protoss and the Abyssal Tribes. That battlefield is completely accessible; anyone can enter it.” Lin Huang had also asked Bloody the same question, but she had not managed to discover who these intruders might be in the course of her investigations. “Anyway, we can’t openly investigate this matter. The more people who know about it, the more likely that the coordinates of the gravel world will be revealed—which means it’s more likely to come to the attention of the Heavenly Gods or even the Lords.”
“We don’t know who the enemy is. We also don’t know anything about their combat levels or even how many of them there are. A battle like this is really hard to fight.” Chan Dou looked helpless.
“The only thing we can do right now is to improve our own abilities as much as possible!” Lin Huang put forward the only viable countermeasure.
“Alright, today is a gathering of friends—we won’t bring up such heavy topics any more. Let’s talk about other things…” Liu Ming hurriedly smoothed the matter over.
As the topic shifted direction to something much more light-hearted, everyone at the dining table soon fell back into a lively, joyous state of mind, and the gathering of friends finally resumed the original intention of their meetup.
The meal with old friends lasted until late into the night.
Although Fatty was the head chef, he only prepared a few dishes before he handed over the kitchen to a hired chef and joined in the chitchat.
Lin Huang had also obtained a general understanding of everyone’s situation this year.
Leng Yuexin had also entered the Genius Union right after Yi Zheng and his sister. However, she had joined the Hong Alliance instead. Since she had used the Flawless Card, her talent and potential were not in any way below Yi Yeyu. Since Yi Zheng and his sister had joined the Heaven Alliance, the Hong Alliance had immediately made Leng Yuexin their main protégé for training.
Like Yi Yeyu, Leng Yuexin also rose rapidly in the ranks, becoming one of the Three Goddesses of the Genius Union.
After the Five Princes and the Genius Emperor, Leng Yuexin and Yi Yeyu took the position of two of the Three Queens.
Although Yi Zheng and the other super geniuses were not weak in their abilities, they were still slightly inferior to the Three Queens.
However, the Three Queens did not maintain their name for very long.
Among the Three Queens, Leng Yuexin took the lead and broke through to imperial-level, leaving the Genius Union. Yi Yeyu followed hot on her heels, breaking through to imperial-level after half a month, and leaving the Genius Union as well.
Lin Huang had not expected that the two women would have such fruitful experiences this year.
Apart from the two ladies, everyone else also seemed to have experienced a lot over the last year.
Chan Dou had traveled in search of his memories during this time, cultivating as well. It might have been the follow-up effects of using a Flawless Card in addition to the aid of familiar scenes, but the memories that he had previously lost were now over 90% recovered.
He had even taken the initiative to visit old friends such as Tan Lang and Shen Tao.
Chan Dou also mentioned something strange. The Bug Master named Li Jia had gone missing. He appeared to have vanished without a trace after leaving the Genius Union.
Senior Brother Liu Ming’s progress this year was similar to that of Xiao Mo. He had either been hunting monsters or retreating into closed-door cultivation, so his combat strength had soared.
Not only had his combat strength advanced to imperial-level purple gold-rank, but the increase in his Sword Dao had also improved dramatically. He had now reached the limit of level-6 and was half a step away from achieving Sword Dao true meaning.
With his current ability, he would be able to put up a fight even if he encountered a Virtual God rank-1.
Fatty opened his restaurant this year; cooking every day made him happy beyond belief.
With the help of the people in Dynasty, his increase in combat strength and business was smooth sailing—not only that, his life was greatly enriched. Apart from being a little busy, there was nothing else wrong with him.
However, the strange thing was that despite being so busy every day, he had not lost any weight at all.
In comparison, Li Lang probably spent his year more leisurely than the rest.
After using the Flawless Card, his talent and potential had also reached that of a super genius, but his combat level was only at immortal-level rank-7, which was far removed from Yi Zheng. Obviously, his mind had not been very focused on cultivating.
After some small talk, Lin Huang learned that Li Lang had fallen for a girl, but right from the start she had not been very interested in him.
To win this girl’s heart, he had changed a lot this year.
The girl had said that she did not like men who wore fancy clothes so he had thrown away all of his clothes from before. The girl had also said that she liked buzz cuts, so he had shaved his hair…
Every day, he would shower various attentions on the object of his affections to try and win her favor. This lasted for a few months but she had finally dumped him regardless.
For around six months after that Li Lang had been in a state of dejection. He slept until at least noon every day, sometimes even until the next night. All along, he had been something of a neat freak but now he gave up completely on keeping his house clean. His bed sheets would be slept on for months without being changed and he did not care when the fruits in the refrigerator were all rotten…
In the end, Yizheng and the others could not take it anymore and forcibly dragged him out of the house…
His state of mind had only just returned to normal over the last two months.
As far as this kind of personal emotional issues were concerned, Lin Huang did not feel it was right for him to express his opinion, so he could only provide a few words of comfort. He encouraged Li Lang to devote himself to cultivation and keep himself busy so that he would not think too much.
…
By the time everyone left Fatty’s restaurant, it was almost the wee hours of the morning.
Lin Huang was slightly intoxicated from drinking a lot of wine, so he fell asleep until the next morning.
He had just woken up at around nine in the morning when Mr. Fu sent him a message.
“Let’s have breakfast together and catch up while we’re at it.”
Lin Huang freshened up quickly and headed out immediately.
When Lin Huang arrived at Mrs. Fatty’s Soup Dumplings, Mr. Fu, hair up in a small ponytail, was already seated at an open-air table. When he saw Lin Huang, he waved at him.
Lin Huang immediately sat opposite Mr. Fu.
“Now that you’re back this time, do you think their dumplings are more delicious?” Mr. Fu asked with a smile.
“Now that you’ve mentioned it, it does seem that they are.” Lin Huang was stunned for a moment after Mr. Fu’s words, recalling the taste of the dumplings from before. In comparison, they really did taste better. “I thought it was because I hadn’t come back for a year and I’d finally gotten to eat them again.”
“I taught the couple a few little tricks,” Mr. Fu explained with a smile.
“Oh, so that’s why.”
For a top food hunter like Mr. Fu, optimizing the preparation of common ingredients was a piece of cake
“After all, I do come here to eat occasionally. They had some flaws in their previous preparation processes so there were always some small regrets whenever I ate their dumplings.” Mr. Fu did not make concessions in his expectations of excellence when it came to food.
The two chatted for a while, then Brother Fatty came with the dumplings.
“Mr. Fu, if the dumplings need any further improvement, please do let me know again.”
Mr. Fu picked up a dumpling and tasted a mouthful, then nodded, “Using ordinary ingredients to achieve such a result is already the peak of culinary standards. It seems that both of you have been hard at work practicing the method that I’ve taught you.”
“The main thing is that sir teaches well!” Brother Fatty hastened to flatter Mr. Fu, “I’ll get back to what I’m doing so I won’t bother you.”
After Brother Fatty had left, Lin Huang and Mr. Fu both ate the dumplings quietly.
In no time at all, after eating two small steamers of dumplings, Mr. Fu put down his chopstick and set a soundproof barrier around the table.
“At the meeting the day before yesterday, you didn’t elaborate on any information about the invaders. Were you really not able to investigate this properly, or did you deliberately not bring it up?”
Lin Huang also put down his chopsticks and fell silent for a moment before he spoke again.
“It’s true that I was not able to investigate it properly, but I also concealed some information.”
“Can you tell me now?” Mr. Fu asked, staring intently at Lin Huang.
“Previously, we’ve always thought that the world rules of the gravel world are incomplete, and the strength of the dimensional gateway is limited. We assumed that even if the gateway was fully open, at most only low-rank True Gods could come through.
“In fact, this is not the case. When the great world invades the gravel world and its incomplete rules, it will suppress the world will through special means and strengthen the space tunnel. The maximum limit for transmitted combat strength can be increased to ninth-rank true god-level…”
When he heard that, Mr. Fu’s right hand trembled slightly, and his brows creased in a tight frown.
“You’re saying that when the time comes, there will be not only low-rank True Gods but also middle and high-rank ones? There might even be peak-stage ninth-rank True Gods?!”
Lin Huang nodded helplessly.
“Then what should we do now? At present, we have no True Gods at all. Even with the ten Virtual God rank-9s that you brought back, at most, they can only conduct battle formations against the low-rank True Gods. Battle formations are useless if we encounter middle-rank True Gods, much less the high-ranks.”
COMMENT
“I brought back more than ten people; there are two-hundred and sixty-eight of them in total. They are not actually Virtual God rank-9s, but True Gods. However, their abilities are currently sealed.”
“Two hundred and sixty-eight True Gods?” Mr. Fu’s eyes brightened slightly. “What rank?”
“Currently they’re all third-rank.”
“Their combat strength is a bit low…” Mr. Fu could not help sighing, “However, it’s better than nothing.”
“Teacher, you don’t have to worry too much; there’s always a solution. Instead of worrying about what hasn’t happened yet, it is better to focus on the matters at hand. I didn’t tell Tianfu and Zhi Ji about this matter because I was also afraid that they were under too much pressure and the news might cause their mental health to suffer a breakdown.”
“You’re definitely right to handle things this way,” Mr. Fu agreed after hearing what Lin Huang had to say, “If our enemies are only low-rank True Gods, everyone will feel that if we work hard, we might win. But if they find out that our enemies are high-rank True Gods, I am afraid that many people will immediately give up on resistance because they can’t see any hopes of winning.”
“I won’t say anything about this, don’t worry.”
“What are your plans after this?” Mr. Fu asked again.
“I’m going into closed-door cultivation to enhance my combat strength!”
After breakfasting with Mr. Fu, Lin Huang returned to the Emperor Palace and immediately notified Huang Tianfu, Zhi Ji, and the Sword Servants that he was going into closed-door cultivation.
Once that was done, he immediately initiated the barrier around the Emperor Palace, entered closed-door cultivation, and began refining the Divine Fire in his body full-force.
Within half a day of Lin Huang’s retreat into closed-door cultivation, the news of His Majesty’s return filtered out from within Dynasty’s inner circle.
For a while, this stirred up a heated discussion on social networking platforms.
After all, a year ago, Lin Huang had always been an influential figure in major social networking platform rankings and media news.
He had left the gravel world for a year and disappeared from public view the entire time. Now that he was back, many people recalled when the major rankings dreaded being dominated by the name “Lin Huang”.
When Lin Huang vanished without a trace, most people did not actually know where he had gone. Then again, he did not disclose the news of his leaving the gravel world; only the upper echelons of the major organizations were aware of this.
Although there were also opinions expressed on the internet that Lin Huang had gone to the great world, not many people were willing to believe it.
This time, however, the individual on the internet who provided the scoop on the Emperor’s return seemed to be someone who knew about the details of the matter.
A post entitled “The Return of The Emperor” not only included the specific date of Lin Huang’s return but also revealed that he had killed a true god-level monster upon his arrival.
In the beginning, replies to this post were all flames, accusing the original poster of making up stories.
However, the news of Lin Huang’s return was verified later on. Not only that, but it was also revealed that the Union Government had asked the major organizations to form a virtual god-level team. However, the authorities had then sent a message stating that the crisis had been resolved
As more and more news appeared, both genuine and fake, everyone gradually began to believe that Lin Huang—who had previously dominated the ranks—had really returned after all.
More and more people also began to believe that Lin Huang had been to the great world.
As a result, a new round of discussion on Lin Huang began on all major social media forums.
One of the most discussed topics was, “What is this great world like—the one that Lin Huang had been to?”
On Dynasty’s side, the upper echelons were practically harassed by the media for a spell.
In the cultivation world, the great world was originally a place that only existed in legend; no one had ever returned after going there.
The media and even other cultivators wanted to find out from Lin Huang what the legendary great world was like.
However, Dynasty’s answer to everyone in the outside world was just a single sentence.
“His Majesty has entered closed-door cultivation; we don’t know when exactly he will emerge.”
Only the Union Government, the Hunter Association, and other top organizations received certain information released by Dynasty.
This piece of information about the great world was part of what Lin Huang had mentioned at the meeting with Dynasty. Before he entered closed-door cultivation, he had specifically told Huang Tianfu that there was no need to conceal this news, as it would help the Union Government and the other top organizations to be aware of the kind of crisis they were about to face.
However, this piece of information also concealed the part that he had mentioned in conversation with Mr. Fu.
After receiving the news about the great world from Dynasty, all the top organizations immediately held a meeting at the first possible instance to discuss further developments and response strategies.
After that, practically all the organizations that received the news made similar decisions.
All imperial-levels, demigods, and Virtual Gods within the organizations began to frantically explore the wastelands and ruins, seizing cultivation resources on a large scale.
Dynasty and Misery were no exceptions.
Once they sensed the anomalies happening in the top organizations, other organizations all began to make inquiries, so more and more people became aware of the information on the great world.
…
While Lin Huang was in closed-door cultivation, Lin Xin was doing the same as well.
She would eat one Godhead every two or three days, and then eat another after the first had assimilated.
After she had eaten twelve Virtual God rank-1 Godheads in a row, she finally began to condense the Godhead within her…
Meanwhile, Xiao Mo had been in the Peaceful Ocean.
With the twelve Sword Servants, he had been searching for the hiding place of the Crow God’s will projection.
The other Sword Servants also adapted to their roles very quickly.
Sword101 and Sword102 became Lin Huang’s new bodyguards, and the two continuously kept watch at the entrance of the Emperor Palace.
The twenty Sword Servants who stayed in Dynasty and Misery also found their positions within the organizations. Some participated in various meetings with the upper echelons and even got involved in decision-making, while others did not care about anything and just focused on obtaining cultivation resources.
As for the group of people who formed the Sword Alliance, they began to spread out in various Safety Zones, using a variety of methods to search for young people with Sword Dao talent.
…
In the Emperor Palace, Lin Huang’s refining of the Divine Fire went smoothly.
The proportion of Divine Fire being refined was steadily improving every day.
Almost a month later, ten pieces of fourth-rank Divine Fire tinder had been completely refined and integrated.
The Divine Fire within Lin Huang’s body transformed again, and the Godhead quickly metamorphosized once more under the Divine Fire’s refinement.
After successfully advancing to Virtual God rank-4, Lin Huang did not have the slightest intention of resting. He immediately took out ten pieces of fifth-rank Divine Fire tinder, threw them into his inner world, and started a new round of refining and integration.
…
On the same day, Lin Xin, who was only a few hundred meters away from Lin Huang, successfully condensed her own Godhead in another house.
Amid the sensations of advancing to virtual god-level, Lin Xin vaguely felt that she was dozens of times stronger.
“Have I become this much stronger after advancing to virtual god-level?”
