Monster Paradise

by LightNovels

343-

4. Chapter 4

Chapter 501: Sacrifice

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Due to the Saint's interruption, the three-day battle drill ended after just a day later. The college gave the Year 1 students a three-day break while adjustments took place for the Year 2 and Year 3 classes. More than 600 teachers had died from the incident this time and teachers from other classes had to replace the fallen teachers. While the college was recruiting new teachers, they were also following up on the incident.

The news that the Union Government posted on the Division 7 Heart Network two days later almost broke the entire network.

"On 1 October, the underground organization — the Saints – disguised as members of the heretics and attacked 3,000 new students of Martial Hunter College, attempting to make them offerings to their God. Led by the two elders, Yu Wenbin and Wu Fa, 102 members attacked the battle drill of the college which took place in Mist Forest. The 100 Saint members including Yu Wenbin were killed with the cooperation of Martial Hunter College and Hunter Association!

"The shamelessness of the Saints have crossed the line. The President and the 12 presenters of the Division 7 Union Government have decided after many rounds of discussion.

"The Division 7 Union Government is officially at war with the Saints! All Union organizations will have to give at least a third of their support to fight this war together with the Union Governments!

"If any of the organizations are working together with the Saints, whether officially or secretly, you'll be treated as the Saint's allies and will become the target of the Union organizations!"

…

The Union Government even published all of the photos of Saint member bodies at the bottom of the announcement. Yu Wenbin's photo was on top. There were 101 of them, including Wu Fa's body that was retrieved from Yu Wenbin's ring. Besides the corpses of Wu Tian and a few of them that were severely damaged, each of the bodies was under the guise of the heretics, and their actual photos were published as a comparison after being verified by the forensics team.

The Union Government's harsh announcement had become a hot topic among the people. In less than half an hour after the announcement was posted, the Hunter Association, Adventurer Paradise, and other Union organizations had announced their support towards the Union Government. What the people did not expect was the heretics publishing a video clip after the announcement came out. In the video, the heretics' judge was in his black robe and terrifying white mask.

"Hi, everyone, I'm the judge of the heretics. I'm sure many of you saw my video last year. If you haven't, you can search for the video if you have the time…"

"Boss, go back to business!" A voice came from the side.

"Oh, right! The reason why we're posting the video is to mainly thank the Union Government and the other Union organizations. Thank you for only announcing the news after proper investigation to save us heretics from being blamed. We're saddened by what the Saints have done! Attacking the people is shameless. We heretics would never do anything like that!

"We have discussed the Saints disguising as our members and putting the blame on us. We're sharing the information of the Saint members that we have collected over the years with the Union Government. If necessary, we'll help the Union organizations with the mission to kill the Saints!

"Lastly, please allow me to advertise. Everyone, if you're interested to join us heretics, please call the number on the bottom right of the screen to join our assessment."

"What a hilarious organization!" Lin Huang was not sure if he should laugh or cry when he saw the video.

Besides the announcements from the Union Government and the other Union organizations, the heretics' video was also being forwarded by the netizens on the Heart Network. It became not only the main topic among the Union organizations but also a hot topic among the people.

It was the first time in the past 80 years since the Division 7 Union Government had announced war! As the announcement went out, there was a stir among the underground organizations. Many of them were waiting to watch the Saints make a fool out of themselves. Even a few of the organizations that worked with the Saints had abandoned their cooperation as they did not want anything to do with the Saints. All of them knew very well that the Union Government was serious about this.

"The Saints are going to be dead!"

"The 200 years of building of the Division 7 Saint will be doomed just like that."

"The heretics are crazy. They're helping the Union now?"

…

At the Division 7 Saint headquarters, the first messenger standing in the middle was a tall, skinny old man with a white beard. He was two meters tall like a bamboo stick. He looked across like a hawk at the people in his white robes printed with a silver cross.

"Elder, is there still no news about Wu Fa?" The messenger's voice echoed in the air like thunder without having to open his mouth.

"There's still no news about him… I suspect he might have been captured alive by the Hunter Association." The elder was an old man with a crooked spine.

"Elder, stop protecting that kid. I'm guessing that kid has failed his mission, leaving my grandson to die and he's escaped as he doesn't know how to face us," the Second Elder said. He was just a few years younger than the First Elder, but he looked like a young man. The First Elder had had a major injury many years ago and his Life Wheel was damaged.

"How about the other person who disappeared with Wu Fa? Did you find out who that is?" The messenger ignored what the Second Elder said and asked.

"Yes, it's Han Yi. There were only six females who joined the mission this time. She's the only one who's been excluded from the five female photos that were published by the Union Government. The rest which the bodies who couldn't be recognized were all males," the first elder replied.

"Get Granny Wu from the black market to help. She must know where Wu Fa is. He knows too much," the messenger instructed.

"But Granny Wu…" The First Elder looked troubled.

"That's your problem, all I want is the result," the messenger interrupted the elder without waiting for him to finish what he was saying.

"Sure… Then, what should we do about the Union organizations' war?" The First Elder asked.

"What should we do? Do you plan to go against the Union Government's anger?" It was the second messenger who spoke this time. Similar to the first messenger, he spoke without having to open his mouth, but his voice was husky.

"So…" The elder looked troubled.

"All the core members can leave now. First Elder, you shall stay to host the meeting," the first messenger said expressionlessly.

"This mission was your suggestion, so you should take all the responsibility. Moreover, we need someone in charge to ease the Union Government's anger. God will forgive all the sins that you've done and protect you until you're with him."

The First Elder looked upset as he knew that he was condemned to be a sacrifice. The Second Elder grinned because if the First Elder died, he would be promoted.

"I thought about it and figured you alone won't be sufficient. You should choose an elder to be with you," the third messenger said while the other two messengers nodded in agreement.

The elder was concerned.

"Then, I'm taking Second Elder with me since the mission was his idea. I thought it was doable, that's why I suggested that to the messengers," the First Elder advised while smiling.

"Gong Sunhai! You're taking personal revenge!" The Second Elder's heart skipped a beat and he shouted.

"It's your problem that you're dying. Why drag me with you!?"

The First Elder remained smiling without looking at him.

"It should be enough with the both of you. It's set," the first messenger said ignoring Lu Yuan's objection. Lu Yuan was shocked to hear the messenger's decision.

"The rest of you will prepare yourselves when you get back. We'll leave tomorrow morning. First and Second Elders, please stay to handle this. Also, contact Granny Wu as soon as possible and let me know when you get anything from her." The first messenger patted their shoulders and walked out of the hall with the rest.

In the western ocean waters of Division 7, there was a gigantic building underneath an island that looked like a skull 3,000 meters below on the seabed. The lights were all turned on. Nestled on the seabed, in the building was a huge, bustling base. In one of the surgery rooms on the lowest floor in the base, the knife in the hand of the man with glasses disappeared.

"This defective product is useless now. Destroy it."

The man took off his medical gloves and looked solemnly at the surgery table. The man that was lying on the surgery table had his chest cut open. A few young people, who were surrounding him, could see that his heart was still beating hard. Besides his chest, his head had been cut open too. The greyish-white brain tissues were there for everyone to see. The man's green eyes were wide. The pair of eyes would look terrifying on usual days, but right then, tears poured from them. He seemed to be conscious.

"Sir, the color of his eyes is pretty unique. Can I keep them as a sample?" A girl with her golden hair in a bun asked. Although she was wearing a medical mask, her voice was sweet.

"Anything, you guys can take whatever you want. But I can only maintain this for another half an hour. Just remember to get rid of the parts that you don't need. Also, don't mess up the surgery room." The man left without turning his head.

In the surgery room, a few young people in green scrubs started discussing among each other.

"The size of his penis isn't bad. I could keep it in my collection."

"Is there anything in his head that anyone of you would like? I would like to keep his skull. If none of you want any part of his head, I'll chop it off and bring it back."

"If you want the skull, then I don't want his teeth anymore. Give me his brain. I'll take it out myself later."

"Wait! Give me his scalp. I want to try if I can grow his red hair from the part that he's shaved off."

"Such a healthy heart. Don't take that away from me! Including this heart, I'll have 99 of them! I'm one step closer to collecting 100 hearts. Yay!"

…

As the man with the glasses left the surgery room, he took off the green scrubs and put on a white coat while heading to an office that was on the top floor of the building. There was an old man with white hair and a beard in a white coat reading his Emperor's Heart Ring. The man with the glasses knocked on the door that was open.

"Come in!" The old man nodded.

The man with the glasses walked in and stood before the old man's desk with respect.

"Sir."

"So, did you get anything from the kid?"

"His body is quite disappointing whereby his gene integration did not upgrade since he was created 12 years ago. It has been maintained at 17%," the man with glasses said without any expression.

"That's expected as he's a failed product from the first generation." The old man did not react.

"How much does he know about the Saints?"

"I have been trying to unseal his brain memory for the past two days. I must say, the Saints are impressive when it comes to this. Although I managed to unseal his memory, his core memory of their God isn't there. I can't be sure if he doesn't have the authorization or the Saints have taken control of that part of his memory. All I got from him is basically what we already know," the bespectacled man frowned as he explained.

"It shouldn't be about his authorization. Besides the First Elder, the rest of the elders have the same authorization. The elder is already the Saint's core hierarchy. He was an elder too. Although he couldn't reach their God directly, he should be able to learn something about their God. His memory of their God might have been deleted from the Saint's side," the old man thought to himself and speculated.

"Is there anything else?"

"We got something unexpected," the man in the glasses smirked as he said.

"There's a special young man in the recycled memory…"

"Oh, a person that even you think is special. Do tell." The old man noticed the smirk on his face and became interested.

"The young man is only white flame-level, but he could force himself to level up to gold flame-level. Besides that, when he became gold flame-level, he was so powerful that he managed to kill an immortal-level rank-5!" The man in the glasses was excited as he spoke.

"A gold flame-level killing an immortal-level rank-5. He's considered a supreme genius already. But leveling up from white flame-level to gold flame-level, are you sure that he did not conceal his combat level?" The old man thought the hiding of combat level was a likelier situation.

"I've looked at the part of that memory for a couple of times. I confirm that the young man's real combat level is only white flame-level." The bespectacled man nodded.

"A gold flame-level killing an immortal-level rank-5?" The old man's eyes lit up.

"Show me!"

Suddenly, a strand of the old man's hair floated up like it was alive. It looked like a sharp thorn. From the other end, a strand of hair from the man in the glasses floated up as well and connected with the old man's hair like a snake biting a thorn. Soon, the two strands of hair disconnected and went back to normal.

"Sir, I would like to capture him for research," the man in glasses requested.

"You can't do anything to this kid just yet…" The old man frowned after looking at the clip.

"He has a powerful background?" The bespectacled man raised his eyebrow.

"This kid is called Lin Huang. He's old man Fu's apprentice. It's too risky to offend him because of this kid." The old man shrugged helplessly.

"That Mr. Fu's apprentice?" The man in the glasses looked upset.

"Old man Fu has got himself a great apprentice. For a white flame-level killing an immortal-level rank-5, he would be rare even if he's placed in Division 1… Why aren't I as lucky as he is?" The old man sighed and shook his head.

The man in the glasses was unhappy.

"Sir, we can capture him when Mr. Fu isn't in Division 7," the man in glasses said after a moment of silence. He did not seem to want to let it go.

"I won't stop you if you insist, but I have two things to warn you. First, do it cleanly and leave no trails. Second, if old man Fu finds out it's done by you, not only will I not help you, I'll draw a clear one with you. You know that I won't be living too long. I can't be bearing a burden like this."

"Understand, I'll remember that!" The man in the glasses replied with his head held down.

"There's one more thing that I need you to do." The old man changed the topic immediately.

"The Union will be fighting the Saint together soon. The Saint will definitely go for an escape plan by sacrificing the elder in their organization. I need you to get more elder bodies to dig more secrets about the God. Do a clean job!"

"Yes sir, I'll do my best!" The man in the glasses nodded.

"You can leave now if that's all that you have for me." The old man then focused on the Emperor's Heart Ring's panel in front of him.

"I shall be going now." The bespectacled man bowed and left.

After the attack of the Saints, the entire Division 7 was chaotic and everyone had their guards up. Meanwhile, it was surprisingly peaceful in the Martial Hunter College. The families of the 600 teachers who were killed in the incident were given a generous compensation from the college while the teacher recruitment drive was successful. There were hundreds of people that came to the recruitment drive as soon as the news was released. The classes remained but the teachers were much busier than they usually were.

Nobody in the college knew that Lin Huang had killed the two immortal-level Saint members as the secret was safe with the two Vice Presidents. Only the teachers knew that he had saved most of the students on his own. The students did not know about his admirable feat. His life in the college did not change much as he continued training in the Undefeatable Warrior and integrating his sword skills. The only additional mission he had was to teach Bai sword skills.

Meanwhile, life went on as normal for Lin Xin. She seemed not to have any idea about what had happened in the Mist Forest. As Lin Huang was clueless as well, he decided not to dwell on that matter. Besides attending classes, Lin Xin had been absorbing Life Power from Life Crystal pieces at night to trigger her gray Life Wheel columns. Before one became an adult at the age of 15, most of their Life Wheel was unstable, which was why most people chose to level up to iron-level only after they turned 15.

Now that Lin Xin was 15, Lin Huang had checked her Life Wheel and gave her a bunch of Life Crystals to trigger the gray Life Wheel columns since she could level up to iron-level now. As soon as the Life Light in her Life Wheel was full, he would get her to achieve iron-level. Considering that she wanted to be a firearms master in the future, Lin Huang had chosen the Purple Dressed Demon as her Life Seed monster to increase her speed.

As the battle drill was suspended, the students were not given any rankings. The registrar office was in a mess but they did not have the time to do such a calculation. Most of the Year 1 students were still in shock and did not have the mood to think about the ranking at all. Soon, it was Friday again, and Lin Huang was sitting in the office at 1.40 p.m. Just when he had arrived, Mu Xiaolan arrived shortly after.

"Miss Mu," Lin Huang smiled and greeted.

Mu Xiaolan was not as active as she usually was. All she did was force a smile and nod at Lin Huang. Lin Huang was stunned to see her response as Mu Xiaolan would always greet him first and was usually friendly. She was oddly cold today. However, Lin Huang did not want to think too much about it. Soon, Qin Tianxing arrived too. He decided to sit in Lin Huang's class again.

At first, he had chosen to sit in as he was worried that Lin Huang might not be able to handle the students. Later on, he found out that Lin Huang had mastered the Sword Dao and now he realized how powerful Lin Huang was. He knew very well that most of the Saint members who had been involved in the Mist Forest incident were mostly purple and even gold flame-levels but Lin Huang had killed almost 60 of them on his own. It only proved how powerful Lin Huang was. Sitting in the class was to improve his knowledge in Sword Dao. On the other hand, he wanted to get closer to Lin Huang. Since Lin Huang was always on his own, the only way to spend time with him was to sit in his class.

Lin Huang did not overthink about Qin Tianxing's intention as he had always been a friendly man since the beginning. Even if he came with an intention, it should not be a bad one. In the college, Lin Huang needed someone like him who could answer whatever questions that he had about the college. It was a win-win situation for the both of them.

"Brother Qin, I heard you're teaching a couple of classes recently. Do you still have the time to sit in my class?" Lin Huang teased.

"I have to no matter how busy I am. I would love to learn sword skills from you too," Qin Tianxing said humbly.

"Stop teasing." Lin Huang smiled and shook his head. "Oh right, how's the recruitment going?" He asked.

"Many of them who came but not many passed. Looking at the progress, we'll need at least a month to get back to our normal arrangement." Qin Tianxing shook his head.

"It's almost time. I shall get to my class now." Mu Xiaolan left after that.

Lin Huang looked at the time. It was not even 1:50 p.m. As she left, Lin Huang asked Qin Tianxing softly, "What happened to Miss Mu? She seems a little off today."

"She had a crush on Sir Wang Yan who taught Year 2 Sword Dao faculty for years now. He was one of the guardians in the battle drill and he was killed by the Saint…" Qin Tianxing peeked at the direction Mu Xiaolan left and shared softly.

"I asked her to take a break for a week or two a few days ago but she declined. She always seems happy but deep inside, she's stubborn."

Lin Huang did not ask further after hearing what had really happened.

"Alright, it's almost time. Let's go."

Lin Huang taught a new speed sword skill called Wind Flow today. The students were excited to learn something new after training their Blood Killing Forms for a month.

"Same rule applies. Train properly when you guys get back. The faster you learn, the more sword skills I'll teach. Whether you learn three or four sword skills this semester depends on you. I'll be examining your progress as usual next Friday," advised Lin Huang, motivating the students.

"Isn't it a little too much to learn four sword skills in one semester?" Qin Tianxing could not help but ask Lin Huang after the students left.

"We usually teach two sword skills in a semester. After all, the students have other classes, so it's impossible to spend all of their time on Sword Dao."

"You underestimate their potential. It might be too much to learn four sword skills in a semester but learning three sword skills wouldn't be too difficult for them. They'll have too much time on hand if I only teach two and they won't practice properly. With proper pressure, they'll take it seriously ." Lin Huang spoke from experience. He used to always burn the midnight oil right before his exams when he was studying in university and he was the most efficient during that time. The pressure was there as he did not want to fail.

Hearing Lin Huang's theory, Qin Tianxing was considering if he should change his way of teaching as well.

After class, it was the weekend. Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring vibrated while he was teaching Bai sword skills when they were in the battle training ground on Saturday evening. It was Lin Xin who was calling, so he picked up immediately.

"Brother, the Life Light in my Life Wheel is full now!" Lin Xin excitedly broke the news.

"Prepare yourself tonight. It's Sunday tomorrow. I'll bring you to Wangyou Forest to hunt for your Life Seed tomorrow." Lin Huang had had that in mind since the beginning.

On Sunday morning, Lin Huang brought Lin Xin to the mountain at the border of Wangyou Forest. As Thunder perched on top of the mountain, he summoned Bloody.

"Bloody, find me a Purple Illusion Demon. An iron-level rank-1 one would be the best. If not, find me an iron-level rank." Bloody released a massive amount of Leech Pods and started getting busy. In less than half an hour, Bloody had found Lin Huang a target.

"I've found one! There's a Purple Illusion Demon on the northern side of the central zone in the forest." Bloody extended two of its tentacles and pinned the coordinates on Lin Huang's and Lin Xin's maps that were projected from their Emperor's Heart Rings.

"Alright, I'll wait here then. If I get too close, I might affect you." Lin Huang leaped from Thunder's back.

"Thunder, leave as soon as you drop her at the destination."

Thunder nodded and brought Lin Xin away. It landed on an empty land more than ten minutes later and flew away after Lin Xin alighted.

Lin Xin, who was clad in a long-sleeve top and long pants, realized that the coordinates that Bloody had pinned were less than a kilometer from where he was standing. She took out her two GrayEagle 17's and held one in each hand, making sure that they were both loaded with armored bullets before dashing towards her target. As a kilometer was just a short distance, she arrived at the destination and saw the Purple Illusion Demon.

She was petrified although she was hidden in the bushes, looking at the monster that was spacing out in the burnt land. It was an iron-level rank-1 Purple Illusion Demon that looked the same as the iron-level rank-3 one that Lin Huang had killed a year ago. It had an odd white mask on its face and six crystal arms. Its purple dress was 20 to 30 centimeters from the ground, but its feet were nowhere to be seen.

"This monster is just a little ugly. There's nothing scary about it. You're a firearms master. Just don't let it come close to you," Lin Huang's voice came from the Emperor's Heart Ring's earphone as he was watching Lin Xin via Bloody's Leech Pod.

"If you're nervous, take a deep breath to calm yourself down."

Lin Xin did as he said. Bloody's Leech Pods were not complete sentient being, so it would not affect her obtaining her Life Seed. Armed with that knowledge, Lin Huang got Bloody to monitor her situation.

Lin Xin's heartbeat slowed down after taking a few deep breaths.

"I'm a firearms master. I can definitely kill it with a single gun fighting technique as long as I don't get close to it!" She mumbled to herself while looking at the two GrayEagle 17's in her hands.

She then stood up and opened fire using a gun fighting technique called Potshot. As the armored bullets were released, the Purple Illusion Demon was completed engulfed by the bullets.

It sounded like there was a woman groaning and screaming among the loud cracks. Still, Lin Xin did not stop firing as long as she heard screaming. Finally, she stopped as it had gone completely quiet. As soon as the smoke faded, she saw the Purple Illusion Demon had slumped onto the ground. It was completed destroyed and its mask was shattered. It was obvious that it was dead.

"It's already dead. Go to it right now before the Life Seed fades away."

Lin Xin heard Lin Huang's instruction and walked quickly towards the carcass. Just as she took a few steps forward, a white glow came out of the broken mask, shrouding her completely…

Lin Xin woke up ten minutes later.

"Wait where you are. I'll get you together with Thunder," Lin Huang commanded through the earphone as soon as he saw Lin Xin open her eyes.

Soon, Thunder dropped Lin Huang next to her. After recalling Thunder and Bloody, he took out a storage ring and gave it to her.

"There are 10,000 Life Crystals in this. They're mainly for you to refill your Life Wheel and, of course, you can spend it as your allowance."

"That's too much…" Lin Xin knew that one Life Crystal was comparable to 100 years of Life Power crystals and was equivalent to 100,000 credit points. To most gold-level people, 10,000 Life Crystals was an enormous amount of wealth.

"That's not much. In fact, it's necessary for your cultivation. The further you go, the more Life Crystals you'll need." Lin Huang did not say further while summoning his dimensional relic and he brought her back to the Martial Hunter College.

Lin Xin's mission this time was much easier than the time when Lin Huang had completed his whereby she killed the Purple Illusion Demon by opening fire at it. Ever since she leveled up, besides going to classes, she spent most of her time refilling her Life Wheel in the training room. She could now learn many beginner-level gun fighting techniques that she could not pick up earlier. She knew the biggest issue that she had was having insufficient Life Power.

Time passed by, and soon it was Wednesday. As Lin Huang was training with Bai during the evening, his Emperor's Heart Ring vibrated. It was Lin Xin who was calling.

"What's wrong, Xin Er?"

"Brother, is there anyone with you?" Lin Xin asked.

"Only Bai."

"Oh, I think there's something wrong with my body." She was hesitant when she spoke.

"Where are you? I'll look for you now!" Lin Huang frowned.

"I'm in training room No. 28."

"Wait for me. I'll be there shortly!" Lin Huang then looked at Bai. "We shall call it a day here. Something's happened to Xin Er."

Bai nodded and Lin Huang recalled him, then left for the training room. Three minutes later, he knocked on the door to training room No. 28 and Lin Xin answered the door immediately. As soon as he got in, she hurriedly bolted the door.

"Brother, do you remember that Little 7 could swallow Life Crystals directly?" Lin Xin asked.

He nodded.

"I found out that I can do that too…" Lin Xin whispered softly.

"What do you mean? Did you accidentally swallow a Life Crystal?" Lin Huang did not get what Lin Xin was trying to tell him.

"Not accidentally. Well, I did it on purpose…" Lin Xin shook her head slowly.

"So, this is what happened. I've been absorbing the Life Power in the Life Crystals these few days. I thought that's too slow as I've only filled tens of the columns in the past few days. Then, I thought of Little 7 eating Life Crystals directly, so I thought of trying that as well… As soon as the Life Crystal was in my mouth, it melted right away and flowed into my body from my throat. Then, I realized that the Life Power in my Life Wheel had increased tremendously. I tried another two Life Crystals later on, and the same thing happened…"

"Really?" Lin Huang thought it was ridiculous as he had never heard of any human who could eat Life Crystals directly to absorb Life Power. If anyone could do that, the person could definitely level up so much faster than he could. While he had to kill monsters out there, the person could just munch on Life Crystals as snacks at home!

"Is there something wrong with my body?" Lin Xin was concerned.

"Show me," Lin Huang encouraged while placing his hand on her shoulder. He inserted his Life Power all over her body.

"You can do it now."

Lin Xin took a piece of Life Crystal from her storage space and put it into her mouth. She opened her mouth so that Lin Huang could see what was happening to the Life Crystal. In less than two seconds, the Life Crystal melted into a cloud of white haze on her pink tongue and flowed into her throat. Lin Huang could feel the sudden gush of Life Power that entered her body and flowed straight into her Life Wheel. He could not understand what had just happened. The entrance of Life Power did not make sense as it did not pass through any of the routes of Life Power in her body but suddenly gushed into her Life Wheel.

Lin Huang then checked her Life Wheel and released his Life Power after confirming that everything was normal.

"Everything seems fine with your body now. Although it's an odd way to absorb Life Power, that could mean you have a unique physique. It could be a special bloodline that's been activated since you arrived at iron-level. There's nothing to worry about," Lin Huang comforted her.

"Is that so?" Lin Xin sighed in relief.

"This is between us. Don't tell anyone about this, including your roommates and good friends. If this goes out, it might catch the underground organization's attention. They might capture you to be their guinea pig," Lin Huang warned her.

"Alright, I promise I won't tell anyone!" Lin Xin nodded. The incident with the Saint got her guard up towards the underground organization.

"After the first circle of your Life Power is filled, don't break through to iron-level rank-2 just yet. I'll get you a combat level disguise relic, then you can level up after putting that on." Lin Huang did not want anyone to know about her ability to level up so swiftly.

She had many Life Crystals with her now. If she did not have to obtain Life Seed to level up each rank, she would take less than a week to get to gold-level rank-3 just by eating Life Crystals. That would be tens of times easier than how Lin Huang had leveled up.

"Relic…" Lin Xin's eyes lit up when she heard that. She knew that only Transcendants could utilize relics.

"Can I use it?" Lin Xin was concerned.

"It's a unique relic that doesn't require you to activate it. It can suppress your aura just by you putting it on," Lin Huang nodded and explained.

"Oh yeah, these three equipment rings are your presents to celebrate your breakthrough to iron-level. I've ordered them long ago but they only arrived yesterday, so I'm only giving them to you today." Lin Huang took three black rings from his storage space and gave them to her.

"What are these?" Lin Xin accepted them and looked at them with excitement.

"Two custom-made modified BlackEagle 33's and the latest Black Demon Armor. The two guns have functions of their own. One has accelerated attack speed while the other has added attack strength. You'll get used to them slowly."

"Thank you, brother! You're the best brother in the world!" Lin Xin thought it would be great to have one BlackEagle 33, but she did not expect two modified ones instead. The price of what she had obtained far surpassed her imagination.

A week passed since Lin Xin found out about her odd physique. Lin Huang had gotten her the combat level disguise relic. It was an expensive grade-5 relic that looked like a metal bangle which could disguise combat levels below immortal-level. To be safe, Lin Huang taught her a skill to hide her aura after giving her the bangle. Lin Xin, who had just got her first circle of 360 columns in her Life Wheel filled, starting consuming Life Crystals again and reached iron-level rank-3 in less than half a day…

Soon, two weeks passed. The speed of Lin Huang's Life Power and body transformation slowed down. His ten Life Fires that were smaller than his thumb was now the size of a ping-pong ball and their flame was more than 20 centimeters high. He was halfway there since he had the Undefinable Warrior Skill Card out. His body was practically non-human now and was more than three times more powerful than the usually transformed physique. Any weapons that were below relics could no longer hurt him.

The density of his Life Power was incomparable to the time when he was complete gold-level. Besides being many times thicker, some of its characteristics had completely changed. It was like a transformation to a totally new energy. Since stepping into holy fire-level, the Life Fire and Life Power were dependable on each other. The Life Fire would extract and release Life Power as well as absorb Life Power to grow. As tinder had a different ranking, the strength of the Life Fire was different as well

The flame of tinder that was not mutated could only burn a maximum of one meter after it became a Life Fire. Single-mutated tinder could burn up to three meters, while double-mutated tinder could burn up to ten meters, and it was said that triple-mutated tinder could burn up to 50 meters. Meanwhile, nobody knew how high a quadruple-mutated tinder could burn. Lin Huang was curious about how high his Life Fire could burn. The stronger the Life Fire, the faster it could absorb and release Life Power and the higher the density of Life Power.

"It's been more than a month since I leveled up to white flame-level. My Life Power and body must have stabilized from the growth now. It's time to get the cross-ranking rewards that I obtained earlier." He was beyond excited.

"But before that, there's something that I need to do…" Lin Huang mumbled to himself while taking out a few Monster Cards. They were the Supreme Overlord, the Sanguine Skeleton Spirit, and the three fiends.

He wanted to extract their Monster Skills. He had not done that earlier as he had limited slots in Monster Skills whereby he only had three slots out of ten left. Besides, he left the slots vacant as the Supreme Overlord was not unsealed yet. However, since he got to white flame-level, he now had 20 Monster Skill slots which allowed him to own more Monster Skills.

"Xiao Hei, extract the skills of these five cards!" Lin Huang instructed after glancing at the cards.

"Skill extraction has been activated… Randomly choosing skills… It has been completed!"

"Congratulations, you've obtained - Doll secret skill (Supreme Overlord)."

"Congratulations, you've obtained - Punishment (Sanguine Skeleton Spirit)."

"Congratulations, you've obtained - Demonic Telepathy (Inferior Imp)."

"Congratulations, you've obtained - Demonic Regeneration (Malachian Fiend)."

"Congratulations, you've obtained - Witchcraft (Witch)."

After extracting the five skills, Lin Huang had 12 of his Monster Skill slots filled. He wanted to keep the remaining eight slots vacant as the Regal Sword Killer was still in card form, so its skills could not be extracted yet. Meanwhile, the eight sword servants from Lancelot were all epic-level. There were no skills that Lin Huang desired from them, hence he did not extract their skills.

"The skills that I obtained this time aren't bad at all. The Doll secret skill, Punishment, and Witchcraft are control skills that I've always wanted. The telepathy and regeneration abilities aren't bad too!" Lin Huang was satisfied with the extraction results.

Later on, he looked at the time and realized that it was only past seven in the evening. He called Mr. Fu right away. On the second ring, Mr. Fu answered his video call.

"What's up, my dear apprentice?" Mr. Fu had a chess board in front of him, and he seemed to be playing chess with someone.

"Master. My Life Fire and body have stabilized now. The sigils that you told me about earlier…" Someone sitting across Mr. Fu started speaking before Lin Huang could finish what he was saying.

"Hurry! If you don't play, I shall consider you the loser!"

"Go away. I'm talking to my favorite apprentice." Mr. Fu waved his hand and turned around to look at Lin Huang.

"I'll send you the flying sigil after I finish my game. Take your time to study. Ask me whenever there's anything you don't understand." Mr. Fu hung up the phone right away.

In less than ten minutes, Mr. Fu sent the sigil to him. There were many varieties and levels of the sigil. The lower level ones could be purchased at the Hunter Association or on black markets. The sigil that Lin Huang desired was a flying one which was integrated with many different variations that included anti-gravity, dynamic, kinetic adjustment, steering, balancing, sheltering and resistance reduction sigils.

These sigils had to be activated by rotating Life Power. The more they were activated, the more likely it was that it would merge to form part of one's instinct. The reason why people below Transcendent-level could not fly was because the sigils had to be built from the detachment of Life Power, which was impossible for them. On the other hand, many Transcendent monsters could fly as they had inherited similar sigils in their memory.

Since he had gotten the sigils, Lin Huang tried it for the first time. The set of sigils that Mr. Fu had given was complicated and detailed. It was made of more than 20 sigils. Lin Huang started learning them one by one. The first one he learned was the anti-gravity sigil. It was tens of times more difficult than the anti-gravity sigil that he had seen on the Heart Network earlier. He tried it over and over again patiently.

Although he had just reached white flame-level not long ago, he was familiar with Life Power detachment as he had used Blood Power in his earlier days. Nevertheless, he finally mastered the anti-gravity sigil after failing for more than 20 times. The complicated sigil alone would cause normal people to be dizzy just by looking at it, let alone drafting it. To draft it using Life Power, it was hundreds of times more difficult.

After activating the anti-gravity sigil, Lin Huang's body started to float. He felt like he was a helium balloon as his body detached from the ground. However, because he had just mastered the anti-gravity sigil, he lacked control of where he could go, only able to float off the ground. He repeated the drafting a few more times until he managed to do it perfectly with his eyes closed before learning the second sigil…

That night, he trained until 1.30 a.m. and he only managed to learn two sigils. However, the first few sigils were more complicated and the subsequent aiding sigils were much easier. The following days, he spent all his time on the battle training ground, learning the drafting of sigils. From non-gravity to dynamic, kinetic adjustments, and steering the sigils… After multiple attempts and failures, he managed to integrate all of the sigils on the sixth day.

Lin Huang could finally fly!

"Congratulations! You've obtained a special legendary-level Skill Card (Flying). Please name the skill."

"Let's call it Imperial Flight!" Lin Huang thought before christening the new skill. He smirked as he watched the name of the skill appeared on the purple card. There was a famous line that was passed around among Transcendent-level humans that went, "How can one be considered as a Transcendent-level if he can't even fly?!".

Ever since the building of the flying forcefield was completed, Lin Huang had finally become a true Transcendent-level. He tried the flying effect of Imperial Flight. Its regular flying speed could reach 1,200 kilometers which was close to Mach 1. He could even reach 2,500 kilometers per hour if he accelerated, which would be over Mach 2, but it took up to five times more Life Power compared to the normal flying speed. Double acceleration would allow him to reach 3,700 kilometers per hour which was over Mach 3 and use up at least 50 times more compared to flying at the normal speed.

Without the activation of his Seraphic Speed, Lin Huang could reach 4,000 kilometers at the maximum, which was slower than Thunder and Kylie. If he needed to get to a place which was far away in an instant, it would be better to ride on Thunder. The sigil set that Mr. Fu had given him was the top among the flying sigils. The normal sigil only had single acceleration whereby a limited number of them had double acceleration and could only reach Mach 2.5. The flying speed would not change much for a holy fire-level as the sigil was fixed. However, as one got to immortal-level, the sigil could be further explored and the speed could be 30% to 40% faster.

"Now that I've mastered Imperial Flight and extracted the monster skills, I'll spend the next two days familiarizing myself with the monster skills, then I shall head to the danger zone this weekend to finish what I have to do." Lin Huang looked at the calendar that was projected out of his Emperor's Heart Ring. It was Wednesday today and he could not leave just yet as he had class on Friday. He would usually take less than a day to complete what he wanted to but it would take more than a day if an accident happened. He did not want to risk missing his class, so he thought of taking the few days to familiarize himself with the new monster skills and only head to the danger zone after his class on Friday.

Soon, two days had passed and it was already Friday. That November week was supposed to start with a battle drill. However, since the Saints incident last month, the Union had yet to settle the issue with the underground organization, so the Martial Hunter College suspended the battle drill this time for safety purposes. All the Year 1 students would attend classes as usual. Although some of the students were unhappy with such an arrangement, they chose to conform when they recalled the terrifying incident.

It was 1.40 p.m. and Lin Huang arrived at the office. When it was past 1.50 p.m, Qin Tianxing arrived at the office but Mu Xiaolan was nowhere to be seen.

"Brother Qin, is Miss Mu on leave?" Lin Huang asked Qin Tianxing as he found her absence odd.

"She's resigned." Qin Tianxing shook his head.

"Resigned?!"

"She couldn't let go of Wang Yan and there seems to be no result in the Union fighting the Saints. She was unsatisfied with that, so she resigned last week after her class. She said she wanted to try breaking through to white flame-level and join the mission to fight the Saints. The registrar and I have been asking her to stay but she didn't listen." Qin Tianxing shared what had happened.

"Why hasn't the mission come to an end yet? It's been more than a month." Lin Huang was puzzled. He was only a gold hunter in the Hunter Association, so he could not retrieve the news meant for Transcendent-levels. However, Qin Tianxing had joined the Hunter Association's executive, so he had the access to some of the internal news.

"The Saints disappeared. When the Union arrived at their headquarters, it was completely empty and all of the branches in the other footholds had moved away. Fortunately, the Saints are everybody's enemies now. The heretics and the black markets have been providing all sorts of information. More than 80% of the Saint members who were hiding have been captured. Still, to capture all of them, that would take at least ten days to half a month," Qin Tianxing explained.

"Hopefully, Miss Mu is doing fine," Lin Huang shook his head and sighed. Besides Qin Tianxing, Mu Xiaolan was the other staff that he was close to. As they had the same class schedule, the both of them would see each other in the office every Friday. Lin Huang did not want anything bad to happen to this friendly and happy lady.

"It's almost time now. You should be in class. Looking at the army that the Union has, Miss Mu will be joining the force of many, so she should be alright. Don't worry about her." Qin Tianxing patted Lin Huang's shoulder.

…

In foothold No. 7B99 — Misery City.

Misery City was located in the extreme north in Division 7. It was a place for prisoners during the old epoch times. It was said that a monk passed through the place one day and named it Misery as bodies were strewn everywhere. Since the new epoch, the Union Government used the name when they were rebuilding the city.

Mu Xiaolan had killed a mutated Transcendent-level monster here five days ago. The moment she leveled up to white flame-level, she rushed directly to Misery City without waiting for her transformation to be completed. She heard from the black market that Misery City was one of the hiding places of the Saint members. As she was a registered gold hunter, she used the dimensional tunnel that was exclusive to hunters and arrived at the place after spending a day transferring in between a couple of footholds.

The following days, she spent most of her time in the black market to ask about the Saint. With the mission of the Union Government, there were many other hunters who were here to kill the Saints. For safety purposes, she was staying in a hotel that was occupied by hunters. On that day, a man in gold-framed glasses and a white coat walked towards her when she just got out of the black market. Mu Xiaolan, who was dressed in a black robe, had her guard up.

"Hi, Miss Mu." The man stopped walking and smiled at her when he was less than two meters away from her.

"You've got the wrong person." Mu Xiaolan remained cold while her face was concealed under the hood.

"It can't be. You're Mu Xiaolan who teaches at the Martial Hunter College. You were in love with a male teacher named Wang Yan. Unfortunately, Wang Yan was killed when the Saints attacked a month ago, so you've resigned last week and plan to take revenge by killing the Saint members." The bespectacled man looked warmly at her under the dimmed street lamps.

"Who are you?" Mu Xiaolan took off her hood and stared at the man with her bright eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm not one of the Saints. You can call me doctor." The man smiled as he introduced himself.

"You know so much about me. Even if you're not from the Saints, you must be up to no good. I'm not interested to talk to you. Go away." Mu Xiaolan was wary even if the man was not one of the Saint.

"Alright then. I shall tell you my intentions." The man pushed his glasses up his nose before proceeding.

"I heard that Lin Huang is your colleague and that you guys are pretty close. I need something about him from you."

"No comment!" Mu Xiaolan finally knew that the man was here for Lin Huang.

"Lady, this is not your decision." The man took off his glasses. A sigil sparked from his left eye and Mu Xiaolan collapsed.

Suddenly, there was a golden glow that shot out of the relic in the man's hand and covered Mu Xiaolan who was about to slump onto the ground. As the golden glow faded, Mu Xiaolan disappeared. The man summoned a dimensional relic and stepped into it. Soon, the dimensional relic closed and the black market alley was silent again like nothing had happened.

On Saturday morning, Lin Huang had decided on his first destination. It was a severe danger zone with more than ten commander-level monsters or at least three chief-level monsters. Only the top-ranked people dared to enter such a precarious zone. There were a total of 28 severe danger zones in Division 7. This time, Lin Huang's target was a chief-level monster in the zone, which was also an immortal-level monster.

"Xiao Hei, assuming I get ten reward card draws for a quadruple cross-ranking kill, do I get more card draws if I kill more than that?" Lin Huang grinned while he was on the road.

"Sextuple cross-ranking kills - Reward Card Draw x15!"

"Septuple cross-ranking kills - Reward Card Draw x20!"

"Octuple cross-ranking kills - Reward Card Draw x25!"

"Nonuple cross-ranking kills - Reward Card Draw x30!"

"Decuple cross-ranking kills - Reward Card Draw x40!"

"Above decuple cross-ranking kills - you'll receive Reward Card Draw x10 for every rank."

"Now that I'm on white flame-level, if I use a Provisional Transformation Card to increase my combat level and use another two Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Cards, I can get to immortal-level rank-2. Then, it won't be too difficult to kill an immortal-level rank-7 monster. It's 11 ranks from white flame-level to immortal-level rank-7, so I can get 50 card draws. If I use the Double Reward Card, I'll get 100 card draws and 10 kills would mean I get 1,000 card draws…" Lin Huang sat on Thunder's back and smiled into the sky like an idiot.

"You're thinking too much. The cross-ranking kill depends on your combat level. If you're using the card to upgrade your combat level temporarily, the calculation will start from the combat level that was upgraded from. That would be no different from you killing an immortal-level rank-1 when you're on white flame-level. To be able to obtain more cross-ranking rewards, you should think about how to increase your combat level."

"Ah, is that so? That's disappointing." Lin Huang had been fantasizing about obtaining a massive amount of cards but his dream was crushed.

"Please stop dreaming. Thank you!"

"If that's the case, I shall get my fiends to help me to kill immortal-level rank-2 monsters. Too bad the fiends have limited abilities, so they can't do much if we encounter immortal-level rank-3 monsters. Maybe I should try my luck and see if they can kill such monsters.

"Then again, killing immortal-level rank-3 monsters would mean a sextuple cross-ranking kill, which means 15 card draws and that's 30 card draws if doubled. Ten kills mean 300 card draws, which is 100 more cards than a quadruple kill," Lin Huang recalculated how to obtain more cards.

Before obtaining the new monster skills, he could already cross one level to kill an immortal-level rank-1 monster. Now that he had five new monster skills with upgraded abilities, he thought it would not be difficult to kill an immortal-level rank-2 monster with the help of the three fiends. However, Lin Huang wanted to spend some time exploring the severe danger zone before he did his hunting. He wanted to know the exact location and the abilities of each chief-level monster.

Although he had the preliminary information from the black market, most of the information was from many years ago. Some of them were as long as 20 years ago, and only a few them were refreshed last year. After all, there were 28 severe danger zones and not everyone would go into them every year. Since more than 20 years had passed, the monsters might have upgraded, be killed or moved away. Those were the possibilities. He wanted to confirm the accuracy of the information and pin his next destination on the dimensional relic.

One and a half hour later, Thunder brought Lin Huang to their first destination, Big Devil Island. He was familiar with the name of the island as he had been to Little Devil Island when he joined the Hunter Assessment a year ago. There was not much relationship between these two islands as one was on the southeast while the other was on the southwest of Division 7. Both of the islands were across half of the division. Their names were similar as both islands had the shape of a devil's face. The one that was bigger was named the Big Devil Island while the smaller one was named Little Devil Island.

However, the two islands had the same ecosystem with the existence of demons, the undead and soul-type monsters. Of course, the Big Devil Island was a severe danger zone which was incomparable with the grade-4 wild zone of the Little Devil Island. From what information Lin Huang had obtained, there were a total of six chief-level monsters, two immortal-level rank-2 monsters, one immortal-level rank-4 monster, two immortal-level rank-5 monsters and one immortal-level rank-7 monster on the island. There were hundreds of commander-level monsters on the island. However, the statistic was as old as 11 years.

Initially, Lin Huang was here for the immortal-level rank-7, but armed with the knowledge of the cross-ranking kill rewards from Xiao Hei, he changed his target to the two immortal-level rank-2 monsters. It was just before 9 a.m. when Thunder landed on a beach at the border of the island. Lin Huang sat on its back and summoned Bloody.

"Bloody, check where the chief-level monsters are on this island and their combat levels," Lin Huang said to Bloody.

Purple specks spread out from Bloody and flew away. Twenty minutes later, Bloody's voice came to Lin Huang's ears.

"There are only three chief-levels, one immortal-level rank-2, one immortal-level rank-3 and one immortal-level rank-4. They're spread out…" Bloody marked the locations on Lin Huang's map. It marked the immortal-level rank-2 in red and another two in white.

"Only three of them? The statistic from 11 years ago isn't reliable," Lin Huang sighed.

"I've cast my Leech Pods on a blue flame-level monster. According to its memory, someone was here three years ago and fought the overlord-rank monsters on the island. The person killed the three most powerful ones," Bloody explained.

"Is that so?" Lin Huang nodded and patted Thunder's back.

"Thunder, let's go to the location marked in red."

Half an hour later, Lin Huang arrived 50 kilometers away from where the immortal-level rank-2 monsters were. The immortal-level monsters had a much stronger sensing ability than holy fire-levels. They could sense an enemy that was tens of kilometers away. It was risky for Lin Huang to appear 50 kilometers away. If he got a little closer, the monsters might attack him. His plan was not to fight them but to mark down their coordinates.

He had limited Double Reward Cards; there would be enough cards if he used one of them for every kill. The only way was to complete ten cross-ranking kills using a Double Reward Card within the given time. After pinning the coordinates in his dimensional relic, Lin Huang smirked at the direction of the first targeted monster.

"I'll kill every one of you after I've completed marking down all your locations!"

There were a total of 28 severe danger zones in Division 7. Lin Huang spent three days visiting all 23 of them and pinned the locations of ten immortal-level rank-2 monsters. It showed that aside from the information that was refreshed last year, none of the information from three years ago was accurate. The information that was as old as 20 years was so inaccurate that Lin Huang regretted paying such a high price at the black market.

"Damn it!" Although he had not exactly been cheated since the date was clearly jotted down on top of the documents, he was unhappy.

"I'll sell this piece of information to earn back the money after I finish the remaining islands and complete all the cross-ranking kills!"

The Union Government and the Hunter Association did a check on severe danger zones every three years. However, the result was not opened to the public. It was confidential, and only core members who joined them officially were privy to the information.

Ever since Lin Huang got to holy fire-level, he realized the importance of joining an organization. Resources were not crucial as he could obtain them by himself as long as he had the ability. The most important thing was the access to information. In this world, most information was controlled by organizations. Their members could obtain the information that was not publicly available easily while those who did not join any organization would have to spend their money at the black market. Furthermore, some of the information was not up for purchase.

If Lin Huang was one of the executives in the Hunter Association, he could obtain the information of the severe danger zone without spending a fortune. He had no idea about the progress between the Union and the Saints but, to Qin Tianxing who was an executive in the Hunter Association, the information was provided to him for free.

"I'll consider how to obtain that information after handling this." Lin Huang shook his head and got rid of his thoughts.

He pushed open the dimensional relic and returned to Big Devil Island again. After recalling the dimensional relic, he flew above the island and stared at his first target that was tens of kilometers away. It was a double mutated giant, the Black Serpent.

It was at least 2,000 meters long with black metallic scales that gleamed under the sunlight. It was lying next to a gigantic lake, appearing like a black mountain.

As Lin Huang stared at it, it seemed to sense somebody watching it and it gazed at Lin Huang with its four bloody eyes.

"It saw me! Such sensitive sensing abilities!" Lin Huang did not expect to reveal himself to its observation. However, he did not mind that.

"Since I'm already discovered, I'll kill it then!"

He smirked and activated a Double Reward Card while summoning his three fiends.

He then activated double acceleration and dashed towards the monster. A white cone of vapor was created in the air, and soon an explosion was heard on top of Big Devil Island. In less than a minute, Lin Huang whizzed past 50 kilometers and arrived before the Black Serpent. Sensing that Lin Huang was unfriendly, the Black Serpent attacked without thinking twice.

It opened its mouth wide while black flames spat out like dragon flames towards Lin Huang.

"That's Black Flame. It's a venomous attack with both water and fire attributes. It's corrosive, and an immortal-level person's skin will fall off or you may die," warned Bloody that was hiding in Lin Huang's sleeve.

"You need to kill it right now. If it manages to spit out too much of the venomous flames, it'll accumulate into a lake and it'll then perform its ultimate move of activating the black lake to attack. By then, countless venomous tentacles will ambush us and we will basically lose."

Lin Huang shifted and managed to avoid the flame. Since the attack failed, the flames rained onto the ground and created a deep path which resulted in a black river. Looking at the sight of the phenomenon, Lin Huang had to admit that Bloody was right.

"This thing is tricky." Lin Huang held his supreme relic in his hand and inserted Life Power into it. It released a misty white glow.

"I thought you're some powerful human, but you're just a white flame-level kid." The Black Serpent's four eyes focused on Lin Huang and it realized that he was just a white flame-level.

"Hey, don't underestimate me! You'll regret it." Lin Huang grinned.

As he said that, his three fiends appeared next to him.

"So, you're an Imperial Censor! No wonder you have the guts to challenge me!" The Black Serpent noticed the three fiends immediately.

"Three fiends, hmm, I'd be afraid if they're immortal-level, but they're only gold flame-level. They're just food to me."

The Black Serpent then spat Black Flames at the four of them. They were completely engulfed by the flame that was like a massive ocean wave.

"That's it? Humans are such weak creatures…" The Black Serpent soon stopped its flames.

As the flames faded, a black sphere floating in mid-air appeared.

"Hey, don't you have any other techniques?" The black sphere faded and revealed Lin Huang and the three fiends who were unharmed.

"I was anticipating fighting you but it's pretty boring that you only have this one mundane technique."

Lin Huang picked his ear to show how bored he was.

"Human kid, it depends if you deserve my other techniques. If you think your psychological game will make me change my attacks, I'm sorry. I won't be fooled." The Black Serpent grinned like a human.

"Do you think that's a psychological game? You're thinking too much, I just thought that you spitting saliva is a little… disgusting," Lin Huang teased.

"In the human world, what you're doing is unhygienic and you'll be fined."

"How dare you!?" The Black Serpent spat flames again. The four of them spread out and avoided the attack.

"Hey, spitting saliva at people is uncourteous. Didn't your mother teach you that?" The ground where the flame touched was corroded. All of the things around was now purplish-black.

"Go to hell!" The Black Serpent proceeded to spit flame.

"Black Serpent, I'll get mad if you do that again!" Lin Huang's aura was rising.

"Die!" The Black Serpent shouted and opened its jaws wide.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared under its mouth. A punch was launched from under its chin, smacking its gaping jaw shut with a snap. Black chains appeared out of nowhere and muzzled its mouth, containing the flames in its mouth. Almost at the same time, the remaining flames on the ground became four gigantic guns and fired at the Black Serpent's four eyes.

Lin Huang grinned and sliced the Black Serpent's heart like a lightning bolt.

The Black Serpent's furious groaning and screaming stopped immediately, blood dripping from Lin Huang's sword onto the ground…

"Congratulations, you have obtained an epic-level Monster Card - Black Serpent (Giant) x2!"

"Congratulations, you have completed a sextuple cross-ranking kill with reward card draw x30!"

"Do you really think I triggered you just to make you change your mode of attack? I just wanted to distract you so that the three of them could attack you." Lin Huang descended and looked at the Black Serpent's head that looked like a small hill...

Lin Huang would have loved to prolong the fight with the Black Serpent but since the Double Reward Card effective time was only an hour, he could not stay any longer. He needed to complete ten kills within an hour, which was six minutes on average to kill each monster. Therefore, he had to kill the Black Serpent immediately.

By teasing the Black Serpent, he managed to distract it while the three fiends cooperated to attack it. First, it was the Malachian Fiend who locked the Black Serpent's attack and the Witch that used Witchcraft to seal its mouth temporarily while the Inferior Imp was simply a distraction. The real ultimate move was Lin Huang's Star Dome sword skill. After integrating many sword skills, the Star Dome was no longer comparable to legendary-level skills. The more sword skills were integrated, the stronger the sword skill was. Although the Star Dome was far from being mythical-level, it was much stronger than most legendary-level sword skills.

Moreover, since his sword realm had strengthened following the improvement of his sword skills, although he was still far away from level-4 Sword Dao, he was much more powerful than the time he had first stepped into level-3 Sword Dao. Besides, the location Lin Huang chose to attack was the Black Serpent's heart, which was the weakest point on its body. That was how he managed to slice the terrifying giant with only a single swing of his sword. If he was to cut any other location, he would only manage to puncture less than 20 centimeters into its body, which was an insignificant wound to the Black Serpent.

However, the Black Serpent was killed before it could show how mighty it was. The entire process took less than two minutes.

"Great teamwork!" Lin Huang flashed a thumbs-up to the three fiends. After storing the Black Serpent's carcass, he summoned his dimensional relic and brought the three fiends along. The second target that he chose was in another severe danger zone called the Mysterious Colored Desert.

It was a vast, unique dessert that changed colors as the weather changed. It would go through at least 30 shades of colors from morning to night. Different areas would have different colors as the weather and temperature varied. The colors would change as well when it was raining, snowing or windy. It was beautiful. However, great danger lied in this beautiful land. Bloody had run a check and found out that there were eight chief-level monsters around. The most powerful one was an immortal-level rank-9. However, Lin Huang's target this time was only an immortal-level rank-2 Arachnid Enchanter.

The Arachnid Enchanter had a human torso and a spider's body as its bottom. The divide between its uppper and lower body was at its waist and it looked like the manga Monster Girl that Lin Huang had seen when he was on Earth. However, this Arachnid Enchanter was not as cute as the one in the manga. The Arachnid Enchanter was more than three meters tall with its bottom half more than two meters in length. Its furry abdomen and eight claws that released a frigid aura were terrifying. Its chest was bare and its breasts were at least E-cup in size.

In reality, there was not only female Arachnid Enchanters but handsome male ones as well. The reason why humans hardly saw male Arachnid Enchanter was because the males would be attracted by the Arachnid Enchanter once they became an adult. They would go into a mating frenzy which would last for more than three days and sometimes went on for more than ten days. They would not rest, eat, or drink between mating. The male would be weak after mating and the female would take the advantage to smash the male's head and eat it slowly.

The Arachnid Enchanter's love was simple. I love you, therefore I will eat you. According to the statistics done by humans, a single female Arachnid Enchanter could eat up to ten male Arachnid Enchanters in a lifetime. The more they ate, the more powerful they were. Sometimes, they could get to imperial-level just by eating male Arachnid Enchanters. The one that Lin Huang targeted was an immortal-level rank-2. Looking at its combat level, it would have eaten at least two to three male Arachnid Enchanters.

As they passed through the dimensional relic, Lin Huang, Bloody, and the three fiends appeared in the Mysterious Colored Desert. Although it was not his first time there, Lin Huang was still enthralled by the colorful sand he stepped on. No matter which angle you took it from, any photos that was taken there could be used as a desktop image.

"I shall bring Xin Er here for a picnic when we have the time. She'll definitely love the view." Lin Huang stayed where he was before looking at the Arachnid Enchanter's direction. He leaped and rushed towards it as the three fiends followed him.

In less than a minute, Lin Huang traveled through tens of kilometers and appeared in the oasis where the Arachnid Enchanter was hiding. The female Arachnid Enchanter was sleeping on its spider web. As soon as Lin Huang invaded the oasis, it opened its eyes.

There's prey!

"Bloody, where is she?" Lin Huang asked softly. He was standing at the location where Bloody had pinned three days ago but he did not see the Arachnid Enchanter.

"We don't have to look for her. She know that you're here. I'm sure she'll be here soon." Bloody did not cast its Leech Pods this time as it was familiar with the Arachnid Enchanter's hunting behavior.

"Her spider web will vibrate automatically and mark our location when we enter this territory. She'll be here soon."

Lin Huang nodded after hearing what Bloody said while waiting where he was patiently waiting. Suddenly, a white glow invaded Lin Huang's Territory. It was hurtling towards his head from his back. Lin Huang stepped out and glided aside, managing to avoid the attack. The white glow missed him and passed through tens of trees. He turned around to look at the direction of the attack and saw a female Arachnid Enchanter tilting her head while looking at him with great interest.

The top half of her body was naked. Her hot body would definitely make all men lust for her until their noses bled. Her long, black hair barely covered her breasts but that made her even more captivating. What was more attractive was her perfect face. From a human's perspective, she was a goddess. It was not exaggerating to call her a deity. However, from the waist down, she was terrifying. There were yellow mottled spots all over her dark brown abdomen that was filled with dense, sharp thorns. Below that were eight yellowish-black killer weapons in the form of legs

"Oh, it's a human. It's been a long time since I've eaten human flesh…" Th Arachnid Enchanter licked her bloody red lips seductively.

"Why do all monsters love eating human flesh?" Lin Huang mumbled to himself as it was not the first time hearing about monsters wanting to eat human flesh. However, he thought about it and figured it was the same theory about humans preferring to eat the Swine Beast. It was just a matter of preference. He turned around as he heard an explosion from his back. A white glow exploded from tens of trees away and spider webs streaked everywhere. Lin Huang frowned.

"Once the Silk Cocoon explodes, the spider web that's spread out will cover up to hundreds of meters. Each spider web is as powerful as a relic. They're sticky and will affect your movement tremendously. The more Silk Cocoon she shoots, the worse the battlefield. However, it's an advantage to her," Bloody reminded.

"Also, her spider web gets stronger every time. Once the Silk Cocoon covers the entire area, it'll be her explosive territory."

"Human, you look really delicious. I shall enjoy you," Arachnid Enchanter cooed and attacked Lin Huang again. Shots of white glow came out from the end of her abdomen. The attacks were not targeting only Lin Huang but went in every direction.

"Oh no, I missed!" The Arachnid Enchanter lamented on purpose.

Lin Huang did not avoid her attack this time.

"Thunder Sting!"

As he shouted, his body turned into a white lightning bolt while white electrical arcs surrounded his sword. He moved as fast as lightning when he swung his sword to break every Silk Cocoon. The Arachnid Enchanter was shocked to see him do that.

"Do you really think I have no idea what you're trying to do?" Lin Huang leaped into the air and rushed towards the Arachnid Enchanter.

"Hmph!" The Arachnid Enchanter scoffed and spat white mist towards him. The mist seemed harmless but it was heading towards Lin Huang at an alarming pace.

"Be careful! The poisonous mist can penetrate into most creatures' skin, causing illusion!" Bloody said.

"This would've been tricky if it happened a few days ago, but now…" Lin Huang smirked while waving his left hand. A strong wind blew, and the white mist went back to the direction it came from, covering the entire Arachnid Enchanter.

"Telekinesis!" Arachnid Enchanter exclaimed in shock. Although the mist could not deceive the Arachnid Enchanter, it covered most of her vision as she looked around cautiously. Suddenly, Lin Huang walked out of the white mist and sliced the Arachnid Enchanter's waist with his sword. Although she was hot, he did not plan to show her any mercy. The Arachnid Enchanter did not manage to avoid his attack, but she opened her cute little mouth and released a strand of silk.

The strand of silk soon expanded into a huge spider web covering him.

"A piece of cake!" Lin Huang shouted and brandished his sword at the spider web. The spider web was immediately cut open. He got out of the web and swung his sword at the Arachnid Enchanter again. There were white electrical arcs dancing on his sword, and the space that he sword swung through became a vacuum. As the Arachnid Enchanter managed to buy herself some time from casting the spider web, she lifted her two legs up and kicked Lin Huang's sword.

Bang!

The white sword tip collided with the Arachnid Enchanter's two legs, creating a loud thud. The impact of the collision spread kilometers away. There was a deep crater in the area and the trees were all destroyed. Even the three fiends that had just arrived chose to avoid them at that moment and did not get any closer. The collision lasted for a moment and a shadow sprinted away. There was a huge path tens of thousands meters left on the ground from the impact.

From the attack alone, Lin Huang had really reached the immortal-level standard whereby his attack was disastrous. If he were to fight at the human foothold, he would cause a catastrophic amount of damage, which was also why the Union Government controlled the number of human immortal-levels and above in the A and B-grade footholds.

Although Lin Huang managed to fling the Arachnid Enchanter tens of thousands of meters away, he knew very well that the attack did not really harm her. The impact of his sword was contained by her two legs, and she would suffer minor skin injuries from that. The Arachnid Enchanter was no more powerful than the Black Serpent that he had killed a few minutes ago. No matter her strength, defenses, or physique, the Arachnid Enchanter was much weaker. She managed to face Lin Huang's attack as she could see what was coming.

Lin Huang leaped and appeared before the Arachnid Enchanter in an instant. The Thunder Sting had left electrical arcs all over her body, temporarily numbing her body. Without hesitating, Lin Huang held his sword high and looked at her calmly like he was killing a Swine Beast. His Life Power filled the tip of the sword, making it grow half a foot longer.

"Star Dome!"

As Lin Huang whispered that softly, he swung his sword from the top to the bottom. The air around was slightly distorted. There were even light black electric arcs whizzing around…

The Arachnid Enchanter smelled death on the sword. Although her body was numb, the death threat allowed her to spit countless spider webs at Lin Huang on instinct. However, the spider webs did not stop Lin Huang's sword. They disappeared when the white sword tip touched them. The sword swing destroyed everything that came its way! The Arachnid Enchanter's struggle was redundant, and she did not manage to slow down the sword at all.

"No!" As a miserable groan was heard, a loud bang echoed. The sword sliced the Arachnid Enchanter into half all the way into the 30-kilometer deep path. Even Lin Huang was shocked at what he had done.

"Am I really this powerful now?" Lin Huang looked at his sword in disbelief. The faded Life Power revealed his half-silver, half-black sword. There was purple blood dripping from the tip.

"Hmm, but it's still difficult for me to kill an immortal-level rank-2 on my own now…

"Congratulations, you have completed sextuple cross-ranking kill with reward card draw x30!"

Lin Huang looked at the time when he heard the notification from Xiao Hei.

"This took five minutes. Looking at the progress, I have just enough time. It seems like we need help." Lin Huang frowned. The fight started one-on-one. As the both of them collided together, the three fiends could not find a way to help, so it took more time than the previous fight.

If he had not used Thunder Sting on the Arachnid Enchanter, the fight might not have ended so easily. After concluding the experience silently while standing, he put his sword and the Arachnid Enchanter's carcass away, then summoned the dimensional relic again.

"Let's go!" He waved to the three fiends and stepped into the dimensional relic. After completing two kills, he grasped the basic understanding of immortal-level rank-2 monsters. With Bloody's help on each monster's weaknesses and abilities together with the fiends' assistance, Lin Huang managed to kill seven monsters in less than half an hour.

"There are 23 minutes left. We should be able to kill all of them." Lin Huang became excited after winning battle after battle. He stepped into the dimensional relic and appeared on an island. It was the Enigma Island where there were many peculiar, unknown monsters. There were new monster types that could not be found in the monster encyclopedia. Some of them were transformed from other existing monster types.

Lin Huang's target was an unknown ape on the island. Although Bloody could not distinguish the type of monster, he could still use it as his target because it was also an immortal-level rank-2. It was Xiao Hei' that suggested making this island their final destination. Its reason was that there were many odd monsters that it wanted Lin Huang to kill for research. Since he had completed all the cross-ranking kills, it was the perfect timing as he needed to kill monsters to obtain more Life Power to grow his Life Fire.

"This ape looks a little like the Mighty Ape from the ancient epoch. The Mighty Ape was a triple-mutated ancient beast and its ability was the top of the triple-mutated monsters. Not many same level monsters could fight it with its strength. However, according to the monster encyclopedia, The Mighty Ape had three descendants, but none of them looks like this one," Bloody said.

"There's something that I'm not sure if I should tell you about…" Bloody hesitated.

"Just tell me everything." Lin Huang nodded.

"This ape gives me an odd feeling that I can't describe… In reality, since the first time we came here a few days ago, besides this ape, I feel that all of the monsters on this island give me an… uncomfortable feeling…" Bloody said out loud.

"Really?" Lin Huang thought that was odd.

"This island is a little familiar to me. Like… I've been here before," the Inferior Imp that was standing next to Lin Huang said after looking around.

"I have the same feeling too. It's like I've been here before." Just when Lin Huang was stunned by what the Inferior Imp said, the Witch nodded and agreed.

"Me too." The Malachian Fiend nodded in assent.

"Did that happen before you guys became my summoning monsters?" Lin Huang thought it could not be a coincidence that the three fiends shared the same feeling.

"I think so, but my memory is unclear. I feel the familiarity when I look around the place," the Inferior Imp replied.

"Xiao Hei, do the Monster Cards retain their memories before they die?" Lin Huang contacted Xiao Hei secretly.

"That would involve the forming of Monster Cards. You have the authority to know about this now, but are you sure you want to hear about it?"

"Yes."

"The forming of the Monster Card is actually the breakdown of the dead monster's flesh and soul, transforming it into a particle that can be made into cards. To explain this in Earth language, it's like a three-dimensional creature that's placed into the data world in a computer.

"To make it simple, you're a three-dimensional human and I'm the computer that you're using while your Monster Cards are the data on the computer."

"If that's so, how does the Monster Card appear in the world with body and flesh? On Earth, the data in the computer can't be transformed back into a three-dimensional creature." Although Lin Huang understood what Xiao Hei was saying, he now had more questions.

"That's because of my existence. I allow the 'data' to interfere with reality!"

Lin Huang became silent before nodding.

"I understand now. That means all the Monster Cards retain their memories before they died."

"When they are broken down, all of the information in their heads, even the information that was inherited from their genes will be completely copied. To avoid trouble, I have categorized their memories. Most of their memories remained while some of them are sealed. However, to retain their intelligence and character, the memories aren't completely sealed, so they feel the familiarity whenever they encounter familiar environment and incidents."

"So, what happened to the Supreme Overlord who managed to escape from its card form earlier?" Lin Huang asked.

"As you did not have enough authority, you could only seal a living creature in a semi-card form. Once the card's combat level surpasses your authority and I'm unable to suppress it, the living creature will escape back to the world from its semi-card form."

"You're my power source. The higher your authority, the more powerful I am. Before you arrived at white flame-level, my power was limited by you and I couldn't manage legendary-level cards. That's why I had to seal them when your Monster Cards leveled up to legendary-level. The Supreme Overlord was only in a semi-card form so I could only seal a portion of his power, not the material portion of him. That's how he managed to escape.

"In reality, as long as you have enough authority to supply me with sufficient power, not only can I turn all the monsters in this world into their card forms, I can even make the entire world into a card…"

What Xiao Hei said puzzled Lin Huang.

As long as it had sufficient power, it could turn the entire world into a card?!

After communicating with Xiao Hei, Lin Huang had a better understanding of the Goldfinger than he did before. He did not know that Xiao Hei was powerful enough to control the entire world. A while later, he snapped out of his shock and recalled what he wanted to ask.

"So, you mean that the three fiends have been here before since they find it familiar?"

"Yes, there's no other reasonable explanation for that. It could be a coincidence if only one fiend feels the deja vu but it's definitely not a coincidence if the three of them are experiencing the same thing."