Not only had there been an increase in her combat strength, but her physical body and spiritual strength had also transformed in nature. What surprised and delighted Lin Xin even more was that she seemed to have completely inherited the inheritance memories of the twelve Godheads.
She could even directly use all the skills of the owners of the twelve Godheads.
After elevating to virtual god-level, Lin Xin immediately thought of sharing this good news with her brother. When she pulled up her message page, however, she saw the message that Lin Huang had sent almost over a month ago.
“My brother has also entered closed-door cultivation… Then I’ll continue with it to improve my combat effectiveness.”
Lin Xin thought for a while and sat back properly.
She took out a Virtual God rank-2 Godhead from the storage space and threw it into her mouth…
…
One month had passed since the news of Lin Huang’s return but he never made an appearance. The popularity of his name on major social networking platforms had long since faded. Since the media had not received the desired response, everyone’s attention gradually shifted to other topics.
However, what most ordinary cultivators did not know was that while they had been engaged in gossiping, the information that Lin Huang had shared upon his return had allowed all the major organizations to enter an unprecedented state of combat readiness.
Even the organizations that ordinarily had conflicts with each other had temporarily put aside their issues. They began to work hard to improve the overall abilities of the organizations so they could survive the coming war.
The Union Government, the Hunter Association, and other top organizations were racing against time and did not dare to relax…
As more time passed in the Emperor Palace, Lin Huang fully completed the refining and fusion of the Divine Fire.
As he had no idea when the invasion would happen, he could only race against the clock to improve his combat strength as soon as possible.
In the blink of an eye, two more months passed.
Lin Huang completed the refining and fusion of ten sixth-rank Divine Fire tinders. With the tempering of Divine Fire, the Godhead finally advanced to sixth-rank.
It took him almost three months to increase his combat strength from Virtual God third-rank to the Virtual God sixth-rank.
Since he had not obtained any higher-rank Divine Fire, he could proceed no further in his cultivation to improve his combat strength.
It took more than half an hour for him to adapt to his newly heightened combat strength. Finally, Lin Huang opened the door of the Emperor Palace and officially exited!
After three months of closed-door cultivation, he made his grand return, and his power had made another qualitative leap.
The moment he threw open the gate of the Emperor Palace, Sword101 and Sword102, who had been guarding the door for the past three months, immediately turned around and bowed to him.
Although they did not pry into Lin Huang’s cultivation status in the Emperor Palace, as Sword Servants they could naturally sense it every time the swordmaster’s combat strength was advanced. After all, every advancement led to their combat strength being unsealed.
Both of them were certain that Lin Huang had raised another three small levels in the short span of three months.
“Thank you for your hard work. I probably won’t enter closed-door cultivation again any time soon. You can move around freely now.”
Lin Huang gave the two a small nod.
However, the two did not leave. Instead, they walked to Lin Huang’s side, a short distance behind, and silently assumed the roles of bodyguards.
This had been mentioned by Sword1. The swordmaster must have a minimum of two bodyguards with him at all times.
Lin Huang noted the development but said nothing.
As his Divine Telekinesis unfolded, he found Huang Tianfu and the others, and Lin Huang appeared in his office in a flash.
“Your Majesty!”
Lin Huang’s silent appearance startled Huang Tianfu for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure.
“Did anything happen during my three months of closed-door cultivation?”
“Nothing significant.”
Huang Tianfu sorted out his thoughts before he spoke again.
“We have followed your instructions and shared the information of the great world with the Union Government and other top organizations. After that, the news leaked further. Now, more than 80% of the transcendent cultivators have obtained the relevant information and knowledge about the kind of enemy that they will be facing. Therefore, in the past few months, everyone has been vigorously acquiring resources and improving their ability in all aspects.
“The major organizations have also relaxed their standards and began to accept more newcomers. A new wave of expansion and development has commenced. Many people who were originally scattered have also joined the organizations.
“Someone has been keeping watch at the Abyss Brink—nothing much has changed. But for us, no news is good news.”l
“There is one more thing related to you, Your Majesty.”
“What is it?” Lin Huang asked, a little surprised.
“The news of your return from the great world was leaked and it became a trending topic. Basically, all cultivators know about it now.” Huang Tianfu snuck a peek at Lin Huang but did not see any change in his expression.
“If it’s leaked, so be it. People will know sooner or later anyway. It doesn’t affect me.” Lin Huang really did not care about this kind of thing.
“The rest are small matters. Now, nearly all the organizations are busy scrambling for resources, and those that are in conflict have agreed to cooperate under the influence of external pressure. No one is doing anything at all. I would go so far as to say that it has been the calmest few months in the past 100 years.”
“How has Dynasty been these past few months?” Lin Huang asked.
“As we were the first to get the news and therefore were the most prepared, we currently occupy the most wastelands and ruins among all of the organizations. In terms of expanding, our recruitment of newcomers is inferior only to the Hunter Association and the Union Government. We are ranked third. Some casuals with fair ability have also joined us.”
“How about Misery?” Lin Huang pressed.
“The wastelands and ruins occupied by Misery rank second, but their expansion is slightly slower than ours. I don’t know much about the specifics, so you may still have to ask Zhi Ji.”
Lin Huang gave a small nod, then his Divine Telekinesis swept the area. He found that the building where Lin Xin lived was still open, and she was not outside.
“Xin Er is still in closed-door cultivation?”
“Yes, she has yet to come out.” Huang Tianfu nodded.
“This girl, would she get to Virtual God rank-9 in one go…” Lin Huang thought about it inside his head.
“Xiao Mo is also not back?”
“No.” Huang Tianfu shook his head.
Lin Huang frowned slightly…
…
The Peaceful Ocean was so vast that it occupied more than 70% of the entire gravel world. It was also connected to eight of the twelve Safe Zones.
The environment under the sea was more complicated and constantly changing, especially in the deep sea area.
Xiao Mo and the twelve sword servants dispersed and searched for three months without any results.
During this time, he also gradually developed a way to control his dreams under the guidance of a Sword Servant.
He saw more and more images about the will projection of the Crow God.
However, he had no doubt that the Crow God could also spy on him.
That was why every time that he found its hiding place, when he rushed over he was always a step too late.
Even Xiao Mo himself began to wonder if the scenes he saw in his dream were just illusions and had nothing to do with reality.
After three months, he was exhausted both physically and mentally.
Suddenly, a tyrannical Divine Telekinesis swept through the area without the slightest bit of subtlety. A sense of horror gripped Xiao Mo’s heart and the hair on his body stood on end.
“What a strong Divine Telekinesis!” The Divine Telekinesis was so powerful that it was suffocating and he knew the person it belonged to must be at least a true god-level powerhouse.
As soon as he felt it, he noticed that a ray of Divine Telekinesis was suddenly locked onto him.
Before he had time to react, a figure appeared a short distance away.
Just when his scalp started to go numb and he got ready to flee, he got a clear view of the figure.
“Your Majesty?!”
Lin Huang appeared directly in front of Xiao Mo.
“I finally found you.”
“You… why are you here?” Xiao Mo reacted after a stunned pause.
“I just came out of closed-door cultivation today. After I found out that you haven’t been back in three months, I came to have a look. After all, there is no communication signal in most of the Peaceful Ocean, so I have no choice but to find you myself.” Lin Huang explained exasperatedly. If the communicator had been able to reach Xiao Mo, he would not have bothered to make this trip.
“Have you not found that guy after three months?” He did not beat around the bush.
“No. I suspect that he spied on me much more than I spied on him. He might know what we said, what we did, where we went, and what we communicated about. As such, we were always a step too late, we couldn’t even catch his shadow. I’m starting to wonder if the dream fragments I saw were real or if they were just hallucinations created under the influence of the Crow God.”
“If that’s the case…” Lin Huang touched his chin and went deep in thought for a moment, then raised his head to look at Xiao Mo. “Are there any items with the aura of the Crow God on you?”
Xiao Mo considered the question. “My Divine Power is of the same origin as the Crow God and there should be a certain degree of similarity in aura. Is that sufficient?”
“We can try.” Lin Huang nodded.
Xiao Mo immediately stretched out his finger and exerted a ray of Divine Power.
The ink-black Divine Power curled like a small snake, clung to Lin Huang’s fingers, and finally stopped in Lin Huang’s palm.
After Lin Huang’s Divine Telekinesis was released, he nodded after giving the ray of Divine Power a thorough scan.
“Let’s try it first. If it doesn’t work then we’ll think of something else.”
As he spoke, the invincible Divine Telekinesis swept out again. It swept across the entire Peaceful Ocean almost instantly.
After a while, the corners of Lin Huang’s mouth twitched upward. “Found him!”
Looking at the extremely familiar environment in front of him, Xiao Mo was slightly taken aback.
“This is the location where I first saw the will projection of the Crow God in my dreams…”
Lin Huang brought Xiao Mo along and Space Warped to the place where his Divine Telekinesis had zoned in on the will projection of the Crow God. It turned out to be the first place where Xiao Mo had seen the will projection of the Crow God from his dreams a few months ago.
When he came to the Peaceful Ocean for the first time to explore the will projection of the Crow God back then, the first area that he searched was here.
Unexpectedly, the place where Lin Huang’s Divine Telekinesis was locked in now was the exact same place.
Xiao Mo’s Divine Telekinesis gave the surroundings a quick sweep but he still found nothing.
He could only sense the presence of a virtual god-level sea king species in the depths of the trench ahead, but it did not have even a shred of the Crow God’s aura.
“I can only sense one Sea King species…” Xiao Mo looked at Lin Huang rather doubtfully.
“On the surface, there is only one sea king species here.” Lin Huang said as he walked to the edge of the cliff above the trench. He looked down and shouted, “Come out! We have already found you at your doorstep. It’s meaningless to keep hiding.”
As Xiao Mo lay baffled, a voice suddenly came from the trench.
“I didn’t expect to be found by both of you.”
As if on cue, the ground on the seabed began to tremor violently.
A moment later, a huge behemoth slowly protruded its gigantic head from the depths of the trench. After it exceeded the height of Lin Huang and Xiao Mo by over a hundred meters, it looked down on them.
This was a monster similar to Hydrophiinae on earth, but it was many times larger—its head alone was hundreds of meters tall.
The red and purple stripes seemed to be a bold declaration saying “I am venomous”.
However, Lin Huang’s line of sight was not on this monster, but directly on top of it.
A lone figure stood there. Although it was easy to overlook in contrast to the huge sea king species, the eyesight of a cultivator noticed it easily.
However, Xiao Mo was focused only on the sea king species in front of him after he sensed the aura of the Crow God.
The figure stood on top of the head of the sea king species, condescendingly gazing upon Lin Huang and Xiao Mo below him. There was no hint of embarrassment and fear after being discovered by the enemy. Instead, he was calm and at ease.
“The Emperor of Dynasty… I underestimated the speed of your ascent.”
Lin Huang and Xiao Mo looked at each other, and both of them knew that the voice was that of the Crow God from more than a year ago.
Lin Huang’s identity was announced in one sentence. Obviously, for the past year, the Crow God had not stopped scouring for information from the outside world.
“Since I entered the path of cultivation, many people have underestimated the speed of my rise. You are not the first and you will not be the last.” Lin Huang said it without humility; after all, it was the truth.
“On the contrary, you have been hiding in the Peaceful Ocean for more than a year and it seems that you have not made much progress. The combat level is barely at Virtual God rank-2, and the possessed body seems to have an average talent and potential. I’m quite curious why you haven’t made a move for over a year. What were you wasting your time on?”
Lin Huang’s words were enigmatic and had a mocking tone, his objective was very simple. He wanted to provoke his adversary and squeeze information out of him.
“Lin Huang, don’t think that you’re so great just because you advanced to Virtual God rank-3. In the great world, virtual god-level is just cannon fodder, and there is essentially no difference whether it is rank-1 or rank-9. If you have actually been to the great world, you should know this well.”
“As for my physical body’s combat level and talent potential, it matters not. The purpose of my will projection is not to defeat all the powerhouses in this gravel world nor to dominate this world.”
“So what is your real mission?” Lin Huang asked in a supposed offhanded tone.
“You will know soon…” The Crow God smiled grimly.
As his voice fell, the sea king species under him suddenly moved, and its body began to rise rapidly.
At this time, Lin Huang finally noticed something abnormal.
“This spatial fluctuation…”
Lin Huang used his Divine Telekinesis to scan and discovered that the deepest part of this huge trench, which was previously covered by the sea king species, actually had a huge space crack.
The space crack had even been completely firmly formed, connecting a space gateway to the unknown.
“Is that a dimensional gateway?!” Lin Huang had just completed his Divine Telekinesis sweep and Xiao Mo also discovered the abnormality of the trench below.
“Didn’t you want to know what I did this year?” The Crow God cackled wildly. “Well, here is your answer!”
“Come out!”
With a loud shout from the Crow God, a huge amount of Divine Power began to pour into the space crack.
The connected space gateway began to glow with a dazzling white light.
At the sight of this, Xiao Mo’s expression changed drastically. However, beside him, Lin Huang looked impassive, as if nothing happened.
In the next instant, several true god-level auras emerged from the gateway.
Within the blink of an eye, several figures struggled to squeeze out of the space crack.
Different from the undead that Lin Huang encountered in the Abyss Brink previously, these true god-level monsters only struggled in the space crack for a short moment before successfully descending into the gravel world.
Seeing the arrival of these monsters, Lin Huang narrowed his eyes slightly.
The Crow God was obviously familiar with the process of invading the gravel world and he directly suppressed the resistance and rejection of the world will by special means.
The six monsters that descended included two of each from rank-1 and rank-3, with the true god-level combat strength completely preserved.
Sensing the aura of the six monsters, Xiao Mo’s face went a little pale but he held his ground.
“Lin Huang, run away, I will stop them!”
He was so nervous that he even forgot to address Lin Huang as His Majesty.
However, Lin Huang, who was standing next to him, took a step forward, directly blocking the aura released by the six True Gods.
Xiao Mo, who was now a bag of nerves, suddenly could no longer sense any aura on the six monsters.
“I thought you would outright come by yourself, but I didn’t expect you to be so cautious.” Lin Huang glanced over the six True Gods and looked directly at the Crow God again, ignoring the threat posed by the six True Gods. “You just sent six small potatoes out to explore.”
“Although it’s only six small potatoes, it’s more than enough to deal with the likes of you two.” The Crow God smiled triumphantly, obviously confident he had won the game.
“Is that so?” The expression on Lin Huang’s face was still extremely calm, and it did not look staged.
At this moment, the six monsters collapsed to the ground almost at the same time, and their vitality quickly disintegrated into nothingness.
The Crow God’s expression stiffened slightly. He swept through with Divine Telekinesis and noticed that all the six monsters had an extra sword mark between their eyebrows.
Not only had their lives been taken, but even their souls were slashed by this sword.
“Do you still think so now?” Lin Huang asked with a faint smile, raising his head to address the Crow God.
“What happened? Did he do that?!”
When he saw the six true god-level monsters being killed within seconds, the Crow God was thunderstruck. With his Virtual God rank-2’s combat strength, his vision was not fast enough to keep up with Lin Huang’s movements.
‘He’s just a Virtual God rank-3, no matter how much of a genius he is, he can’t have the ability to kill a True God…So, there is only one possibility—someone must have made a move surreptitiously just now. The person who did it must be extremely proficient in assassination to be able to instantly kill two third-rank True Gods in a second. Whoever that is must be at least a fourth-rank True God, or even stronger…’
Lin Huang’s combat strength under the guise of Thousand Face was still Virtual God rank-3, so the Crow God and Xiao Mo naturally thought that he was just a Virtual God rank-3.
However, in the Crow God’s mind, he knew it was impossible to kill a True God within seconds, especially a third-rank True God. Therefore, he made a snap conclusion—Lin Huang had a true god-level powerhouse behind him, and the person was at least a middle-rank True God.
After thinking about it carefully for some time, the expression on Crow God’s face became uglier and uglier.
“The first batch of six True Gods sent here to explore the path died. Could it be caused by the instability of the space gateway?”
The six small potatoes that were supposed to explore the path were killed instantly. The Crow God, who was in the great world, could sense that they had died, but he had no way to know what caused it.
In the current situation, an unstable space gateway was the most reasonable explanation for the death of the six.
The Crow God had carried out a thorough investigation and concluded that there was no True God in the gravel world.
If he had only sent a first-rank True God to explore the path who was subsequently killed by the virtual god-level prodigies in the gravel world or was ambushed and done in by a group of Virtual Gods, the possibility of this situation was not impossible.
However, he had sent over six True Gods this time, and those with the highest combat strength even included two third-rank True Gods. There should be no gravel world that could cultivate any virtual god-level geniuses that could kill a third-rank True God. And even if they were besieged and ambushed by a group of virtual god-levels, six True Gods were unlikely to be killed instantly.
Therefore, the only reasonable explanation for the death of the six True Gods was an accident caused by the unstable space gateway.
A Dimensional Storm might have struck and shattered the six; it was also possible that there was a Dimensional Whirlpool in the passage which swallowed everyone in it; he also could not rule out a Dimensional Tide happening which swept them all away…
However, these most logical inferences were not the truth.
Lin Huang naturally thought of the same things that the Crow God will projection thought of. The reason why he killed the six small potatoes that were sent to explore the path in seconds was to make the Crow God doubt himself.
If the Crow God was certain that there was no problem with the space gateway, he might assemble a large army and descend, which was not an ideal situation for Lin Huang.
The major organizations in the gravel world already had their hands full with the upcoming invasion that was about to descend on the Abyss Brink.
If a wave of invaders from the Crow God came in advance, it would greatly deplete the number of virtual god-level powerhouses in the gravel world. At that time, once the war of the Abyss Brink breaks out, things will fall into greater chaos.
To avoid this disaster, Lin Huang hoped that he could resolve the matter of the Crow God on his own.
Different from the space gateway that the invaders were already familiar with in the Abyss Brink, this space gateway on the Peaceful Ocean seabed was obviously just completed in the past few days, and had not even been operated at all.
The six True Gods that were just transported over were the first trial run by the Crow God to confirm the safety of the gateway.
Lin Huang’s strategy was very simple. As long as he created the illusion that the trial operation had failed several times and coaxed the Crow God into believing that there was a problem with the space gateway, he will be in no hurry to gather an army to come down.
Once it was confirmed that the space gateway was faulty, the Crow God will undoubtedly postpone the invasion plan and find a way to fix the issue.
This delay would be enough for Lin Huang to destroy the transmission anchor point of the space gateway on the Peaceful Ocean seabed.
After that, as long as the will projection of the Crow God and his other subordinates were taken care of, cutting off any possibility of them setting up a space anchor point again, the invasion plan of the Crow God was basically nipped in the bud.
Just when the Crow God’s will projection showed his worry about whether or not to give up on this invasion, the space gateway suddenly fluctuated again.
“Here they come again!” Xiao Mo stared at the space gateway, more anxious than ever.
Only Lin Huang remained calm.
Crow God making a second attempt was completely within his expectations.
The white gleams of the space gateway were prosperous and there was only one aura that teleported over this time.
The Crow God and Xiao Mo could not clearly tell who was teleporting over or what combat level it was.
Then, the head of the figure spun in a high arc and a huge headless corpse fell to the ground…
The Crow God dispatched only one person this time, a fourth-rank True God, and it was an Ankylosaurus with amazing defenses.
Seeing the Ankylosaurus that was teleported over had its head cut off by a single wave of the sword, the Crow God was even more shocked.
There was still an aura that remained on the corpse of the Ankylosaurus. He could clearly sense that it was a fourth-rank True God. In terms of defense power alone, this monster was stronger than most fifth-rank monsters. Even a sixth-rank True God was unlikely to easily kill it within seconds.
However, the reality was right in front of his eyes—the Ankylosaurus was beheaded easily.
The Crow God was beginning to become frightened. “Is it possible that the person behind Lin Huang is a high-rank True God?! But in this gravel world with incomplete rules, how can a high-rank True God survive for such a long time?!”
Crow God’s back was dripping with cold sweat, and starting to feel that the situation in this gravel world might be more complicated than he ever expected.
At this moment, Xiao Mo’s nervousness was turning into confusion.
He turned to look at Lin Huang but instantly dispelled the thought that had just flashed in his mind. Even if he was confident in Lin Huang’s ability, he still could not believe that Lin Huang did this. Both he and the Crow God came to the same conclusion—someone made a move from behind the scenes!
Only Lin Huang maintained an expressionless front.
However, he knew in his heart that by killing the second wave of explorers, the job was already more than half done.
The Crow God replaced the six explorers with only one explorer in the second wave in order to test the stability of the space gateway. Previously, when he sent six of them, there was a possibility that the number of transfers affected the stability of the dimensional gateway. If even one explorer could not be transported successfully, it could only mean that there was a huge problem with the transmission channel.
Moreover, he deliberately chose an Ankylosaurus with strong defenses to eliminate the possibility of the first wave of pathfinders being beheaded. Even though the Ankylosaurus was only at fourth-rank in combat strength, its defense was comparable to that of the sixth-rank monster. Even if it really met a sixth-rank True God, it could easily hold its ground for half an hour.
For it to be killed within seconds, there were only two possibilities.
One was that this gravel world had a powerful high-rank True God.
The other was that there was a major problem with the space gateway, and the Ankylosaurus was torn apart by the space rules.
The Crow God, who was far away in the great world, obviously thought that the latter was far more likely.
“Will he give up or send a third wave…” Lin Huang stared at the dimensional gateway and patiently waited for the result of this round of the game…
After the Ankylosaurus was killed, it took more than ten seconds for the dimensional gateway to finally transmit a spatial fluctuation once again.
Lin Huang, who had been staring intently at the dimensional gateway, did not even wait to see what monster was being teleported before he started attacking again.
He knew that this wave was critical.
After completing this kill, the Crow God’s plans would have been thwarted for the third time. There would be a high probability that he would not try to probe again for a fourth time, and it was even more likely that he would completely give up on this invasion.
In the void, the body of the sword turned into a purple electric light and shot through the air.
Lin Huang did not hold back in this attack.
Even though the Ankylosaurus from just now was a fourth-rank True God, it had terrifying defensive power that was comparable to a sixth-rank True God.
However, as even an explorer of such high caliber was subdued instantly, the third wave of explorers sent by the Crow God would naturally be even stronger and may possess other special abilities.
Coming to that assumption, Lin Huang did not dare to hold back in his attack even in the slightest.
Sword Dao true meaning, Elemental Enlightenment, and God Rule Power were compounded into one.
The point of the blade turned into a purple thunder light and instantly penetrated through the curtain of white light from the dimensional gateway that had yet to disperse. In the next second, a corpse that had been sliced into two dropped to the ground.
Lin Huang only realized after looking at the fallen corpse that what he had killed was a Void Hunter.
A Void Hunter was a Void-type monster that specialized in Spatial Law.
Judging from the residual aura from the corpse, the Void Hunter’s combat strength was equivalent to the seventh-rank true god-level.
Lin Huang now had a general idea of what the Crow God’s intentions were.
As the previous explorers were defeated twice consecutively, the Crow God had therefore sent out this Void Hunter for the third round.
On one hand, this Void Hunter’s combat power level was at seventh-rank, and its overall strength was much stronger than the Ankylosaurus from before. Moreover, it specialized in spatial-related powers, so even if it encountered a ninth-rank enemy, it would not have been killed easily, let alone within seconds.
On the other hand, if there really was a problem with the dimensional gateway, then the survival rate of the Void Hunter would be much higher than other types of monsters due to its spatial powers. As long as the Void Hunter was able to make it back alive, they would be able to identify the problem with the dimensional gateway and determine if it could be used. However, if even the Void Hunter could not survive the trip, that could only mean there was a major problem with this dimensional gateway and there was no hope in using it.
However, during this third wave of probing, the Crow God miscalculated once again.
He would never have thought that there was someone in the gravel world that would be able to kill a seventh-rank true god-level Void Hunter.
He would much less have imagined that there was someone in the gravel world who was calculating his moves since the beginning, guiding him toward the wrong train of thought, and allowing him to make the wrong conclusions again and again.
Seeing that the Void Hunter was killed within seconds, the Crow God’s will projection was in complete disbelief.
The Crow God’s will projection possessed a big chunk of the Crow God’s memories, so he knew very well that this Void Hunter was an expert at dodging attacks. An average ninth-rank True God would have had a hard time merely killing it, let alone annihilating it within seconds.
But the person behind Lin Huang was able to do it, and instantaneously killed the Void Hunter the moment it was teleported over.
“Could there be a ninth-rank behind him?!”
As he considered the possibility, the Crow God’s will projection was a little depressed. His Primordial form’s original combat power was only at ninth-rank true god-level, and within the ninth-rank, his strength was nowhere near the top; it could only be considered upper-middle level at most.
Now, it seems that the person behind Lin Huang was also a ninth-rank True God, whose strength was not weaker than his Primordial form’s. In fact, it may even be even stronger.
All of a sudden, he felt that conquering this gravel world would be more difficult than he had initially imagined.
Even if his Primordial form came here in person, it would be embarrassing if he ended up unable to go against this ninth-rank True God opponent that was behind Lin Huang. Furthermore, the prior preparations that he had been working so hard on all this time would all go to waste.
However, after thinking about it carefully, he soon discovered another problem.
“In this gravel world with incomplete rules, there’s no way a True God would be able to stay here for long. Even if there are special means to obstruct the world will, it would only be temporary. Moreover, the higher the True God’s combat power level, the more they will be rejected by the world will, and the shorter the duration that they can stay. If I base my calculations according to my Primordial form, then if a ninth-rank true god-level powerhouse were to come to this part of the gravel world, they would only be able to stay here for about half a month at most.”
Thinking of this, the Crow God’s will projection felt that he had made a breakthrough.
“The powerhouse behind Lin Huang can only stay here for a limited amount of time. As long as we invade after his time is up, he won’t be a problem anymore…”
However, what he did not know was that this so-called “powerhouse behind Lin Huang” was actually Lin Huang himself.
As a native inhabitant of the gravel world, combined with the fact that his combat power level had yet to reach true god-level, Lin Huang could stay in this part of the gravel world until the end of time if he really wanted to.
Silently putting away the two halves of the corpse, Lin Huang once again turned his attention to the dimensional gateway.
He was quite sure that the Crow God would not send a fourth wave of explorers. He kept his eyes on the dimensional gateway, just in case.
After three fruitless waves of probing, Lin Huang was almost certain that the Crow God Primordium would cancel the invasion plan.
It was simply impossible for the Crow God to hastily assemble a large army and send them through the dimensional gateway without confirming the problems with the dimensional gateway.
According to normal logic, if even a Void Hunter could not make it through the dimensional gateway, then it would be even more impossible for others to make a trip, let alone a large-scale army.
Just as Lin Huang had expected, seconds and minutes passed by, and there was no new movement from the dimensional gateway.
He stood there and waited for three to four minutes, and when he saw that the dimensional gateway did not light up again, he knew that he had won this round of mind games!
He deliberately created the illusion that there was a problem with the dimensional gateway. After three times of careful verification, the Crow God finally fell into his trap, believed in the illusion, and temporarily gave up on the invasion plan.
Seeing that the dimensional gateway did not lit up, the Crow God’s will projection had gradually become discouraged.
He could clearly see from this side of the gravel world that there was no problem with the dimension gateway, but his Primordium nevertheless gave up on the invasion.
It was not difficult for him to understand his Primordium’s actions. If he had not witnessed the three waves of monsters being beheaded with his own eyes, he probably would have also come to the same conclusion that the three waves of explorers encountered an accident while in the dimensional gateway.
“I’m afraid that your Primordium will no longer have any contact with the gravel world for some time.” After confirming that the Crow God Primordium had given up on the invasion, Lin Huang turned his head slightly and smiled at the Crow God’s will projection.
Although his smile was warm and graceful, the Crow God’s will projection felt a chill down his spine. Despite that, the expression on his face remained calm and composed.
“Lin Huang, fight me one-on-one if you can, don’t rely on a helper!”
This was the only way he could think of for a slim chance of survival. If the person behind Lin Huang were to make a move, he would probably be killed instantly.
“One-on-one?!” Lin Huang could not help but raise his eyebrows. He rarely heard other people making such demands from him. “Are you sure you want to go one-on-one against me?”
“Are you too scared?!” The Crow God firmly stared at Lin Huang.
The corner of Lin Huang’s lips quivered upward after hearing this provocation. The rays of the sun just so happened to illuminate his cheeks at this moment, and under the intertwinement of light and shadow, he looked more handsome than ever.
“Then… as you wish.”
Lin Huang did not know whether to laugh or cry when he heard his opponent suggest a one-on-one duel.
Because of Thousand Face’s disguise, his externally displayed combat level was only Virtual God rank-3, but his actual combat level was already at Virtual God rank-6.
As for the Crow God’s will projection, his combat level was only at Virtual God rank-2.
His combat level alone was four ranks below Lin Huang.
Moreover, Lin Huang had already been able to take down medium-rank True Gods when he was just a Virtual God rank-3. Now that he had been elevated to Virtual God rank-6, his true strength was in no way inferior to an ordinary ninth-rank True God. Even then, this was still not considered one of his trump cards.