"Haven't you seen this part of their memory before?" Lin Huang thought Xiao Hei's explanation was odd.

"I realized that the information in their bodies was messy when I was returning them to their card forms. Some of their memories had been erased earlier. While I was organizing their memories, I didn't find anything that's related to this area, so I have no idea what was the memory that was erased."

"I first saw them at the Mystery Auction. They were brought by the Purple Crow. If they've been here before, could that mean that this is one of the footholds under the Purple Crow's territory?" Lin Huang frowned as none of his encounters with the Purple Crow had ever been a positive one.

"That could be possible… Do you remember that I told you that these three fiends were modified by humans before?"

"I remember. The three of them looked much more ferocious at the auction. I even asked you what happened to them before."

"I found out from Bloody's Leech Pods' surveillance that there's a similar aura coming from the creatures on this island. The same aura as before the fiends were returned to their card form. I suspect they were modified on this island!"

"This entire island could be a creature laboratory, but I can't confirm at the moment if it's been formed by nature or if it's man-made. This is also why I picked this place as the final destination. I need you to kill as many monsters as you can on this island so that I can analyze the monster modification."

"I understand now." Lin Huang nodded.

If this foothold belonged to the Purple Crow, he did not mind causing damage to this place. Even if it was not, it was perfect for him to kill more monsters to grow his Life Fire.

"Let's go!" Lin Huang waved to the three fiends.

"Don't do anything at the moment, let me try to kill it first," Lin Huang said, then activated double acceleration immediately and scooted towards where the ape was. It only took him a moment to arrive at his destination. This ape was 200 meters tall. Although it was nothing comparable to the Black Serpent he had encountered earlier, its aura was even more powerful.

The ape had green hair with three gigantic heads. There were six white eyeballs on each of its head, and its teeth were as sharp as a beast's. As its teeth were too huge, its mouths could not be closed completely. Its six arms were muscular, each of them a few times bigger than its thighs. It was obvious that its upper body strength was terrifying. Its palms were gigantic and were no smaller than its faces.

From the front, it had detailed golden scales from its neck all the way to just above its thighs. On its back, there was a metal golden armor from its neck downwards, appearing like an enlarged metal spine that extended all the way to its tail. It did not only cover two-thirds of its back; its entire tail looked like it had been galvanized. The end of its tail looked like a golden metal needle.

Although its legs were thinner than its arms, compared to normal apes, they were much more muscular and powerful. Its black feet created odd cracking sounds when walking on the ground, sounding very much like snow being crunched on. It was the sound of the gravel becoming powder under its feet, leaving deep footprints on the ground.

"A strength-type monster with powerful defense…" Lin Huang checked it out and figured what type of monster it was.

"The only weakness is both sides of its body but it has two heads and four arms on both sides. This is tricky…"

Just as Lin Huang was checking the ape out, it noticed his presence. Three of its heads turned around while its 18 white eyes that seemed devoid of pupils stared at Lin Huang. Fortunately, he was not trypophobic, or he would have had goosebumps all over his body.

As the ape locked eyes on Lin Huang, it did not seem to bother if he was friend or foe. It tore right at him.

"Attacking directly… It seems to only have battle instincts," Bloody mumbled.

"Perfect!" Lin Huang shouted and held his battle sword in his hand. He dashed towards the ape after activating his Seraphic Speed and Thunder Steps.

"Thunder Sting!"

White sparks shone brightly on the sword while electric arcs dashed into the sky. The combination of the Seraphic Speed, Thunder Steps, and Thunder Sting was so fast that Lin Huang looked like he transformed into a white electric bolt.

The crescent moon sword glow raced towards the ape that was charging towards Lin Huang. The ape swung its muscular arms at Lin Huang, and a loud explosion was heard. A strong gust of wind blew as a shockwave exploded in the air. The white glow collided with the gigantic fists.

Bang!

The collision was not like a thunderclap. Instead, it was like a nuclear bomb explosion. Green and white shockwaves shot into the sky in the center of the collision. Circles of energy waves rippled in the air and spread out. The area within 78.5 square kilometers was completely destroyed.

The collision lasted less than two seconds before a figure shot out like an arrow…

The one remaining was the gigantic ape.

"Such powerful strength!" Lin Huang exclaimed. Although the ape was only an immortal-level rank-2, its strength surpassed an immortal-level rank-3's standard and was almost equivalent to an immortal-level rank-4's. Looking at his deformed right hand, Lin Huang could tell that the single collision had broken every bone in his hand.

Fortunately, he managed to heal his hand immediately with the Demonic Regeneration Monster Skill that he had just obtained. Within seconds, his broken bones were completely healed, and the injury seemed like an illusion to him.

"It doesn't seem to be affected by Thunder Sting at all..." Lin Huang looked solemnly at the monster.

"I need to try something else…"

From that single attack, Lin Huang was sure that the ape was much more powerful than he expected. Fortunately, his broken hand was healed immediately with the Demonic Regeneration skill which did not affect him much. The ape charged towards him once again. Each step it took brought it 1,000 meters closer, and it was coming right to Lin Huang.

He realized something as he watched what the ape was doing.

"So, this is it… Most apes aren't only agile but fast as well. However, this fella has an advantage in strength and defense which makes its speed and agility drop tremendously."

The ape arrived before Lin Huang after a few steps while swinging its fist towards him again. He stepped back with the help of Thunder Step, pulling a distance away from the ape. As the ape swung its fist in the air, there was a sonic boom in the air but Lin Huang was not affected at all. Seeing that he managed to avoid its attack unharmed, the ape chased after him furiously. However, it was not any faster than before.

"It seems that this is its maximum speed. That's perfect!" Lin Huang smirked.

He leaped into the air and turned around out of nowhere then stormed towards the ape. As the ape raised its fist again, Lin Huang was like a loach that avoided its attack easily. The battle sword in his hand was covered in white, glowing Life Power and he launched it at the ape as it attacked. There were white trails on the ape's golden scales but it did not manage to break its defense.

Lin Huang stepped back again before the ape managed to swing its fist at him.

"I can't break it… The defense of these scales should be above immortal-level rank-3 while the thicker metal armor on its back should have a higher defense." Lin Huang observed both sides of the ape.

Roar!

Suddenly, the ape bellowed furiously into the sky. It was mad as Lin Huang attacked it continuously. Although he did not break its defense, the blows of the sword hurt. Furthermore, it was irritated as it could not hit Lin Huang since the beginning.

"This monster seems not to have any intelligence but relies only on battle instinct." Lin Huang peeked at his Emperor's Heart Ring.

"I've got 18 minutes left. It's meaningless to waste time with it like this."

Lin Huang snapped out of his thoughts and tore towards the ape with his sword.

…

"What's happening? Who's fighting on the island?"

The glassware in the huge laboratory under the sea of the Enigma Island was clattering against one another. A petite old man with silver hair in a white coat glared madly at the middle-aged man in the white coat.

"I'm sorry, Professor Jin. A young male human invaded the Enigma Island. He's fighting with a Tri-headed Ape," the middle-aged man explained.

"A young man?" The old man named Professor Jin seemed to be interested. "Show me!"

The middle-aged man brought Professor Jin to the surveillance room. There were many of them watching what was happening. They left immediately the moment Professor Jin appeared. He walked to the surveillance monitors where everyone surrounded as he frowned. It was a live stream of Lin Huang fighting the ape.

"He looks so young! He doesn't look like he's older than 20!" Professor Jin exclaimed when he saw Lin Huang.

"What's his combat level?" Professor Jin turned around and asked the middle-aged man next to him after watching for a while.

"He's performing white flame-level skills but I suspect he's using some relic to hide his real combat level," the middle-aged man presumed.

"Usually, it's impossible for humans to cross a level in battles. Only the legendary Supreme Genius can do that. Besides, the Tri-headed Ape is a double mutated immortal-level rank-2 monster and its strength and defense surpasses immortal-level rank-3. Even an immortal-level rank-2 human can hardly fight it."

Professor Jin proceeded to watch the fight. After Lin Huang's failed attempts to attack, he advanced to attack once more but this time, he aimed at the Tri-headed Ape's lateral sides that were the weakest. Within a minute, the Tri-headed Ape was badly injured. The dejected Tri-headed Ape fell into a frenzy whereby its body grew bigger. Besides its spike in strength and defense, even its speed had increased tremendously.

Lin Huang avoided it calmly like an agile ape that was swinging among the trees. As the Tri-headed Ape showed its flaws again and again, Lin Huang managed to pierce through the 18 eyes on three of its heads with his sword. Finally, he pierced through its heart from the side of its body. The entire process lasted less than ten minutes.

Professor Jin stared at the screen without blinking. He did not want to miss a thing.

"Lock down the island immediately!" He shouted as soon as Lin Huang killed the Tri-headed Ape.

"Yes!"

The middle-aged man took out a Transmission Snail and instructed one of the departments, "Lock down Enigma Island!"

After carrying out the order, the middle-aged man turned around and asked, "Professor, do we kill him?"

"Are you an idiot? Of course, we're capturing him alive!" Professor Jin shouted.

"I'll arrange that immediately." The middle-aged man remained polite.

"Wait, I want to test his ability." Professor Jin raised his hand to stop him.

"Release ten inferior immortal-level rank-1 beasts from the cage and target this young man."

"Ten? Won't he be killed?" The middle-aged man was stunned.

"Get something to watch over him and don't get him killed! I want him alive!"

"Sure, I'll arrange that right away." The middle-aged man nodded and left.

"This kid could be the legendary Supreme Genius. As long as I manage to capture him and run some tests on him, I can definitely make a creature that's even more powerful!" Professor Jin looked at the screen with burning desire.

…

"Congratulations, you have obtained an epic-level Monster Card - Tri-headed Ape (Unknown Monster Type) x2!"

"Congratulations, you have completed a sextuple cross-ranking kill with reward card draw x30!"

"I got a complete Monster Card?" Lin Huang raised an eyebrow. The ten cross-ranking kills had gotten him 300 card draws and to his surprise, he obtained complete Monster Cards twice.

"I've told you that I need many modified monsters for research. These two Tri-headed Apes are my advanced reward for you. Unfortunately, I have bad news. The island is being locked down…"

"There's someone on the island?!"

The first thing that popped into Lin Huang's mind was the Purple Crow when Xiao Hei told him that the island had been locked down as the three fiends in his possession had been brought by the Purple Crow to the auction.

"I've checked the island these few days. There's no man-made building. The lock down must've been done by humans. The enemy is either hiding under the island or somewhere outside of the island but I'm pretty sure that we're being watched," Bloody analyzed.

Lin Huang turned on the communication page on his Emperor's Heart Ring and found out that signal and network had been cut off.

"The signal has been cut. I definitely can't use the dimensional relic anymore." Lin Huang summoned his dimensional relic and found out that he could not set any location.

He recalled the dimensional relic and waved to the three fiends in the sky.

"Follow me!" He ordered and flew straight up to the sky. Within seconds, he arrived thousands of meters in the sky but was soon blocked by a transparent shield and could not get any further. He held his sword in his hand and white Life Power was coming out of the sword...

Suddenly, an excited voice came out of nowhere. It echoed to every corner of the island and sounded old.

"It's useless, kid. Nobody below imperial-level can break the seal layer of the island. You can't run anywhere. Just accept your fate of being my guinea pig!"

"We're really being watched." Lin Huang frowned and but he did not stop trying. He swung his sword at the shield on top of his head with his Star Dome. An intense impact was sent through his sword and he was shot right down. He crashed into the ground like a cannon. A crater hundreds of meters wide and at least 20 to 30 meters deep was created.

The three fiends caught up to him immediately and landed next to the hole.

"Master, are you alright?" The Witch asked immediately.

"I'm alright."

Lin Huang got up from the hole slowly and coughed the sand in his mouth out. He then used his Life Power to clear the dirt on his body and flew to the surface.

"This shield should be all around the island. Since I can't break it, what he said about those below imperial-level not being able to penetrate it is true. Seems like I need to think of another way to escape." Lin Huang looked into the sky wistfully.

"Stop trying. There's no way that you can run," the old person spoke again.

"Oh yeah, I've prepared a little game exclusively for you. I hope you'll have fun."

"A little game?" Lin Huang frowned and soon, he sensed that he was being targeted by something which was heading towards him at full speed. He immediately understood what the person meant by "game". Within minutes, ten ruthless shadows streaked towards him, ignoring the three fiends.

"Ten immortal-level rank-1… Such odd aura! They're also uglier than one another." Lin Huang put his sword away and slipped his hands into his pockets while grinning to the fiends.

"I'll let you guys handle these ten."

The three fiends were excited when they heard his instruction. The Witch performed a hand seal immediately. As the ten monsters were less than ten meters away from Lin Huang, ten purple vines with thorns grew out of the ground and entangled the monsters' ankles. The vines then crawled up the monsters in an instant. The monsters' body turned a plum color like they had been poisoned.

Lin Huang knew that it was not poison though. The vine was called the Crippling Vine, and it was a type of vine enchanted with witchcraft. Once someone was entangled by the vine, the person would be weakened whereby his strength and speed would drop by 10%. The thorns on the vines were not poisonous, but it was painful and itchy. It would be a form of living death if one was to be entangled by these vines. However, if one encountered monsters with powerful defenses, the thorns would be redundant.

As the Witch attacked, the other fiends followed as well. They had great teamwork. The Inferior Imp activated its Telepathy and covered the four of them in a circle. An intense wave shot the ten monsters out of the circle and prevented them from coming closer. Meanwhile, the Malachian Fiend punched through the two monsters' abdomens that had turned plum without thinking twice. Without even looking at both the monsters, it turned around and started punching another two monsters…

Suddenly, there were black flames on two of the Inferior Imp's claws. It was mauling the other two monsters ruthlessly.

The Witch was performing well too as she grabbed two figures and tossed them into the carcasses of the dead monsters that the Malachian Fiend had killed. The two dead monsters were revived and they dashed towards a monster after passing through Lin Huang and the rest…

In less than a minute, the ten immortal-level rank-1 monsters were completely slaughtered by the three fiends. Despite being killed, all of them were controlled by the Witch's parasitic worms and they were revived. As the three fiends transferred their Life Power to him, Lin Huang could feel intense Life Power flowing into his Life Fire. His Life Fire was akin to being lit up with gasoline and burning wildly.

The immortal-level monster's Life Power was the ultimate replenishment to Lin Huang's Life Fire. Ten of his Life Fires that had been less than 30 centimeters tall was now burning at 1.5 meters. Almost every monster kill gave them a 10-centimeter growth spurt. As his Life Fire was stronger now, he could feel that his Life Power was more powerful now and his abilities had increased as well.

"The Life Power of the ten immortal-level rank-1 monsters only made my Life Fire grow more than one meter tall!" Lin Huang thought that killing one immortal-level monster would make his Life Fire grow by a meter but it was only 10% of what he expected.

"It seems like growing Life Fire isn't easy!"

As he observed his Life Fire, the old man spoke again, "Hmm, so the game isn't difficult enough. Let's go big. I want to see how long can you stand this!"

In a huge laboratory deep in the sea under the Enigma Island, the silver-haired Professor Jin was excited as he watched the three fiends from the screen. He did not seem to be sad about losing ten inferior monsters.

"Let 50 monsters out this time. I don't believe the kid won't fight this time," Professor Jin instructed without even turning his head. His eyes were locked on Lin Huang on the screen.

"Yes!" The middle-aged man in white coat nodded and made the arrangements using his Transmission Snail. When the old man spoke again, Lin Huang sensed that he was being targeted again.

"It seems like there's more this time." Lin Huang frowned.

A few minutes later, he saw an army of monsters of different varieties raining from the sky. They released their aura and headed towards him like a vampire desiring blood. Just like the previous ten monsters, they completely ignored the existence of the three fiends. They were ugly and they looked like aliens that were not part of this world.

"These should be modified monsters since I can't differentiate their types. Their minds are in a mess. Perhaps it was caused by over-modification. All they have is their battle instinct and they just attack the target that they are assigned," Bloody said to Lin Huang.

"Is there anything that can kill them fast?" Lin Huang asked.

"I can't think of anything. As my combat level is restricted, most of my parasitic ability only works on holy fire-level. Although I can control immortal-level rank-1 monster carcasses, the effect is almost the same with the Witch's parasitic worms. Now there are too many monsters, so the only thing we can do is to kill more monsters for the parasitic worms and control the monster carcasses to join the fight. The more monster carcasses, the more advantage we have." Bloody did not have any better suggestions, but what it recommended was what Lin Huang had in mind.

"Well, I guess that's the only thing that we can do." Lin Huang accepted the fact.

The 50 monsters headed towards them in an instant. As the Witch controlled ten monster carcasses that were cast with parasitic worms, she activated the Crippling Vine towards the monsters. The Malachian Fiend dashed into the monster crowd and started punching. Almost every punch took a life. Meanwhile, the Inferior Imp changed its battle strategy. Instead of controlling like the Witch did, it joined the massacre with the Malachian Fiend. With its sharp claws added with Abyssal Fire, its speed of killing was no slower than the Malachian Fiend's.

Lin Huang took out his battle sword and killed the monsters that broke the three fiends' defenses easily. As the Witch was controlling the monster carcasses, she was releasing parasitic worms into more and more monster carcasses. The battle lasted less than two minutes. The monsters that were on Lin Huang's side soon outnumbered the number of monsters who were attacking them. They were winning effortlessly, and the 50 immortal-level rank-1 monsters were settled within four minutes.

After this round of battle, Lin Huang's ten Life Fires were burning at six meters high now. Besides the monsters that he killed and did not obtain their Life Power, the rest were fed to his Life Fire.

"Let's see if it will burn even higher after 50 meters," Lin Huang mumbled as he observed the Life Fire in his body. Rank-3 mutated tinder could burn 50 meters, but he was not sure if the tinder in his body was a rank-3 or a rank-4.

As he snapped out of his thoughts, Lin Huang looked at the monster army that was surrounding him. With the Witch's parasitic worms, they obtained 50 more guardian monsters after the battle. As the monsters that were cast with parasitic worms were dead, they could still fight even though their heads were crushed since they did not have any senses anymore. As long as the parasitic worms were alive, they would continue to fight forever without tiring. It was a great advantage. Furthermore, the monsters that the old man released had no basic intelligence, so the monsters could do nothing as they were controlled by the parasitic worms.

Even though Lin Huang had a monster army now, he frowned as he knew it would not end so easily.

"Witch, can your parasitic worms control immortal-level rank-2 monster carcasses?" Lin Huang asked Witch telepathically.

"I can't. Immortal-level rank-1 is the maximum." The Witch shook her head.

"If that's so, it's going to get tricky…" Although he expected the Witch to give such an answer, he was worried when he heard the confirmation.

Just when Lin Huang was thinking, the old man spoke again, "Young man, congratulations for passing the level-2 challenge. The game's difficulty level will proceed to increase. Let's go to level-3 now!

"In this round, we're giving you 30 immortal-level rank-2 monsters. Will you be able to pass this level? We shall see!"

"Such a weird old man…" Lin Huang mumbled but he remained focused.

He expected that the difficulty level would increase when the 50 immortal-level rank-1 monsters were released earlier.

"I've detected that the most powerful monster on this island is an immortal-level rank-8. Looking at the situation, the entire island is the old man's fun laboratory. Since there's an immortal-level rank-8 here, that means they have a monster army on the same level."

"Judging from the current situation, even if we manage to defeat the immortal-level rank-2 monster army, there will be rank-3, rank-4 and even rank-5 monsters coming to us. As long as we continue to fight, the old man will definitely send monsters that are more powerful to kill us. If that persists, we'll lose sooner or later. We must think of a way to leave as soon as possible!" Bloody said urgently to Lin Huang.

"I realized that when the monsters were sent for the second time," Lin Huang replied.

"We'll leave when my Life Fire burns at its peak later. It's meaningless to stay here. Even if this is the Purple Crow's foothold, there's nothing that I can do now with my current ability."

"How do we escape?" Bloody asked.

"I have a way." Lin Huang had a plan since the beginning.

"Before we leave, I need you to check how he's monitoring us. It would be perfect if you could deactivate his surveillance for some time. If you can't do that, maybe cover the surveillance with something."

"Sure, I'll try my best," Bloody replied.

Just when Lin Huang was done discussing with Bloody, dozens of powerful aura appeared out of nowhere. They were pushing towards where Lin Huang and the rest were.

"They're here!"

Lin Huang looked in the distance as he saw shadows descending from the sky. Their aura was much more powerful than the 60 monsters that had been sent earlier. It was like comparing domestic dogs to hungry lions.

Lin Huang knew that it was a tough battle. The bunch of immortal-level rank-2 monsters were on par with the abilities of the three fiends. The only flaw the monsters had was that they had no intelligence. Without waiting for the monsters to come closer, the 60 monster carcasses that were controlled by the Witch charged towards them. At that same time, the Witch performed a hand seal immediately while strands of vines came out of the ground. Besides the purple Crippling Vine, there were also black Paralyzing Vines.

The Paralyzing Vines could inject paralyzing poison into the creature's bodies. As soon as the vine broke, the poison that shot out of it would be a few times even more powerful. The two types of vines crawled swiftly towards the monsters. The 30 immortal-level rank-2 monster that had lost their minds had their eyes on Lin Huang. They did not avoid the vines that were reaching towards them and soon, all of them were slowed down by the 60 monster carcasses as well as the vines.

The Malachian Fiend and the Inferior Imp's bodies started growing tremendously. The Malachian Fiend grew from two to five meters, its greenish rock body now became blue. The scales on its arms had crystallized into a bluish-black, jagged matter. Its aura was also a few more times more powerful than before. Meanwhile, the Inferior Imp that was next to it was no longer five meters tall as well. Its body was burning in a crimson-black flame. The flame was hot, so fiery that the air around was distorted and its aura was much more terrifying than ever.

As the both of them grew, they darted towards the monsters that were slowed down. The movement of the 30 immortal-level rank-2 monsters was interfered by the 60 monsters and the Witch's vines. Meanwhile, the Malachian Fiend and the Inferior Imp dashed into the monster crowd. Lin Huang did not join the fight as he watched. Bloody that was hiding in his sleeve released transparent flecks everywhere. It could now change the color of its Leech Pods to whatever color that it wanted, including making them transparent.

Among the monster crowd, the Malachian Fiend targeted its first opponent. It looked like a deformed human monster. It was over two meters tall and walked on both legs. However, its head was twice the size of a normal human's and its entire body was covered in citrine scales, including its face. The monster was entangled by two vines while two immortal-level rank-1 monsters attacked it. However, it did not seem to be hurt at all. It then mauled one of the monster carcasses with its claws, leaving a massive hole in its chest. Had the monster carcass been alive, it would definitely have been killed by that single attack. However, under the control of the parasitic worms, the monster carcass was not affected by the attack and it proceeded to attack the monster that was filled with scales.

The Malachian Fiend then headed towards the scaled monster and punched hard on its chest. The scaled monster had turned purple from the Crippling Vine since the beginning and its defense had fallen by tenfold. However, the Malachian Fiend's punch only managed to cave its chest in and break some of its ribs. It did not die and instead, it attacked the Malachian Fiend back in pain.

The two monsters started fighting each other aggressively. However, due to the vines that were entangling it as well as the two monster carcasses that were surrounding it, the scaled monster soon lost the battle. In less than half a minute, the Malachian Fiend smashed its skull and the monster was dead. Although the fight took less than a minute, it was a tough one for the Malachian Fiend. Meanwhile, the Inferior Imp was experiencing almost the same situation. Without its Abyssal Fire, its strength was weaker than the Malachian Fiend's. With the burning of the Abyssal Fire, it took less than half a minute to kill its first opponent.

"This isn't very efficient…" Sensing that the Life Fire in his body growing, Lin Huang was not relaxed at all. Looking at the monsters that were slowly being killed, he pulled out his battle sword and ran into the monster crowd. A white glow enveloped his sword as he dashed among the crowd like a lightning bolt. He did not stop moving. Each of his sword swings were quick and each attack left a couple of deep cuts on those immortal-level rank-2 monsters. That was the maximum that he was performing as his aim was to injure the monsters and not kill them as he would not obtain any Life Power if he were to kill the monsters himself.

The monsters that were cut by Lin Huang experienced an instant deterioration in their abilities. The two fiends then proceeded to kill the monsters that were hurt. They aimed their attacks at the wounds that Lin Huang left on the monsters, successfully killing the monsters within two to three seconds. The immortal-level rank-2 monsters were killed one by one. As they fell to the ground, the Life Fire in Lin Huang grew tremendously within minutes.

When all of the monsters were dead, he looked at the Life Fire in his body.

"Each immortal-level rank-2 monsters gives a growth of over ten meters but it stopped growing at 300 meters…" Before Lin Huang started the battle, his Life Fire had been burning at over six meters. From his observation, each immortal-level rank-2 monster would give him a boost of over ten meters. Theoretically, killing all 30 monsters would at least give his Life Fire a boost of at least 330 meters. However, it had stopped at 300 meters.

"It seems like 300 meters is the limit of my tinder."

After confirming that, Lin Huang knew that his mission had come to an end and it was unnecessary to stay any longer.

"Bloody, did you manage to pick up on how they are monitoring us?" Lin Huang contacted Bloody secretly as he picked up the monster carcasses.

"I've tried looking around with my Leech Pods but I can't find anyone who is monitoring or if there are any monitoring monsters around," Bloody answered helplessly.

"I suspect they're using the defense layer on top of us to watch us. The areas that are covered by the shield should be within their surveillance."

Lin Huang looked up into the sky.

"If that's the case, we can't carry out the plan that we had earlier…"

The old man spoke again before Lin Huang finished picking up the monster carcasses, "Young man, it seems like your parasitic worms can only control immortal-level rank-1 monsters… Will you lose if I increase the difficulty to level-4 by releasing 100 immortal-level rank-2 monsters?! I want to know the answer so badly…"

"You crazy old man!" Lin Huang shouted, furious that the old man treated him like a toy.

"Xiao Hei, I definitely can't handle the fourth wave. Are these 90 monster carcasses enough for your research? If not, we'll have to come back next time. I might be captured by this crazy old man for his research if we stay any longer," Lin Huang contacted Xiao Hei secretly.

"Yes, they're enough. Remember to store all of the monster carcasses before you leave," Xiao Hei replied immediately.

"Witch, relieve all the parasitic worms," Lin Huang turned around and instructed the Witch.

The Witch performed a hand seal and the monster carcasses fell onto the ground one by one. They were put into Lin Huang's storage space immediately.

"What? Are you giving up now?" The old man spoke again. It was clear that he was watching whatever Lin Huang was doing.

Lin Huang shrugged his shoulders and recalled the three of his fiends as well as Bloody. It was just him alone.

"You're smart. As long you're willing to cooperate with my research, I'll consider keeping your conscience and modify you, making you a truly powerful person." The old man thought Lin Huang had completely given up fighting back.

"May I know how to address you?" Lin Huang asked while looking into the sky.

"You can call me Professor Jin." The old man did not bother hiding his identity.

"Professor Jin, I'll remember you…" Suddenly, Lin Huang smirked and pointed a finger into the sky. A white glow accumulated at his fingertip, growing brighter and brighter.

"Still trying to fight?" Professor Jin sounded sarcastic.

Within seconds, the white glow blossomed into a white sphere that was the size of a fist. Lin Huang flicked his finger and the white sphere exploded in the sky as it was flung a few meters high. The bright white glow covered a few kilometers.

"Crazy old man, I'll remember what happened today. I'll come back to end this one day. I have things to do, so I won't play with you anymore for now. Bye!" Lin Huang's voice came softly among the white light. He then crushed a card between his fingers, then his body turned into a cloud and he disappeared into the ground…

As the white glow faded, Professor Jin was stunned to see that Lin Huang was no longer where he stood.

"He's gone?"

He got all his staff to scrutinize the surveillance cameras on the entire island. However, half an hour had passed but Lin Huang was still nowhere to be seen. He finally realized that Lin Huang had escaped and was furious.

"I don't care how you do it. You guys have to find that kid for me!"

As Professor Jin got everyone to search for Lin Huang on the island, Lin Huang had dove underground after transforming himself into the Spectre. As he went deeper, he found out that the middle of the island was hollow. There were many monsters of different varieties hiding underground. To his surprise, there was an entrance leading to the ground.

"So, the monsters that attacked us were released from here." Lin Huang could not figure out where the monsters had come from earlier, but he had the answer now. In the hollow island was a huge space with many different monsters. There was also some staff in white coats working there. Lin Huang initially wanted to leave immediately, yet he could not help but take some photos as he strolled around the island within the walls.

"The staff are all wearing white coats. None of them are wearing the Purple Crow uniform. Are they not from the Purple Crow?" After a brief exploration, Lin Huang started suspecting that it was not the Purple Crow's base as he could not find any of the organization's logo there. Under normal circumstance, even the laboratory staff should have the Purple Crow logo emblazoned on their white coats. However, Lin Huang could not find any sign of the logo on their clothes. They looked more like doctors in normal hospitals.

However, considering his current situation, Lin Huang did not dwell on it as he proceeded to dive deeper…

There were many floors under the base on this island. There were monsters of different types on different floors, and Lin Huang felt dizzy looking at all the monsters.

"There are really immortal-level rank-8 and even rank-9 monsters here…" The deeper the floor, the more powerful the monsters that were captured. Lin Huang's pupils dilated slightly when he saw the hundreds of immortal-level rank-8 and rank-9 monsters.

If a few imperial-level humans were to control these powerful monsters, they could destroy an A-grade foothold easily. These monsters were not probably trained by a run-of-the-mill organization.

"Is it really not the Purple Crow?" Lin Huang thought only a handful of top underground organizations could afford to do this. If it was not the Purple Crow, it had to be another top organization that was just as powerful as the Purple Crow.

Lin Huang did not stay any longer after snapping some pictures. The more he saw what was in the organization, the more he thought he should leave. As he dove into the bottom of the island, he entered the ocean as the Spectre. When he was ready to summon his dimensional relic, Lin Huang saw a light under the ocean. He hesitated and gave in to his curiosity, swimming towards the light. As he transformed into the Spectre, he did not have to worry about the water pressure or breathing difficulties. He soon dove hundreds of meters deeper where the light was getting brighter.

"This is a… base?!" As he dived 4,000 meters down, Lin Huang finally saw the source of the light. It was an underground base that was covered in a transparent defense layer that isolated it from the ocean. Looking at the bubbles, Lin Huang could tell that the island lockdown earlier had been orchestrated by the people from this base. He did not get closer as he locked eyes on the top of the base. There was a weird logo on it that looked like a table knife tilted in a circle.

"A table knife? Which organization is this?" Lin Huang could not recall any underground organization with such a logo. When he was in the Purple Crow training camp, he had learned most of the organization logos in Division 7, but he did not remember any of them having a table knife as a logo. He snapped a couple of photos but did not get any closer. Although he was in the Spectre form right now, he could not get into the base as there wasa defense layer around it. He decided to leave as soon as he could after snapping the pictures. After he was a distance away from the island, Lin Huang summoned his dimensional relic in the ocean and left.

…

In a control room under the sea, a bunch of staff was working hard. The silver-haired Professor Jin looked upset as Lin Huang was nowhere to be found on the island.

"Professor, we've looked all over the island, but we can't find him. The only possibility is that he has escaped," the middle-aged man next to him said.

"How is that possible? Isn't the island locked down? Where could he have possibly run to?!" Professor Jin could not accept the fact.

"It's not difficult for him to escape if he has a supreme escaping relic with him to break free from the lockdown," the man explained softly.

"Besides a relic, if he has earth attributes skills or penetrating skills, he can escape from underground. The island is too big. The setting of the lockdown mainly focuses on the top of the island, and excludes the underground."

"It has been more than half an hour now. No matter what he used, it's sufficient time for him to activate a dimensional relic to escape," the man speculated with a helpless expression.

"All of you are useless!" Professor Jin seemed to realize that what the man told him was the truth and became mad.

"If anything like this happens again, you guys should get ready to be fed to the monsters."

The staff in the control room had cold sweat trickling down their backs.

"You have 24 hours to find out who exactly this kid is!" Professor Kin stomped out of the control room after bellowing.

…

After escaping from the ocean, Lin Huang returned to the Martial Hunter College dorm. He did not have the time to catch up on the past few days as he called Mr. Fu straight away.

As he explained what happened to Mr. Fu, he sent the photos that he had snapped on the island.

"Master, which organization does this table knife logo belong to?" Lin Huang could tell from Mr. Fu's expression that he was familiar with the organization.

"What table knife?! That's a surgical knife!" Mr. Fu chortled before explaining.

"This organization is called the Scarborough Workshop, or at least that's what it was called 200 years ago. I'm not sure what it's called now. The founder of the organization is a crazy old man. He's very powerful and is one of my oldest opponents. He was beaten up by me badly. I thought he'd be dead by now, but it seems like he's still alive…"

"Do you mean Professor Jin?" Lin Huang asked.

"No, Professor Jin is his apprentice. He used to have two apprentices. I killed the first one, and Professor Jin is the second one. I'm not sure if he has any new apprentice now," Mr. Fu said like he could not care less.

"I don't care what they're doing, but they would never dare to touch you, so there's nothing to worry about. Especially Professor Jin, he'll be glad that he didn't do anything to you when he finds out who you are."

…

"Mr…. Mr. Fu's apprentice…" Looking at Lin Huang's details on the screen, Professor Jin became pale, and his heart was beating fast. The middle-aged man did not notice his reaction while he continued to look at the screen.

"This Lin Huang kid is working at the Martial Hunter College. Should I get someone to bring him back?"

"This is the end of it. Nobody touches this Lin Huang!" Professor Jin was even more upset after hearing the man's suggested and shouted.

"But didn't you say…" The man could not understand Professor Jin's reaction.

"I don't care what I said before. Everything before isn't important now! The most important thing is that you must remember what I'm saying now. Lin Huang has never been here, and we have never had any conflicts with him!" Professor Jin looked seriously across the room.

All of the staff nodded immediately while remembering Lin Huang's name. They could not understand how the kid could make Professor Jin so fearful.

Professor Jin headed straight to the washroom after leaving the control room. He panted as he leaned against the bathroom door after locking it. He snapped out of it after a while and washed his face. He had almost wet his pants when he saw Mr. Fu's photo with that seemingly kind face on the screen. He still remembered how scary Mr. Fu was…

The Scarborough Workshop was a powerful organization that was founded in the olden days. They mainly researched genetics where they were looking into genetic elixirs in the beginning, but they also secretly worked on genetic modification and artificial humans. Later on, as the new era came, the organization started researching on various monsters and modifications. They integrated the genetics of monsters and humans to come up with modified humans.

Scarborough's owner, Si Nan, was not only powerful. He was also a genius scientist who supported human evolution. He said the new era was a world of new human beings. Those humans who refused to be modified would die with history. Lin Huang retrieved the basic information about the Scarborough Workshop from Mr. Fu. Although Mr. Fu only knew that the organization headquarters was located in Division 2 200 years ago, he had no idea where it was now. However, he asked Lin Huang not to worry about the organization as they were not a threat to him.

"It seems like the Scarborough Workshop sold the three fiends to the Purple Crow or they had some collaboration going on," Lin Huang speculated from what Mr. Fu told him.

The Scarborough Workshop had modification businesses which many underground organizations worked with since hundreds of years ago. It was highly possible that the Purple Crow had bought the fiends from the Scarborough Workshop to join their army. However, both the organizations could be collaborating with each other.

Lin Huang thought it was normal that Professor Jin did not recognize the three fiends as they looked a lot more different than before. The fiends had appeared much more terrifying when Lin Huang found them at the Mystery Auction. When they were made into cards, their appearances were restored back to how the fiends usually looked like. However, according to Xiao Hei, the fiends' modification data remained in their memories, which made them powerful enough to fight immortal-level rank-2 monsters when they were only double mutated gold flame-levels.

Lin Huang did not dwell on it further after finding out that the Scarborough Workshop was not a threat to him. However, he remembered clearly that Professor Jin had treated him like a toy and wanted to turn him into his guinea pig. He did not plan to look for Professor Jin at the moment as he was incapable of fighting him now. He would go back for him when he was more powerful in the future.

It was clear that Mr. Fu would teach the Scarborough Workshop a lesson as he had said that he would talk to Si Nan soon. Lin Huang decided to forget about the incident while browsing through the rewards that he had obtained in the past few days.

"The mission took me a total of four days, and the ten Life Fires in my body are burning at 300 meters now, which exceeds the 50-meter limit of rank-3 tinder. I also got four epic-level monsters, two Black Serpents, and two Tri-headed Apes. However, as my combat level is restricted, these four monsters are suppressed at gold flame-level instead of its previous immortal-level rank-1. The main reward is the cross-ranking rewards…" His eyes lit up when he thought about that.

"300 card draws!"

Before Lin Huang reached white flame-level, he had less than 100 functional cards excluding Monster Cards. The mission this time had rewarded him with 300 card draws. It was like a lousy player who gotten $5 million and became a platinum player.

"300… Hehehe…" As he giggled to himself, Xiao Hei's notification came through.

"You have accumulated 100 card draws this time, and that has activated a new function. I didn't remind you earlier. I shall explain to you now before you draw the cards."

"A new function?" Lin Huang was excited.

"The first new function would be a specific card draw whereby you'll get one specific card that you desire for every ten card draws. Of course, the specific card may be either a Skill Card, an Item Card, a Function Card and even a Monster Card but not a Special Card."

"Special Card?" Lin Huang was surprised to hear that. He was familiar with the four types of card that Xiao Hei had listed, but it was his first time hearing about a Special Card.

"A Special Card is a supreme card such as the Revival Card that can revive a dead person, the Invincible Card that makes a person immune to all harm and the Time Freezing Card that can stop time… The Deceiving Card that you used the last time is also a Special Card which allows you to hide away, deceiving every living thing in the world."

Lin Huang was stunned at what Xiao Hei informed him as the effect of these cards were incredibly attractive.

"How about the second new function?" He only snapped out of his daydream zone a while later.

"The second new function will be the ability to obtain a Special Card. This function allows you to obtain one Special Card with 100 card draws. The card that you'll get is random; there's nothing I can do about it."

"So that means I'll only get three Special Cards for 300 card draws and what I get is random…" Lin Huang was tempted after hearing the effects of the Special Card. However, he remained rational.

"Xiao Hei, if I draw my cards now, I'll definitely have the chance of getting a Special Card. Am I right?"

"Yes, but the probabilities are slim."

"Do you have a more specific ratio?" Lin Huang asked.

"No. All I can tell you is that if you're not lucky, the probability of getting it will be zero."

"That depends on my looks then…" Lin Huang became gloomy after hearing Xiao Hei's answer. He always hated games that depended on looks. Although he thought he had become luckier when he got to this world, he was still traumatized from playing 'Master XX' the last time.

Lin Huang made his decision a while later.

"Never mind then, I shall keep a hundred card draws for an emergency. If I ever encounter something threatening, at least I'll have something that I can depend on." He was insecure ever since he got to this world. After thinking about it, he decided not to draw all of the cards now.

"I should have enough for 200 card draws."

"Xiao Hei, show me the cards that I can choose from!" Lin Huang said to Xiao Hei.

"I have randomly picked 3,600 cards for you. Pick 200 cards from these 3,600 cards as your reward."

Lin Huang was surrounded by an ocean of cards as Xiao Hei spoke. It was like a card frenzy had set upon him…

The 3,600 cards floated in the air and surrounded Lin Huang like a gigantic circle. They looked exactly the same. The cards were all black with a flaming golden question mark in the middle. Lin Huang knew that what he would get depended on his looks. There was no skill to this, and there was no way to cheat around this. He could only pick the cards by his instinct. He took a deep breath and looked at each of them. Soon, he intuitively pointed at the cards.

"This one, this one, this one…"

All of the cards that he picked seemed to be lit up on fire. As the black faded away, the cards became flaming golden cards that stood out among the rest. He finally picked 200 cards half an hour later. The remaining 3,400 cards that were not chosen disintegrated into pieces and disappeared. The 200 cards that he had picked were arranged into ten rows of 20 cards each. The flames on the cards faded away, revealing what they were.

"Congratulations, the 200 new cards that you have obtained are as below:"

"Epiphany Card x1."

"Skill Card x1."

"Flawless Card x2."

"Seal Card x2."

"Theft Card x2."

"Plunder Card x3."

"Challenge Card x3."

"Transportation Card x3."

"Misfortune Card x3"

"Duplication Card x3."

"Cloning Card x4."

"Disguise Card x4."

"Reborn Card x5."

"Treasure Card x5."

"Trap Card x6."

"Mission Card x7."

"Crippling Card x8."

"Healing Card x11."

"Item Card x17."

"Advanced Card x25."

"Time Cabin x1"

"Medium Destruction Card x3."

"Skill Combination Card x4"

"Provisional Summoning Card x5"

"Provisional Transformation Card x8."

"Skill Extraction Card x11."

"Double Reward Card x12."

"Monster Upgrade Card x16."

"One-Time Skill Card x7."

"Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card x4."

"Blood Thickening Card x7."

Lin Huang was satisfied with the cards that he obtained. Besides the additional Strengthening Cards that he already had, there were new cards that he had never seen before. He started looking at them one by one.

"Theft Card. Gives you the ability to steal one skill from your target and make the skill yours. Escape Card. Escape from any dangerous situations that you encounter upon activation. Plunder Card. Obtain three relics of a specific target within coverage. Misfortune Card. The specific target will experience three consecutive days of misfortune and the person's fortune level will be negative…"

Lin Huang was excited as many of the new cards were practical.

"Now that I have enough Advanced Cards, I can finally upgrade Tyrant and Kylie to legendary-level." Lin Huang had his eyes on the Advanced Cards. He initially had five with him. With the additional 25, he now had 30 Advanced Cards, so he did not have to worry about that for the meantime.

As he looked at all the cards, Lin Huang looked at the Monster Upgrade Card that appeared in his hand.

"Monster Upgrade Card: Once activated, a specific monster will be upgraded one rank higher permanently.

"Remark 1: Limitless cards can be used at once.

"Remark 2: Consumable. Each card can be used once. It'll disappear once activated."

"Xiao Hei, it says that limitless cards can be used at once. Does that mean if I have enough cards, I can upgrade my Monster Card from imperial-level to demi-level?"

"Of course not. Limitless means there's no limit to how many Monster Upgrade Cards that you use on one Monster Card, but it'll still be restricted by your combat level."

"You're white flame-level now, so the most your Monster Cards can be upgraded to will be gold flame-level. You can't use the Monster Upgrade Card on them anymore."

"If that's so, why is blue flame-level the highest that I can upgrade Bai and Charcoal?" Lin Huang asked a question that had been bothering him.

"That's the side effect of synchronized leveling up. When you were silver-level, your restriction was gold-level rank-3. When you reached complete gold-level, your restriction should have increased from gold-level to white flame-level, but since you had yet to unseal your Monster Cards, your Monster Cards stayed at complete gold-level, which made the synchronized level up to fail.

"Usually, when you're gold-level rank-1, your Monster Cards will be at white flame-level. When you're gold-level rank-2, your Monster Cards will be at crimson flame-level. When you're gold-level rank-3, they'll be at blue flame-level. When you're complete gold-level, they'll be at purple flame-level. However, you only started unsealing your Monster Cards when you were gold-level rank-3. That's why when you were at gold-level rank-3, your Monster Cards were only at white flame-level, which resulted in your current situation whereby you're already white flame-level, but your Monster Cards are only on blue flame-level. In reality, your Monster Cards should stay on gold flame-level now."

"Is this why the three fiends experienced synchronized leveling up as they did not require unsealing?" Lin Huang finally understood after Xiao Hei's explanation.

"Yes."

"However, on different levels, your Monster Cards will have different restrictions. On holy fire-level, your combat level will be white flame-level while your Monster Cards will be at gold flame-level. However, when it comes to immortal-level, if you're immortal-level rank 1, your Monster Cards' restriction will be at immortal-level rank-9. But the level up will remain at the same speed where when you're on immortal-level rank-1, the most your Monster Cards can be at is immortal-level rank-5 looking at your progress now. Under normal circumstances, you can actually upgrade your Monster Cards to immortal-level rank-9 when you have enough Monster Upgrade Cards."

"I understand now." Lin Huang nodded.

From what Xiao Hei had explained, as long as he had enough Monster Upgrade Cards, he could upgrade all of his Monster Cards to immortal-level rank-9 when he got to immortal-level. Thinking about the potential explosive ability upgrade, Lin Huang was excited. It was past noon when he put away all of his cards.

"It's Tuesday today, and I have class three days later. I shall drop by Meteorite Desert these three days to upgrade my Monster Cards to legendary-level. Before that, I'll have lunch."

Lin Huang arrived in the isolated space in the Meteorite Desert before 1 p.m. on Tuesday. This place was the only place where the monsters' triple mutation would be completely isolated and would not get any attention from powerful humans or monsters. Lin Huang summoned a total of eight summoning monsters which were Bai, Charcoal, Tyrant, Bloody, Ghastly, Lancelot, Kylie, and the Sanguine Skeletal Spirit.

Besides Bloody, the other summoning monsters were puzzled as there was no battle going on when they were summoned.

"I'm summoning all of you to upgrade your abilities as a whole. First, there'll be an upgrade in your combat level. All of you are on the blue flame-level now. You'll be upgraded to the gold flame-level and have 16 cards. In reality, I have exactly 16 Monster Upgrade Cards; no more and no less, and all of them go to you guys." Lin Huang did not think that it was a pity to use all of his Monster Upgrade Cards to upgrade his monsters anyway. As he did not have anymore Monster Upgrade Cards, he decided to put Thunder aside as it was not meant for battle.

"Xiao Hei, activate all of the Monster Upgrade Cards. Two cards for each of them," Lin Huang instructed.

"Monster Upgrade Card x16 will upgrade the eight monsters from the blue flame-level to the gold flame-level. Are you sure about using Monster Upgrade Card x16 to upgrade these eight monsters standing here?"

"Yes." Lin Huang nodded.

"Monster Upgrade Card x16 has been activated. Upgrading the targeted monsters…"

When Xiao Hei's notification was heard, the auras of Bai and the rest were increasing tremendously. Within seconds, they leveled up from the blue flame-level to the purple flame-level and seconds later, they leveled up to the gold flame-level. Their aura only stopped growing when they reached the complete gold flame-level. The entire process took less than half a minute.

They were surprised to sense that their combat level was two ranks higher now.

"Bai, you guys have completed your triple mutation. I'll recall all of you now," Lin Huang said to his four monsters that had completed triple mutation. Then, he recalled Bai, Bloody, Charcoal, and Ghastly into card form. If he did not have the limit of only summoning ten monsters at a time, he did not mind letting Bai and the rest stay and watch.

After recalling the monsters, Lin Huang summoned the three fiends, two Black Serpents, and a Tri-headed Ape. The Black Serpents and the Tri-headed Ape had shrunk. Looking at the ten monsters standing before him, Lin Huang could not summon the last Tri-headed Ape that he had. In reality, the Tri-headed Ape now had only one head and two arms after being restored by Xiao Hei as it was made into card form. However, its other two heads and four arms could grow out if it wanted them to.

"I only have 30 Advanced Cards, so the last Tri-headed Ape will have to wait," Lin Huang mumbled to himself as he looked at the ape that he had summoned.

However, he waited no more and instructed Xiao Hei again, "Xiao Hei, use the Advanced Cards on these ten monsters to upgrade them to the legendary-level."

"I would like to remind you that the Ruthless Sword Master can complete triple mutation on his own he fulfills the hidden condition. Are you sure you want to use your Advanced Card on him?"

Hearing Xiao Hei's reminder, Lin Huang looked at Lancelot.

"Lancelot, Xiao Hei told me that you have a hidden mission that allows you to perform a triple mutation automatically. Would you prefer to do that or will you let me use my Advanced Card on you?"

Lancelot was surprised to hear the question, but he replied, "I would prefer to do it on my own."

"Sure, I'll try to fulfill your hidden condition." Lin Huang respected Lancelot's decision. He then recalled Lancelot and summoned the second Tri-headed Ape.

He instructed Xiao Hei once again, "Upgrade them to the legendary-level."

Xiao Hei did not have any objections this time.

"Upgrading ten targeted Monster Cards. Consuming Advanced Card x30. Are you sure you want to use these cards?"

"Yes." Lin Huang nodded without thinking twice.

"Advanced Card x30 has been consumed. Upgrading ten targeted Monster Cards…"

A white glow beamed down from the sky, covering all ten monsters.

The white glow on top of Kylie, the Sanguine Skeleton Spirit, the Malachian Fiend and the Witch faded after a few minutes. The armor on Kylie now had purple lightning patterns. The most significant change was her half red and blue mask now half-concealed her lips, revealing her eyes and forehead. Her blue eyes were as clear as lake water.

The Sanguine Skeleton Spirit was in its red robes as usual but the crown on his head was no longer red; it was now gold. There was a red precious stone in the middle of the crown. The most significant change was his eyes that had been blue but were now white. They looked like fog swirling in his eyes.

The Malachian Fiend did not change much. Only its face had changed from blue to green.

Meanwhile, the Witch experienced the most prominent change as she was not wearing black armor anymore. Her armor had been replaced by a black dress. Her tail was no longer there, and there were two tiny horns on her head that were less than 10 centimeters long. If not for the horns on her head, she looked just like a pale human.

They completed their triple mutation within a couple of minutes to achieve the legendary-level. However, they did not feel any changes in their bloodline. Meanwhile, Tyrant, the Inferior Imp, the two Black Serpents and the two Tri-headed Apes were wrapped in energy cocoons separately. Tyrant was wrapped in a bloody cocoon that looked like a heart. There were scars everywhere that looked like undulating blood vessels. The cocoon that wrapped the Inferior Imp up was flaming like lava. Heat was spreading out of the cocoon. The two Black Serpents were wrapped in two black opaque liquid spheres. The two Tri-headed Apes were wrapped in completely different cocoons. One looked like a green rock while another looked like white jade.

Lin Huang was stunned as he watched the gigantic cocoons growing under the glow from the sky. He had expected the mutation in Tyrant but not the Black Serpents and the Tri-headed Apes.

"Do mutations happen easily for animal-form monsters during the upgrade?" Lin Huang asked Xiao Hei in a low voice.

"That's right. As the ancestors of animal-form monsters have a stronger reproductive ability and their bloodline was passed on to the next generations, that increases the probability of their bloodline inheritance."

"These four monsters are experiencing mutation together as the data was duplicated when you killed the two Black Serpents and Tri-headed Apes that have a great probability of mutation in their body. But I must say that you have pretty good luck."

Knowing that the mutation would take a while, Lin Huang watched for a moment and turned to Kylie and the rest.

"The Reborn Card can boost the monster's bloodline, but I only have five. One for Lancelot, one for Ghastly, and one for Bloody. I'll keep one for Kylie as well. Who should I use the last one on?" Lin Huang looked undecided at the Sanguine Skeletal Spirit and the Witch.

"Reborn Card: After activating this card on the specific monster, there's a possibility for the Monster Card to obtain a powerful bloodline.

"Remark 1: The higher the rarity of the Monster Card, the higher the probability of obtaining a powerful bloodline."

"Remark 2: If the monster has thin bloodline genetic particles in its body, there's a high possibility to awaken the bloodline."

"Remark 3: New type of monster, which source is unknown, has a low probability of obtaining the bloodline."

After reading the effects of the Reborn Card, Lin Huang locked his eyes on the Witch eventually. To be exact, she was now the Wicked Witch. The Sanguine Overlord 1 's Punishment Chain was a powerful control skill. However, using the card might not grow that particular skill. Meanwhile, the Wicked Witch (Witch) had more control skills. Using the card could, more or less, give a portion of her skills a boost. No matter which skills would be boosted, her control ability would increase as a whole.

Lin Huang decided to use his last Reborn Card on the Wicked Witch after thinking thoroughly. As he confirmed his targets, he recalled the Sanguine Overlord (Sanguine Skeleton Spirit) and Malachian 2 after they were upgraded. He then summoned Ghastly and Bloody. Bloody knew why it was summoned. Although Ghastly was uncertain, looking at Tyrant and the rest were wrapped in cocoons, it could guess what was happening.

"I have five Reborn Cards in my hand which could give you a boost in your bloodline. Besides the one that's reserved for Lancelot, the remaining four are for you," Lin Huang said to the four monsters.

"Whether you can get the bloodline boost depends on you guys."

Bloody was calm but anticipated as it could guess what Lin Huang was up to. Ghastly stared at him with burning desire while the Wicked Witch seemed to be puzzled. The only one who had no change in expression was Kylie as she did not care about it at all.

"Uh… May I know what does this Reborn Card do?" The Wicked Witch looked at the three of them and raised her hand, asking softly after some hesitation.

"I'll explain to you in the future when we have the time. The only thing that I can tell you now is that all of you are receiving treasure that could boost your bloodline. But of course, it's not 100% guaranteed," Lin Huang explained the concept of the card.

"Alright, the four of you, follow me. Don't disturb their mutation."

Lin Huang then brought the four monsters couple of kilometers away. When he saw Tyrant and the rest were now the size of ants, he nodded.

"This distance should be good enough. Stand apart from each other so that you don't interfere with the process."

After the four monsters spaced out accordingly, Lin Huang instructed Xiao Hei, "Xiao Hei, use four Reborn Cards on them."

"Are you sure you want to use Reborn Card x4 on these four Monster Cards?"

"Yes."

"Consuming Reborn Card x4 on the four specific Monster Cards…"

A golden glow shone down from above and covered the four monsters. Soon, the glow shining on Bloody faded away while the remaining three monsters were wrapped in cocoons of different colors. Kylie's cocoon was made of golden lightning bolts and looked extremely dangerous. The Wicked Witch's cocoon was a cloud of black fog that seemed to be unstable. Meanwhile, Ghastly's cocoon was colorful, and its shape was changing rapidly.

"The Reborn Card failed on Bloody!"

Bloody knew that the card had failed on it as it watched the rest wrapped in cocoons, so it could only return to Lin Huang in disappointment.

"Don't be sad. It's normal that this doesn't work," Lin Huang comforted Bloody while patting it. It was now a purple ball of jelly with great texture.

"Oh…" Bloody remained upset while it floated next to Lin Huang while watching the monsters' transformation.

Suddenly, a black glow shot up to the sky and the isolation space shook. Lin Huang took up at the source of the black glow. A huge black glow had shot from the ground to the sky, dyeing the sky black. Soon, the sky rumbled. It lasted for a while before fading away, but dark clouds filled a small portion of the isolation space. However, the black glow shrunk vigorously. Within seconds, it went from covering millions of square kilometers to a ball of haze that was smaller than an adult's fist.

Lin Huang watched the dark sky carefully. Although he could not see the forming of the ball of haze as he was too far away, he could feel that the terrifying aura did not disappear. It was getting more and more intense. As the ball of haze formed, it stayed in the sky for a while. It seemed to lock on its target in an instant and dashed towards where the target was at an alarming speed. Its destination was where Lin Huang was.

Soon, Lin Huang saw a black meteor coming for him. He frowned and pulled out his battle sword while looking at the black glow dashing towards him. He did not want his monsters' upgrade to be interrupted by this unknown object.

"Don't worry. It's nothing bad," Xiao Hei said calmly.

"What's that thing?" Lin Huang asked immediately. Although Xiao Hei had asked him not to worry, he still had his guard up.

"Do you remember the black rock in this isolation space? The rock that contains the energy source. It's coming for Kylie. Her mutation must have triggered it.

"Is this something good?" Lin Huang asked.

"It should be."

Xiao Hei did not sound sure, so Lin Huang was not relieved at all.

"Don't worry. It depends on Kylie herself. If something goes wrong, I'll try my best to control it," Xiao Hei added as it sensed Lin Huang's concern.

"Alright then…" Since Xiao Hei said that, Lin Huang put his sword away helplessly while watching the black glow that was hurtling in their direction at breakneck speed.

The black streak of light fell from the sky like a meteorite from hundreds of kilometers away. Without Xiao Hei's reminder, Lin Huang would have swung his sword at it from the beginning. Within seconds, the black ray of light had traveled hundreds of kilometers, heading towards Kylie. Before Lin Huang could catch the movement of the light, it penetrated straight into the golden cocoon that Kylie was wrapped in.

The cocoon's surface trembled slightly as its golden glow that was shining brightly remained. However, ever since the black ray penetrated into the cocoon, it had dimmed. The initial golden color had become completely black within seconds. On the black surface were lightning bolts that were covering the cocoon, the black electrical arcs spreading out. The cocoon was now a few times bigger than before.

Lin Huang watched the cocoon's odd transformation without blinking. After confirming that the cocoon was now dormant, he spoke to Xiao Hei again, "Is this a good or bad change for Kylie?"

"It's a good change. It's now stable. She completed her double mutation from that rock since the beginning. Due to the condition of the card, the black rock has officially integrated with her."

Lin Huang was relieved after confirming that Kylie was alright. He was excited to unveil all of the monsters' transformations as he looked at the colorful cocoons. He looked at the remaining cards that he had.

"Lancelot and Thunder are the only epic-level cards left. I must fulfill Lancelot's secret condition and upgrade him to legendary-level in the meantime. It would be great if he could get a boost of bloodline right away so that I can give the card to the Sanguine Skeletal Spirit. For Thunder… It'll have to wait for the next time I get an Advanced Card again."

Thunder had a minute amount of phoenix blood in it since it was unsealed. Although it was not a pure phoenix now, it was still powerful. Unfortunately, as Lin Huang treated it as a flying mount, he ignored its powerful ability. Lin Huang might have appreciated it more if it could evolve into full phoenix blood or some other powerful ancient monster in the future.

After looking at Bai, Charcoal, and the Regal Sword Killer that was half-sealed, Lin Huang snapped out of his zone. He had summoned the maximum number of monsters that he was allowed to. The only thing that he could do now was to wait for the transformation of the nine monsters patiently. To kill time, Lin Huang lay on the field while chewing on grass and patting Bloody as he stared at the sky.

It had been a long time since he had nothing to do like this after arriving in this world. He spent most of his time on training for the past year. As more and more incidents happened, he had less time for Lin Xin, let alone himself. His thoughts were flying everywhere as he stared at the fluffy clouds.

"If I didn't have Goldfinger and my Life Wheel was perfect when I traveled here, I'm sure I would just be an ordinary person, living an ordinary life under the protection of others. Perhaps the furthest place I would have traveled in this world would be the two B-grade footholds, the Bamboo City and Xiagong City… Thinking about it now, living an entire life of ignorance isn't necessarily a bad thing…

"Unfortunately, my fate seems to have been set since I traveled here. A powerful Goldfinger… a broken Life Wheel… It feels like someone is controlling everything somewhere I can't see. Yang Ling, Xia Hao, Qi Muxiong, they're all travelers like me. There must be more travelers in this world, but what is the meaning of us being here?"

Just when Lin Huang was pondering the meaning of his existence, a portion of Qi Muxiong's memory was unsealed and released. He was attracted by the content and looked at it immediately. A few hours passed. As the glow from the sky faded away, the cocoons started breaking, revealing the transformed monsters. As Lin Huang had fallen into a deep sleep, they did not disturb him and stood guard next to him. Three hours passed. Besides Kylie, the remaining eight monsters had broken out of their cocoons and stayed near him. Some of them were staring at Kylie's cocoon, lost in their thoughts.

Lin Huang did not know that his thoughts had resonated with Qi Muxiong's which triggered the release of more of his memories from when he had first achieved holy fire-level. Almost all of the content below imperial-level was now open to him. He indulged himself in the memories. He was shocked when he realized that more than six hours had passed and that the monsters were surrounding him when he woke up.

As Kylie's cocoon did not show any sign of breaking anytime soon, Lin Huang looked at the monsters that had been transformed. Tyrant looked more like a human now. The armor that enveloped his entire body was now gone; it was replaced by a burnt golden armor. His hair was now a crimson red, and his eyes were dark brown. The only thing that remained the same was his messy beard. As compared to before, he looked exactly like a human, but a much bigger human that was over 2.5 meters tall.

"Which bloodline is this?" Lin Huang asked in anticipation.

"The Celestial Giant bloodline from the archaic period," Tyrant replied with confidence, proud of his bloodline. Although Lin Huang had no idea how powerful the celestial giant's bloodline was, he nodded anyway and looked at the rest. Ghastly had not changed much. He was garbed in a luxurious golden robe with a crown on his head. He had lilac waist-length hair, and he smiled mischievously at Lin Huang with his long, narrow eye slits. The difference was that the golden mask that had covered half of his face was now gone.

"Ghastly, how about you?"

"Master, can I please get a new name? I don't like being called Ghastly…" Ghastly was unwilling to accept his name. However, since Lin Huang did not say a word while staring at him, he answered accordingly, "I've awoken the title 'Deceiver', but I didn't awaken the bloodline."

"Awoken a title?" Lin Huang was puzzled, but since he had learned about titles from Xiao Hei earlier, he did not ask further.

"It's possible to awaken a title," Xiao Hei affirmed after hearing what Ghastly said.

Lin Huang looked at the Wicked Witch. The two horns on her head were gone. Her complexion was rosier than before. With her long, black hair, she looked like a human lady in a black dress.

"I've awoken the Ancient Witch bloodline…" The Wicked Witch said softly, seeming not to want to have eye contact with him. Lin Huang nodded at her and looked at the Inferior Imp. He had a pair of bat wings on his back and a black tail.

"I've leveled up to Hellion Imp," it said without expression.

Lin Huang then looked at the remaining two giant snakes and apes. They were now much smaller than before. The two snakes were still black in color. They were now less than three meters long and looked identical. Their four bloody eyes were now down to two, and their eyeballs were now an emerald green like two green precious stones mounted on their heads. Their abdomens had a shade of white that was different than before.

"We've awoken the Dark Crescent Snake bloodline," the two snakes hissed at the same time.

Lin Huang nodded and looked at the last two apes. Both of their scales had now become hair of a completely different color. One of them had golden armor sitting atop its golden hair, while another one was completely white in color whereby a part of its body seemed to be covered in white flames. It was clear that their transformations were on different paths.

"I've awoken the Ancient Mighty Ape bloodline," the gold-haired ape said.

"I've awoken the Ancient Frost Flame Ape bloodline," the white ape said.

Besides Kylie and Bloody, the remaining eight monsters had transformed, and most of them had awoken powerful bloodlines. After recalling all of them into card forms including Bloody, Lin Huang looked at Kylie that was still in the cocoon.

"Xiao Hei, how long will Kylie take to come out of the cocoon?"

"Looking at the progress, she'll take at least three days."

"Three days?! But I have class on Friday…" Lin Huang thought that he would have enough time since he came on Tuesday, but he did not expect this to happen to Kylie.

"Never mind, I shall wait until Friday afternoon. If she's still in the cocoon by then, I'll have to get Bai and the rest to keep an eye here, and I'll come back after class."

The flow of time in the isolated space was the same as the world outside. It was past seven in the evening, and the sky was getting dark. Lin Huang was hungry. He started reading the detailed description of the Blood Thickening Card while he munched on snacks.

"Blood Thickening Card: It can be used on monsters that have their bloodline awoken to increase the thickness of their bloodline.

"Remark 1: The higher the level of the bloodline, the more cards are required. Only one card is required to increase low-level to mid-level. Two cards are required to increase mid-level to high-level. Five cards are required to increase high-level to pure blood.

"Remark 2: Ineffective on pure blood monsters.

"Remark 3: Consumable. Each card can only be used once, and many cards can be used at once."

"Five cards to increase a high-level to pureblood? That's ridiculous! I only have seven cards now." As Lin Huang had obtained too many cards earlier, he had missed the description of this card.

"I initially thought that only one card is required to increase the bloodline, then I could upgrade Bai and Charcoal to pureblood monsters while considering which monster to use the remaining cards on. It seems like I was too naive…"

He then summoned Bai and Charcoal while explaining the function of the Blood Thickening Card roughly. Charcoal was excited. As the cards were limited, he could not upgrade Charcoal to full dragon blood. The most he could do was to upgrade it to high-level dragon blood, but that was good enough for Charcoal. Meanwhile, Bai was calm, but Lin Huang could tell from his eyes that he was thrilled as well.

"Alright, stand away from each other."

Lin Huang got the both of them to stand tens of meters away from each other while taking out the five Blood Thickening Cards. He crushed the cards and targeted Bai and Charcoal.

"Use three on Bai to increase his bloodline from low-level to high-level god's blood and use two on Charcoal to increase its bloodline from mid-level to high-level dragon's blood."

The crushed cards transformed into two glimmers of light and penetrated Bai and Charcoal's bodies respectively. A while later, cocoons wrapped around their bodies. Although there was no glow shooting down from the sky, the both of them were soon completely shrouded in black, bloody cocoons.

"Who should I use the remaining two Blood Thickening Cards on?" Lin Huang thought about it for awhile and summoned Tyrant. He used one of the cards on Tyrant after explaining it to him. Tyrant was soon wrapped in a bloody cocoon too. Since the last card could not be used on Ghastly or Bloody, he thought he would keep it for Kylie.

Since Tyrant and the rest would take some time to complete their transformation, Lin Huang proceeded to eat after using the upgrading cards. Ten minutes later, he put the snacks away and started organizing Qi Muxiong's memories that had been released earlier. In the memory, besides the memory of before his leveling up to imperial-level, a portion of them was about him communicating with the other travelers. From what Lin Huang saw, the other travelers were unfriendly. Although they were powerful, they were selfish. Some of them even bullied travelers who were weaker. As Goldfingers could overwhelm each other, most of the travelers had their guards up when they came in contact with others.

In Qi Muxiong's memory, he had a good relationship with only one traveler. The traveler seemed to be like Lin Huang who was from Earth. However, Lin Huang did not naively think that the traveler was not a threat to Qi Muxiong despite their amicable relationship. Although he had the traveler's contact details, he decided to not contact the person. Of course, he was not even sure if the traveler was still alive.

Besides the travelers, there were many Supreme Geniuses that could fight humans that were one level higher during that time in Qi Muxiong's memory.

"Although the number of Supreme Geniuses now are much lesser than then, there should be some of them who are on the same level in the core zones. Their abilities must be much more powerful than mine. This world is pretty dangerous…"

A couple of hours had passed as Lin Huang indulged himself in Qi Muxiong's memory. Tyrant was the first one who got out of the cocoon, followed by Charcoal. It was almost midnight when Bai broke out of the cocoon. Tyrant looked the same, but his aura was much more terrifying now. He was like a human beast with an invisible suppressive effect when people stood around him. Charcoal had significant changes. Its scales were now clear, black crystals. Although it was still black, it looked more like a quaint piece of art now. Its appearance did not change much, but it was so much better-looking now.