Even if the Crow God Primordium personally came here, there was a high chance that he would have perished on the spot while facing Lin Huang. Furthermore, this current opponent was only the Crow God’s will projection, and his combat level was only at Virtual God rank-2.
The Crow God’s will projection was ecstatic upon hearing that Lin Huang had agreed to his one-on-one challenge.
Although Lin Huang was a Virtual God rank-3 and therefore at a combat level that was a little higher than his own, the Crow God was not afraid at all.
“Since this is a one-on-one duel, let’s determine the rules in advance. During the fight, any methods are permissible. If you lose, you must let me leave unscathed.”
“Not a problem. However, what will you do if you lose?” Lin Huang asked with a smile.
“I’ll give up setting the teleportation coordinates, and will no longer be involved in anything related to my Primordium’s plans to invade the gravel world.” The Crow God’s will projection strove hard to obtain a chance of survival for himself.
“You don’t have to go through such a hassle. All you have to do is give up your life,” Lin Huang said, casually laying out his demands.
The Crow God’s expression immediately filled with dread, but he was also aware that he had no other choice. If he wanted to survive, he had to win!
His mood soon calmed down, and his confidence returned as he remembered his trump card.
“Let’s fight then. I hope you’ll keep your word! If I win, let me leave safely.”
“Don’t worry, as long as you can win, I’ll let you go!” Lin Huang nodded quickly.
The two managed to come to an agreement, and Xiao Mo swiftly stepped aside.
He was very confident in Lin Huang’s abilities. If Lin Huang’s opponent had been a True God, then Xiao Mo might have been a little worried. However, the opponent this time was just a Virtual God rank-2, and his combat level alone was a rank lower than Lin Huang’s.
When Xiao Mo heard the Crow God’s will projection suggest one-on-one combat, in his heart he even had a moment of silent mourning for the Crow God.
Lin Huang stood tall and proud on this battlefield of two but did not make any immediate moves.
The disparity in strength between himself and the Crow God was too great. If he were to attack, the other party would not stand a chance at all. Besides, Lin Huang also wanted to see what tricks the Crow God had that gave him such confidence to issue such a challenge against himself.
The Crow God was full of confidence in his own abilities; he also immediately used his trump card at the very first instance.
He stood on top of the sea king species’ head and his pupils turned an inky-black color.
The next second, all the pupils of the sea king species under his feet turned pitch black as well, and it opened its blood-covered mouth.
Just when Lin Huang thought the sea king species would launch an attack, a number of figures suddenly sprang out from its mouth.
Lin Huang took a closer look and saw that they were sea monsters, all at virtual god-level combat strength. The one with the lowest combat strength was a Virtual God rank-1 while the highest was a Virtual God rank-4, and there were more than thirty of them.
Seeing this, Lin Huang finally knew where the Crow God’s will projection got his confidence from.
“Is this where your confidence to challenge me comes from?”
“A total of thirty-four virtual god-level monsters; the ones with the highest combat strength are the three Virtual God rank-4s. You can just surrender now and avoid any pain before I take control of them to attack.” It seemed that the Crow God’s will projection regarded himself as invincible.
“It seems that you still don’t know enough about me.” Lin Huang shook his head and smiled. “Don’t you know that I’m an Imperial Censor?”
After saying this, Lin Huang snapped his fingers.
The next second, a figure appeared in front of Lin Huang.
It was a white-haired man wearing a black robe, and running streaks of blood were faintly visible on the garment.
The one summoned this time, impressively enough, was Bai.
His True God aura was only briefly revealed for a moment before Bai immediately restrained his aura, quickly sealing his combat strength to Virtual God rank-9.
Even so, as soon as Bai’s Virtual God rank-9 aura radiated forth, the Crow God’s will projection was still instantly dumbstruck.
Of course, he knew that Lin Huang was an Imperial Censor, but he had always thought that no matter how strong Lin Huang’s imperial monsters were, their combat strength would be still limited. After all, the level of an imperial monster’s combat strength was limited by the combat strength of their imperial master. However, the imperial monster in front of him with the terrifying aura had a combat strength that far surpassed his imperial master, Lin Huang.
“Spare only him; that will be enough.”
At Lin Huang’s command, Bai’s figure flashed as he charged directly into the flock of monsters, launching a one-sided massacre.
In less than three seconds, all thirty-four virtual god-level monsters had been killed on the spot, including the sea king species under the feet of the Crow God.
Just as Lin Huang had said, not a single soul was spared!
Xiao Mo, who was watching the battle from not too far away, was also dumbfounded. He had clearly sensed that a few of the monsters controlled by the Crow God possessed combat strength that was above his own. However, one single imperial monster summoned by Lin Huang had easily slaughtered them all as if they were just a flock of chickens or a pack of dogs.
The Crow God’s will projection, who was previously full of confidence, was now like a general without an army. He had even lost the mount under his feet.
The color instantly drained from the Crow God’s face. He had already used up his trump card. Originally, he had thought that if he utilized his trump card right at the beginning he could win the battle without too much of a hassle, but he had not expected things to turn out like this.
After killing all the monsters, Bai only glanced vaguely in the Crow God’s direction. He did not attack him further and returned to Lin Huang’s side in a flash.
Even though Bai did not utter a single word from start to finish, he still caused the Crow God immense stress.
Especially when that pair of blood-red pupils glanced over at him just now—the Crow God could clearly feel the other’s roiling bloodlust. If it were not for Lin Huang’s instruction to “Spare only him” earlier, he feared that this fellow would come right up to him and cut him down without a word.
“You’ve lost.” Lin Huang smiled as he looked at the Crow God.
Just as the Crow God was about to open his mouth and deny this, he suddenly noticed that Lin Huang—who had spoken just a while ago—had disappeared without him realizing it.
Almost at the same time, he felt a slight coldness against his neck.
He turned his head and looked to his right; goodness knows when Lin Huang had appeared there. The slender silver blade in Lin Huang’s hand was now in front of the neck of the Crow God’s will projection, and the blade had already cut into his flesh by about one millimeter. The incision on his neck was starting to bleed.
“Tell me the Crow God’s plan,” Lin Huang’s unwavering voice came from beside him.
“I’ll die whether I say anything or not, so why should I tell you?” The Crow God’s will projection still chose to resist.
“As long as you tell me, you don’t need to die.” Lin Huang turned his head and looked at the Crow God’s will projection. “Even if you live, you won’t cause any problems.”
Hearing this, the face of the Crow God’s will projection turned pale once again. He did not know whether he should be glad to hear that or feel insulted by it.
However, he hesitated for only a moment before coming to a decision.
“I won’t say anything.”
As the will projection of the Crow God, although he had his own will, his consciousness still prioritized the interests of the Crow God Primordium. The Primordium’s benefit was more important than his own life and death.
This was actually what Lin Huang had expected.
“Well, in that case, I’ll have to take a less friendly approach.”
Right after Lin Huang said this, a figure appeared in front of him again.
It was a cat-like creature with a strange appearance, resembling a saber-toothed tiger with a long nose.
After being summoned, the creature’s pupils quickly locked onto the Crow God and instantly turned pitch black, as if soaked in ink.
The Crow God’s will projection suddenly stopped moving, and the pupils of his eyes also turned an inky-black color.
After a moment, the Nightmare Tapir suddenly gave a grunt.
The pupils of the Crow God’s will projection also instantly faded from black and turned scarlet.
The pair of scarlet eyes instantly locked onto Lin Huang.
Then, a blood-red beam shot out from the pupils of the Crow God’s eyes, traversing the void like a thunderbolt and aiming straight for Lin Huang.
The speed of this attack was no less than that of a ninth-rank True God.
It was obvious that the one who launched the assault was no longer the Crow God’s will projection, but the Crow God Primordium.
If anyone else from the gravel world faced this attack, all they could do would be to close their eyes and wait to die.
However, this was Lin Huang that the Crow God was attacking.
The corner of Lin Huang’s lips quirked up slightly, and he met the attack without hesitation, sword in hand.
The sword gleam also turned into a blood-red lightning bolt and charged even more rapidly toward the blood-colored electric arc unleashed by the Crow God.
The two rays of brilliant red light collided together almost instantly, and boundless Divine Power surged forth wildly, turning into a Blood-red Vairocana within the void and completely illuminating the entire sky.
The dazzling Blood-red Vairocana blazed for more than ten minutes before gradually dissipating.
Only Lin Huang was left standing in his original position. The Crow God’s will projection, on the other hand, had dispelled the moment the two attacks collided, turning into dust in the wind.
Obviously, there was no way the Crow God’s will projection would have been able to sustain the arrival of the Crow God Primordial. After unleashing that attack, his physical body could not withstand the burst of energy and had thus automatically collapsed.
Seeing that the Crow God’s will projection had been defeated, Lin Huang turned his head and looked in the direction of the dimensional gateway.
He unleashed Sword Dao true meaning, God Rule Power, and Elemental Enlightenment unrestrainedly, aiming one attack after another at the dimensional gateway.
Unlike the Space Rule of the Abyss Brink that had accumulated space rifts throughout hundreds of millions of years, the Space Rule of this newly-created dimensional gateway had yet to completely stabilize.
Under the influence of various Rule Bending Powers, the Space Rule of the dimensional gateway quickly became unstable.
Seeing that the inside of the dimensional gateway was beginning to undergo a change, Lin Huang did not halt his efforts. Instead, he continued to unleash attacks, putting his all into every blow.
Just like that, after more than half an hour, the dimensional gateway finally let out a rumble and collapsed entirely.
The space rift in the gravel world also began to close up at a speed visible to the naked eye. In less than three minutes, the space rift finally completely disappeared.
Only then did Lin Huang sheathe his sword and stand up, letting out a long sigh.
After dealing with the matter of the Crow God and conducting a round of inspection to determine that there would be no future problems, only then did Lin Huang bring Xiao Mo and the group of Sword Servants back to Emperor City.
The matter of the Crow God was considered temporarily resolved. Although the Nightmare Tapir had been interrupted while it was reading the memory of the Crow God’s will projection, it had still managed to retrieve a small part of it.
In the Emperor Palace, Lin Huang carefully examined the segment of memory obtained by the Nightmare Tapir before looking down at Xiao Mo below.
“The matter of the Crow God can be considered temporarily finished for now. It’s unlikely that he will invade again within the near future. Xiao Mo, you can be at ease and go about your own affairs now—but if you sense any anomalies, remember to notify me at the first possible instant.”
After he had finished speaking about Xiao Mao’s affairs, Lin Huang turned and looked at the twelve Sword Servants who had been assigned to Xiao Mo.
“The mission that I entrusted to the twelve of you has been completed. Following this, all of you should join the Sword Alliance that has been set up. Later, report to Sword103 and let him arrange things as he sees fit.”
After sending Xiao Mo and the others away, Lin Huang narrowed his eyes slightly; after pondering for a little while, he dialed a number.
A moment later, the video call connected; the image projected was Jiang Shan, the chairman of the Union Government.
“Emperor Lin, it’s been a long time since I last saw you.” As usual, Jiang Shan wore a smart suit, a genial smile on his face. He almost always appeared like this on any occasion.
More than a year ago, Lin Huang had been merely a junior in his eyes. However, now that Dynasty had grown to be one of the giants among the organizations, Lin Huang—firmly positioned as its Emperor—was already equal to Jiang Shan in terms of status.
“Indeed, it’s been more than a year since we last met.” Lin Huang smiled and nodded. “Chairman Jiang, I will visit and reminisce with you another day when I have more time. Today I will just get straight down to business without much small talk. The reason why I’ve contacted you today has to do with the matter of the Crow God’s invasion of the great world…”
“The Crow God’s invasion?!” Jiang Shan was taken aback when he heard that.
“Last year the Crow God sent his will projection down—all of you ought to be aware of this matter, right?” Lin Huang asked this because even if the Union Government had not participated in the affair at the time, a clash like that between Virtual Gods could not be hidden from the Union Government’s eyes and ears.
“Wasn’t the will projection of the Crow God routed at that time last year?” Jiang Shan obviously knew what had happened back then.
“We’ve always thought that the will projection of the Crow God had been taken care of back then. I only found out on my return this time that he escaped through Golden Cicada Molting; he’s been hiding in the Peaceful Ocean for the last year or so. It took us three months to finally locate his hiding place and we just finished killing him ten minutes ago.
“Before I killed him, I also managed to obtain a small amount of information and plans about the Crow God through various means. In a little while, I’ll organize this information in a document and send it to you. Apart from that, there is also a video that I took. It’s a dimensional gateway opened by the will projection of the Crow God. I have already destroyed this dimensional gateway, and the Crow God should not be able to lead an army through for the foreseeable short-term.
“However, what the Crow God left behind in our world is definitely not confined to a single will projection. If they can open a dimensional gateway, it’s possible that they may open a second and a third…”
“Do you want to make a move against Purple Crow?!” Jiang Shan immediately understood Lin Huang’s intentions.
“It’s not that I want to make a move against Purple Crow but we must eliminate this hidden danger,” Lin Huang deliberately emphasized the word “we”.
“As long as Purple Crow exists, their plans for opening the dimensional gateway to welcome the arrival of the Crow God won’t be entirely extinguished.”
Lin Huang stared at Jiang Shan’s projection intently; it was very obvious that Lin Huang would not be altering his decision already.
Jiang Shan pondered for a moment. “What do you want the Union Government to do then?”
“It’s very simple. Spread the news of Purple Crow’s futile attempt to release the Crow God. Dynasty can take the lead on the remaining matters. Considering that everyone’s focus is mainly on the conquest of wastelands and ruins, the Union Government can even afford not to be the main force behind the clean-up operation.”
“How about this. Why don’t you send your document over first— I’ll convene a meeting to discuss it and come back to you afterward,” Jiang Shan chose to proceed cautiously.
“Very well, we’ll be in contact later.”
After hanging up the call with Jiang Shan, Lin Huang spent a few minutes organizing the documents and then sent them to Jiang Shan along with the video.
Once the information had been sent, he thought about it for a while and forwarded a copy of the same documents and the video to Dynasty’s Huang Tianfu and Misery’s Zhi Ji. He then dialed both their numbers at the same time.
In just a moment, the video call connected. Both Huang Tianfu and Zhi Ji were startled—this was the first time that Lin Huang had brought them together for a video call.
“Afterwards, have a look at the documents that I just sent to both of you. In the next few days, gather people and prepare to eliminate Purple Crow!”
“Eliminate Purple Crow?!” Huang Tianfu could not figure out why Lin Huang had suddenly come out with something like this. Based on his previous impressions, Lin Huang never had been a person who looked for trouble.
Zhi Ji also raised his brows when he heard this. Although he did not ask any questions, the expression on his face displayed some confusion.
“The Crow God’s will projection created a space dimensional gateway on the seabed of the Peaceful Ocean. If I had discovered it just a few days later, my guess is that the Crow God would have directly come through with an army of True Gods. For the specifics, you can look at the attachment afterward.
“I’ve already contacted the Union Government; once they’ve issued the announcement, Dynasty can immediately make a move. Misery can join in a few days later—wait for other organizations to come in first.
“Another thing—just the two of you gathering your people together will suffice. Don’t disclose any specifics of your movements; as long as both of you know that’s good enough. This is to prevent the news from leaking out, and the people of Purple Crow scattering and hiding before we can take action.”
Once he had given his instructions, Lin Huang hung up the call again.
About half an hour later, he finally received Jiang Shan’s video call request once more.
After the call connected, Jiang Shan’s projection clearly showed that he was in a conference room and that he was not alone.
“Emperor Lin, thank you for waiting. We have read the documents and we have discussed a preliminary plan…”
The video conference with the Union Government lasted nearly half an hour before ending.
It was finally determined that the punitive expedition against Purple Crow was to be led by the Union Government.
As Lin Huang had expected, the main direction of the Union Government’s discussion was still the distribution of benefits.
Lin Huang allocated the follow-up matters to Huang Tianfu and the others; he then entered closed-door cultivation once more.
It took three days to complete the refining of the Void Hunter’s Divine Fire. Of the ten pieces of seventh-rank divine tinder, the first piece had at least finished being refined.
Although he did not elevate to seventh-rank Virtual God, Lin Huang could exceed one rank for a short time, temporarily increasing his combat strength by one rank without any side effects.
After refining the Divine Fire, he enquired about the progress of Huang Tianfu’s discussions with the Union Government. Once he knew that things were going well and they were ready to take action, he felt relieved and continued with closed-door cultivation.
In the Emperor Palace, he crushed Epiphany Cards one after the other, learning more sword skills every day…
Due to his use of Epiphany Cards, Lin Huang’s comprehension of sword skills was now several times faster than in the Great Heaven Trial previously, and the number of new sword skills he mastered exceeded 3,000 almost every day.
After almost a month, the total number of sword skills he had mastered soared from the original 200,000 to 300,000.
Under normal circumstances, mastering 300,000 sword skills basically meant advancing to Sword Dao true meaning Level-3—the threshold of the True Self Level.
However, Lin Huang was not able to achieve a breakthrough.
He was also aware that since breaking through to Sword Dao true meaning required opportunity, there was little sense in continuing to cultivate his sword skills. Therefore, he turned his cultivation direction toward Rule Bending Powers instead.
He crushed Epiphany Card after Epiphany Card and started a new round of cultivation.
The urgency of the situation was partly because of the upcoming invasion of the great world.
Another reason was that he had discovered his strength was still far removed from the top-tier True Gods.
Among the True Gods of the great world, the Crow God’s ability was at intermediate to high level, not far from the top-rank True Gods. Even so, the Crow God of legend had still mastered one hundred and eight Rule Bending Powers.
Of course, Lin Huang was also aware that the Crow God had not cultivated all one hundred and eight Rule Bending Powers to an extremely high degree, otherwise he would be ranked among the top True Gods.
The Crow God’s apparent mastery of one hundred and eight Rule Bending Powers was probably mostly on a surface level.
Even so, however, the number of Rule Bending Powers that the Crow God had mastered still made Lin Huang envious.
This was also why he had immediately devoted himself to the cultivation of Rule Bending Power after his Sword Dao breakthrough was unsuccessful.
However, what Lin Huang did not know was that during his closed-door cultivation, many things had happened in the outside world.
On the second day of Lin Huang’s retreat into closed-door cultivation, the Union Government issued a notice about Purple Crow, declaring that the organization had colluded with the great world’s Crow God in his failed attempt to invade the entire gravel world.
Once this news broke, all the cultivators were in an uproar.
Practically every cultivator knew that Purple Crow was one of the top dark organizations and its members had done many unsavory things. However, no one had ever thought that they would team up with the great world powerhouses so these enemies could attempt to invade the gravel world.
Purple Crow’s actions immediately stirred up public outrage.
Just minutes after the Union Government released their notice, the Hunter Association and Dynasty issued a condemnation of Purple Crow and joined the faction calling for the organization’s eradication
Seeing that the three giants within the organizations had come forward to express their views, the other organizations—both large and small—quickly followed suit and joined the faction condemning Purple Crow.
In no time at all Purple Crow became an object of infamy and was spurned by all the cultivators.
On the same day that the Union Government issued their condemnation, they gathered a group of Virtual God powerhouses and headed straight to Purple Crow’s lair.
The Hunter Association and Dynasty also prepared their respective virtual god-level teams and joined the punitive expedition.
On Dynasty’s side, there were even two Sword Servants who joined the ranks denouncing Purple Crow.
There were a total of 37 people in the three virtual god-level teams. The lowest level of combat strength was second-rank Virtual God, and the highest was naturally the two Sword Servants who had suppressed their cultivation bases. Both of them were at ninth-rank virtual god-level.
With such a team, it only took less than ten minutes and very little effort to raze Purple Crow’s headquarters to the ground.
As for the people in the building, naturally, none of them survived.
The Union Government led a team to clear out Purple Crow’s headquarters; within the next few days, the major organizations joined the Purple Crow extermination extravaganza.
In just three or four days, almost all the branches of Purple Crow had been eradicated. The only thing was that many people heard in advance about Purple Crow being besieged and fled before their own branch could be suppressed.
In the half-month or so that followed, the major organizations actively participated in the siege of Purple Crow, trying to get a share of the spoils.
After the enthusiasm in suppressing Purple Crow had died down, the Union Government and the other organizations began to resume their explorations of wastelands and ruins, continuing to hoard resources frantically in preparation for battle.
Meanwhile, Dynasty and Misery continued to search for where the remaining members of Purple Crow were hiding and eradicated them through overt and covert approaches respectively.
As the days passed, the number of Elemental Enlightenments that Lin Huang mastered every month increased, bolstered by the effect of the Epiphany Cards.
In the blink of an eye, three months had gone by and Lin Huang had mastered another ten Elemental Enlightenments—an increase of more than twice his usual.
He did not come out of closed-door cultivation; instead, he dialed Huang Tianfu’s number.
“How is the situation in the outside world these past few months?”
“These three months have been calm. Except for the hullabaloo during the eradication of Purple Crow, all the major organizations have resumed their original status quo. Under our joint efforts with Misery, the remaining members of Purple Crow who escaped have now been completely dealt with.
“There hasn’t been much happening at the Abyss Brink either. All the major organizations now have people keeping a close eye on it; if there’s even a whisper of trouble we’ll know.
“The exploration of the ruins and wastelands and the acquisition of resources are also going very smoothly. Except for the first month when most of the Virtual Gods participated in the elimination of Purple Crow when progress slowed down slightly, things have gone back to normal.
“However, there’s something that I think I had better let you know. The Union Government might have become aware of the existence of the Sword Servants. While participating in the siege of the Purple Crow headquarters, Sword168 made a move. Although his actual combat strength was concealed at that time and he restrained himself, he was still noticed.”
“If they know, then they know.” Lin Huang no longer cared about whether or not the Sword Servants’ identities were revealed. “It will be fine as long as they are not too high-profile.”
“Is there anything happening over in Misery?” Lin Huang asked again.
“Apart from when Zhi Ji called me once previously to discuss the suppression of Purple Crow, we have not been in contact since. After the Union Government and the others withdrew from the siege, the people of Misery disguised themselves as members of Dynasty to participate in seeing to the aftermath. Any outsiders all thought that the follow-up matters were taken care of by Dynasty; Misery’s role was not revealed.
“I don’t know much about the situation afterward on his side, and there’s been no news about Misery on the Internet. For any specifics, it’s best that Your Majesty asks Zhi Ji directly.”
Lin Huang nodded. “Oh yes, has Lin Xin come out of closed-door cultivation?”
“No, Mr. Fu checked last month and she is still in normal closed-door cultivation.”
“How about Xiao Mo? Is there anything out of the ordinary on his side?” Lin Huang was still not completely at ease about the Crow God situation.
“Xiao Mo has been in closed-door cultivation since he came back three months ago. He hasn’t come out or contacted me,” Huang Tianfu returned.
“Then there should be no problem…” Lin Huang muttered in a low voice.
“Your Majesty, when are you going to come out of closed-door cultivation?” Huang Tianfu could not help asking.
“I’m not sure yet…” Lin Huang was still not satisfied with the improvement in his abilities over the last three months and he was reluctant to exit closed-door cultivation like this. “I may still need some time.”
After hanging up the call with Huang Tianfu, Lin Huang chatted with Zhi Ji for a while about Misery.
Aside from participating in the punitive expedition against Purple Crow, everything on Misery’s end was also calm.
Once he had ended the call with Zhi Ji, Lin Huang frowned slightly. His frustrations did not stem from the outside world, but from within himself.
Currently, his combat level could improve no further; of all the main approaches he could use to increase his abilities, the only remaining avenues open to him were advancement in Sword Dao true meaning and the mastery of more God Rules and Elemental Enlightenments.
However, even if he used Epiphany Cards, elevating his Sword Dao true meaning and mastering the various Rule Bending Powers would still require a great deal of time.
Right now what he lacked most was time.
One and a half years had passed out of his previously anticipated three years, and the invasion of the great world could happen at any time. Even if the invasion did not begin until a year and a half later, based on his current cultivation progress, any improvements that a year and a half could make in his abilities would be insufficient to satisfy him.
“Xiao Hei, besides the Epiphany Card, are there any other cards that could speed up my cultivation and also be compounded with the Epiphany Card?” Lin Huang could not help asking.
“There are several, but the one that best suits your current situation would be the Item Card—Time Cabin.”
“Time Cabin?”
“The Time Cabin Item Card is a four-star Limitless Card that can only be activated after you advance to virtual god-level; its lowest rank is also four-stars.”
“A Time Cabin will form after the card has been used. This Time Cabin can only be seen and used by the card user. Others will not be able to see or touch it, or even be aware of its existence.”
“In a four-star Time Cabin, the slowest adjustable speed of time is one percent that of the outside world, and the fastest is one hundred times that of the outside world. However, the adjustment must be completed within the first three minutes of entering the Time Cabin—once set, it cannot be modified.”
“Each Time Cabin Item Card is valid for 24 hours of use. It will disappear automatically after the valid period is over. However, Item Cards can be compounded one on top of the other and each additional card will increase the valid period by 24 hours.”
“The lowest rank is four-stars, so is there a five-star card?” Lin Huang asked quickly, “Is the time flow of a five-star Time Cabin Item Card faster?”
“For a five-star Time Cabin, the slowest adjustable speed of time is one-thousandth that of the outside world and the fastest is one thousand times that of the outside world. All other aspects are identical to a four-star Time Cabin.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Huang took a moment to consider.
Since advancing to virtual god-level and activating the four-star card pool, he had not killed many True Gods. He had only accumulated a total of 115 four-star cards. To seal the Demonic Buddhist Holy Son, he had also used up 10 cards specified for the exchange of a Seal Card, leaving him with 105 cards remaining.
In other words, specifying an exchange for a Time Cabin Item Card could only be used ten times at most. Each use was equivalent to one hundred days of cultivation, so ten times would be one thousand days.
“Fortunately, I’m only virtual god-level so I only need to use a three-star Epiphany Card. The four-star cards specified in exchange for the Time Cabin will give me one thousand days of cultivation time, which should be enough.”
Once his thoughts had reached this point, he immediately took action and said to Xiao Hei, “I’ll specify an exchange for 5 Time Cabin Item Cards first.”
“Do you confirm the use of 50 four-star card draw chances for the specified exchange of Item Card “Time Cabin” X5?”
“Yes, I confirm this!”
“Using four-star card draw chance X50, converting …”
“Congratulations to the host, you have obtained the Item Card “Time Cabin” X5!”
Lin Huang immediately took out a Time Cabin card and inspected it.
On the front of the card was a simple wooden cabin floating in the starry sky. It evoked an odd sense of intangibility and the absurd.
Lin Huang turned the card around and checked the information on the back of it.
The description was consistent with what Xiao Hei had mentioned.
However, there was one thing that Xiao Hei had not brought up, which was that the Time Cabin also had a confinement function.
This function would directly raise the speed of time to one hundred times the normal upper limit of the card’s time flow. In other words, the confinement function of the four-star Time Cabin could increase the flow of time to 10,000 times that of the outside world.
However, under the confinement function, all living beings would have all their sensory powers blocked except for their sense of time. This meant that they would be aware of the passage of time but nothing else. Even their sense of their own Divine Power, Divine Fire, and various Rules Bending Powers would be blocked. In other words, it was impossible to cultivate under these conditions.
“This confinement function is a method of punishment, right?” Lin Huang could not help asking after reading the card’s detailed description.
“The Time Cabin was originally an item created based on penalty. The very first Time Cabins were used to punish the wicked.”
“In other words, I can also lock people in and use the card as an item to trap people?” Lin Huang immediately found a new use for this card.
“Yes. But a four-star card can only trap a True God at most, and a card is only valid for one day. Once its period of effectiveness has passed, the Time Cabin will disappear on its own and the other party will be released.”
“Uh, that seems rather costly.” Lin Huang was rendered somewhat speechless.
Although the other party might feel they had been detained for 10,000 days, in fact, only one day had passed in the outside world.
Using this kind of card to trap the enemy was indeed rather ineffective.
Upon considering that he might not even have enough to use for himself, Lin Huang gave up the idea of using the Time Cabin to trap his enemies.
Lin Huang felt too lazy to continue chatting with Xiao Hei and immediately crushed a Time Cabin card.
The card turned into little points of starlight, which condensed into a simple wooden cabin in front of him, less than two meters away.
The cabin looked similar to the image on the front of the card—extremely simple and crude. From outside, the interior could be estimated to be around only ten square meters, which could fit a bed at most.
However, based on Lin Huang’s experience, although it looked dilapidated and small from the exterior, it was not necessarily the same on the inside. After all, many dimensional items looked mediocre externally, but they often contained a great deal in their internally.
Lin Huang did not think too much about it; he pushed the door open and went in.
As soon as he entered, he was immediately taken aback.
A look around revealed that the cabin’s interior was also laid out like a simple small cabin, which appeared to be almost exactly what was seen from the exterior.
The entire space was just over an estimated ten square meters and did not even have a bed, let alone a table, chair, or bench. It was just an empty room with a floor and ceiling. Except for a wooden door, the walls had nothing, not even windows.
“This cabin is worse than the room I stayed in when I graduated from college… At least that place had a window and a bed.” Lin Huang did not expect that the cabin would be consistent both inside and out.