"It's true that good skin plays a big role in appearance!" Lin Huang exclaimed after taking a close look at Charcoal. Meanwhile, Bai looked the same with his silver hair, but there was a light pattern on his forehead. There were red patterns on his black robe, making it much more vibrant than his boring, plain black robe before. Bai looked more confident now.

After the observation, Lin Huang recalled the three monsters into card forms. He shook his head as he saw Kylie's progress was still stagnant, so he built a tent in the isolated space.

The next morning, he summoned Bai to practice sword skills after breakfast. Now that he knew more about other travelers, he was eager to upgrade his abilities. He would not attack the other travelers. However, he would be in trouble if his identity was revealed to other travelers. He did not want to lose Xiao Hei, which was a powerful Goldfinger, so he needed to have the ability to protect himself.

It was quite impossible to reveal his Goldfinger to other travelers, but if his performance were too absurd, it would definitely gain their attention. He might not be busted immediately, but he might be suspected.

"I have to be more low-key now. I can't be afraid. I'll try not to bring trouble to myself." Lin Huang initially thought that not many people could be a threat to him since he was a holy fire-level now. However, it seemed like he was too naive.

Soon, two days had passed.

"It's past noon now, but nothing is happening…"

Lin Huang stared helplessly at the golden glow on top of Kylie's cocoon that did not seem like it was fading any time soon. There was no sign of any cracks in the black lightning cocoon that was bathed in the golden glow.

"Bai, I'll leave for a few hours. Please keep an eye on her for me here. I'll be back around 5:30 p.m." Lin Huang had no other solution but to instruct Bai to stand guard. It was Friday and he had to be back at the Martial Hunter College to teach in the afternoon. Although Bai had no idea why Lin Huang had to leave, he nodded anyway. Since it was still early, Lin Huang munched on a piece of dried meat from his snack bag before leaving.

Seeing that Bai was staring at the bag that he was holding, he passed the bag to him.

"These are the snacks that I bought online. They have raving reviews. Try them."

Bai took out a piece of dried meat, took a bite, and returned the bag to Lin Huang.

"It's not good."

"Alright then…" As Lin Huang was taking the bag from Bai, a black glow suddenly shot out of Kylie's cocoon like a wave coalescing out. The wave passed through Lin Huang and Bai's bodies immediately, but the both of them did not sense anything odd. However, the isolated space started shaking later. The both of them flew into the air and studied Kylie's cocoon.

Black mist surrounded it and soon, the mist engulfed the golden glow that was sent from the sky. Within seconds, a third of the golden glow was covered by the mist, and it proceeded to climb further.

"Xiao Hei, what's happening?!" Lin Huang asked immediately as he witnessed the odd occurrence.

"The black energy source should be a godly phenomenon. It seems to be doing something with the Blood Thickening Card although I'm not sure what," Xiao Hei answered.

"It is affecting Kylie?"

"No, Kylie's transformation is basically completed, but the energy source is acting this way now."

Lin Huang was relieved to hear Xiao Hei's answer. He waited for the process to finish patiently. The ground was still shaking, and soon, the black mist engulfed the entire golden glow. Lin Huang and Bai stared at the dark clouds, curious about what would happen next. Within the clouds, thunder rumbled.

"Is it going to rain?" Lin Huang asked as he looked at the dark sky and heard the thunder.

Suddenly, a black thunderbolt blasted into the ground. It was targeting the black rock. Soon, second and third thunderbolts shot down. More and more thunderbolts were fired towards the same direction. Lin Huang and Bai were puzzled by what was happening. It finally stopped after hundreds of thunderbolts rained down from the sky.

Soon, the dark clouds disappeared. The black streak along with the mist had also faded away. Although they had no idea what just happened, they had their eyes fixed on the black cocoon in which Kylie was. Lin Huang looked closely without blinking as a light cracking sound was heard. He knew that it was a sign that Kylie was coming out. More and more cracks were heard, and there were fissures all over the black cocoon.

Lin Huang smiled to himself as he looked at the time that was projected from his Emperor's Heart Ring. It was not even 12:30 p.m.

"Looking at the progress, Kylie should be out of the cocoon in a couple of minutes. Then, I won't have to come here again after class."

The ground stopped shaking. Lin Huang and Bai waited patiently as they flew in the sky.

After two to three minutes, the spherical black cocoon finally broke completely and the pieces transformed into black lightning bolts that penetrated Kylie's body. This time, the half-red, half-blue mask that covered half of her face was replaced by a black one. Her once-silver armor was also now black. It looked like it had been painted with a layer of black piano paint. It was so shiny that you could see your own reflection in it. The 12 black wings on her back had faint white lightning patterns. The purple spear in her hand was now black and was surrounded by detailed purple patterns.

Kylie's aura was just as powerful as Bai's.

"Kylie, which bloodline did you awaken?" Lin Huang headed to her and asked immediately.

"Dark Angel, high-level," Kylie replied.

Lin Huang was shocked to find out that she had gotten the high-level bloodline right away. It must have been the work of the black energy inside her body.

Just when Lin Huang was thinking of keeping the last Blood Thickening Card for Lancelot, Kylie flapped her wings and flew far away.

"Hey, where are you going? I must leave now. I have class later!" Lin Huang shouted immediately. Although his voice could not catch up with Kylie, what Lin Huang said was sent into her conscience.

"I need to stay here for a while. You guys can leave first," Kylie's voice entered Lin Huang's mind.

"Where's she heading to?"

Lin Huang realized that the direction Kylie had left in was the same direction where he had found the black rock. He headed there together with Bai. He knew that Kylie had her reasons for staying, but he could not just leave her be without knowing what was happening. Moreover, he was curious about the secret related to where the hundreds of thunderbolts were aimed at.

A few minutes later, Lin Huang and Bai arrived where the black rock was. All that was left in place of the rock was thick, black dust. What shocked Lin Huang was not the missing black rock, but the hundreds of cocoons that were covered in purple thunderbolts…

"These cocoons…" Although Lin Huang could guess what was inside the cocoons, he failed to get a hold of what was happening.

"These are the Starlight Beasts that you saw the last time. They're in the midst of transforming into demigods, and they'll be a part of my army in the future," Kylie told Lin Huang honestly.

"Do you mean all of them will evolve into how you looked like when you were the Nephilic Judge?" Lin Huang was puzzled.

"All of them will evolve into the Nephilic Judge, but they won't look like me. Although they'll be in masks, they'll look different under the masks," Kylie explained.

"Besides them, this piece of land will be my mini world. I'll keep them after they've completed their evolution. I'll be the only one who can access this space. Let me know when you need to come here."

"Sure! I'll only need this space whenever the monsters need to be upgraded. With you, it'll be much more convenient as I don't have to run around anymore." Lin Huang nodded and looked at the hundreds of purple cocoons.

"It seems like they won't be coming out anytime soon. You stay here then. I'll get Bai to stay here with you. I'll leave for class now. Let me know when it's done." Lin Huang thought Kylie would be lonely here alone and that it would take days for the Starlight Beasts to complete their evolution as they were not in card forms. Without waiting for Kylie to object to his suggestion, Lin Huang activated his double acceleration and flew out of the area.

It was past 1 p.m. when Lin Huang arrived at the Martial Hunter College from the Meteorite Desert. He returned to his dorm, took a shower, and headed to the office after changing. Although it was unnecessary for him to shower since his Life Power would be released from his body automatically together with any dirt while preventing foreign elements from entering his body when he achieved holy fire-level, he desperately needed the shower after sleeping in the tent for three consecutive days.

He arrived at the office at 1.30 p.m. Qin Tianxing chuckled as he strolled into the office ten minutes later as Lin Huang was looking at his teaching material.

"Sir Lin, you've been missing from the college for a week. I went to your dorm, but you weren't there."

"Oh, I was out running errands. I just got back today." Lin Huang did not bother explaining that he had been back in the college for more than an hour on Tuesday.

"Is there anything that you needed me for?" He asked as Qin Tianxing had a funny expression on his face.

"It wasn't me who was looking for you. A hot lady has been waiting for you for days." Qin Tianxing winked at Lin Huang. "We're so close. Why didn't you tell me that you have such a hot older sister who looks like a goddess?"

"Hot lady? My older sister?" Lin Huang had no idea what Qin Tianxing was talking about.

Just when he was going to explain that he did not have an older sister, an alluring lady in a black dress walked into the office.

"Oh, little brother, it's only been a year, and you can't recognize me anymore?" The lady in black looked at Lin Huang with her head tilted to the side. The high slit at the side of her dress only increased her sexual appeal. Although her small eyes were not impressive, they added a mysterious touch to her face when all of her features were put together. Her eyes were especially seducing. Those were definitely irresistible to men. The most attention-seeking part of her was her red lips that made every man want a piece of her.

Lin Huang was shocked to see the lady. Never had he thought he would see her again in the Martial Hunter College. Although half of her face was covered, revealing only her red lips, Lin Huang recognized her immediately. She had not changed any part of her appearance.

"Hong Zhuang from the Purple Crow… Why is she here?!" Lin Huang took a while to snap out of his thoughts. Although she was not in the Purple Crow's signature coat, he could tell who she was right away. He then glared at Qin Tianxing who was star-struck by Hong Zhuang.

However, Lin Huang soon noticed that Hong Zhuang's aura was only blue flame-level.

"Did she seal her combat level? No wonder she could enter the White Capital…"

If she were on her normal immortal-level, Lin Huang would have to hide her. However, she had sealed her combat level instead of suppressing it just to enter the White Capital.

This world did not have the same concept of capitals like Earth did, but the White Capital was like the capital of Division 7 with more than one imperial-level guardian. The guardians would find out if an immortal-level person entered the city. There were many holy fire-level persons in the White Capital, at least tens of thousands of them, so the guardians could not be looking for them one by one. That was probably why Hong Zhuang had sealed her combat level so that the imperial-level guardians could not get her.

However, such behavior was risky as sealing her combat level would mean that there would be many restrictions on her abilities. As soon as her identity was busted, she would face more risky consequences than entering as an imperial-level. The sealing of her combat level could not be unsealed immediately. It would take a couple of minutes. She would be dead if she encountered someone powerful when her combat level was sealed.

"Xiao Lin Zhi, do you really not remember me, Sister Hong?" Hong Zhuang grinned when she saw Lin Huang in shock while she walked towards him.

"Sister Hong, how could I forget you? I was a guest at your place last year where I stayed for some time." Lin Huang was relieved as he confirmed that Hong Zhuang was not a threat to him at the moment since her combat level was sealed.

"Sister Hong, are you here for me?" Lin Huang asked in a friendly tone.

Hong Zhuang stopped in her tracks as she was surprised to find that Lin Huang was talking to her like nothing had happened.

"You left without saying goodbye the last time. I've missed you throughout the last year, but I'm not here to visit you. I'm here to be a teacher." Hong Zhuang smiled.

"A teacher?" Lin Huang was stunned. He had no idea what she was trying to do.

"Yeah, Miss Zhuang Hong passed our teacher assessment on Monday and she's now one of us in the Martial Hunter College." Qin Tianxing was excited as he thought Lin Huang and Zhuang Hong had a close relationship.

"Miss Zhuang Hong has been asking about your whereabouts from the two Vice Presidents since Monday. The Vice President couldn't get to you, so he got her to look for me. I've brought her to your dorm two to three times, but you weren't there. Since you guys are cousins, why don't you guys have each other's contact details?"

Lin Huang was cursing Qin Tianxing secretly in his heart for his recklessness. It was funny that Qin Tianxing did not find it suspicious that both of them did not have each others' contact details.

"It's my fault. I lost all of my contacts as my Emperor's Heart Ring was broken last year. I lost many of my friends' number," Hong Zhuang explained. Lin Huang now found out that Hong Zhuang was pretending to be his cousin. Since she managed to deceive the two Vice Presidents, that meant she had obtained a fake identity about him for herself.

Lin Huang was not in a hurry to expose her real identity. He wanted to know why Hong Zhuang was really there in the White Capital.

"I'll head to class now. Let's talk when we're free." Lin Huang ended the conversation as it was almost time for class. Although he had many questions for Hong Zhuang, he did not have the time to talk to her right now.

"Can I sit in your class if you don't mind?" It was clear that Hong Zhuang had managed to learn about the college rules within the short few days to come up with such a request.

"Sure, if you're willing to. Please don't make fun of me if I'm not good." Lin Huang nodded and accepted Hong Zhuang's request.

It was not even 1:50 p.m. Lin Huang brought Qin Tianxing and Hong Zhuang to the Class 2 Sword Dao class.

The students were familiar with Qin Tianxing as he was teaching Class 1 and he would always sit in during Lin Huang's class. However, they were curious when they saw Hong Zhuang, especially the boys in the class. They could not get their eyes off her svelte body. Meanwhile, the girls were gossiping among one another, guessing whether Hong Zhuang was Qin Tianxing's or Lin Huang's girlfriend or if they were in a love triangle. Some of the girls were coming up with absurd stories in their head…

"This is Miss Zhuang Hong. She's a teacher that we have just hired this week…"

"Miss Zhuang Hong is Sir Lin's cousin," Qin Tianxing added before Lin Huang could finish what he was saying. Hong Zhuang smiled lightly while Lin Huang was speechless. Hearing that Hong Zhuang was Lin Huang's cousin, many students started asking questions about Lin Huang's childhood since the class had yet to start. Hong Zhuang made up stories that never happened, including Lin Huang wetting in his bed until he was 11, being scared of bugs when he was already 13, and being beaten up by a petite girl sitting next to her in class when he was 12…

Besides the students, even Qin Tianxing was shocked to hear those stories. Lin Huang did not expect Hong Zhuang to use her fake identity to come up with these, but he did not bother to explain. He frowned as the stories she made up were getting more and more ridiculous.

"Alright, return to your seats. Class starts now!"

Lin Huang slammed on the podium when it was 2 p.m. sharp. The sudden impact turned the entire podium into dust, and a terrifying aura spread out in the classroom. The classroom became silent.

It was 5 p.m. when the class ended, and the students left the classroom. However, Hong Zhuang remained sitting at the back of the classroom. She did not look like she was planning to leave.

"You guys should sit down and catch up since it's been a year since the last time the both of you saw each other. I shall make a move first!" Qin Tianxing said.

He then left immediately as he did not want to bother the both of them.

Seeing that Qin Tianxing had left, Lin Huang anchored his eyes on the classroom door and shut it immediately with Telekinesis. He then looked at Hong Zhuang solemnly.

"Alright, the top management staff of Purple Crow who risked her life by sealing her combat level to enter the White Capital, what is your intention of being here?"

"I'm here… To look for you, of course." Hong Zhuang's eyes lit up as she sensed Lin Huang's confidence that had grown over the year. She was even more interested in him now since he had experienced a significant change, especially the Telekinesis that he had just performed. He could not do that a year ago.

"Really? I'm using my own identity to join the Martial Hunter College. I've never disguised myself since day one. That means the Purple Crow would know that I've been teaching here since 1 September. It's the end of September now. You're only here after more than two and a half months. If you're here really here for me, you would've been here more than two months ago." Lin Huang knew very well that she was lying.

"I've been busy for the past two months. Didn't I come here for you once I had the time?" Hong Zhuang remained smiling.

"Where's your partner? Did he join the college as well?" Since Lin Huang changed the subject since he could not get anything out of her.

"This is my personal mission. Why would I bring any partners?" Hong Zhuang remained calm as she answered.

"You might be able to trick others but not me. The Purple Crow would send two persons even if it's a personal mission. Even if your partner isn't joining your mission, he would definitely be in the same foothold as you are."

Lin Huang knew the Purple Crow's rules very well whereby it was mandatory for two persons to be on the same mission. If it were a bigger mission, they would even bring teams of holy fire-level members. Even if it were a personal affair, the team would still consist of two persons. Basically, no matter where the partner was, the other person would follow, so it made sense for the other person to be in the same foothold.

"What if I told you that we've changed the rules in partnering? Would you believe me?" Hong Zhuang smirked.

"Who would believe that!?" Lin Huang thought to himself.

"Alright then, I shall change my question. Since you're here for me, tell me what you're here for," Lin Huang demanded after a moment of silence since he failed to get anything out of her.

"It's simple. We want you to join us." Hong Zhuang opened her arms wide, looking innocent.

"I refuse to. If that's your intention here, you can leave now." Lin Huang stared at her, hoping to look for any loopholes, but there was none.

"That's not possible. If you don't join us, I'll have to stay in the college to annoy you until… You come with me." Hong Zhuang winked at him.

"Your combat level is being sealed now. Aren't you afraid that I'll kill you?" Lin Huang squinted as he exuded a terrifying vibe.

"Please do that if you can, but think about the consequences…" Hong Zhuang turned around after glaring at Lin Huang.

"What a happy bunch of young kids, so full of energy…" She looked at the students downstairs.

Her threat was obvious. Lin Huang then retracted his aura. He knew very well what the Purple Crow was capable of doing. If he killed Hong Zhuang, all of the teachers and students might become the sacrifice that would end up being buried together with her dead body. Lin Huang soon noticed that Hong Zhuang was not the biggest threat. The biggest threat was her partner who was hiding somewhere that he was not aware of. There were also Purple Crow teams in the foothold that could destroy the White Capital.

Lin Huang had the thought of reporting her to the Union Government or the Hunter Association. However, the thought did not linger long in his mind. He knew that the Purple Crow would usually have two groups in every mission or even three groups when the mission was a big one. If group A's operation were interrupted, group B would be sent to cover them immediately. If group B were to be interrupted as well, group C would come and it would take one or two hours, at the most, to finish what group A and group B could not manage to complete. It was futile to report Hong Zhuang. As soon group A, which was probably led by her, noticed that something was wrong, they would retreat immediately and be replaced by group B that was hiding somewhere. By then, things could go out of hand as Lin Huang would not know who group B was even if they bumped into each other.

"Actually, it feels good to be a teacher. I've never attended college before. Although I've only been here for a couple of days, I've fallen in love with the environment here," Hong Zhuang said out of nowhere.

"These kids are completely different from those in the Purple Crow. They're much more pumped up. Sometimes, I feel young just by watching them."

"It's weird to hear that coming from you," Lin Huang teased.

"I don't want to interrupt your work here in the White Capital, but if you're targeting the college, I advise you to stop or else, you'll definitely regret!" He added.

"I've made it clear that I'm here for you. Why can't you just believe me?"

"I'm going for dinner now," Lin Huang interrupted Hong Zhuang.

"Oh, let's go! I'm hungry as well." Hong Zhuang stood up slowly.

"I don't feel hungry anymore. You go ahead yourself. I'm going to read at the library." Lin Huang helplessly turned around and headed to the entrance.

"Ah, I don't feel hungry anymore too. I shall head to the library." Hong Zhuang smiled at Lin Huang.

"You go ahead then. I'm going back to my dorm." Lin Huang walked out of the building, heading to the dorm, and Hong Zhuang followed.

"Can you stop following me? The library is in the other direction." Lin Huang stood still and glared at Hong Zhuang as he pointed at 10 o'clock from where they were.

"Nobody's following you. I'm going back to the dorm as well. We're going in the same direction." Hong Zhuang walked a few steps ahead and stopped.

"Oh yeah, my dorm is just next to yours. I got your neighbor to move out on Wednesday, so we're now neighbors. I'll be visiting you often!"

"This woman…" Lin Huang was speechless.

Instead of heading back to the dorm, Lin Huang went to battle training ground No. 101 directly after dinner. He called Mr. Fu immediately after locking the door. As Hong Zhuang was there, he could not ignore the threat that the Purple Crow might bring.

"My dear apprentice, what trouble are you in this time?" Mr. Fu knew Lin Huang well enough that he would not ask for help from anybody if he could solve the problem on his own.

"Uhh…" He was speechless by Mr. Fu's straightforwardness but he updated Mr. Fu about Hong Zhuang immediately.

"Oh, the Purple Crow's operation! I know a little bit about it. It's a game between them and the Union Government. There's no need for you to involve yourself in this; you won't be able to anyway," Mr. Fu smiled and said.

"Don't worry. It has nothing to do with the Martial Hunter College. Hong Zhuang must have used the teacher recruitment to enter the White Capital. She must be interested in you since she chose to join the college. That girl has great talent and ability. If you're interested in her, I could talk to the Purple Crow and try to matchmake the both of you." Mr. Fu grinned slyly.

"Please don't! I don't want that." Lin Huang waved his hands vigorously.

"Alright, be serious now. Luckily, you didn't do anything to her by taking advantage of her combat level being sealed. If you did, you would be dead by now. The leader of the Division 9 Purple Crow branch has a unique monster skill whereby he can perform aa pseudo seal on other people. It can unseal a person's combat level to his or her original combat level. Even a person who's on demigod-level would be able to find out about such a skill in close range.

"In reality, the immortal-level human used the same way to enter Haitian City last year. Without the skill, it was impossible to send his management staff into an A-grade foothold as it's very risky. The normal seal would take a couple of minutes to unseal. If the management staff entered the White Capital just by performing the normal seal, they would die immediately if any of them were exposed," Mr. Fu shared in all seriousness.

Lin Huang was dripping cold sweat when he heard about the pseudo seal.

"Also, Hong Zhuang isn't as simple as you think. She has become the Purple Crow's core member in Division 7. I heard from the Purple Crow headquarters that they're planning to train her to become a Crow Spirit…"

"A core member… Crow Spirit…" Lin Huang was fixated on the two keywords.

As he had been to the Purple Crow training camp, he knew what the two terms meant. There was no elders or executives in the Purple Crow. The core members referred to the core group of the organization. Members who desired to become a core member of each branch in each division would have to be at least an imperial-level. It was the basic standard. Most of them were at least immortal-level rank-9; there were hardly any of them who was a rank below.

Since Hong Zhuang had managed to become a core member, that meant even if she was not imperial-level now, she had the ability to fight imperial-levels by herself!

Meanwhile, the Crow Spirit was like the Holy Son in the Saint organization and Virgen in the heretics.

They were deemed the highest level in the organization and were on the same level as the Crow Leader in the Purple Crow headquarters. However, the Crow Spirit did not have the authority that the Crow Leader commanded.

Of course, Lin Huang got another piece of information from what Mr. Fu said.

"So, you mean they have at least two imperial-level core members in this operation? Looking at their usual formation, they'll have at least ten immortal-levels and up to a hundred holy fire-levels… What are they trying to do?!"

"Not two, but four core members. I have no idea about the formation," Mr. Fu shook his head and corrected him.

"Don't involve yourself in this. Just pretend that Hong Zhuang isn't here. Just do whatever you do as usual. As long as you don't offend them, they won't do anything to you," Mr. Fu cautioned in all seriousness.

"I understand." Lin Huang went silent for a moment and nodded.

"Oh yeah, I have something up these few days, so I might leave Division 7 for a couple of days. Take care of yourself when I'm not around. If I could, I wouldn't leave during this period of time. Division 7 has been chaotic recently. With your abilities, you'll get yourself killed if you offend someone by accident. Especially when it comes to a major organization like this, even an imperial-level person could barely do anything," Mr. Fu sighed.

Lin Huang fell into deep thought as he hung up the phone. Mr. Fu was adamant that it was just a game that the Purple Crow and the Union Government was playing. It had nothing to do with the Martial Hunter College or himself. However, Mr. Fu refused to reveal what was the Purple Crow's intention as he did not want Lin Huang to get involved in this.

"Never mind then. I shan't overthink since it's not a threat to the Martial Hunter College." Lin Huang decided not to dwell on it.

However, he was worried that the Purple Crow would harm Lin Xin if her identity were exposed since Hong Zhuang was in the college now. Lin Huang thought about it and put on Ye Xiu's Emperor's Heart Ring to send Lin Xin a message.

"Someone from the Purple Crow has gotten into the college. Let's not contact each other at the moment. Don't come to my dorm. Pretend that you don't know me if we see each other. Also, don't tell anybody about this. Delete this message after reading it!"

"Shouldn't we inform the dean?" Lin Xin replied soon, aware that it was Lin Huang's other identity.

"No, I'll handle that," Lin Huang responded. He knew that the more he revealed, the more Lin Xin would overthink and that might bring unnecessary trouble.

He was relieved as Lin Xin did not reply anymore. He then started practicing his sword skills after deleting the messages that he had sent Lin Xin.

He ignored Hong Zhuang completely for the next two to three days. He would go to the library in the day and practice his sword skills at night as usual. Hong Zhuang followed him wherever he went every day, but Lin Huang ignored her existence and read his books. Luckily, she would disappear at night, probably to handle Purple Crow matters and did not interrupt his practice.

"Your sister is such a control freak!" Qin Tianxing commented after seeing them together all the time for the past few days, which irritated Lin Huang. If it were not for him bringing Hong Zhuang to the office the other day, this would not have happened.

On the fourth morning, Lin Huang was relieved as Hong Zhuang did not follow him this time. Qin Tianxing was having breakfast when Lin Huang got to the canteen, and he waved at Lin Huang immediately. Lin Huang then sat across him with his breakfast.

"Isn't your sister with you today?" He asked.

"No, I think she has some stuff to do." Lin Huang guessed that the operation was starting soon.

"Oh yeah, there's an update on the purge the Union Government performed towards the Saint that you asked me to keep an eye on for you earlier," Qin Tianxing said as he munched on a fried bun.

"What update?!" Lin Huang lifted his head immediately.

"The hiding place of the Saint's first and second elders were exposed today at 6 a.m. The Union organizations are performing the last kill now!"

"Why does the exposure of the two Saint elders coincide with the Purple Crow's operation?" Lin Huang fell into deep thought after hearing what Qin Tianxing said.

"Hong Zhuang isn't here today. The Purple Crow's operation must have something to do with the Saint! What do they want from the Saint? Or maybe they're attacking the Union Government's headquarter when it's empty…"

Lin Huang had his mind occupied with what Hong Zhuang and the Purple Crow could be up to. He was absolutely distracted when he was reading in the library. When it was around 10:30 a.m, Kylie's voice came to his mind.

"It's settled."

Her message was short and sweet. It was clear that the triple mutation and the awakening of her bloodline did not change her cold attitude.

"I'll recall the both of you if you're sure that everything has been done," Lin Huang informed before recalling them.

"Everything's done." It was Bai who replied.

Lin Huang recalled the two Monster Cards after hearing Bai's reply. He finally managed to distract himself from the mystery of the Purple Crow. However, he felt an invisible pressure from the Purple Crow's operation. It also triggered him to want to be more powerful. He was irritated by the thought that he might be killed anytime. However, since he had just leveled up to white flame-level, his Life Fire was still unstable. He could not level up his combat level within a month. He would have to look for alternatives to upgrade his abilities. He then looked at his Monster Skills slots. There were still eight empty slots out of twenty slots.

"Besides Lancelot and Thunder, all of the cards have been leveled up to legendary-level. Besides Dark Shield, the remaining Monster Skills in my body have been transformed. I'm only left with the Mighty Ape, the Frost Flame Ape and the two Dark Crescent Snakes whose skills have yet to be extracted… Let's see if there's anything that's useful."

Lin Huang then placed the four cards in front of him and went through the skills one by one.

"The Mighty Ape's Superhuman Strength and Warrior Body are pretty cool. They can increase my body strength tremendously. The Frost Flame Ape's Frost Flame isn't bad, but it's not very useful for me. Its Frost Armor is redundant to me as well since I already have Absolute Defence and Dark Shield… The Dark Crescent Snake's Crescent Flame isn't too shabby either, but it doesn't suit my style…"

He was only satisfied with the Mighty Ape's skills after looking at the four monsters thoroughly. It would be great if he could possess more Monster Skills. However, as he only had a limit of eight savant slots for Monster Skills, he had to get rid of whatever was not useful to him. It was better to declutter instead of keeping stuff that one did not need even if it was free.

Besides the Mighty Ape, Lin Huang recalled the other three Monster Cards and summoned Kylie. To avoid attention from the skill extraction, he got Kylie to bring him into the isolation space where the Starlight Beasts were. He detected a major change as soon as he entered the space with Kylie. There were endless meadows before, but now there were meadows, forests, mountains, and rivers… It had changed completely.

Lin Huang was stunned at the change and only snapped out of it after a while.

"Did you do all these?" Lin Huang asked Kylie.

"It's my mini world now. I can change it however I want it." Kylie nodded.

Lin Huang had read about the concept of mini-worlds in novels before, but it was his first time witnessing one. After Kylie's revamp on the place, the mini world looked the same as the real world except that it had no creatures.

"Wait… What's that?" Just when Lin Huang was thinking that there should be no other creature than Starlight Beasts here, he saw a giant beast which seemed to be running away from a predator.

"A Black Tusk Elephant. Bai and I brought it in here. Our army needs food." Kylie's reply was simple.

"I'll need to hunt for more food for them after this batch of food is finished," she said after a pause.

Lin Huang realized that he had overlooked the point that Kylie's army consisted of normal monsters that were not in card forms. Unlike Kylie, they needed food to survive.

"Sure, just let me know ahead. I'll bring you wherever you need to go," Lin Huang replied.

"Although the Black Tusk Elephant is huge, you have more than 300 monsters in your army. That should last them for only a couple of days."

"Bai and I brought back all seven holy fire-level monsters from the Meteorite Desert. That should be enough to feed them for half a month," Kylie replied without any expression.

Lin Huang was surprised to hear that she and Bai had captured all the Transcendent-level monsters in the Meteorite Desert. In such a huge desert, it had been downgraded from a moderate danger zone to a grade-4 wild zone just because Kylie's army needed food. He was not sure if he should laugh at that.

"The most powerful holy fire-level monsters that you and Bai captured should be at least purple flame-level… What's the combat level of the Starlight Beasts after they evolved? Can they kill purple flame-level monsters?"

"They're the same as me. They're all gold flame-level. Their combat level will grow together with mine. They're kind of like… clones," Kylie replied shockingly.

Just as Kylie said this, a couple of monsters in silver armor flew across the sky and caught up with the Black Tusk Elephant in an instant. The monsters looked exactly like Kylie before she had completed her triple mutation. The only difference was their size. Suddenly, one of them flung its purple spear into the air. The spear was transformed into a purple lightning rod and pierced through the 50-meter thick Black Tusk Elephant's skull. It died on the spot, brain juice and blood spilling all over the place.

After the Nephilic Judges killed the elephant, they soon noticed Kylie and Lin Huang, then ran over to them immediately.

"Master." They bowed their heads, standing ten meters before Kylie.

"Don't bother us. Go do your own stuff." Kylie waved her hand, behaving very much like a queen.

"Yes!" The Nephilic Judges left with the Black Tusk Elephant immediately.

Lin Huang could sense how powerful the Nephilic Judges were when they had gotten closer earlier. It was a powerful army. A single Nephilic Judge alone might be able to kill an immortal-level rank-1. His passion surged as he thought about Kylie's army that was made of more than 300 monsters. He was one step closer to his dream of building a monster army!

He then recalled his intention of getting Kylie to bring him into this mini world.

"Xiao Hei, extract the skill now!" Lin Huang instructed Xiao Hei as he looked at the Mighty Ape Monster Card that he held in his hand.

"Performing skill extraction… Randomly picking a skill… Skill extraction has been completed!"

"Congratulations, you have obtained the skill - Warrior Body!"

"Congratulations, you have obtained the skill - Warrior Body!"

Just when the notification came in, Lin Huang felt a change in his strength. It clearly came from the Warrior Body skill that he had just obtained. As he sensed his body thoroughly, he was surprised to find out that the skill matched the Undefeatable Warrior that Mr. Fu had given him earlier. He thought the upgrade in his body strength was not efficient ever since he leveled up to Transcendent, so he desired this skill intensely. It seemed like the skill had exceeded his expectations.

"This skill is awesome!" He nodded in satisfaction and looked at the remaining seven vacant skill slots.

"I'm only left with seven slots, but I have twelve Skill Extraction Cards. It's not enough for me!"

He then looked at the detailed description on the Skill Extraction Cards.

"Skill Extraction Card: Once activated, you can randomly extract a skill from a Monster Card.

"Remark 1: The skill extraction will exclude the skills that you have extracted before.

"Remark 2: You can only use this once on each Monster Card.

"Remark 3: The activation will not affect any of the skills that the Monster Card possesses.

"Remark 4: Please do not activate this card if you don't have any vacant slots! If you do, the extracted skill using the Skill Extraction Card will disappear if there're no vacant slots within 24 hours. A second extraction of the same Monster Card is prohibited after that."

"Hmm, a random extraction again and only once for each Monster Card… That means if there's one particular skill that I want, I won't have the opportunity to obtain it anymore if I don't get that skill during the extraction," Lin Huang frowned as he thought.

The Skill Extraction Card was the card that he had always desired as he wanted to extract skills from some Monster Cards that he owned. For instance, Charcoal's Element Immunity, Bloody's Supreme Intelligence, Ghastly's Deceptive and Spiritual secret skills were skills that he desired.

"I have so few vacant skill slots…" Lin Huang mumbled to himself as he looked at the remaining seven slots. He would have to pick wisely for the skill extraction. The first Monster Card that he took out was Charcoal. Element Immunity was a skill that he lusted for as he looked through Charcoal's skills. It was already at an advanced level now where it could provide 99% immunity to elemental damages.