However, he calmed down quickly. After all, he only had three minutes to set the speed of time in here. If he did not do so within three minutes, the time flow would be the same as the outside world by default, which was equivalent to wasting a Time Cabin card.
“Set the speed of time.”
As soon as Lin Huang finished speaking, a translucent dial suddenly appeared in front of him.
“Speed of time.”
“Outside World: Time Cabin=1:1.”
Lin Huang moved his finger to the number behind and began to swipe up.
The numbers quickly jumped one by one; 1, 2, 3…
Lin Huang dialed to 100 before he was unable to swipe up any further.
Right now, the time ratio on the dial had changed.
“Outside World: Time Cabin=1:100.”
After he had finished the adjustments, a translucent dialog box popped up in front of Lin Huang again.
“Lock in the speed of time?”
“Yes.” Lin Huang thought for a moment and still decided to say yes.
“Set the current speed of time as the default speed of time?”
“Yes.” Lin Huang thought about it for a while and chose yes.
After the time had been set, the dial in front of him quickly disappeared. Lin Huang suddenly discovered that there was a clock on the wall opposite the wooden door; he had no idea when it had appeared.
He was very certain that when he entered just now, there were no decorations on the walls at all, merely four blank white walls.
However, he also quickly noticed that the wall clock was not displaying time—rather, it was counting down.
“The countdown has begun?”
Lin Huang raised his eyebrows and immediately sat down with his legs crossed. He regulated his breathing, calmed down, and then took out an Epiphany Card. After crushing it, Lin Huang closed his eyes and began a new round of Elemental Enlightenment cultivation…
Time in the outside world passed by one day after another, and Lin Huang’s time in the Time Cabin was a hundred times faster due to the time flow. With every day that went by in the outside world, he had cultivated in the Time Cabin for 100 days.
Through the acceleration of the Time Cabin, the number of Rule Bending Powers that he had mastered skyrocketed almost every day.
It took him eight days to master 86 new Elemental Enlightenments, then another two days to master 24 new God Rule Powers.
At this point, the total number of Rule Bending Powers that he had mastered soared to 120.
A True God’s mastery of Rule Bending Power was divided into four levels: First Glimpse, Adept, Control, and Fullness.
Lin Huang used Epiphany Cards to advance all 120 Rule Bending Powers to Control level, which was also the current limit of an Epiphany Card. To reach Fullness level, Lin Huang estimated that at his current standard, every Rule Bending Power would need at least one additional Epiphany Card. It might even take two or three cards to reach Fullness.
In fact, a complete Rule Bending Power was the foundation for forming a god sequence chain.
However, any True God who managed to comprehend Rule Bending Power at Fullness level was the equivalent of having half a foot over the threshold of heavenly god-level. Among True Gods, this was definitely the penultimate in abilities.
Lin Huang was quite satisfied with his current ability. All 120 Rule Bending Powers were at Fullness level and his comprehensive abilities were already very close to the top-tier True Gods of the great world. Even if he was not as good as a handful of peak-level individuals, he was at least one rung below the highest level.
Although the Crow God Primordium had mastered 108 kinds of Rule Bending Powers, based on his general ability, Lin Huang guessed that most of the 108 Rule Bending Powers mastered by the Crow God were probably at First Glimpse level. Not many of those powers were at Control level.
After ten days of closed-door cultivation in the Time Cabin, Lin Huang’s overall ability skyrocketed again, and his previous sense of insecurity was finally reduced.
“It’s a pity; if I had another Time Cabin card, it should be possible to advance my Sword Dao to True Self Level.” Lin Huang still felt that it was a pity, but he had only five four-star card draw chances left, which were not enough to be exchanged for a Time Cabin card.
As he watched the Time Cabin in front of him gradually disintegrating and transforming into endless fragments before dissipating in the void, Lin Huang shook his head and collected his thoughts.
Right at this moment, his communication ring began to vibrate non-stop.
Since communication signals had been blocked by the Time Cabin, messages from before had been accumulated until now and were currently being sent through.
Lin Huang immediately clicked on the communication page and discovered that three days ago, Mr. Fu, Zhi Ji, and Huang Tianfu had tried to reach him on his number.
The first missed call was from Huang Tianfu around 8 a.m., the second missed call was from Zhi Ji from around close to 9 a.m., and the third was from Mr. Fu. The missed call showed that it had taken place around 12 p.m.
Lin Huang frowned slightly; he guessed that something had happened three days ago.
Seeing that there were still many unread messages in his inbox, he quickly clicked on them to check.
The first message had been sent by Mr. Fu at 5:15 a.m.
“Apprentice, the seal at the Abyss Brink has just experienced abnormal fluctuations. We suspect it might have been ripped by external forces. I have already notified the Union Government. Please come out of closed-door cultivation as soon as you see this message!”
The second message had been sent by Huang Tianfu at 8:22 a.m.
“Your Majesty, the guardians at the Abyss Brink have already sent news that the seals of three space rifts have been ripped, and the spatial fluctuations from these three space rifts are getting stronger and stronger. I have summoned all the Virtual Gods of Dynasty and a meeting will be held later to discuss preparations.”
The third message had been sent by Zhi Ji of Misery at 8:41 a.m.
“Your Majesty, the seal of the Abyss Brink has been broken. I have summoned all the virtual god-level Red Robes in Misery. We await your instructions.”
The fourth message had been sent by Mr. Fu at noon.
“Apprentice, I will go to the Abyss Brink to investigate the situation with people from the Union Government. I will inform you and Tianfu of the specifics when the time comes.”
The few messages after that had all been sent by Mr. Fu. Each message had attached photos and videos.
Lin Huang immediately clicked on them to check them out; the more he looked at them, the more he frowned.
In the photos sent by Mr. Fu, the number of space rift seals being broken kept increasing.
In the beginning, only the seals of three space rifts had been destroyed. The next day, it became seven, and on the third day, it became twelve…
On the third day, virtual god-level explorers started being teleported over through the space rifts.
Fortunately, the Union Government was well-prepared. Together with Mr. Fu who was a Virtual God rank-9, they immediately formed a battle formation and instantly killed the explorers.
After quickly browsing through the videos and photos sent by Mr. Fu, Lin Huang got up without hesitation and pushed open the door of the Emperor Palace.
Sword101 and Sword102 greeted him immediately at the entrance of the Emperor Palace.
“Both of you, summon all the Sword Servants and hurry to the third level of the Abyss Brink as soon as possible!”
Once he had given his orders, Lin Huang made a sweep with Divine Telekinesis and appeared in Huang Tianfu’s office the next second.
“Your Majesty, you’ve come out of closed-door cultivation?!”
Upon seeing Lin Huang, Huang Tianfu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“What’s the situation now?”
Although he had received front-line news from Mr. Fu every day, Lin Huang still wanted to find out about the situation on Huang Tianfu’s side.
“It’s not going well. More and more seals have been destroyed, and over the past two days, the great world has begun to teleport over to try and probe.” Huang Tianfu’s expression was not pleasant and shook his head.
“Yesterday, I asked Sir Baiyu and Tufu to take half the Virtual Gods to the Abyss Brink as backup. There were also seven Sword Servants who went with them.”
Lin Huang also noticed that in addition to Sword101 and Sword102 who were guarding his hall, there was also a Sword Servant keeping watch on Lin Xin’s roof.
“How about on Misery’s side?” Lin Huang asked again.
“They are more or less in the same situation as us. They have also sent half their Virtual Gods,” Huang Tianfu explained, “Only yesterday the Union Government publicly announced the news to the cultivation world, and the organizations with Virtual God guardians sent people for reinforcements.”
“Good enough; I understand.” Lin Huang nodded.
“Lin Xin and Xiao Mo haven’t come out at all?” he asked again. Using Divine Telekinesis, he found that they were still in his courtyard.
“No, they have been in closed-door cultivation all this while and have never left the courtyard.” Huang Tianfu shook his head.
“I’ll take a trip to the Abyss Brink. If I don’t give orders for it, there’s no need to send additional manpower from Dynasty for the time being,” Lin Huang finished speaking, and sent another message to Zhi Ji of Misery, giving injunctions of a similar nature.
After closing the communication page, Lin Huang immediately summoned a dimensional portal and looked up at Huang Tianfu, “You only need to take care of the Dynasty headquarters for now. If there’s really a need for reinforcements, I’ll notify you.”
As soon as he finished speaking, before Huang Tianfu could respond, Lin Huang had stepped into the dimensional portal.
Huang Tianfu opened his mouth to say something but saw that Lin Huang had already entered the dimensional portal. The portal slowly closed; Lin Huang stood on the other side of it and waved at Huang Tianfu with a calm expression as if he were just going for a short trip…
When he stepped out of the dimensional portal, Lin Huang was already at the entrance of the Abyss Brink.
After storing the portal, he plunged into the Abyss Brink. As he steadied himself on the first layer, his figure took a step forward and appeared directly at the entrance of the second layer.
“Space Rule at Control-level really is convenient,” Lin Huang muttered in a low voice before stepping through the entrance to the second layer.
Once he had entered the second layer, he took another step, appearing at the entrance to the third layer.
As he entered the third layer of the Abyss Brink, Lin Huang made a sweep with Divine Telekinesis and located Mr. Fu and the others in no time at all.
The next instant, his figure appeared right away in the area where Mr. Fu and the others were.
Mr. Fu and a few Sword Servants reacted immediately when they sensed the presence of another person, looking in the direction where Lin Huang was.
“Apprentice?!” Only upon seeing Lin Huang did Mr. Fu realize that it was his apprentice. “You came out of closed-door cultivation?”
“Teacher.” Lin Huang nodded and walked toward Mr. Fu. “I just came out of closed-door cultivation today.
“I saw the messages that you left me; what’s the situation now?”
The reason Lin Huang asked was that the last update he had received was from yesterday, and Mr. Fu had not mentioned anything about today’s situation.
“Not very optimistic.” Mr. Fu heard this question and saw Lin Huang’s happy expression suddenly diminish. “Currently there are more than 30 space rifts on the entire third layer of the Abyss Brink, which is more than there were two years ago.”
“This is normal. In the past, some space rifts were hidden; they were concealed within rocky cliffs or deep underground. It would be difficult to detect them if they didn’t emit spatial fluctuations. It’s not a bad thing if they are revealed now,” Lin Huang commented.
“The problem is that since yesterday, the great world has been trying to send explorers over. Moreover, the combat level of the explorers who are being sent is getting higher and higher, and it’s getting harder to deal with,” Mr. Fu expressed his concerns, “If these 30 plus rifts teleport explorers over at the same time, we currently don’t have enough manpower to handle things.”
Since most of the Virtual Gods from the major organizations were only at beginner-stage Virtual God combat level, they had to cooperate with one another and form battle formations when fighting.
At the moment, apart from Mr. Fu, everyone else was preparing to greet their enemies with a show of force. The seven Sword Servants despatched by Dynasty and the five Sword Servants despatched by Misery were all temporarily disguised as beginner-stage Virtual Gods. Each had formed a battle formation.
Except for Mr. Fu, there were currently only 28 combat teams on the entire third layer of the Abyss Brink.
“Don’t worry, reinforcements will be here in two days.” Lin Huang said comfortingly.
He was not worried at all because there were more than two hundred Sword Servants on the way.
These Sword Servants were sixth-rank True Gods in terms of actual combat strength. As soon as the will of the gravel world was suppressed, their combat strength could also be unsealed.
Right now there was a lull where no explorers had been teleported over yet. Lin Huang’s appearance here quickly attracted the attention of the major organizations.
After all, before he went to the great world, he was considered a celebrity in the cultivation world. He was number one on the top searches every day. Those present were all top cultivators; even if they had never met Lin Huang before, his face was not unfamiliar to them—not to mention, there were quite a few who had interacted with him before.
The seven Sword Servants with Dynasty also came to greet Lin Huang with the other members.
“Your Majesty!”
The seven of them did not address Lin Huang as Swordmaster because he had instructed them not to do so. After all, they were now pretending to be members of Dynasty, so it was more appropriate to address him as Emperor.
Lin Huang nodded slightly, his gaze alternating between the members of Dynasty. One glance in Misery’s direction gave him a quick glimpse of their troops’ lineup—there were five Sword Servants present. The row of people there also looked in Lin Huang’s direction. At this time, everyone’s attention was on Dynasty, which was not unexpected.
As Lin Huang’s gaze left Misery, Dongfang Bai—the vice chief of the Union Government who was leading the team—walked over with Guan Zhong and other familiar faces.
“Emperor Lin, if it wasn’t for seeing you in person today, I would have suspected that the news of your return to the gravel world half a year ago was fake,” Dongfang Bai greeted Lin Huang courteously.
“Chief Dongfang, it’s been a long time,” Lin Huang naturally greeted him with a smile, “I have been in closed-door cultivation since I came back. I’d mentioned before that if I had time, I would visit the Union Government and have tea with you, but I haven’t been able to spare a moment at all.
“I just came out of closed-door cultivation today. I initially planned to take a break, but I had an unexpected message from Teacher, so I hurried over.”
“You’re a busy man.” Dongfang Bai reached out and shook hands with Lin Huang.
“It’s still manageable; it’s not as busy as the work that all of you are doing.”
“We are usually fine, but these past few days have been incredibly busy.” The two exchanged a few pleasantries and Dongfang Bai finally started coming to the point. “Although we have started preparing much earlier, all our preparations are inadequate when facing this group of intruders.
“Emperor Lin, do you have any good suggestions regarding this invasion?”
“My suggestion is very simple. Let’s join forces, stop infighting, and do our best in confronting external enemies. If there is conflict, let it go for the time being. At this moment we can’t afford to waste time dealing with internal issues. Our enemy is far more powerful than before. The gravel world may become a satellite territory of someone else if we’re not careful.”
Since the conversation between the two was not conducted via voice transmission, Lin Huang’s words were clearly heard by everyone present.
Most people agreed, but a few looked disdainful.
“I think so too; everyone should temporarily put aside their grievances and cooperate wholeheartedly to weather these difficulties. We can resolve any conflicts we might have after we defeat the invaders.” Dongfang Bai also smiled and passed onto another topic.
“Let’s not talk about these unpleasant things for now. Emperor Lin, I haven’t seen you for more than a year; aren’t you going to invite me for some tea together?”
As soon as Dongfang Bai said this, Lin Huang immediately understood that the man wanted to have a private talk.
Mr. Fu glanced over and Lin Huang quickly glimpsed a tent not far away. He smiled and nodded at Dongfang Bai. “If you’ll come this way please.”
Lin Huang led Dongfang Bai and his party into the tent. Several Sword Servants were about to follow but a glance from Mr. Fu stopped them; he himself followed into the tent.
This tent only looked like one from the outside. It was actually Mr. Fu’s god palace relic, and it was almost the same level as the Emperor Palace.
The interior decorations clearly reflected that it was indeed Mr. Fu’s temporary imperial residence; Lin Huang had been here several times in the past.
“Mr. Fu, this palace must have cost a considerable amount!” Dongfang Bai had seen many high-quality items, but even he could not help exclaiming in surprise.
“When I bought it, I did spend a lot of my savings indeed.” Mr. Fu smiled.
Lin Huang’s expression was indifferent; he did not say anything. He had on hand even god sequence relics used by Heavenly Gods; furthermore, he had accumulated dozens of god rule relics. He also had the seven God Weapons with development potential. When brought out, any random one of these items was more valuable than this palace, so he naturally had no interest in participating in the discussion.
The line of people entered the hall; after they were seated, Mr. Fu took out his treasured tea to entertain them.
Dongfang Bai finally sat upright and directed an inquiry at Lin Huang.
“Lin Huang, you’ve been in the great world for a year, so you certainly know more about it than we do. Tell us honestly—what is the ability level of these invaders this time? Is it possible for their skills to surpass low-rank True Gods? ”
Lin Huang glanced at Mr. Fu, thinking that he had mentioned something to the Union Government. However, he saw Mr. Fu shake his head slightly, indicating that he had not said anything.
Dongfang Bai and the others also noticed these non-verbal signals. “From the looks of it, you did conceal something previously.”
Lin Huang could do nothing except nod. “Since the invasion has begun, there is no need for secrecy anymore.
“The invasion of lesser worlds by the great world is usually initiated by high-rank True Gods. In many cases, the initiators are ninth-rank True Gods who have their own independent organizations; it might even be several ninth-rank True Gods joining forces…”
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the Union Government’s several representatives suddenly turned extremely sour.
The third layer of the Abyss Brink.
Watching Dongfang Bai of the Union Government leading a group of people into Dynasty’s tent, almost everyone knew that the meeting was more than just them having a cup of tea.
Many were secretly speculating on what the vice chief of the Union Government and the Emperor of Dynasty might talk about.
What astonished many more people was that Dongfang Bai and the others walked out of the tent less than ten minutes later. All their expressions upon coming out were extremely sour.
“What’s wrong? Why are the people from the Union Government wearing such unpleasant expressions?!”
“Those expressions—could it be that something went wrong with the negotiations?”
“According to legend, vice chief of the Union Government Dongfang Bai never displays his feelings. Even if he encounters something extraordinary, his face won’t show anything unusual. What did Mr. Fu and Lin Huang say today that made him completely abandon control of his facial expression?!”
When they saw the expressions of Dongfang Bai and the others, everyone wondered what happened.
Afterward, people saw Lin Huang and Mr. Fu coming out later, looking as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Everyone’s curiosity was suddenly piqued further and they secretly speculated about what had happened in the tent.
The Heretics were also talking about it.
“Boss, go and ask what happened.” A purple-haired girl in pigtails elbowed the Presiding Judge, Sun Zhuo, in the waist.
“I won’t go!” Sun Zhuo immediately shifted his gaze from Dynasty’s camp.
“You’re obviously bursting with curiosity, why don’t you go ask?” The girl, Cao Ya, was persistent.
“I’m not curious.” Sun Zhuo turned and walked toward his tent, his face cold.
“The look in your eyes just now betrayed you; don’t think I can’t see it just because you’re wearing a mask. That look is obviously saying, ‘What happened, I really want to know!’…”
“Shut up, if you want to know, you can go ask yourself!” Sun Zhuo kept walking—out of sight, out of mind. He went straight into his tent.
Seeing that she could not bother the Presiding Judge any further, Cao Ya smiled and turned to look at the Vice Presiding Judge, Zhou Tong.
Before she could say anything, Zhou Tong dug out a booger with his pinky. Lifting his eyes, he met her gaze and flicked his pinky with a bland expression. “Can’t you see that I’m busy? Go ask them yourself!”
After he finished speaking, he put his pinky into his other nostril.
Cao Ya was a little discouraged. She shifted her gaze from Zhou Tong, then looked in Lin Huang’s direction.
Perhaps because he sensed someone staring, Lin Huang turned his head a fraction and caught sight of Cao Ya looking at him.
Cao Ya was taken aback for a moment when their eyes met. She hesitated, then walked slowly over toward the Dynasty contingent.
“Your Majesty, can you tell me a little about what you said to Dongfang Bai just now?” Cao Ya decided to ask anyway when she went over to Lin Huang. “I’m just curious. If you can’t say anything, then just forget about it; treat it like I never asked.”
She did not use voice transmission when she said this so everyone heard her words clearly. They immediately pricked up their ears and waited for Lin Huang to answer this question.
Lin Huang glanced at the retreating silhouettes of Dongfang Bai and his party. Dongfang Bai had just said that after reporting to the Union Government headquarters, the news would be announced as soon as possible. If they continued to conceal the truth, people would be taken by surprise by when True Gods of medium or even high-rank descended from the great world.
If it was announced now, although it would hurt morale, it could also give everyone a few days to make more adequate preparations.
“The Union Government will make an announcement in the next two days.” Lin Huang did not use voice transmission either and glanced past Cao Ya at the people behind her. “I can only reveal one thing. If we want to deal with the upcoming crisis, everyone must be more prepared.”
Although Lin Huang had not said anything specific, the majority of people fell silent when they heard those words.
Even Zhou Tong, who was picking his nose in the distance, paused his hand briefly.
There had been a lot of discussions previously because many people thought this matter was mere gossip, and probably only related to the Union Government and Dynasty.
However, Lin Huang’s remarks meant that everyone was involved. In other words, the issues discussed between himself and Dongfang Bai in the tent just now were closely related not just to everyone present, but perhaps even the entire gravel world.
Recalling the expressions of Dongfang Bai and the others earlier, it was not difficult for everyone to guess that what Dongfang Bai had learned from Lin Huang was most certainly not good news.
Cao Ya had originally come in a spirit of curiosity, but she too fell silent when she heard this answer. Without further questions, she nodded slightly, then turned and walked toward the Heretics’ encampment.
Most of the people present knew that Lin Huang had been in the great world for a year, and his understanding of it was far more in-depth than everyone in the gravel world. Since he had mentioned a matter like that, he must have known something; it would not be baseless chatter. Besides, there was also his status as Emperor. As the leader of one of the six organization giants, his words would carry a lot of weight with everyone.
Many people immediately contacted their headquarters to report what Lin Huang had just said.
On the Union Government’s side, Dongfang Bai and his party entered their tent, returned to the palace, and immediately dialed the number of Chief Jiang Shan.
After a while, the call connected.
Seeing the expressions of Dongfang Bai and the others on the video projection, Jiang Shan’s heart thudded hard for a moment.
“What happened?! The intruders have officially arrived?!”
“Not yet.”
When Dongfang Bai said this, Jiang Shan breathed a sigh of relief, but then he heard the next sentence.
“There’s worse news!”
The chief of the Union Government’s heart suddenly began racing again.
“Lin Huang said that in order to avoid unnecessary panic, he concealed something in the information that he gave us. The invaders’ highest combat strength is not that of the third-rank True Gods that we estimated previously, but ninth-rank True Gods. There may even be several ninth-rank True Gods arriving at the same time…”
Upon hearing this, Jiang Shan’s face suddenly turned bloodlessly pale.
At the same time that Jiang Shan was having this conversation with the Union Government, Mr. Fu was also talking to Lin Huang through voice transmission.
“It seems that your combat strength has not improved following your last closed-door cultivation?”
“There is indeed no improvement. This round of closed-door cultivation was mainly for mastering more Rule Bending Powers,” Lin Huang nodded and admitted.
“How about the elevation of your abilities? You said before that if a ninth-rank True God really arrived, you could not guarantee that you would win. How about now?” Mr. Fu asked again.
“It shouldn’t be a big problem now.” Lin Huang smiled.
“How sure are you?” Mr. Fu asked insistently again.
“90%.” Lin Huang was entirely confident in himself.
“It’s really 90%?!” Fu Xian asked rather uneasily. He was afraid that Lin Huang was deliberately deceiving him to give him peace of mind.
“As long as I don’t encounter someone with half a foot across the heavenly god-level threshold, I should be able to handle it.” Lin Huang did not hide anything from Mr. Fu.
“That’s good!”
Mr. Fu finally felt relieved when he heard these words. He knew his apprentice, and if Lin Huang had said so, then he must have absolute confidence in himself.
When the truth of the matter was revealed to the Union Government, Jiang Shan immediately held a video conference.
The final outcome of the discussion was that the actual situation would be shared with all the Virtual Gods, but it was not to be disclosed to the lower levels.
There were too many individuals below virtual god-level. If the news spread, it would only cause widespread panic; things would also be difficult to control.
Besides, this war with the invaders was essentially a battle between gods, and the outcome depended on high-level combat strength above virtual god-level. It did not matter if the common people were aware of the actual situation or not. To avoid civil unrest, concealing the truth was the best way of dealing with things.
After determining their plan of action, at noon that day, Dongfang Bai gathered the group of people in the Abyss Brink together.
When many of the Virtual Gods present saw the serious expression on Dongfang Bai’s face, they could already basically guess that the announcement this time would not bring good news. Many of them felt a little nervous.
“What I want to announce this time is bad news. After hearing it, I hope that you will keep calm and not panic.
“The highest combat strength of the invaders that we are facing this time is not low-rank True God level as previously expected, but high-rank True God level—it might even be ninth-rank True God…”
As soon as Dongfang Bai said this, almost everyone present was confused.
It should be noted that low-rank and high-rank were two completely different things.
There were no True Gods in the gravel world. If the enemy were low-rank True Gods, they might be able to rely on Mr. Fu and several other concealed high-rank Virtual Gods to serve as the core of a battle formation. In a situation like this, there might still be a chance of winning.
However, if the enemy were high-rank True Gods, it meant there was no chance of turning the tables.
It should be noted that no matter how strong a battle formation was, there was also a limit to how far abilities could be improved.
Judging from the current situation of the gravel world, even if Mr. Fu—who was a Virtual God rank-9—and several high-rank Virtual Gods served as the core, joining forces with all the Virtual Gods in the gravel world to form a battle formation, the highest level that the final formation could hold out against was third-rank True God. Any higher rank and it would be impossible.
If they encountered fourth-rank True Gods, they would barely have the ability to fight them, let alone if they encountered high-rank True Gods above the seventh-rank.
“We’re done for; we haven’t a hope. Let’s go home to wash up and sleep, at least I can rest for a few days.”
“Then what did we come here for? What was the point of everything we’ve done over the past few days?”
“If our enemies are only low-rank, we may be able to turn the tables if everyone works hard. But with high-rank True Gods, it’s no longer a disparity that a battle formation can hope to bridge!”
…
Seeing the hard-won unity from the past few days instantly dissolving, Dongfang Bai clenched his fists. He had expected this situation to happen.
“The enemy’s strength is far beyond our expectations; we could even say that we have almost no chance of winning. But is everyone really willing to just hand over our world, our hometowns, to these invaders from the great world?!
“Once our world becomes a vassal world, all of our resources will become fair game for the invaders. Not just the various minerals—the crystal cores in various monsters, and even the Godheads in our bodies, will become their hunting targets.
“More than that, some cultivators may even be sold as slaves by these invaders, and female cultivators are likely to become targets of assault. They don’t care if the living entities of a vassal world live or die, much less about the dignity of these people.
“It’s even possible that after hundreds of years, they will exhaust all the resources of this world. To prevent us from taking revenge, they will slaughter all the living entities in our world!
“Are you willing for our future to become like that?!
“We may die if we resist. But if we don’t resist, all of us—even our children and grandchildren—will live a life worse than death itself!”
…
Even Lin Huang was affected by the inflammatory nature of Dongfang Bai’s speech.
Many of those present who had already planned to give up renewed their fighting spirit once more.
Resistance might lead to death, but at least it would be a dignified death.
Instead of being hunted down like dogs, it was better to fight to the death like a wolf now.
However, there were also a few people who were not inspired by Dongfang Bai’s speech and chose to withdraw to wait and see.
“The Emperor’s Heart will be sending today’s news to all the Emperor’s Heart Rings of those at virtual god-level, but it will be sent in encrypted form. The message cannot be forwarded and will be automatically deleted within ten seconds after it has been read. I hope that everyone will not disclose the news to relatives and friends below virtual god-level to avoid causing unnecessary panic.
“If it’s discovered that anyone has deliberately spread the news to the lower levels, causing riots, we will execute this individual immediately!”
Actually, Dongfang Bai had kept some things to himself. For example, the Emperor’s Heart would monitor all the Emperor’s Heart Rings for all virtual god-levels—all keywords related to the invasion of the great world would be blocked, and the corresponding information and records would be automatically deleted, and so on.
Less than half an hour after Dongfang Bai had finished speaking about the invaders, the Union Government also issued an announcement for all those at virtual god-level.
Outside of the Abyss Brink, everyone who read this announcement was stunned.
By the time people regained their senses, the news had been automatically deleted, and many people immediately contacted the Union Government to clarify the matter. Everyone who received the answer broke down to some degree.
On the side of the Abyss Brink, seven people beat a retreat and voluntarily withdrew from the operation.
As for those who stayed, most of them did so not because they had been swayed by Dongfang Bai’s speech, but because everyone had analyzed the pros and cons of the matter.
If they stayed and resisted, they could at least fight freely.
If they did not resist, they might be able to eke out an ignoble existence for a little. Once the invaders had won, sooner or later they would wipe out the remaining Virtual Gods in the gravel world and eliminate any destabilizing factors. There were only two possibilities then—either be hunted or be a slave.
Those who were able to become Virtual Gods were powerhouses in terms of their mentality. After countless battles, they rarely retreated without putting up a fight. So, even if theoretically they knew the chances of winning were zero, most people still chose to bite the bullet and tough it out. For them, retreating without putting up a fight was a path taken only by the weak.
Upon seeing that most of the people had stayed, Lin Huang felt slightly more relieved. He had actually been a little worried that the news would cause everyone to fall apart. After all, their opponent was a strong enemy and they had almost no chances of winning. Fortunately, everyone’s mentality had basically steadied. In the faces of many people, he even saw their determination to pledge their lives for the cause.
“Everyone is very motivated—at least this is good news,” Mr. Fu smiled and said.
“Yes, I’ve been worried that everyone’s mentality would break down before the war started.” Lin Huang also smiled and nodded, “From the looks of things, these people are not afraid.”
The two were chatting when suddenly, several spatial fluctuations occurred.