Aside from increasing Lin Huang's survival ability tremendously, the skill would also give him the advantage whenever he was fighting close-range with a person who was talented in elemental attacks. Just like his encounter with the Fiery Swordfiend earlier, it was difficult for him to fight it at a close distance as he would be burnt. However, with Element Immunity, it would not be an issue anymore. He would not need to worry about getting burnt. All he needed to do was to slash the monster with his sword.

Naturally, aside from Element Immunity, the Draconic secret skill, Dragon Power, and Dragon Realm were great additions too. He would be happy to extract any of the skills. Lin Huang then crushed the Skill Extraction Card after some thought.

"Targeted Monster Card - Charcoal.

"Activating skill extraction… Excluding Absolute Defence… Randomly extracting a skill… Random extraction has been completed!

"Congratulations, you have obtained the skill - Elemental Immunity!"

"Elemental Immunity!" Lin Huang was ecstatic to hear that since it was the skill that he wanted.

"Elemental Immunity (Advanced): Passive skill, 99% immune to most elemental attacks."

It took him a while to get over his excitement after reading the skill's detailed description. He then recalled Charcoal and took out the second Monster Card, which was Bai, and laid out his second Skill Extraction Card at the same time.

The skill that he desired most from Bai was the Blood secret skill. As he already had Vampire Particles, if he obtained the Blood secret skill, he would not have to spend time figuring out how to use Vampire Particles. Instead, he could just use the Vampire Particles directly like how Bai did. He crushed the second Skill Extraction Card immediately.

"Targeted Monster Card - Bai.

"Activating skill extraction… Excluding Vampire Particles… Randomly extracting a skill… Random extraction has been completed!

"Congratulations, you have obtained the skill - Holy Power!"

"Oh!" Lin Huang was surprised when he found out that Holy Power was extracted.

"It seems like I'm still not European. It was just a coincidence that I obtained the Elemental Immunity just now."

Although it was not the Blood secret skill that he wanted, Holy Power was a great skill as well. Once the skill was activated, many would fear him. It was a pretty cool skill.

He got over it as he thought about that. He took out Bloody's card together with his third Skill Extraction Card after recalling Bai's card. What Lin Huang desired the most from Bloody was Supreme Intelligence. His Leech Pods had now been upgraded to the Parasitic secret skill as Bloody had leveled up. He had all of the parasitic skills that Bloody possessed. Therefore, besides Supreme Intelligence, there was nothing else that he wanted.

He then crushed the third Skill Extraction.

"Targeted Monster Card - Bloody.

"Activating skill extraction… Excluding Parasitic secret skill… Randomly extracting a skill… Random extraction has been completed!

"Congratulations, you have obtained the skill - Absolute Control!"

"What the hell?" Lin Huang was annoyed when he heard Xiao Hei's notification.

Absolute Control was a skill to boost parasitic control. To be honest, the skill was useful to Bloody but not to Lin Huang. He did not have such a powerful brain as Bloody did. If he was to control a creature, the most he could was one or two at a time. The skill was not useful for a wider coverage of parasites. Unlike Supreme Intelligence, Bloody could control tens of thousands of monsters with the Absolute Control skill.

Out of three extractions, Lin Huang had only gotten one skill that he was satisfied with. He was thinking if he should wash his face. Then, he took out Ghastly's card and the fourth Skill Extraction Card after recalling Bloody. Ghastly had Supreme Intelligence in its list of skills as well.

"It'd better be Supreme Intelligence this time! If not, I wouldn't mind getting the Deceptive or Spirit secret skill," Lin Huang mumbled to himself as he read the skills descriptions at the back of the card.

"Targeted Monster Card - Ghastly.

"Activating skill extraction… Excluding Doll secret skill… Randomly extracting a skill… Random extraction has been completed!

"Congratulations, you have obtained the skill - Telekinesis!"

"I've already gotten Demonic Telepathy. Why would I need this Telekinesis?! Isn't it just a repetition? Xiao Hei, I think there's someone pranking me behind your Skill Extraction machine. I'm protesting!"

"I'm glad to hear your customer feedback, but there's nothing that I can do!" Xiao Hei replied.

"…"

"However, I could give you a helpful suggestion. Integrate all the similar skills so that you can get more skill slots."

"That's right. Since they're both the same skills, I should be able to integrate them so that I can extract one more skill." Xiao Hei's suggestion calmed Lin Huang down. He then took out a Skill Combination Card immediately.

"Activate Skill Combination Card!"

"There's only one set of skills to be integrated."

"Integrate psychic skills: Telekinesis, Demonic Telepathy"

"Are you sure you want to integrate them?"

"Please do." Lin Huang nodded.

"Skill Combination Card has been consumed. Monster Skills Telekinesis and Demonic Telepathy have been consumed. Producing new Skill Card…

"Congratulations, you have obtained a new psychic card: Divine Telekinesis (Pseudo)

"Divine Telekinesis (Pseudo): A powerful telekinesis that only demigods can activate, comes with all telekinesis functions.

"Remark 1: The strength of telekinesis depends on the user's spiritual strength.

"Remark 2: Can be used together with Holy Power for better boost.

Lin Huang was not completely surprised as he looked at the new Skill Card. He looked at the card thoroughly and tried using it. It took him a while to calm down from his excitement.

"Sigh, it would be perfect to have Supreme Intelligence. My spirit strength could get a boost as well as the strength of this Divine Telekinesis…"

He then proceeded with the skill extraction, full of disappointment.

Soon, the skill extraction ended. Lin Huang obtained the Purification Light from Kylie and Enhanced Regeneration from Tyrant. He used another Skill Combination Card to integrate the Demonic Regeneration with the Enhanced Regeneration. He obtained Divine Regeneration (Pseudo), which was a surprise to him. He got a useless skill, Revival, from Sanguine. He had extracted skills seven times in total. However, due to the two skill integrations, he was left with two out of seven vacant slots. He decided to save the two slots for Lancelot and the Regal Sword Killer.

After extracting the skills, Lin Huang then looked at his personal exclusive card.

"Host: Lin Huang

"Gender: Male

"Age: 16

"Combat Strength: White Flame-Level

"Inheritance: Demigod's brain, One Page Sword Scripture

"Secret Skills: Superhuman Strength, Seraphic Speed, Substitute, Medium Territory, Demon Hand

"Sword Skills: Star Dome, Wildfire, Thunder Sting, Great Sword Scripture, Hundred Flowing Blades, Mountain Blade…

"Gunfighting Technique: Thunderstorm, Sandstorm, Torrent…

"Movement Skill: Thunder Steps, Cloud Steps, Spectral Snowsteps

"Minor: Fatal Tactics, Heaven's Wrath, Omniscient Nature

"Monster Skills: Divine Telekinesis (Pseudo), Divine Regeneration (Pseudo), Holy Power, Element Immunity, Absolute Control, Purification Light, Revival, Warrior Body, Vampire Particles, Advanced Disguise, Immense Strength, Parasitic secret skill, Absolute Defence, Lightning Control, Dark Shield, Doll secret skill, Punishment, Witchcraft)

"Summon Authority: Activated (Legendary Level)

"Available Number of Summons: 10

"Remarks: Considered on his way to proper cultivation."

After the skill extraction was completed, Lin Huang did not stay any further in Kylie's mini world. He recalled her after she sent him back to the library. He then walked out of the library cubicle like nothing had happened as he proceeded to read. Hong Zhuang did not appear at all during the day. After dinner, Lin Huang went to battle training ground No.101 alone as usual to train with Bai.

His Emperor's Heart Ring vibrated when it was past 11 p.m. It was a notice from the Union Government.

"The Union organizations led by the Division 7 Union Government branch has killed all Saint members in Division 7 at 10:58 p.m. tonight. "The operation took a total of 49 days. The Union organizations have destroyed the Saints' headquarter and 67 branches in Division 7. More than 130,000 Saint members have been killed, including the first and second elders in Division 7 and more than 300 Transcendent-levels…"

"They even killed the first and second elders!"

The Union organizations' operation surprised Lin Huang as he never thought that they would kill the elders who were relatively unimportant. Those who were sitting on top or even the senior members would know the secrets of the headquarters and would usually leave whenever there was a crisis. However, Lin Huang soon noticed that there was something fishy behind it.

The Union Government had only mentioned the first and second elders getting killed but not any of the other elders. That could possibly mean that none of the other elders were captured. If that were true, it would be fishy. If the other elders managed to escape, theoretically, the first and second elders should have been able to escape as well.

Lin Huang estimated that the first and second elders were sent out as sacrificial lambs. The Saints knew very well that the Division 7 Union Government would not give up just like that if they did not do so. If the matter were brought up to the Union Government in the core zone, the purge would not only involve Division 7 alone. What the Saints did was to wipe their record clean with the Union Government.

"Such a bold plan! The messenger of the Saints must be someone powerful!" Lin Huang exclaimed.

He knew how the organization worked and he was clear about the fact that the highest member was not the first elder, but the messenger. However, most people did not know that about the underground organization. They thought that the first elder was the leader of the organization in Division 7, hence to them, killing the first elder would be the end of it. The Union Government did not plan to explain further on that as they would hope the people would have such a misunderstanding.

"I remember Wu Fa mentioning that the one who was burnt in the Mist Forest was the second elder's grandson. Now that the second elder is dead, it seems like I don't have to worry that anyone from the Saints will come for me anymore." Lin Huang recalled Wu Fa mentioning the second elder to him. Now that the second elder was dead, everything was over.

"Looking at the notice, the Saint elders and some of the core staff must have left Division 7 since the beginning. The Union Government's operation should have gotten rid of the Saint's base in Division 7 and there's no way for the Saints to rise any time soon. Whether they'll rise again in the future… The other underground organizations must take advantage of the opportunity to take over the Saints' territories. Once the territories are wiped out as well as the resources, many businesses will be replaced. It'll be difficult for them to make a comeback."

The more Lin Huang analyzed the situation, the more relieved he was as he recalled the things that the Saints had done. He recalled the first encounter with a Saint member last year with the team which Du Feng had led and with the lady called Liang Qian.

"Liang Qian will be happy to hear about this…"

As he thought about Liang Qian, Lin Huang looked down at his left arm. He shook his left arm softly, and a black metal box the size of half a palm slipped out from his sleeve. There was a conical cube sitting in there. It was the ruins key that he had gotten from a Saint member last year.

"Since the Saints have left Division 7, I shall find time to visit this ruins soon and see what I will find." He closed the cover slowly after looking at the key for a while. He then summoned Kylie and got her to bring the box to her mini world. Since the box could not be kept in his storage space, he had been bringing this box around with him for the past year.

It was almost 11:30 p.m. He then recalled Kylie and Bai since he did not have the mood to train anymore. He left the battle training ground for his dorm and went to bed after he took a shower. He was rolling in his bed and could not sleep, so he then started reading the news on the Heart Network.

All the websites were talking about the Union Government's purge on the Heart Network. Most of them were complimenting the Union Government and the Union organizations. The people bombarded discussions and forwarded news on social media platforms. Lin Huang thought they were too many people in this world who did not sleep normal hours. It was already past midnight, but the Heart Network was still chaotic.

It proved that most of the people did not know about the Saints organizational frame and thought that the first elder was the leader. Nobody saw anything fishy behind this. Some of the people who could see the truth to it chose not to say anything. The Union Government took this advantage to win themselves a favorable rating. To Lin Huang, what the Union Government did was understandable as they had really put in the effort to kill many Saint members. If they did not do that, the Saints would still be carrying on with their ridiculous doings. Moreover, it was apparent that the Saints had left Division 7. Whether they left on their own after sending the elders to be sacrificed or whether they were being chased after, the fact that there were no more Saint members in Division 7 remained. No matter to the Union organizations or the people, it was a big victory.

However, as Lin Huang scrolled through one of the social media platforms, he saw a person's post revealing the truth. It said that the Saint leader was not the first elder but the messenger was. It even wrote about the two elders just being a sacrifice. There were only a couple of users who shared that post but many bombarded the user with negative comments.

"Not sure if this guy is trying to tell the truth or he's from another underground organization that's creating a scene." Although what the user wrote was the truth, Lin Huang could not tell the real intention behind this.

"Theuglytruth… This username…" Lin Huang chuckled and shook his head when he saw the person's user ID. Just when he was going to turn off the page, 'theuglytruth' released another post. Lin Huang peeked at it and could not keep his eyes off it.

"In the following three days, two underground organizations will fight the Union Government together. Location: The White Capital!" The post wrote.

Lin Huang raised an eyebrow when he saw the post published by 'theuglytruth'. As Mr. Fu had reminded him in their video call earlier, the Purple Crow had been up to something with the Union Government in White Capital recently. However, the user had said that there would be two underground organizations going against the Union Government in the White Capital. Lin Huang suspected that the user might be telling the truth.

"What does this person know?" Lin Huang started reading the older posts that 'theuglytruth' had posted.

"The registration date of this user is 28 September and the first post was published on 30 September. That's the day before the Martial Hunter College's assessment for the new students…"

"The Martial Hunter College will be attacked by the heretics in the following days!" That was the user's first post. There were only three persons who commented on that post, saying that the user had predicted it wrong.

The second post was published on 3 October, the day before the Union Government announced war on the Saint organization.

"The Union Government will announce a war against the Saints and fight them together with the other Union organizations!"

Many people forwarded it and commented on the post, gushing about how the prediction was finally accurate.

The third post was published on October 4, after the Union Government announced the war.

"The Saint's core members will leave Division 7 entirely and two core members will remain as scapegoats."

"This fella predicted that one and a half months ago?!" Lin Huang frowned after he read that.

The fourth post was published just now, past 11 p.m. after the Union Government had posted the notice. The user revealed that the first and second elders that were killed were just scapegoats for the Saints. The fifth post was a prediction about the war that would break out in the White Capital. Lin Huang read it thoroughly and realized that besides the first post that had been wrongly predicted, all the subsequent posts actually came true while the last one was still unconfirmed. In reality, the first prediction was not entirely wrong as the Saint really did disguise as the heretics and attacked the Martial Hunter College.

"Is this really a prophet or a game played by an underground organization?" Lin Huang could not tell but he thought the latter was more likely. The person must have gotten some information from the black market and released the news on purpose for some unknown reason. It also proved that the person had advanced access in the black market.

After some hesitation, Lin Huang commented anonymously, "Then, do you know which two underground organizations will fight the Union Government?"

Lin Huang waited for a while after commenting. It was almost 12.30 p.m. Seeing that there was no reply, he then shut down the page and went to bed. The next morning, there was a notification on his Emperor's Heart Ring, so he turned it on casually.

The social media platform, Surf Net, that he was looking at last night popped out. He saw a reply from 'theuglytruth' on the post that he had commented on.

"It has something to do with the Saints." The reply was sent at 1 a.m.

"It seems like the person really does know something…" Based on the person's reply, Lin Huang was sure that the person knew what was happening.

Humans would always be curious about the unknown. Lin Huang was eager to ask the person which organization would be fighting together with the Purple Crow. However, he recalled that Mr. Fu had asked him not to get involved in the matter, so he switched off the page forcefully.

Just when he was ready to head out for breakfast after washing up, he saw Hong Zhuang standing not far from his door. She was wearing a t-shirt with a cartoon rabbit print and short jeans with a dark blue trench coat. The trench coat was less than 10 centimeters longer than her jeans, displaying her long legs.

"Morning! Did you miss me?" Hong Zhuang smiled at him seductively as he opened the door.

"No," Lin Huang gave a determined answer.

"You're cold as usual," Hong Zhuang complained but she soon smiled again.

"Aren't you curious about where I went yesterday?"

"No, it has nothing to do with me." Lin Huang looked at her sternly and walked towards the canteen.

"Weren't you curious about why I'm here in the White Capital? Why are you not interested anymore? Did you hear about it from somewhere else?" Hong Zhuang followed him. She sounded like she was testing Lin Huang.

"I don't have the time to do that. It's your business even if you're bombing the Union Government. I won't be questioning you as long as it has nothing to do with the Martial Hunter College."

"Alright then, I understand now." Hong Zhuang was satisfied with his answer. Although she had no idea what he might know, at least she knew that Lin Huang would not intervene in her operation.

"Hmm, why do I sense that your vibe is even more powerful now after a day?" Hong Zhuang asked as she trailed after Lin Huang.

"It's all in your head." Lin Huang's heart skipped a beat when he heard that but he turned around to glare at Hong Zhuang without an expression.

She did not say anything but she looked at Lin Huang suspiciously. It was clear that she sensed the changes in him but she could not tell what it was.

"What secrets are you hiding? I really want to know," she thought to herself as she licked her lips after Lin Huang turned back to walk ahead.

When they got to the canteen, Lin Huang got his breakfast and sat down at an empty table. Soon, Hong Zhuang sat across him with her breakfast. Lin Huang ignored her and proceeded to eat his meal. A while later, Qin Tianxing joined them.

"Good morning, Miss Zhuang and Sir Lin!" Qin Tianxing shamelessly sat next to Hong Zhuang after greeting the both of them.

"Good morning, Sir Qin!" Hong Zhuang did not seem like she minded that as she smiled at him while eating her bread.

"Did you guys see the news? The Saints have been completely wiped out! I personally think that all of the underground organizations should die! After killing the Saints, the next should be the Purple Crow!" Qin Tianxing discussed the hot topic with sheer excitement.

"Brother, can you not? The Purple Crow's soon-to-be Crow Spirit is just sitting on your right!" Lin Huang screamed internally. He thought Qin Tianxing must be a dead man to Hong Zhuang now.

"The Purple Crow is the same as the Saints. None of them are good. If I see any of them, I'll definitely kill them." Qin Tianxing seemed to be showing off his male ego in front of Hong Zhuang. He could not stop talking about the underground organization.

Lin Huang peeked at Hong Zhuang but she seemed calm. What Qin Tianxing was talking about seemed to have nothing to do with her…

In the middle of the night, there were purple and red full moons in the sky. The world was veiled in a mysterious color under the moonlight. It was late, and the crowded White Capital was now quiet. Although the lights were shining brightly, there was nobody on the street. However, not everybody was sleeping at such an hour. Some people were still working hard. Not many people in the White Capital knew that there was an underworld hiding hundreds of meters under the massive city.

Outside an underground building in the White Capital were holy fire-level guards and patrol squads issuing a stern warning that no outsiders were allowed in. The building was like a giant metal beast that was tempered from a special metal into the design of a creature. It seemed like the perfect existence in the underworld which did not seem absurd at all as it gave one the feeling that it had existed since tens of thousands of years ago.

The black glass material on the surface of the building blocked out all the light from the outside. From the outside, it looked like the entire building was completely black. However, the inside of the building was as bright as day. In a room, there were two dead male bodies lying stark naked on two white beds. One had silver hair and was skinny and old. Meanwhile, the other one was big with dark hair and a beard. He looked like a hunk.

The two dead bodies belonged to the first and second elders of the Saints. Both of their skulls were cut open, displaying their greyish-white brains. A middle-aged woman wearing a white contamination suit was standing less than a meter from the second elder's head. She was observing his brain, and black sigils were rotating quickly in her eyes. A while later, she closed her eyes slowly and walked out of the room.

"How is it?" Men in suits walked to her as she opened the door. The leader was a lanky, middle-aged man who was more than two meters tall. He had a mustache on his face that seemed like he had not shaved for days as he looked at the woman in anticipation. The woman took off her contamination suit, revealing her long, black dress.

"I'm sorry, I could only retrieve information other than the demigod's knowledge. It seems like someone has erased the memory of the demigod from their brains." The woman smiled awkwardly.

"Again…" The tall man frowned. He seemed to be disappointed by the result.

"Zhou Ju, are the rest the same as well?" The woman asked.

"Yes. Besides you, we have hired 13 people who are experts in retrieving memories and tens of professionals in brain research for the past two days. There's no progress in the sealed memory zone at all." The middle-aged man was still frowning.

"If there's no progress, we'll have to get the experts to further examine Lu Yuan's brain…"

The woman nodded as she knew that any further examination might destroy the brain.

"Let me extract the memories that I've retrieved. Maybe there's something that's useful to you."

"Please do." The middle-aged man named Zhou Ju nodded.

"Bring Madam Wang for the data collection," he then said to the man in the suit next to him.

"Madam Wang, please follow me."

Lao Zhou frowned as he looked at the two dead bodies behind the glass as the duo left.

"Why is it always like that when it comes to information about the demigod? Could this really be the data isolation?" He mumbled to himself.

"I still think the concept of data isolation is just ridiculous. If nobody can access the demigod information, then where did the Saints get it from? I think the Saint must have deleted the memory of the demigod in these two sacrifices, that's why we can't retrieve anything." A man in a suit who was in his 20s opened the wrapping of a lollipop that he retrieved from his storage space as he spoke casually.

Lao Zhou glared at him because he was interrupted as he was just going to speak.

"Do you want one?" The man in the suit passed him another lollipop.

"Wu Sheng! We're working now. Please be serious!" Lao Zhou scowled at him.

"You know I have low blood glucose levels and I can't work if I don't eat candy." Wu Sheng shrugged his shoulders.

"Who are you blaming since you could've actually cured this by entering the bloody sugar correction pod years ago?" Lao Zhou scolded.

"You know I hate doctors. I'd want to break the heads of those in the white coats. If I see them in their white coats and glasses, I might not be able to stop myself from killing them… You know very well that this is the side effects of what happened. There's nothing that I could do to control myself…" Wu Sheng shrugged again.

"You can buy the blood sugar correction pod online. There's no need to go to the hospital. What excuse is this?!" Lao Zhou knew what Wu Sheng meant by the side effects but it was obvious that he was trying to distract him.

"Nope, it's too troublesome. I think God wants me to eat more candy, that's why he gave me this illness. Why should I cure it? It's such a wonderful thing to be able to eat candy whenever and wherever I want!" Wu Sheng declined him again.

"…"

Lao Zhou and the rest gave up on their attempt to stop Wu Sheng from eating too much sugar since he was full of nonsense anyway.

"Oh yeah, please be on alert, you guys. The black market has been too quiet these few days. The underground organizations might be coming up with something. Beware," Lao Zhou changed the topic.

"It may not be necessary that something is happening. Maybe our attack towards the Saints the past few days scared the black market. Many underground organizations are afraid that we might target them next, so they're hiding." Wu Sheng thought that Lao Zhou was being too sensitive.

"Moreover, there are 33 floors here. Even if any of the organizations wanted the two dead bodies, how would they know which floor we're on? Unless… There's a spy among us."

"Never underestimate the underground organizations. Some of them are so powerful that they're no less than the Scarborough Workshop. They might even be more powerful!" Lao Zhou looked at Wu Sheng knowingly when he mentioned the Scarborough Workshop.

"The Scarborough Workshop… Don't tell me where these people are hiding right now!" Wu Sheng's pupils shrunk as he clenched his teeth.

Two days ago, in the middle of the night, in an old, dim warehouse in the eastern suburb of the White Capital, three people appeared out of nowhere when there was usually hardly anyone.

The three of them wore black robes that had no logos on them. They hid their faces under the hood. Under the dim light, their masks under the hood could be faintly seen.

"Let's wait for a while. The Purple Crow will be here soon." The leader's voice was gentle and deep under the voice-modulating shell. The other two persons stood there without saying a thing as they waited patiently. Soon, another four people appeared in the warehouse. The four of them were dressed the same as the three. They were wearing black robes with hoods and masks of different designs on their faces.

"Alright, since everyone is here, let's get straight to business," the gentle voice was heard again.

Among the Purple Crow members, the man standing on the second left spoke, "What I heard is that the Union Government has brought Gong Sunhai and Lu Yuan to Building 33, but I'm not sure which floor they're on. Nobody knows that at the moment." His voice was also deep but was huskier than the leader's voice.

"In reality, aside from the first floor, we have no idea where the remaining 32 floors are at."

Building 33 was the Union Government's underground department that was scattered everywhere in 33 different locations beneath the White Capital. Although the depths of the levels were different, the floors were not arranged according to the depth of ground but to the build order instead. Aside from the first floor that was under the Union Government's office building, the remaining 32 floors were scattered everywhere under the White Capital where nobody can pinpoint. Only some of the top management in the Union Government know where the exact locations of the 32 floors are and a couple of them were privy to where the bodies of the two Saints elders were hidden.

"That's not a problem. We've found someone who knows the locations of Building 33 these few days. It's not difficult to get him to tell us the building's exact location. I'll try to find out which floor the two elders are on," the gentle voice spoke and looked at the four of them.

"Have you guys tracked the number of guardians?"

"Yes, there are six of them on imperial-level in the White Capital now. However, aside from the six families including the Shangguan and the Li families that we know of, there are at least two powerful humans of the same level. Therefore, there are at least eight imperial-level guardians in the White Capital and that's just an estimation." It was a voice that was slightly high-pitched. Although the person used a voice-modulating shell, it was not difficult to distinguish that it was a lady.

"I heard that the one guarding Building 33 are their director, Zhou Xiong, and deputy director, Wu Sheng. I'll try to distract two of the eight imperial-level humans these two days. But the most I can take care of are those two, or else, the Union Government might suspect that something is wrong," the husky voice added.

"Do you mean Zhou Xiong and Wu Sheng…" The gentle voice trailed off with a sigh.

"Why? Do you know them?" The husky voice asked.

"Nothing. I heard that Zhou Hou is powerful, so it might be tough." The man with the gentle voice shook his head.

"Zhou Xiong is really powerful. Even if we get the exact location, it's inevitable that we will face him when we get to Building 33. One of us will have to go in while the other one would have to watch the entrance," the husky voice said in all seriousness. He was clearly one of the leaders in the Purple Crow with strong power.

"Then, you'll stay at the entrance and I'll go in. I'd like to see what the forensic room in Building 33 looks like," the man with the gentle voice decided without thinking twice.

"As long as you don't take too long, or else, I'll leave you behind," the husky voice from the Purple Crow warned.

"I like how straightforward you are."

"Please don't, I'm not interested in men."

"Let's talk about the details. Since it's our first time working together, we have to cooperate so that we miss nothing," the man with the gentle voice said.

…

It was 1 a.m. on the 19th floor in Building 33. Zhou Xiong sat in the room next to the mortuary while staring at the two bodies across the one-way mirror. Nobody knew what he was thinking about. Wu Sheng seemed to be bored while he put another colorful lollipop into his mouth.

"I'll take a look at the monitoring room," he said to Zhou Xiong.

"Go, I'll be here. Let me know if something is up." Zhou Xiong nodded.

Wu Sheng went to the top floor slowly by taking the elevator and walked to the monitoring room. There was only three staffmembers working in the massive monitoring room. Since they could not sleep as they were on shift, the three of them started playing cards. Wu Sheng opened the door as they were playing. The three of them were shocked to see Wu Sheng as he was the deputy director of Building 33. They should not be seen playing instead of working.

"Deputy Wu!" The three of them stood up immediately and greeted him while covering the cards behind them.

"You don't have to cover. I saw what you guys were doing." Wu Sheng smiled wryly as he walked towards them.

The three of them looked even more upset after hearing that.

"I'm so bored too. What are you guys playing? Count me in," Wu Sheng smirked at the three of them.

They were stunned and the one who looked the oldest responded immediately, "Deputy, we were just playing Beating the Tycoon. The both of them will play with you while I'll go back to work."

"Alright then, let's play." Wu Sheng nodded.

Beating the Tycoon was a card game that was similar to the game called Fighting the Landlord on Earth. It was two against one but instead of a total of 74 cards, there were five more cards to be drawn in this game. On Earth, poker had 13 cards in a group with four groups of suits and two trumps. However, the game here needed 18 cards in a group, four colors, and two trumps.

Although Wu Sheng hardly played, he was familiar with the rules as the three of them started playing. The man who had left the game was observing the screen at first, but soon he could not help himself but join the game while he peeped back at the screen occasionally. Just when they were getting engrossed in the game, four black shadows appeared somewhere near the 19th floor quietly…

"We've been attacked!"

As the four shadows appeared on the 19th floor, the guard standing outside of the building charged at the four of them immediately. An immortal-level leader of the guards ran as quickly as he could to the entrance, attempting to ring the alarm but he was blocked by a person in black robes who teleported himself right before the guard leader.

"I'm sorry, this road is closed!" A voice came from a voice-modulating shell.

The leader of the guards attacked with his sword without thinking twice and a black streak slashed in the air. However, the black-robed person grabbed the black streak and it disappeared. The immortal-level head guard's neck was broken as well. By the time the head guard fell to the ground, the tens of the other guards were dead.

"The guards at the Union Government are useless," a cold voice said softly.

The quad team in black robes spread out immediately. Two of them were guarding the entrance while another two headed into the building for a round of purging. By then, the building alarm had started ringing, echoing throughout the entire building. The four of them in the monitoring room just realized that something was wrong while Wu Sheng was stunned. He looked at the screen and saw that all of the guards outside the building were dead while two black-robed silhouettes who could not be identified were guarding the door. The other two who went into the building were in black robes as well.

Wu Sheng thought to himself, "How funny. It's always the shorter person who attacks."

All the black-robed attacker did was move his fingers on his left hand slightly, and black beams shot out as fast as lightning and pierced through the guards' bodies. They were so fast that nobody could stop them.

Suddenly, the assailant in black robes casually removed the Surveillance Snail at the corner of the wall and placed the camera right on his mask.

"Good evening. Everyone, we're here to… shut down the party!" A deep voice came out of the voice-modulating shell.

The camera blacked out as the person said that.

"Inform the director! I'll settle these two."

Wu Sheng walked out of the monitoring room furiously. He had just assured Zhou Xiong that nobody knew about the two Saints elders' bodies being on the 19th floor an hour ago, but he was soon proven wrong.

"There must be a traitor among us! Else, it's impossible for them to know the location of Building 33 and that the two bodies are here!" Wu Sheng stomped and broke the ground while descending swiftly to the floor below.

…

Zhou Xiong who was on the -3rd floor frowned as he heard the alarm.

"That's an… invasion alarm!"

He then switched on his walkie-talkie and set the frequency to speak to Wu Sheng.

"Wu Sheng, what's happening? Reply me if you hear this!"

There was just white noise coming from Wu Sheng's side. He then set the frequency to the monitoring room's but he failed to contact anyone.

He then turned on the communication page on his Emperor's Heart Ring and realized that the network and signal had been disconnected.

"No wonder…"

Just when he was thinking of how to communicate with the outside world, there was a crackle coming out of the speaker of the monitoring room.

"Attention! The 19th floor is being attacked right now. There are four of them in black robes and they are wearing masks on their faces. There are two of them guarding the entrance now while another two have invaded the building. The four of them seem to be on imperial-level…"

Zhou Xiong's pupils shrunk when he heard that.

"Four imperial-levels! They're definitely here for the two dead bodies!" He looked at the two dead bodies through the one-way mirror as he was certain about their intention to attack.

"But… How do they know that the bodies are on the 19th floor? How do they know our location? Could Wu Sheng be right about a spy among us?"

As he had doubts in his mind, he did not slow down as he walked into the room and kept the two bodies in his storage space after packing them into separate bags. He then walked to the elevator immediately.

Meanwhile, a shadow came from the top of the first stair of the 19th floor, blocking the way of the two figures in black robes. It was Wu Sheng who always traveled the road less taken. To be able to get to them quickly, he had broken through more than 30 levels and landed on the first level from the top floor.

One of the robed persons laughed when he saw the ceiling that was now a gaping hole.

"What an entrance, brother."

"Who are you?" Wu Sheng did not attack right away. Instead, he took out a lollipop, removed the wrapping and put it into his mouth in front of the guy. He was worried that he might experience low glucose levels during the battle.

"What do you think?" A cold voice said.

"That's not important. I asked that question to buy myself some time to eat the lollipop. Since the both of you will be dead men soon, I'll just bring your heads to the black market, then I'll know who you guys are." Wu Sheng became terrifying when he had put the lollipop in his mouth.

"What an arrogant kid! Let's see what you've got!"

"Filthy villain, I'll kill you, then I'll kill the one next to you." Wu Sheng dashed towards the person without hesitation.

As the both of them collided, it was hard to tell that who was winning. Loud thumps of impact echoed, and the entire building was shaking from the impact. Meanwhile, the other black-robed person noticed an elevator coming up from the basement. The person grinned and disappeared from where he was. When he appeared again, he held one arm of each of the duo who was fighting. The deep-voiced person was shocked and before he could respond, he was flung out by an immense strength. Wu Sheng attempted to attack with his other hand but the black-robed person managed to grab his other arm and pressed him into the wall entirely.

"Wake up, my loyal dog…" Just when Wu Sheng was trying to break away from the person, the person said gently into his ear. Suddenly, Wu Sheng's mind went blank. The voice sounded insignificant, yet it was echoing in his ears. Soon, new memories were flooding out of his brain while old memories were playing like they were on a reel. His bright eyes were now blank. An insignificant voice whispered into his ear just when he regained consciousness… At the same time, the arms that were holding him down were released.

"Hey, what the hell?! Why did you attack me?" The deep-voiced man shouted. He was not a Purple Crow member, so he was disrespectful to his leader.

"You're too slow. Zhou Xiong is here," the gentle voice came out of the voice-modulating shell.