Almost at the same time, spatial fluctuations were reported in three different locations. Lin Huang immediately explored the surroundings with Divine Telekinesis and found that there were fully eight space rifts emitting fluctuations…
As the spatial fluctuations spread, a group of Virtual Gods who were in the Abyss Brink immediately returned to the area that they were guarding, formed a battle formation, and entered a state of readiness for battle.
Lin Huang used Divine Telekinesis to sweep the area. The intensity of the auras behind the spatial fluctuations was only at beginner-stage virtual god-level, so he was not bothered.
When he arrived, there were a total of twenty-eight battle formations. Even after the seven individuals had pulled out, after reorganization, there were now twenty-six teams, which was enough to deal with eight invaders.
Mr. Fu had not taken any action either but watched silently on the sidelines with Lin Huang.
A few moments later, explorers teleported over through the eight space rifts almost simultaneously.
The twenty-six teams that formed the battle formations did not hesitate; they made their move immediately and killed the eight explorers within seconds.
This wave of danger could be considered to have temporarily passed.
The expression on Mr. Fu’s face did not relax at all, however.
“There are definitely more explorers today compared to yesterday. Yesterday, at most, there were teleportations from three dimensional gateways; there were eight today.”
“That’s because they’re increasing the intensity of their tests.” Lin Huang was no stranger to this type of invasion. There had been extremely detailed descriptions in the information Bloody had provided.
“Most of the 30 over space tunnels here have been used multiple times. Under normal circumstances, the space tunnels that have been exposed to Space Rule for a long time are unlikely to have any internal spatial stability issues. Even if there were any problems, they would be small ones.
“What they did yesterday was not to test whether or not the space tunnels are effective, but to run trial tests. Yesterday they tried more than 30 tunnels one by one; some even tried more than once, and all the explorers were killed within seconds. In terms of the probability of damage to the space tunnels, this is extremely unlikely. They must have realized by now that it’s not a problem with the space tunnels.
“If I don’t miss my guess, they’ll have probably guessed that someone on our side is running interference. Therefore, today they should be running a series of trials to determine whether or not someone is killing their explorers on our end.
“From the looks of things currently, the leader of the invaders is quite cautious in terms of character.
“If I were the leader of these invaders, I would increase the number of explorers and the level of combat strength in turn. At the very least, I would first locate a tunnel that I am sure is 100% alright. Once I find a tunnel like this, I will use it as a breach and initiate the first round of invasion as a test!”
When he heard this, the expression on Mr. Fu’s face became even more serious.
After a moment of silence, he asked, “Do you want to call for reinforcements?”
Lin Huang thought for a moment. “We can call for them now, yes. Barring any surprises, this war should officially start within the next two days.”
When Mr. Fu heard this, he immediately contacted the Union Government.
Lin Huang also sent a message to Huang Tianfu and Zhi Ji.
About half an hour later, the Union Government sent a notice to all the organizations with virtual god-level guardians, informing everyone that the situation in the Abyss Brink was critical and inviting them to join forces against the enemy.
When most of the Virtual Gods saw the news, they immediately packed up and set off directly for the Abyss Brink as fast as they could.
Of course, there were still a handful of people who chose to wait and see.
On Dynasty’s end, apart from Huang Tianfu and the Sword Servants guarding Lin Xin, as well as Xiao Mo who was still in closed-door cultivation, all the other Virtual Gods were despatched.
On Misery’s end, apart from Zhi Ji who stayed behind, as well as the remaining five Sword Servants, the rest of the Virtual Gods were also despatched.
However, in the half-hour between the Union Government receiving the news from Mr. Fu and their announcement, three more waves of invaders arrived on the Abyss Brink.
All three waves happened simultaneously across eight or nine dimensional gateways, and none of them overlapped with the initial wave from before.
A total of four waves of intruders arrived, and all 33 space tunnels were tested.
Lin Huang guessed that the other party might have had more than 33 probes in the great world, and there should be a few space tunnels that were genuinely damaged, resulting in unsuccessful teleportations.
After these four waves of tests, everyone was on full alert and ready to deal with the arrival of a new wave of explorers at any time.
Fortunately, before the fifth wave came, more Virtual Gods began to arrive on the third level of the Abyss Brink.
Many Virtual Gods had already pinpointed the entrance location of the Abyss Brink. Some had only taken daily necessities, put them in their storage rings, and set off right away—naturally, they arrived very quickly.
These newly-arrived Virtual Gods also very quickly got into a state of battle readiness and formed a new battle formation team.
When the fifth wave of explorers arrived, the original twenty-six teams had increased to twenty-nine, one more than the twenty-eight teams that had been there when Lin Huang first arrived.
However, in this wave, the number of space tunnels with spatial fluctuations occurring doubled from eight to sixteen.
The next moment after the spatial fluctuations occurred, Lin Huang raised his brow slightly.
“The explorers have gone from Virtual God rank-3 to rank-4!”
His Divine Telekinesis had detected that the combat level of this wave of explorers was higher.
However, he was not too worried. Except for the two teams of Sword Servant, most of the twenty-nine battle formations currently had Virtual God rank-3s as the core, and the strength of all the formations was close to Virtual God rank-5. There were even three teams whose cores were Virtual God rank-4s, and their battle formation strength was close to rank-6. Moreover, the number of battle formations was almost double the number of explorers.
Lin Huang’s judgment was correct. This wave of sixteen newly-arrived explorers was quickly eliminated by the twenty-nine formations on the spot.
When the sixth wave of explorers arrived, the twenty-nine battle formation teams in the gravel world had increased to thirty-one.
Seventeen explorers from this new wave were also easily killed.
It was fairly easy to resist a further six waves of invaders one after another.
However, the expressions on everyone’s faces did not relax, because they knew that the next wave of the invasion would be even more intense.
“We haven’t got enough manpower…” Mr. Fu was about to get up to join forces against the enemy but was stopped by Lin Huang.
“Teacher, have you forgotten about my occupation?” Lin Huang asked with a smile.
Just as Mr. Fu looked a little surprised, Lin Huang crushed a handful of Monster Cards.
One after another, imperial monsters automatically coalesced and formed in front of him.
Lin Huang summoned a total of ten imperial monsters in this wave—Bloody Robe, Malachian Fiend, Imp, Eclipse Boa, Death Knight, Fallen Knight, Herculean King, Bing Wang, and two Dark Crescent Snakes.
These ten imperial monsters were not considered to be in the first ranks of Lin Huang’s command, but their combat strength was already at third-rank true god-level. (After achieving true god-level, Monster Cards below the rank of Supreme God no longer elevated their combat strength alongside their the host; they needed to hunt on their own to increase their combat level.)
Sensing the rejection of the world will along with Lin Huang’s secret voice transmission, the ten imperial monsters immediately sealed their combat strength to Virtual God rank-9.
The sudden appearance of ten imperial monsters immediately attracted the attention of almost all the Virtual Gods present.
“I’ve heard that Lin Huang was not only a sword cultivator, but an Imperial Censor as well, but I always thought that being an Imperial Censor was just his minor. I never thought that his imperial monsters would be this powerful!”
“Are all these really Lin Huang’s imperial monsters?! Judging by the strengths of their auras, they’re obviously high-level Virtual Gods, right?!”
“He’s not the Emperor of Dynasty for nothing. If these ten imperial monsters were to join hands, I fear that the whole gravel world would be no match for them!”
Seeing the appearance of Bloody Robe and the other summoning beasts, everyone started discussing it among themselves.
Although most of the people present could just make out that the ten imperial monsters were high-level Virtual Gods, there were a few astute Virtual Gods among them who could clearly sense that the ten imperial monsters were all Virtual God rank-9.
At the Union Government’s side, there was a slight change in Dongfang Bai’s expression before it reverted to normal almost instantly, as if nothing had happened.
Guan Zhong, who was standing at one side, frowned slightly and muttered in a low voice, “He’s much stronger than he was a year and a half ago…”
At the Heretics Camp, Presiding Judge Sun Zhou tore his gaze away from the group of summoning beasts and turned to look at Zhou Tong and Cao Ya. “No matter what happens in the future, the Heretics must never become enemies with Dynasty!”
“Are those ten summoning beasts that strong?” Cao Ya could not help asking.
“They’re not just peak-stage Virtual God rank-9, but they’re also quadruple mutated mythical-level monsters! What do you think?” The reason Sun Zhou knew all this so clearly was because he had a detection-type god rule relic. Just a quick glance had left him utterly flabbergasted.
“All ten of them are quadruple mutated?!” Cao Ya could barely keep her voice down.
Quadruple mutated monsters were few and far between in the gravel world. She had never seen one despite spending the last few centuries cultivating to virtual god-level, which justified her great shock at seeing ten of them by Lin Huang’s side at the same time.
Even though the others could not sense the fine details about these ten imperial monsters, there were still a few among them who were able to sense the high combat levels they possessed. They were also very aware that, in this part of the gravel world, the Emperor of Dynasty was unrivaled. They all silently contacted the leaders of their own forces and passed the news back.
Lin Huang noticed the small movements of the people but did not try to stop them—he knew very well that it was only a matter of time before his strength was revealed.
Even if it was concealed for now, it would have been revealed anyway when the war breaks out in two days. It did not make much difference if it was revealed two days earlier or later.
Lin Huang looked away from the other factions and his gaze fell upon the ten imperial monsters before him.
“I don’t think I need you guys to take action this round, but when the spatial fluctuations come through next round, all of you take one space tunnel each and block off any incomers. Attack them the moment they arrive, and kill off any that you can. Don’t treat this like a game, this is war!
“At present, the world will of the gravel world has not been fully suppressed yet, so your combat levels are temporarily capped at virtual god-level rank-9. You can release your combat powers and fully display your strengths once the world will has been completely suppressed. When the time comes, you will no longer feel any sense of rejection.”
Bloody Robe and the other summoning beasts nodded and patiently waited for the battle to begin.
Not long after Lin Huang ended his speech, the seventh wave of explorers arrived.
However, this wave exceeded everyone’s expectations. Spatial fluctuations were transmitted from thirty-three tunnels practically at the same time.
Even Lin Huang and Mr. Fu were dumbfounded when they sensed the spatial fluctuations being transmitted.
“You will take action this round too.” Lin Huang immediately changed his mind and gave orders to the ten imperial monsters.
After receiving instructions to take action, Bloody Robe and the others immediately set off, each of them rushing to the location of a space rift!
The moment Bloody Robe and the others set off, thirty-one contingents of battle troops also made their moves, assigning themselves to the remaining twenty-three space rifts that were not taken by the imperial monsters. They knew that the strength of a single imperial monster far exceeded that of several contingents of battle troops combined, and therefore did not require their assistance.
Through the spatial fluctuations, Lin Huang’s Divine Telekinesis sensed that Virtual God rank-4s were still being sent over in this wave.
He was slightly relieved—if they were any stronger, the virtual god-level battle formation from the gravel world would have a hard time killing them.
Shortly after, thirty-three virtual god-level rank-4 explorers were teleported over and were immediately ambushed.
Bloody Robe and the other imperial monsters instantly cut them down, not even waiting for the explorers to fully step out of the dimensional gateway.
The battle formation sites were obviously a bit slower, but they still managed to complete the coordinated attacks.
Just when everyone let out a sigh of relief, several explorer monsters suddenly crawled out from the pile of corpses.
When everyone had least expected it, they saw a thumb-sized Eclipse Boa suddenly open its mouth wide. A terrifying suction instantly enveloped the three resurrected explorer monsters, and they were swallowed in an instant.
“To think that there were three undying species hiding in there!”
Dongfang Bai and the others broke out into a cold sweat.
The mysterious undying species… it would be very difficult to kill them in a short time without knowing their fatal spots, unless you used a rule power or other special means. If it were not for the Eclipse Boa swallowing the three undying species, they feared that those over in the great world would immediately decide that the space tunnel that the three undying species went through had no issues.
Thanks to the Eclipse Boa making a timely move when it did, they had won this round’s mind games.
“In the next round of exploration, we can be sure they’ll either increase the number of explorers or their combat level. It seems like having ten imperial monsters is still not enough to ensure our safety…” A handful of cards appeared in Lin Huang’s hand.
The Demonic Buddhist Holy Son who was a Supreme God rank-5, Bai who was a class-4.5 Pseudo-supreme God, and Charcoal, Tyrant, Grimace, Lancelot, Killer, Evil Dominator, Warlord, Thunder and Witch who were at mythical-level rank-4 were all impressively lined up in order.
These were all of the monster cards in Lin Huang’s possession that were at mythical-level rank-4 and above, aside from the Bug Tribe card.
After the cards were crushed, eleven imperial monsters quickly materialized in front of Lin Huang.
The Demonic Buddhist Holy Son was dressed in white, his face half-Buddha, half-demon. However, at this moment, the aura emitted throughout his entire body was not cruel or fierce at all. His combat level was also the highest—when he was sealed, his combat level was at ninth-rank true god-level, and he was even a powerhouse that was only half a step away from reaching heavenly god-level. At the moment, his combat level was affected by his host, Lin Huang, and was suppressed at sixth-rank true god-level.
Lin Huang’s gaze fell upon the Demonic Buddhist Holy Son. “From today onward, your name is—Ku Rong.”
“I thank you for bestowing this name upon me, Master!”
The Demonic Buddhist Holy Son pressed his palms together in front of him and took a deep bow toward Lin Huang, looking like an eminent monk that had reached enlightenment.
After Lin Huang finished his sentence, a ray of golden light suddenly lit up from between the Demonic Buddhist Holy Son’s eyebrows, and the demon half of his face started to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye. In the blink of an eye, that part of his face became as smooth as jade-like as the normal half of his face.
A strange light flashed in the eyes of the Demonic Buddhist Holy Son; the Abyssal energy that had caused him so much suffering for endless days and nights had suddenly disappeared completely.
He focused his cultivation and realized that the energy was not actually gone, but had become dormant. Besides that, the energy that was originally uncontrollable was now under control.
After a brief inspection, Ku Rong immediately snapped back to reality and once again pressed his palms together and gave Lin Huang another deep bow. Although he did not say anything this time, Lin Huang understood the reason for his actions.
After returning a nod to Ku Rong, Lin Huang’s gaze fell on Bai and Grimace.
Among the eleven of them, apart from Ku Rong, Bai and Grimace had the highest combat level. They were both at fourth-rank true god-level, whereas Lancelot, Charcoal, and the others were at third-rank true god-level.
The combat strengths of the eleven of them were only displayed during the moment they were summoned, and they sealed their own powers under Lin Huang’s urging. It had been suppressed to virtual god-level rank-9.
Looking at the eleven summoning beasts that suddenly appeared in front of Lin Huang, the numerous Virtual Gods that were present were speechless…