Just as he said that, the elevator bell rang and the doors opened. A tall shadow walked out of it.

"Since you've done this to my office building, there's no need to pay the compensation. Just hand me your dead bodies!" Zhou Xiong said to the two black-robed attackers as he looked at the destroyed building.

A giant ax measuring almost three meters long appeared in Zhou Xiong's hand. It was much taller than he was. Its body was like a double scythe with sharp spikes on the back. The gigantic weapon had three attack modes. One was the ax itself, the other was a double scythe with a sawtooth edge while the last one was two steel balls on both sides of the ax handle.

It was a powerful weapon that made the pupils of both the people in black robes shrink. The both of them knew that the relic that Zhou Xiong was holding was a terrifying prehistoric relic. It could only be obtained from a special triple mutated imperial-level monster. The fact that he could retrieve this weapon only proved how powerful he was.

As Zhou Xiong held the ax in his hand, his aura was rising tremendously while golden Life Power boiled out of every pore of his body. He looked like he had transformed into a Super Saiyan; even his hair was gold now. His ax was also covered with a layer of golden Life Power.

"You're just showing off now! What's the meaning of this fight then?" The deep voice complained.

"Go to hell!" Zhou Xiong shouted while the ground below his feet cracked. He was like a golden lightning bolt as he dashed towards the short man in black robes who was further away. His plan was simple. He wanted to kill the weaker of the two in one hit to avoid being surrounded by the duo. Since they had come as partners, they might be skilled at combo attacks. Therefore, killing one of them could reduce the threat to himself.

Seeing Zhou Xiong charge towards him with a heart-stopping aura, the shorter man's pupils shrunk as he knew what Zhou Xiong was planning to do. He fathomed the threat of Zhou Xiong's ability as well, so he backed off without thinking twice. When he retreated, a circle of black cloth appeared in front of him. It was the same Dark Shield Monster Skill that Lin Huang had. At the same time, he performed a sigil quickly behind the Dark Shield. Layers of colorless waves rippled behind the shield.

Zhou Xiong smirked as he saw the Dark Shield that was forming. He slightly rotated his ax, which was then transformed into steel balls with spikes. He then swung the steel balls towards the Dark Shield. The shield shattered like a piece of glass. Although the invisible waves managed to deflect the impact of the golden ax, it did not completely defend him from the attack. The short man then swiftly placed a metal shield in front of him.

The metal shield cracked under the blow while the man shot off like a cannonball and passed through a couple of walls behind him, heading outside the building. Zhou Xiong knew that three defense layers had blocked his attack, thus the impact had not killed the man. Although he did not die, he might not be able to participate in the fight anymore.

Zhou Xiong looked at the walls that the short assailant shot out through. He did not bother to go after him and turned around to look at the other black-robed person. He frowned as he saw Wu Sheng being held hostage by the enemy. His body was tied with a flaming chain while the man had a short blade pointed at Wu Sheng's neck.

"Zhou Xiong, two dead bodies for one man," the black-robed person said in his gentle voice.

"Two dead bodies? I don't know whose bodies you're talking about…" Zhou Xiong did not dare to attack anymore as his partner's life was at stake.

"Stop pretending. Tell me now if you want a new deputy director. I've limited patience…" The black robe person inched his finger slightly and the short blade slashed across Wu Sheng's neck at a terrifying speed. Blood gushed out of his neck like a fountain.

"I've broken the aorta in his neck. I advise you not to put your hopes up on his self-healing abilities as the short blade that I'm holding has a non-curing effect. Looking at the speed of his blood loss, he should have six more minutes to live… Let me know quick if you want him to live or die." The attacker grabbed Wu Sheng's head as his voice came out of the voice-modulating shell again.

Zhou Xiong thought about it and decided to compromise. The golden Life Power around his body disappeared as he dropped the two bags onto the ground.

"You win."

"Open the bags." The black-robed person was cautious.

Zhou Xiong bent down helplessly and opened the bags, revealing the two dead upper bodies.

"Can you let him go now?"

"Great!" The mysterious attacker flicked a black glow towards him.

Zhou Xiong quickly caught the glow and realized that it was a temporary storage ring.

"Put them in and toss the ring back. Thanks!" The black robe person said.

Zhou Xiong frowned, but he did as he was told anyway. After stowing the two dead bodies into the temporary storage ring, he tossed it back.

"Let him go!" Zhou Xiong knew that Wu Sheng could not last any longer.

"Don't worry, I always keep my promises." The black robe person released the Punishment Chain on Wu Sheng and sped towards the entrance.

Zhou Xiong did not chase after him but leaped and appeared beside Wu Sheng. He grabbed him and used his Life Power to seal the wound on his neck.

"All doctors, come to the first level right now!" He shouted into the building.

…

"Got them?!" The Purple Crow leader asked as soon as the black-robed man got out of the building.

"Yes, get the rest to retreat." He summoned his dimensional relic but soon, he noticed that it was not working.

"Bad news. The area has been locked down…"

"It can't be. So quickly?" The Purple Crow leader summoned his dimensional relic and realized that he could not set the location anymore.

"Maybe the outside world is trying to contact them, but since we have sealed the signal, they noticed that something was wrong after a couple of failed attempts. If I'm not mistaken, the entire White Capital has been locked down," the gentle voice analyzed.

"If that's the case, we'll have to exit by force!" The Purple Crow leader turned around and looked at the short man in black robes that had been attacked by Zhou Xiong earlier.

"Are you alright?"

"It shouldn't be a problem. Zhou Xiong's attack was powerful, but I prepared for that and blocked most of the impact. Besides, with my Enhanced Regeneration skills, I should be alright. It's just that my Life Power is drained." The short man nodded.

"Alright then, let's carry out plan B!" The Purple Crow leader affirmed and instructed after confirming that his partner was alright.

"Everyone, listen up! We're carrying out plan B!" The man with the gentle voice conveyed into his device, informing his group.

It was 2:30 a.m. The buzzing of his Emperor's Heart Ring woke Lin Huang up from his sleep.

"It's 2:30 a.m. now. What could be up?" Lin Huang frowned after checking the time. Nobody would be happy to be woken up in the middle of the night. He frowned even deeper as he looked at the notice. It was a… mandate.

A mandate was a request for help sent by the Union Government to all the Union organizations' members, recruiting for help in battle when a foothold was in a crisis or came under attack of a large-scale monster horde. Most of the members who received the mandate were either in the foothold of the crisis or somewhere near.

The content of mandate was simple.

"A large-scale monster horde is approaching the White Capital at an alarming rate. Looking at the situation, the monsters are all at the destruction-grade! All members of the Union organizations that are above iron-level, please head to the south border of the White Capital as soon as possible and prepare to fight!"

The simple message was disseminated thrice.

"A destruction-grade monster horde!" Lin Huang's eyes narrowed when he read that. He had experienced how disastrous such a grade of monsters could be. What was scary about the monster horde was not the powerful monsters, but the overwhelming amount of monsters that did not seem to stop barraging, which was suffocating.

The monsters were graded from low to high from the violent-grade, the nightmare-grade, the disaster-grade… and the destruction-grade was the highest rank. For the violent-grade monster horde, most of the monsters were just on iron-level and bronze-level while some of them were on silver-level, but there were hardly any gold-level and Transcendent-level monsters.

For the nightmare-level monster horde, most of the monsters would be on silver-level and gold-level monsters in the beginning, and there would be some holy fire-level monsters as well. The disaster-grade monster horde would have more gold-level monsters with at least five Transcendent-level monsters as well as immortal-level monsters.

As for the highest grade, which was the destruction-grade monster horde, aside from a massive amount of iron-level to gold-level monsters, there would be at least hundreds of holy fire-level monsters and even more the ten immortal-level monsters. Sometimes, there would even be imperial-level monsters. Such a spine-chilling monster horde could easily destroy all of the A-grade human footholds. Of course, to an A-grade foothold such as the White Capital, such a monster horde was threatening, to say the very least.

"There are 23 B-grade footholds around the White Capital. Any monster hordes that are approaching the White Capital will pass by the other B-grade footholds. If it has already happened in the B-grade foothold, it's impossible for them not to inform the Union Government who'll definitely notify us. Since there's no news about a monster horde in B-grade foothold, the monster horde must have occurred between the White Capital and near the B-grade foothold. Perhaps there's a Virtual Eye opening?!" The first possibility Lin Huang thought was that, but soon he thought of the prediction 'theuglytruth' had made online.

"Could this be an attack by the Purple Crow and the other underground organization?"

As he thought of that possibility, his mind could not get over it any longer. It was not important how the Purple Crow and the other organization drove the monster horde any longer. Lin Huang sat up from his bed and changed immediately. He headed to the south immediately after washing his face. Before he left, he looked at the dorm building. Besides Hong Zhuang's room and the other two dorms were dark, but the other dorms were lit up.

As Lin Huang headed to the south from the Martial Hunter College, he saw many houses that were also lit up. Under the streetlights, many hunters from iron- to gold-level were riding on their flying mounts, heading to the south while some of them were running on their feet. The scene stirred Lin Huang. In this world, humans were in a bad place. If they had not protected each other, they would have died since the beginning. The common people in this world were weak. Even an iron-level monster alone could kill tens of people, and the lowest grade monster horde could kill millions.

Without the protection of the Union Government and the other Union organizations, humans would be living in a much worse place. That was the reason why many would choose to join the Union as they could give everything they had to protect their families and friends from being harmed. However, not everyone in the Union organizations was selfless. Most of them joined with the heart to protect others as they were living in such a cruel world. Therefore, whenever there was a monster horde, they would join the battle without thinking twice.

They did not want to be heroes. They did that to protect their home. When they joined the Union organizations, they knew very well that if they chose to escape or hide, those who died under the feet of monsters might be their parents, wives, or kids…

Lin Huang was born on Earth during a time when there was no war. He learned all the knowledge he had slowly when he was living in this world. Li Lang, Yi Yeyu, and the other hunters who had helped him along the way contributed to his mentality as well.

If he had not known much about this world, there was a 99% chance that he would have joined the Purple Crow when he had been captured by Hong Zhuang earlier. His perspective of this world would have been so different by then. Besides the importance of the first meeting between people, the first impression of an unfamiliar environment was important too. Just like a city that exuded different feelings to different people. Some people might see the messiest part of the city, and some might be robbed so they would not want to visit the city ever again. However, some would see the beautiful side of the city as well as hot babes with long legs on the streets. That would make them want to visit the city more.

Lin Huang's perception of this world was more of the latter. Although this world was a broken one with many monsters, he had a cute sister with him as well as a bunch of good friends that he had made. His heart was peaceful.

"Since Hong Zhuang is away, she must be one of the participants of this chaos… But what's the purpose of the Purple Crow and the other underground organization for starting this monster horde?" Lin Huang did not know what had happened in the White Capital underworld, so it made sense that he was clueless about the objective of this monster horde.

As Lin Huang released his Life Power to double his acceleration, the light white glow he emitted made him look like a meteor in the night sky. It would not be visible if he were flying during the day. However, he looked like he had a white tail behind him as he flew at night. What he was doing which seemed like he was showing off, making many iron to gold-level hunters on the ground envious.

"Wow, I'm so envious of that Transcendent-level who can fly!" A young man in his 20's in the team made of gold-level hunters looked enviously at Lin Huang who soon disappeared in the night sky.

"What is there to be envious about? With your talents, you'll reach Transcendent-level, the latest by next year!" A middle-aged man riding on a monster's back comforted him.

"We're old now, so we don't expect to break through anymore, but you guys are so young. Your future is endless."

"Uncle Li, what level do you think the person who flew across was? He's so fast!" The young man smiled at the middle-aged man's compliment and asked the leader who was well-experienced.

"Looking at his flying speed, perhaps he's at least an immortal-level," the middle-aged man sighed as he looked at the direction where Lin Huang had disappeared to.

"Immortal-level…" The other members of the team were impressed.

The middle-aged man, who was called Uncle Li, had made the wrong assumption about Lin Huang's combat level. However, judging from his flying speed, his double acceleration had surpassed the holy fire-level standard and was even faster than many immortal-levels. Although Uncle Li had been around for a long time, it was normal for him to come up with such a wrong judgment. Of course, Lin Huang would not know about that, and even if he did, he would not bother to explain.

White Capital was huge. It was 1.5 million square kilometers wide. If it were placed on Earth, it was large enough to be the second largest country on the planet. The White Capital looked like inverted stairs with a wide upper region and a narrower lower part on the map. However, the four borders were of an organic shape. The biggest part in the north was more than 5,000 kilometers while the distance from the north to the south was more than 4,000 kilometers.

The Martial Hunter College that Lin Huang was at was located at the center of the White Capital. It was more than 2,000 kilometers from the southern border. With his flying speed, it only took him less than half an hour to get to the southern border. He looked around for the border post. The southern border in the White Capital was more than 3,000 kilometers long whereby nearly a third was flat land. If the defenses were not activated, many monsters could step into the White Capital easily. That was the reason where there were many posts at the border for the Union Government's guards.

Some ordinary people would ask why would the hunters from the Hunter Association or the adventurers from the Adventurer Paradise were sent there whenever there was a crisis in the foothold instead of the army from the Union Government. The reason was simple — most of the army was placed at the borders of the safety zones while the remaining ones were placed at the borders of the A and B-grade footholds. The guards at the borders protected the human homes when most of the people were unaware.

Lin Huang was looking for a post as most of the Union organizations volunteers would usually choose to gather near the post to fight the monster horde together with the border guards. Although it was 3 a.m. and the sky was still dark, Lin Huang's powerful vision managed to pinpoint a post that was not far away. He headed there immediately to gather with the rest.

A moment later, he landed next to the post. There was already a small bunch of 20 people gathered. Besides them, many others were scattered around other posts. Those who managed to arrive at the border before Lin Huang did not have as fast a flying speed as he did. Instead, they had the location pinned before, and some of them lived nearer than Lin Huang did. He was always a lone wolf who preferred to go solo as he did not want others to see most of his abilities.

However, as a destruction-grade monster horde was arriving, Lin Huang did not think that fighting on his own was a wise thing to do as he had witnessed how terrifying it could be. Moreover, besides the monster horde being 'destruction-grade', he had no idea what exactly was happening as he did not gather more information from the rest.

Many of them peered at him as he landed from above. Most people did not bother than he was a white flame-level, but he looked way too young to be this powerful. After all, most of the people who managed to get to Transcendent-level usually came from royal families. Lin Huang was only 16 years old and he looked like he was, at the most, 17. However, this bunch of people thought he simply had youthful looks and that he should be at least 19 or 20.

Lin Huang glanced at the people. They were all holy fire-level, and none were on immortal-level. He ignored the way they were studying him and walked straight into the post. Many of them were giggling as he entered the post. There were a man and lady as well as a couple of staff chatting in the post hall. Lin Huang frowned as he saw the duo as he could sense that they were immortal-level. Under normal circumstances, white flame-levels could only determine blue flame or purple flame-levels. However, Lin Huang had killed many immortal-level monsters, so it was not difficult to sense the combat level of the duo.

The duo peeked at him as Lin Huang walked in, but they did not bother about him. It was a border soldier who walked to him.

"Our directors are speaking to the two masters. You can come back later."

"I just want to know what's the situation right now. Just get someone who is aware of it to talk to me." Lin Huang did not plan to leave, so he gazed calmly at the soldier.

Most of the border soldiers' combat level was on gold-level. Even the directors were mostly complete gold-level; there were hardly any holy fire-levels. Those who managed to get to holy fire-level would usually achieve gold flame-level as long as they were given enough time. None of them would waste their time there. The soldier soon noticed that Lin Huang's aura was undetectable and he suspected that he could be a Transcendent-level. Looking at his age, the soldier starting guessing his identity as he thought that Lin Huang might have Holy Power on him. He did not dare to delay him anymore.

"If that's the case, Sir, please follow me to the guest room…"

Lin Huang sat on a chair as he listened to the border soldier who was talking to him in the guest room.

"There're a total of 32 posts in the southern border of the White Capital. The post that has been discovered is the South Beacon. It's the biggest post in the south, and there's a detective supreme relic."

"There supreme relic has to be activated using energy crystals. Under normal circumstances, it'll be randomly activated once a week. It can detect a radius of up to a thousand kilometers which covers half of the southern border. It'll alert us whenever something is wrong. Of course, an alert will be sent if more than a thousand monsters appear within three hundred kilometers."

"Around forty minutes ago, the relic was triggered. When the alert was sent, the South Beacon staff spent a massive amount of energy crystals to activate the relic. That was how they confirmed the monster horde. They informed all of the posts as well as the Union Government headquarters as soon as they found out. After the Union Government confirmed that it's real, they sent all of you the mandate. You already know the rest…"

"How did they confirm the scale of the monster horde? Was it with that relic as well? Also, who gave the final say of the destruction-grade monster horde? Is it confirmed that there'll be many immortal- and imperial-level monsters this time?" Lin Huang asked the questions that he was eager to know after hearing about what had happened.

"All of them came from the relic. Not only can it calculate the rough number of the monsters, but it can also differentiate the monsters' aura. As soon as it detects transcendent-level monsters, it can come up with the exact number and combat level. It has never made any mistakes before."

"According to the results sent from the South Beacon, the monster horde this time is massive. There are over 1.5 million monsters from different sources. I heard it's not the opening of Virtual Eye, but the South Beacon has yet to identify what the cause of the monster horde is. They label it a 'destruction-grade' monster horde not because there're so many monsters, but the relic has detected that they are more than three thousand transcendent-level monsters this time with more than a hundred immortal-level monster as well as three imperial-level monsters…"

Lin Huang was shocked when he heard what the border soldier said.

"Thee thousand transcendent-level monsters… More than a hundred immortal-level monsters… And three imperial-level monsters?!"

Lin Huang had never expected such a huge scale of monsters. He started doubting if this was the work of the Purple Crow. If the Purple Crow had really gone out of their way to drive such a terrifying monster horde, the Union Government would have been replaced by them since the beginning of time.

"How wide does the area of the monster horde cover?" Lin Huang snapped out of his thoughts and asked.

"According to the South Beacon, more than 80% of the southern border is within the range of the monster horde. The monster horde will take an hour and a half to reach the border, but there're already some flying monsters at some of the posts…"

Lin Huang got up and left the guest room after obtaining the information that he needed from the border soldier. The two immortal-levels had just finished their conversation with the directors when he got to the hall. The duo peeped at Lin Huang again as he walked out while Lin Huang glanced at them as well. He then walked out of the post, trailed by the duo.

"The monster horde will take an hour and a half to arrive here. Should I stay here or should I get to the place where the monsters are already to help?" Just when Lin Huang was deciding, the two immortal-levels flew into the sky and headed to the east. Looking at the duo who disappeared into the sky, he decided to stay. If there were no immortal-level at this post, it would definitely be destroyed once a chief-level [Author means imperial-level] monster appeared. Since the two immortal-levels had left, the post lacked an immortal-level, so he decided to stay.

Many people started talking about the two immortal-levels who had left while a majority of the holy fire-levels were concerned. They knew about the situation from the border soldier as well. Not only would there be chief-level monsters that were as powerful as immortal-levels, there were even king-level monsters that were comparable with imperial-levels. There were only three imperial-level monsters, so the probability of encountering them was low. However, there were more than a hundred immortal-level monsters. If those were to be divided among the 32 posts, there would be at least three of them at every post on average. Without any immortal-level person there, the post was in crucial danger.

Lin Huang did nothing as he watched the insecure people. He could not tell them that he was powerful enough to kill immortal-level monsters. Even if he did, nobody would believe him. As time passed, no immortal-level person arrived. Many of them were in despair, and some of them were even thinking of running to other posts. A few of them decided to leave after giving it a thought. Some of them did not stay as they did not see any immortal-level coming.

An hour had passed, and the post was only left with 19 holy fire-levels, including Lin Huang. Apart from Lin Huang, most of them had no expression on their faces. Some of them looked gloomy. Although they know they would die if they stayed, they decided to stay anyway because if there was nobody left here, the monsters could invade right away. If they stayed, they might be able to buy some time for the soldiers.

Lin Huang became upset as the atmosphere thickened. He knew that those who decided to stay would probably die. It was the end of November, and despite being the southernmost part of the White Capital, it was winter there. As the sky turned bright, a layer of snow had accumulated on the ground. The 19 of them surrounded a burning bonfire, and the heavy atmosphere was even colder than the weather. Looking at the crackling bonfire, an indescribable emotion mustered in his chest. Lin Huang could not help but breathe out a cloud of white mist.

A tall, bearded man sitting on Lin Huang's left peered at him and the other couple of young men.

"Guys, I bet all of you know that this post is at high risk as there's no immortal-level here. I'm not trying to discourage any of you here, but there's something that I must say." The bearded guy looked at the young men and said after hesitating. After he had gotten everybody's attention, he started speaking.

"We have three young men here. I'm guessing the oldest of them isn't even 25. They have the potential to level up to immortal-level or even imperial-level. You shouldn't waste your lives here. I think you guys should leave and get to a post with at least an immortal-level."

What the bearded man said made many of them fall silent, but soon grunts of agreement were heard.

"The bearded guy is right. There's no difference if we have the three of you here anyway. Let the three kids go," another old man with gray hair said.

Lin Huang did not say a word. He could see that the two other young men were pausing.

"Kids, leave. You guys still have a long way to go. You shouldn't waste your life here. We're old, so there's no hope for us to get to immortal-level anymore. But you guys are different…" The bearded man patted Lin Huang's shoulder.

Lin Huang kept quiet for a moment and shook his head while smiling wanly. "I'm staying. If I leave, nobody will kill the immortal-level monsters for you guys."

The people were stunned but soon many of them laughed out loud.

"You didn't look like a funny guy." The bearded man patted Lin Huang's shoulder hard again and grinned. It was not an insulting smile, but a humorous one.

The two young men seemed to be much relaxed now and one of them said, "I'm staying. If I run away this time, I'd be guilty for the rest of my life."

"I'm staying too. I've never seen how an immortal-level monster looks like. I would like to see it." The other young man forced a smile.

"Since you guys are so determined, we shall be life and death partners. Let me introduce myself. My name is Ai De." The bearded man raised his wine pot high, took a big swig, and passed it to Lin Huang.

"Hi, my name is Lin Huang. Nice to meet everybody here!" Lin Huang was surprised at first, but he then took the wine pot and raised it up. He took a sip like the bearded man did and passed it to the middle-aged man on his right.

"My name is Wang Long!" The middle-aged man accepted the wine pot, introduced himself, and passed the pot along…

All of them then started passing the wine pot around as they surrounded the bonfire. They drank while they introduced themselves. Even the young man, who was not good at drinking, took a big gulp and his face was flushed. Everyone was guffawing at him. Lin Huang remembered all of their names. As the wine pot returned to Ai De's hands, he took a few sips again and howled hard.

"From today onwards, no matter dead or alive, we're all partners!"

Lin Huang was moved as he had never thought having life and death partners could bring such power to him. Suddenly, a horn was blown very loudly as someone shouted from the top of the tower, "The monster horde is here!"

"Hahaha…" Ai De walked to the bonfire and spilled all of the remaining wine into the fire. The flames roared a couple of meters higher as Ai De took out an ax and smirked, shouting to them, "My brothers, it's time to party!"

They gazed far into the sky as they saw many monsters flooding in from 20 to 30 kilometers away. The number of monsters was countless; it was just an endless stream of them flying towards the post. The sight of it was suffocating. The people who had been high on their pride earlier became devoid of expression as they gaped at the monsters that were coming their way.

Lin Huang looked at the hundreds of monsters in the sky and identified three chief-level monsters. The most powerful one was an immortal-level rank-5 while the other two were immortal-level rank-1 and rank-3. The remaining monsters were all commander-level and their numbers were almost five times more than the number of holy fire-level people posted there.

"There's an immortal-level rank-5 monster… It seems like I can only kill it by transforming myself." Lin Huang was still thinking about trying his best not to reveal his abilities. However, it seemed like it was impossible to kill the immortal-level rank-5 monster now.

"Those who plan to fight from a distance, get ready. As soon as the monster horde enters the range, work with the border soldiers to fire the Demonic Crystal Cannon! Don't attack the transcendent-level monsters first. Try to minimize the number of monsters below transcendent-level!" The bearded man named Ai De seemed to be experienced in being a commander as he assigned tasks to everyone.

The Demonic Crystal Cannon was a cannon that could be activated using a variety of energy crystals. It could kill any creature below transcendent-level easily, and could even threaten many holy fire-levels. The fire attribute energy crystal was the most effective as it could easily kill white and crimson flame-levels in a single hit. Of course, this could not compare to the range that the cannon on Earth could fire whereby the furthest the Demonic Crystal Cannon could target was only thirty kilometers. It was most accurate and effective when the target range was within twenty kilometers.

There were only nineteen transcendent-level monsters there, and none of the Union Organization members below transcendent-level had arrived yet. There were more than thirty border soldiers on gold-level. They had their own tactic of battling as they would fire the Demonic Crystal Cannon from a distance. However, there were not many Demonic Crystal Cannons at this post — just twelve of them. While operating the cannon did not need rocket science knowledge, the border soldiers were the best when it came to aiming at the target. Furthermore, there were limited Demonic Crystal Cannons, so there were no extras for Lin Huang and the rest to use.

Ai De was once a soldier of the Union Government who had fought monster hordes before, so he knew how important teamwork was in the battle. That was the reason why he wanted the Demonic Crystal Cannon operated by the border soldiers while the rest were to work with them.

"Those who aren't skilled at fighting long-distance, go on to kill the Boulder Beasts that are good at long-distance attacks among the monster horde. After killing the Boulder Beasts, go for the giants that are good at defending. Try not to fight the transcendent-level monsters. Just do your best to buy time as there'll be rescue teams coming. The more time we buy, the better for us!"

The people became calm as they became confident in Ai De as their backbone. They started getting busy as they obeyed Ai De's orders. Lin Huang gave up on his plan to kill the transcendent-level monsters when he saw everyone following the instructions. After he targeted a Boulder Beast among the monster horde, he started running towards it. Apart from Lin Huang, two other people among the 19 holy fire-levels, who were skilled at long-distance attacking, dashed into the monster crowd.

As they dove into the monster horde, Lin Huang summoned Bai, Tyrant, Kylie, Ghastly, the Witch, and Lancelot. He had summoned the six of them as they looked like humans, so the rest would not mistake them for monsters and attack them. He was not so much as worried that the rest would hurt his monsters; he was more concerned that they would offend his summoning monsters and get themselves killed instead.

"Kill as many monsters as you can, but don't bother the transcendent-level monsters in the sky yet. Also, try to avoid the humans and don't fight them."

After his instructions were issued, the six of them dashed into the monster horde as Lin Huang fixed his sights on the Boulder Beast not far away.

The Boulder Beast was a psychic monster which was born at gold-level. It was made of black, gigantic rock, and resembled a thirty-meter tall giant man. It had powerful strength and defense abilities with a unique ability to throw rocks to attack from a long distance. When it was ready to attack, it could create a giant rock that was two to three meters in diameter in its hands and fling it up to ten kilometers away. The impact was comparable to that of a cannon's.

Such a monster would usually attack the Demonic Crystal Cannon during the monster horde, so Boulder Beasts were their first priority. The Boulder Beast's defense level was difficult to break to the average gold-level, but it was nothing to Lin Huang. As he was checking out the Boulder Beast, the monster noticed him nearby. It attempted to stomp on him immediately. He grinned and shook his head, then he pulled out his sword.

A white glow shot up into the sky, and the Boulder Beast split from its foot to the top of its head, breaking into two. He had not attacked right away as it was his first time seeing this monster after reading the monster encyclopedia. Furthermore, they were so close to each other, so he had decided to check it out first. He did not expect the Boulder Beast to attack himself and had killed it in an act of defense.

After killing the first Boulder Beast without any sweat, Lin Huang flew up into the sky to look for the second one. The Boulder Beast was easy to spot among the monster horde due to its size. Soon, he found the second one and sped towards it like a lightning bolt. This time, there was no delay as Lin Huang killed the second Boulder Beast easily. He then turned around and headed towards his third target…

In two to three minutes, Lin Huang had killed tens of Boulder Beasts. The transcendent-level monsters that had been observing from above soon noticed him.

The leader, which was an immortal-level rank-5 monster, stared at Lin Huang for a while and only started speaking after watching him killing a couple of monsters, "This white flame-level human is powerful. Who would like to kill him?"

"He's just a white flame-level human. I'll go!" A blue flame-level bird initiated.

"Alright, go then. Be careful, this fella might not just be white flame-level." The monster leader cautioned.

The bird monster flapped its wings and left the group of transcendent-level monsters while darting towards Lin Huang's direction.

Lin Huang raised his eyebrow as he saw a green bird was dashing towards him. He did not want to offend it but it came to him instead. He looked at it and knew which breed the green bird was. It was a Malachite Feather, a double mutated monster with ancient blood. It had green feathers on its entire body besides its black eyes and blue crest. What could not be overlooked were its giant claws that were half a size bigger than its ratio to its body.

From the Malachite Feather's aura that was completely revealed, it was clearly a blue flame-level. The monster was much smaller than the Fire Phoenix that Lin Huang encountered in the ruins. However, it was not difficult to tell that its amity was much more powerful than the Fire Phoenix. The Malachite Feather's ability was nothing less than the Fire Phoenix. As it was two ranks higher, it made sense that its ability was much more powerful.

Ai De and the rest soon noticed the Malachite Feather that made its sudden landing. Ai De dashed towards Lin Huang's direction immediately as he saw the Malachite Feather that was dashing towards Lin Huang. He did not think that Lin Huang who was only white flame-level could fight the double mutated blue flame-level monster.

"Lin Huang, run!"

Seeing that he could not catch up to the Malachite Feather's speed, Ai De shouted at Lin Huang.

"It's too late to run now!"

The Malachite Feather scoffed as he got to Lin Huang. It then landed its claw on top of him, its mind was playing the scene where Lin Huang would be all messed up from its claw. However, Lin Huang looked up and smirked at the Malachite Feather.

Seeing his odd smirk, the Malachite Feather's heart skipped a beat. It then saw a white glow before it as a young man shouted.

"Die!"

Lin Huang leaped and slashed his sword from its bottom all the way to the top. A crescent moon-shaped white glow shot up to the sky and pierced through the Malachite Feather. The Malachite Feather's body broke into half like it was torn by invisible hands. Its green blood splashed all over like it was raining heavily, a thick blood mist lingered in the air, disgusting blood stench spread everywhere.

The Malachite Feather that was coming strong fell onto the ground like two pieces of meat. Lin Huang stood where he was in the air, there was not even blood on his body. Everyone was shocked to see what just happened. Many were concerned when the Malachite Feather was dashing towards Lin Huang, they were worried that the young man would be killed. They did not expect this to happen.

"Killed in a swing of the sword…"

Ai De and other gold flame-level people thought it was unbelievable, they knew very well that the Malachite Feather was a double mutated monster. Although it was just a blue flame-level, its ability was above purple flame-level. Even the gold flame-level people would take some time to fight that monster. Even Ai De who was stuck in gold flame-level was not confident to say that he could kill the monster in one hit.

Meanwhile, the transcendent-level monsters that witnessed that were shocked. They soon realized that Lin Huang was much more powerful than he appeared to be.

"Human genius… Three of you gold flame-level, kill him!" The immortal-level rank-5 leader looked at Lin Huang furiously before turning around to look at the bearded man to give its second instruction.

"All holy fire-level attack, kill all of the mice that are hiding in the monster crowd!"

The hundred of transcendent-level monsters spread out as they heard the instruction and dashed towards where the transcendent-level human was. As Ai De wanted to get to Lin Huang as he noticed that the three gold flame-level was dashing to Lin Huang, he had to stop as a couple of gold flame-level monsters were dashing towards him.

"Don't force yourself if you can't fight them!" He did not forget to remind Lin Huang.

As he shouted, he was blocked by four gold flame-level monsters while Lin Huang was surrounded by three gold flame-level monsters. The three monsters that surrounded him was the Triheaded Hound, Ox Fiend, and Witch, the same one before Wicked Witch leveled-up. However, Lin Huang soon realized besides the Witch, the other two monsters were peculiar. The Triheaded Hound and Ox Fiend were different from the ones that he saw on the monster encyclopedia. They seemed like they did not have complete self-conscious. They reminded the monsters that he encountered on Enigma Island where they were only left with killing instinct.

Without waiting for him to complete his thought process, the Triheaded Hound and Ox Fiend attacked at the same time while Witch tried to stop Lin Huang with shadow. Lin Huang moved and disappeared from where he was. The Witch's shadow lost its target while the Triheaded Hound and Ox Fiend dashed into nothing.

As Witch was looking around looking for Lin Huang, a voice came from behind.

"You guys are… too slow." Before he was done speaking, Witch noticed that her upper body slide to the ground.

As Witch was killed, the Triheaded Hound and Ox Fiend seemed to lose control and went into frantic.

"That's what I thought…" Seeing the two monsters' condition, Lin Huang was sure of where the monsters came from - The Scarborough Workshop. When he was on Enigma Island, He encountered many monsters that lost their self-conscious like this where all they could do was killing monsters blindly. The two monsters seemed to be controlled by Witch, that was why as Witch was dead, the two of them revealed their true color.

"So Scarborough Workshop is the one working together with the Purple Crow?" Lin Huang finally got a clue of what was behind this. As he recalled the prediction of 'theuglytruth', he was almost sure that the two underground organizations that the user meant were Purple Crow and Scarborough Workshop. However, he was not sure what the Scarborough Workshop was called now.

As Lin Huang was deep in his thought, the Triheaded Hound and Ox Fiend attacked him at the same time. The Triheaded Hound opened its mouth while the Ox Fiend swung the giant ax in its hand. The two of them attacked him on both sides. Lin Huang's sword transformed into a white glow and he swung twice towards the monsters. The both of them stopped moving, four gigantic heads shot out before they could even make a sound. Red blood shot out as far as tens of meters away like a fountain from the monsters' necks. Lin Huang appeared tens of meters away to avoid getting splashed by the blood, there was no blood on his body at all…

Lin Huang finally unveiled his true powers for the first time, easily killing the three gold flame-levels as if he was pinching three chicks to death.

Again, Ai De, who was paying attention to Lin Huang, was staring aghast.

"Is he… the Supreme Genius?!"

Ai De and the rest had been traveling around everywhere, but they had never heard of a white flame-level killing a double mutated gold flame-level within seconds. Perhaps only the Supreme Genius could do so.

After destroying the three gold flame-level monsters, Lin Huang sized up his surroundings. There were more than a hundred holy fire-level monsters that were looking for humans who were hiding in the monster horde.

Only Ai De, who had left the monster horde, had been attacked by four gold flame-level monsters when he wanted to rescue Lin Huang. The rest of them were still hiding within the monster horde.

"Bai and Kylie, forget the monster horde. Quickly settle the holy fire-level monsters." Lin Huang immediately changed his instructions.

Before the transcendent monsters fought against them, Lin Huang wanted to reduce the number of monsters as soon as possible. However, when the transcendent monsters joined the fight, there was a huge number of monsters fighting them as the ratio between the monsters and the transcendent humans had exceeded 5:1. They posed an immense threat to Ai De and the rest. If they were not killed immediately, some of the transcendent humans might die.

As soon as the instruction was issued, Lin Huang immediately transformed into a flash of white light, heading towards Ai De. Despite Ai De being powerful, he could not sustain the attacks launched by the four gold flame-level transcendent monsters for a long period of time.

Noticing that Lin Huang had transformed into a streak of light, Ai De grinned in exhilaration.

In just a short while, Lin Huang appeared at the battleground where Ai De was at. The battle sword in his hand then transformed into a beam of white light and flashed in the air. He then felt that danger was coming behind him abruptly. He immediately dodged thousands of meters away before he turned around and looked at where he had been just now.

Two out of three of the immortal-level monsters, who were watching the battle in mid-air, had attacked.

One of them was an immortal-level rank-1 Clouded Leopard whereas the other one was an immortal-level rank-3 Mother Arachnid.

Lin Huang was familiar with both of these monsters as they had been described in the monster guide.

The Clouded Leopard was a mutated beast which speed defied almost any other monster. Its body size was similar to that of an average adult's arm. It had fur that was snowy-white in color and in fact, it looked cute. However, to judge it by its appearance as a non-threatening monster was a colossal mistake.

The adult Clouded Leopard was a mighty immortal-level monster. The sharpness of its claws could be compared to that of the supreme relics. In addition to the terrifying speed it possessed, it could easily pierce through one's body of the same level.

They were ruthless and greedy as they would usually penetrate through the prey's body, slowly devouring the prey's internal organs. If food supply were not limited, they would normally eat only the fresh internal organs of the prey. When the prey lost part of its internal organs and died, the temperature of the once-warm internal organs would decrease. They would then stop eating and look for another live prey.

On the other hand, the Mother Arachnid was a parasite. The monster was born with a scary, wry face and eight long legs about three meters long. At the end of its stomach was a black poisonous sting which was used to parasitize the host.

The habit of the monster was rather similar to that of the Sand Spider. They would capture living beings, and its eggs would parasitize the brain of the prey. The egg would hatch within three days. The spider larvae would then eat the brain of the host, and take over the brain, making the host a puppet that could be manipulated.

Aside from its parasitic abilities, its way of hunting for prey was cruel. A type of lethal poison would be injected into the prey via the sting on its stomach. As the poison entered the bloodstream of the prey, it would rapidly dissolve its prey's blood vessels, muscles, fats, and even bones. However, it would not damage the skin or the fur of the prey. Normally, the body of the prey would turn into a liquid state within three hours. The monster would then extend its straw-like tongue, inserting it into the body of the prey, and suck the liquid out for its own satiation. Only the skin and the fur of the monster would remain.

That being said, both of these monsters were certainly not friendly.

However, Lin Huang soon noticed something strange about both of the immortal-level monsters.

"The Clouded Leopard's supposed to have black eyes but strangely, it's green in color. Also, the color of the Mother Arachnid is overly bright. Something's wrong with their behavior as well. It seems like they are irritated…"

According to his observation, they got more irritated when their attacks missed the target. It was unusual for the assassination queen, the Mother Arachnid to appear irritated.

"Could they be experimental subjects of the Scarborough Workshop?" A thought immediately flashed through Lin Huang's mind as he pondered what was wrong with both of the monsters.

Ai De's defense became quite clumsy since his enemies were four double mutated gold flame-level monsters. Their combat level was on par with him and they were obviously putting their lives on the line to fight him. Despite the fact that he was experienced, he could barely handle it.

Lin Huang soon realized his situation over there. Looking at both of the immortal-level monsters that were blocking his way, a flicker of fury flashed through his eyes. "It seems like the battle has to end soon…"

"Xiao Hei, use a Transformation Card to increase my combat strength and maintain my human form." Lin Huang used the Provisional Transformation Card as a combat strength increment card.

"Using Provisional Transformation Card x1. Restricting transformation effect…"

"Your combat strength has been increased. There's a provisional increase in your combat strength to gold flame-level!"

As Xiao Hei's voice was heard, there was a sudden surge in Lin Huang's combat strength. In less than a second, he was upgraded from white flame-level to gold flame-level. He could obviously feel the increase in his abilities.

It was not Lin Huang's first time transforming, and he could soon adapt to the immense strength.

As Lin Huang completed the transformation, the two immortal-level monsters were swiftly approaching.

The Clouded Leopard's sharp claws that were as fast as lightning were about to rip through Lin Huang's chest. On the other hand, the Mother Arachnid's spider webs like chains shot out towards him.

"Since you came to me by yourself, don't blame me for being hard on you." Lin Huang grinned, standing firmly in his original position. He thrust his combat sword forward and a golden glow flashed through the air.

As the golden glow was released from the blade of the sword, it gave off a dazzling radiance that looked like sunlight, causing everybody to squint towards him.

The dazzling beam of glow on the blade of his sword enveloped the body of the Clouded Leopard and the Mother Arachnid. A few moments later, a brilliant crescent light spread over a distance of more than ten kilometers away. Not far away from Lin Huang, two lumps of black powder dissipated into the air as it was blown away by the wind…

"Oh, a new skill modified from Wordly Purification. It's quite powerful," Lin Huang mumbled.

At the core of the skill modified from Wordly Purification was the Level-2 sword realm using the legendary-level Star Dome as the general principle. A variety of human and monster sword skills had become the cornerstone of the modified skill. Currently, only one skill was available, and its status was incomplete. It did not even have a name.

However, Lin Huang was confident that as long as the set of sword skills could be created, it would be his most powerful skill. In addition, the power of the sword skills would be upgraded and strengthened according to the level of his sword realm and Star Dome as well as the increase in the number of sword skills learned.

Lin Huang had used the skill for the first time in an actual battle and the effect was much better than he had expected as he managed to kill two transcendent monsters in one slash instantly.

"It seems like I shouldn't use this skill too often in future. The carcasses of the transcendent monsters are worth a lot of money," he chuckled to himself. Lin Huang looked at Ai De again and noticed that there were several wounds on his body. Based on the fact that he had been attacked by four monsters of the same level, he was incapable of fighting them.

He knew that if he did not help out, Ai De would probably die. Lin Huang took a leap and appeared behind one of the monsters that were advancing towards Ai De.

It was a monster that looked like a praying mantis. By the time it sensed that danger was coming behind it, its upper torso and waist detached from its body.

The monster was killed in one blow and Lin Huang disappeared silently. The next moment when he appeared, he was behind the second monster.

It was an Alpha Wolf. It could not sense the danger coming behind it at all. Soon after, Lin Huang chopped off its head.

The third and the fourth monster were also killed by Lin Huang within seconds before they could react.

Ai De was relieved as soon as he was rescued. He smiled gratefully at Lin Huang and thanked him. He soon became aware of Lin Huang's extraordinary combat strength. "Your combat strength…"

"That's my true combat strength." Lin Huang did not tell him the truth since it was too mind-blowing for a gold flame-level to be capable of killing an immortal-level. Instead, many of the gold flame-level geniuses could do so.

Ai De felt relieved as he listened to Lin Huang's answer. He did not continue to probe.

"Continue to clear the monster horde, but it's better for you not to show up. I'll handle the transcendent monsters." Lin Huang knew that Ai De was not weak. However, he could not handle the transcendent monsters that surrounded him.

"But the one in the sky…" Ai De was clearly worried. Although he could not identify the combat level of the monster, he could obviously sense that they were much stronger than the two monsters that Lin Huang had just killed.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it," Lin Huang comforted him. He felt lucky that aside from him, none of the humans knew that it was an immortal-level rank-5 monster. After killing the monster, he would store its carcass and tell the rest that it was just an immortal-level rank-3 monster. It would be credible as some of the top gold flame-level geniuses could kill an immortal-level rank-3.

"Since it's an immortal-level monster, don't underestimate it." Ai De indeed had no idea what the rank of the immortal-level monster was. He could only sense that it was much stronger than the other two monsters Lin Huang killed. However, since Lin Huang had managed to kill the two monsters within seconds, it should not be a problem for him to defeat this monster.

"Okay, let's go." Lin Huang nodded.

Seeing Ai De return into the monster horde, Lin Huang turned around, lifting his head and staring at the immortal-level rank-5 monster in the sky.

It was a female fiend. However, Lin Huang could not identify exactly what type of monster it was. It somehow looked like the Inferior Imp as it also had similar horns. It was wearing a purple armor that looked like a dress with a pair of white, bony wings on its back.

Without the bony wings on its back and the strange-looking armored dress, Lin Huang would have thought that it was an orthodox monster. Now, Lin Huang was unsure about that.

"Human, you did actually conceal your combat strength?" Right at that moment, the female fiend finally looked at Lin Huang with a solemn facial expression.

As he had managed to kill the immortal-level rank-3 Mother Arachnid in one hit, his ability had shone through. However, the female fiend did not think that it would lose. "Regardless of how hard you're trying to hide your combat strength, you're only a gold flame-level. Due to the absolute difference between our combat strength, you're definitely not able to knock me down!"

"Confidence is awesome, but I think that soon, you'll know that you're being a wee bit overconfident," Lin Huang raised his brows and answered.

"It seems like you don't know the difference between our combat strength…" Upon hearing Lin Huang call out its overconfidence, the female fiend laughed. "Should I say that you're too naïve or that you're too brave?"

"You're just an immortal-level rank-3 monster. You're just three ranks higher than I am. I don't think that three ranks make that big a difference." Lin Huang intentionally tried to mislead the people.

"An immortal-level rank-3?" The female fiend cackled. It thought that Lin Huang had judged its combat strength wrongly, and did not bother to correct his "big mistake" though. "I'll then show you how powerful an immortal-level rank-3 is!"

After finishing its words, it flapped the pair of bony wings on its back. The female fiend appeared in front of Lin Huang in just an instant. Its purple claws then pointed at Lin Huang's left chest in its usual fighting style which was to grab the heart of its prey directly.

Just when its sharp claws were about to graze Lin Huang's chest, a glow suddenly flashed at a grim speed.

Before the female fiend could retract its hand, the beam of light slashed through its wrist, chopping its right hand off.

The female fiend growled from the agony it suffered and immediately retreated hundreds of meters away.

"You're wearing a disguise!" It lowered its head and looked in disbelief at its broken right hand. It then gaped at Lin Huang in fear.

Lin Huang then raised his arm, placing his sword on his shoulder. He laughed and said, "I told you earlier that you're being overconfident."

"I've just underestimated you." The female fiend was not nervous. Its right hand that was chopped off by Lin Huang was regenerating at a speed that could be seen by the naked eye. "I admit that I've underestimated you, but from now onwards… I won't make the same mistake!"

"No, you don't understand it even until now. You didn't underestimate me. You've overestimated yourself!" Lin Huang commented rudely as he giggled and shook his head.

"I've overestimated myself?" The female fiend narrowed its eyes and looked at Lin Huang. Its eyes flashed with a trace of fury. Lin Huang's act of belittling the female fiend had provoked it. "Little brat, I'll make you swallow these words before you die!"

Just as it uttered those words, the female fiend fluttered its wings again and disappeared from its original position like a ghost.

In mid-air, Lin Huang had crashed into the fiend hundreds of times.

Two shadows flickered as they appeared, disappeared, and moved. Each time as they collided with each other, a substantial impact wave was produced, spreading everywhere.

Fortunately, it was the monster horde that had not achieved the transcendent level which was affected. The humans were more than ten kilometers away, and the consequences were not significant. There was a strong wind that stirred up the sand, and they had to hide behind the pit. As for those who were on holy fire-level, they had avoided the area where both of them fought and so, were unaffected.

The female fiend was different from many of the opponents that Lin Huang had encountered earlier whereby it was adept at ranged attacks. The strength of the pair of wings it had on its back was on par with Lin Huang's supreme relic, and so was the defense of its armored dress. In addition to that, it possessed the Demonic Regeneration skill.

Lin Huang could barely kill it at the moment.

Still, the female fiend's fear was gradually growing as both of them fought. In the beginning, it had been suppressed by Lin Huang, but it was not obvious. As time passed, its opponent's sword onslaught seemed to have become smoother and it was getting impossible to overcome. It felt immensely pressured as it knew very well that without relying on its armored dress and its Demonic Regeneration skill, it would have died from the start.

"The modification of the fiend is successful whereby its abilities are a rank higher," Lin Huang secretly contacted Xiao Hei as he was fighting the fiend, "Its bony wings result in a substantial increase in its attack strength and speed. Not only did the armored dress increase its defenses, it also works well with its Demonic Regeneration too. Its survival ability is improved."

"The female fiend is indeed the most successful transformation I've ever seen. It is in a state of complete consciousness. Based on the conversation between the both of you, it is obviously different from those with defects that we previously encountered."

"Kill it, and you'll be rewarded with a complete set of the female fiend cards!"

"Deal!"

Even if Xiao Hei had not said that, Lin Huang had no intention of keeping it alive. Of course, he would be happy to accept the task if he could get an additional monster card as a reward. "However, please help me to retain its memory. I'd like to know if something is going on with the monster horde, the Scarborough Workshop, and the Purple Crow."

"No problem," Xiao Hei quickly answered.

A thought actually flashed through Lin Huang's mind as he wondered if he should use a Double Card to obtain two complete sets of monster cards. As he thought about it, he snapped himself out of his thoughts. The fiend was only a double mutated epic-level card. It was not worth using a Double Card for that. Although having twin fiend sisters would look pretty cool, still, Lin Huang chose a rather practical approach.

"I'll only think about the twin sisters when I encounter a triple or quadruple mutated monster. It's such a waste to use a Double Card on an epic-level card…"

Since Xiao Hei had promised to reward him with a complete set of cards, Lin Huang's attack became more aggressive.

Soon after, the female fiend could hardly endure Lin Huang's attacks. Wounds formed on its body, and it could not recover in time even with its Demonic Regeneration skill.

The number of injuries on its body was increasing and the load on the Demonic Regeneration skill only got bigger and bigger. The consumption of Life Power was several times greater as well. The female fiend knew that if it did not show its card, it would probably die here.

As they collided into each other again, the female fiend flapped its wings and retreated to a safe distance. Soon after, it quickly performed hand seals.

"Hmm?" Watching his opponent's actions, Lin Huang was shocked. It was apparent that it was about to unleash some kind of secret skill. He had seen it before from many of the monsters he had killed, but he rarely encountered monsters that performed hand seals.

Before Lin Huang could charge, the female fiend had completed its hand seals.

On top of its head, a big shadow rapidly formed. It had a big purple face and seemed like a female mask. It was hundreds of meters tall and an unknown aura spread all over the area.

Lin Huang felt oddly oppressed seeing the fiendish face that appeared strong and wicked.

"What's that?" Lin Huang frowned and asked Xiao Hei.

The fiendish face looked somewhat like a Combat Soul. However, he could feel that it was completely different from the Combat Soul. Moreover, Lin Huang had never heard of any monster that was capable of exchanging Combat Souls.

"It is an image projected due to the Obscure Blood skill. Only immortal-level monsters with strong blood can use this kind of secret skill."

"Obscure Blood? What's that for? It doesn't look like a real object. It can't join the fight, can it?" Lin Huang was hearing of such a term for the first time.

"For the Obscure Blood skill, there'll be an enchanting effect on the monster's blood. However, the enchanted blood has to be powerful. They have to be of ancient blood or dragon blood. Once the blood is enchanted, beginner-level blood power will be temporarily leveled up to mid-level. There'll be a provisional upgrade of mid-level blood power to advanced-level blood power whereas the advanced-level blood power will be temporarily upgraded to pure blood. If it's pure blood, the Obscure Blood will coagulate to form a real object, transforming into something that looks like the human Combat Soul. In fact, the origin of the human Combat Soul comes from the obscure object that the monster with pure blood owns."

"So, the secret skill of Combat Soul is learned from the monsters. No wonder it looks similar to the Obscure Blood as they can only be unleashed upon achieving immortal-level." Lin Huang had never thought of this. "Does it mean that Bai and Charcoal can use the Obscure Blood skill in future?"

"Yes, as long as they achieve immortal-level. The relevant memory inherited will be unsealed, and they'll be able to learn the secret skill."

Just as Lin Huang learned the uses and effects of the Obscure Blood skill from Xiao Hei, the enchantment on the female fiend's blood was about to end.

The faint purple mist spat by the big purple face on top of its head had been almost absorbed by the female fiend's body.

The aura exuded by the female fiend was much stronger and the pair of white, bony wings on its back had turned silver. It was no longer the bony material it projected. Instead, it looked like metal now. Aside from that, there were silver stripes on its purple armored dress, and it looked like it was more delicately made. Other than that, there were no other changes.

"It seems like the enchanted blood does have its effects." Neglecting the changes in its appearance, based on the aura it gave off, Lin Huang could still confirm that the combat strength of the female fiend was at least half a rank stronger.

Just when Lin Huang was sizing up its changes, the remaining purple mist was completely absorbed by it. The female fiend gradually raised its head up, giving Lin Huang a death glare with both of its red eyes.

The aura of the purple-armored female fiend was growing, and its pair of bloody eyes shot a death glare at Lin Huang.

In an instant, the pair of silver wings on its back fluttered and it disappeared from its original position. The next moment, it appeared in front of Lin Huang. Its sharp, purple claws covered the entire sky, and they were about to cleave Lin Huang's head.

"That was insanely fast!"

Lin Huang's eyes dilated and he immediately picked up his sword, slashing towards his enemy's claws.

The blade of his battle sword that was shrouded in white Life Power seemed to streak across the water surface, creating ripples in the air.

Bang!

The next moment, the blade that was covered by the white glow collided fiercely with the purple claws.

In the sky, white and purple colors each occupied half of the sky as they crashed into each other at the center of the sky. Although it was barely dawn, a dazzling light diffused everywhere and the sky was as bright as day.

The radiating energy spread bigger and bigger, stirring up a robust and fierce gale a few times stronger than what they previously experienced.

Even the defenses that were built more than ten kilometers away started shaking as the vibration affected it.

Although both of them crashed into each other in mid-air, a large number of monsters that were at about 100 meters away on the ground were crushed into pieces. Despite the fact that it was just the impact of the remaining energy, the monsters below transcendent level could not withstand it.

The transcendent monsters and humans quickly flew away as they were afraid that they would be drawn into the fight.

The impact had resulted in severe damage, but it had actually lasted for less than a second. The both of them swooped away.

Lin Huang landed on the ground stably whereas the female fiend flew even higher into the air.

"It has indeed become a lot stronger. Perhaps its combat strength has exceeded immortal-level rank-6." Lin Huang knew his abilities very well. More than 50 days ago, he had managed to kill Yu Wenbin who was an immortal-level rank-5. Now, he was way stronger than that. Without the purple armored dress and the Demonic Regeneration skill, the female fiend would have been long destroyed.

A few minutes ago, the female fiend did not dare to attack his battle sword with its sharp claws as Lin Huang had chopped off its fingers before. Although they had regenerated, it had no guts to use its sharp claws to grasp his sword again. It only had the courage to fight Lin Huang with its bony wings. However, as Lin Huang's sword hit its sharp claws, only a faint white scratch could be seen. He still could not break its defense.

Seeing the light scratch on its claws, the female fiend sniggered at Lin Huang, "There's nothing special about your abilities. You can't even break my defenses now."

"If I'm not mistaken, perhaps the skill has consumed a large portion of your Life Power." Lin Huang did not refute. Instead, he raised his head and looked at the demonic face above the female fiend.

"So what? I just want to kill you as fast as possible!" The female fiend was still as confident as before.

"Girl, you've overestimated yourself again…" Lin Huang simpered, shaking his head.

"First of all, you won't be able to kill me but I can't explain why. Secondly, I purposely forced you to activate such a skill. As long as your Life Power is drained, you won't be able to heal your wounds with the Demonic Regeneration skill. Performing such a skill will consume your Life Power at a rate at least ten times faster. In order to kill you, the simplest way is to use up your Life Power."

For creatures that possessed Enhanced Regeneration or Demonic Regeneration skills, as long as their Life Power was not used up, despite crushing their head, heart or any vital parts, they could not die. There were only two ways to kill them. The first way would be to cut them into more than hundreds of pieces and the second way would be to exhaust their Life Power.

With Lin Huang's abilities, it was not difficult to defeat it. However, it was also not easy for Lin Huang to dismember it into pieces. Therefore, he had chosen the second way which was to drain his opponent's Life Power. Without any Life Power, it would not be able to complete the process of regeneration.

"Drain my Life Power? Then, I'll have to kill you before my Life Power is used up!" Apparently, the fiend only paid attention to the second reason that Lin Huang had mentioned, but had completely neglected the first reason. It fluttered its wings again and its sharp claws covered the sky. The silver bony wings then transformed into sharp blades, tearing the sky apart and it appeared on top of Lin Huang in an instant.

Lin Huang opened his palm and a black beam instantly formed in front of him. It resembled a black curtain that lingered in mid-air, isolating the sky from his head.

The fiend's attacks struck the layer of the black curtain as if they had fallen into the deep sea. There were no other reactions aside from the mild vibrating waves that could be seen on the black surface.

A flicker of fear flashed through the fiend's eyes as its fatal attack could do no harm to Lin Huang. Apparently, it did not expect Lin Huang to use such a defensive skill.

Right at this moment, the black curtain fell. The tip of the sword that was glowing with white light penetrated from the back of the curtain straight through the fiend's head.

The fiend's eyes flashed with a trace of fear and its pair of bony wings immediately dodged the attack. Despite its refusal to die even though the attack struck its head, the Life Power required to recover its injured head would be doubled since it was one of its vital parts. Half a portion of its Life Power had been used up due to the activation of the Obscure Blood. Therefore, the consumption of Life Power needed to recover the injuries on vital parts had to be avoided. Otherwise, the time that it could maintain its Obscure Blood skill would be significantly reduced.

Clang!

A loud explosive sound was heard as the tip of the blade collided with the bony wings. They were not well matched as Lin Huang's hit took it by surprise. It was a one-sided battle.

The dazzling white light instantly covered the fiend's body. However, Lin Huang knew that despite activating his Worldly Purification which had the most potent power, it was not likely that he could kill his opponent in one hit. Although he could not see the fiend's expression as the entire region was covered by the white glow, he could somehow confirm that it was severely injured when it was struck.

A few moments later, the white glow in the air cleared, gradually revealing the body of the fiend.

It was still hanging in mid-air, but it looked rather clumsy. Half of its silver bony wings had been crushed by Lin Huang's impact, and part of its purple armored dress had collapsed. Half of its head had exploded and there were burn injuries all over parts of its body that had not been protected by the armored dress.

However, the fiend was still alive. Across the wounds on its body, its flesh was growing at a speed that was visible to the naked eye. The flesh kept on growing to fill up the wounds on its body. Half of its head was recovered in about three seconds without leaving any scars. Without the blood stain on its clothes, one would not have known that it was injured.

Aside from its body, its purple armored dress and its bony wings were recovering rapidly. Despite the speed of the dress and wings recovering being slightly slower than its body's, they were completely recovered in less than five seconds.

"The effect of the Demonic Regeneration is terrifying!" Lin Huang exclaimed when he saw that.

As its body recovered, the fiend glared at Lin Huang ferociously. Lin Huang's attack had drained more than half of the Life Power remaining in its body. It knew that there was not much time left that it could sustain its Obscure Blood.

Lin Huang's attack had indeed frightened it and it even intended to retreat. As it thought of the consequences of doing so, again, a flicker of fury flashed through its eyes and it stared daggers at Lin Huang.

"I'll definitely die if I attempt to run away. There's still a chance to survive if I fight him. In order to survive, the only way is to kill him!"

In the beginning, the fiend had looked down upon Lin Huang as it thought that he was only a white flame-level that was as weak as a little shrimp. However, it then discovered that he was actually a vicious, man-eating shark as they fought. Without its Demonic Regeneration skill, it would have died several times.

Under such conditions, whether its opponent was a man-eating shark or whatever, there was only one choice left - to fight to the death.

The chance of surviving was meager if it was to fight to the death. There was still a glimmer of hope at the very least. If it ran away, perhaps it would not even have the last thread of hope of surviving.

As the thought flashed through its mind, its killing intent rampaged in its eyes. "Go die, human!"

Along with the yell, the transcendent monsters below them went insane and started pouncing on Lin Huang. It had secretly issued a new instruction to more than a hundred of the holy fire-level monsters.

Upon seeing the holy fire-level monsters springing towards him, Lin Huang could roughly guess that the fiend had secretly taken control of the monsters.

"It has controlled the holy fire-level monsters to come after me… Is it trying to buy itself some time?" Lin Huang doubted.

Soon, the first monster jumped towards Lin Huang. The body of the bird monster was less than a meter long. Unexpectedly, before Lin Huang could brandish his sword, the body of the monster expanded quickly when it was less than ten meters away from Lin Huang.

Lin Huang instantly knew its intention and activated his Dark Shield without a moment of hesitation.

The next second when Lin Huang's Dark Shield was activated, the bird monster's body exploded. Intense flames gushed towards the sky and engulfed Lin Huang's body.

However, it was not over yet. After the explosion happened to the first bird monster, it was followed by the second, the third, and the fourth… All the monsters continued darting towards the direction where the explosions occurred, and soon, booming was heard continuously. Multi-colored beams of flames flashed into the sky.

"Lin Huang!"

As the sound of the explosion echoed all around, Ai De and the rest were worried. They fixed their gaze in the direction that was covered by flames.

"Regardless of how strong you are, you're still a holy fire-level. The strength of your body is limited and I doubt that you're able to survive the explosion of so many holy fire-level monsters!" The fiend grinned. It had only thought of this after Lin Huang's last attack.

As it grinned, it spat a mouthful of blood. It felt an intense headache as if its head was about to explode. Soon, its body started to tremble, and the wry face in the sky flickered.

Under normal circumstances, despite being the leader of the monster horde, a self-destructing order would not be executed as it did not have the authority to do so. It had made use of the power of the wry face hologram in order to instruct the holy fire-level monsters to commit explosive harakiri by force. Aside from its Life Power having been depleted, its spiritual strength was drained as well.

Due to the exhaustion of its Life Power, it was weak and its spiritual strength was overloaded, causing it to suffer from a massive headache. Still, the fiend gave a deathly stare at the center where the explosions took place.

"Even though you can defend yourself against the explosions with your Dark Shield, how many times can your Life Power withstand such force?" The fiend adapted to a headache it was suffering from. Again, it looked towards the direction where the flames flashed into the sky with a wicked smile on its face.

The fiend's prediction was right. The explosion of these monsters had indeed troubled Lin Huang. Without the Dark Shield, he would have been severely injured or might have even died. Under the defense of the Dark Shield, the vibration from each explosion drained a significant amount of Lin Huang's Life Power.

About four explosions could drain Lin Huang's Life Power from one of his Life Wheels. There were ten Life Wheels in his body. Under normal circumstances, he would be able to withstand about thirty explosions and his Life Power would be exhausted. Before the Life Power in his body was drained, he took out a Life Power Refill Card to refill his Life Wheels.

To withstand more than a hundred intense explosions, Lin Huang had used up two of his Life Power Refill Cards to restore his Life Power. Even half of the third Life Power Refill Card had been used before the explosions ended.

Right until the last holy fire-level exploded, the purple face above the fiend's head collapsed abruptly, turning into bits and disappearing into the air.

Soon, the body of the fiend returned to its original state whereby its silver bony wings turned back into white. The silver stripes on its dress armor disappeared as well and became pure purple. Even the strong aura it exuded returned to its initial strength or was even weaker than before.

It felt the weakness from within. With the last bit of Life Power remaining in its body, it barely managed to balance itself in mid-air, boring holes in the direction where the smoke billowed out.

The transcendent humans that hid among the monster horde gazed towards the direction as well. They were worried, anticipating the outcome of the battle.

If Lin Huang managed to survive the fight, perhaps they could still win the fight. However, if Lin Huang died in the explosions, the humans would undoubtedly lose the fight as there was still an immortal-level monster in the monster horde. Despite the fact that the immortal-level monster was weak, it could still easily pin down more than ten of the humans.

However, Bai and Tyrant were not worried about Lin Huang as they could communicate with Lin Huang through their mind anytime. They apparently knew that Lin Huang was not injured. They did not even bother to lift their heads and continued fighting the monsters.

"Has it ended?"

Lin Huang noticed that after a few moments, no other monsters came after him. Although he did not count how many monsters had exploded, he believed that he was almost there. He stood inside the Dark Shield for a while before removing it.

Just then, the smoke gradually cleared and the fiend was waiting for the result of the battle.

All of a sudden, a gentle breeze blew by, blowing the layer of smoke covering Lin Huang's body away. His perfectly intact body was revealed.

The wry face above the clumsy fiend's head had disappeared, and the fiend was staring at him, stunned. Lin Huang grinned deviously. "Are you surprised to see me?"

Seeing Lin Huang who was not injured and his aura that was still solid, the fiend went into a trance. As it recovered from its thoughts, it immediately turned around and attempted to flee.

As it flew over a distance of fewer than a hundred meters, its body fell onto the ground abruptly, indicating that it did not have sufficient Life Power to sustain it.

Even Lin Huang did not expect that the fiend to be that weak. He was about to chase after the fiend when he saw that it attempted to flee. However, he did not expect it to fall to the ground after flying for less than a second. It could not even stand properly now.

Lin Huang then appeared in front of the fiend in a flash. As the moonlight shone on the battle sword in his hand, it gave off a cold, flickering glow.

"Are you going to kill a girl who's so weak?" The fiend feebly asked Lin Huang.

"If you're weak, then all the girls in this world are weak," Lin Huang teased. He then said, "Don't worry, it'll be fast. You won't feel the pain…"

Before Lin Huang could finish his words, the icy glow flashed through the sky. The fiend's head could be seen in the sky and blood started oozing out from its neck.

Watching its headless body, one last thought ran through the fiend's mind. "I really can't feel the pain…"

As the female fiend fell on the ground, a notification from Xiao Hei arrived.

"Congratulations, you have obtained a legendary-level monster card - Violaceous Enchantress (fiend)!"

After storing the carcass, Lin Huang did not even bother to take a glance at the card and flew into the sky. He frowned upon seeing a large number of monsters.

At that point, all the transcendent monsters had died. However, the monster horde that was formed by more than a hundred thousand monsters was still big trouble to them.

Only a few minutes had passed during the fierce fight and the monster horde was approaching the post from a distance of fewer than twenty kilometers away. The monster horde would utterly drown the human post in less than ten minutes.

"Should I use the Small Destruction Card?" Lin Huang frowned as he was figuring out what he should do. Undoubtedly, the fastest way would be to handle it by using the Small Destruction Card. However, if he were to do so, he would be revealing his ability to kill more than a hundred thousand or even a million monsters.

"Xiao Hei, other than the Small Destruction Card, is there any way that I can handle the monster horde in the shortest period of time?" Lin Huang had no idea what he should do, so he asked for Xiao Hei's help.

"Among the cards you have, two of the snakes and the apes are appropriate to be summoned during such a group attack. Also, you have Charcoal and Tyrant. Remove the restrictions on their body size. As they return to their normal state, their size will be on par with the giants. Other than that, you still have Kylie's troop.

"Of course, the most effective and secretive skill will certainly be Bloody's parasitic abilities. With its current ability, it is not difficult for it to parasitize millions of monsters below the transcendent level. The total number of monster there is about half a million. It can easily handle it."

"Yes, Bloody's parasitic abilities! How could I forget about it?!"

Usually, Lin Huang would only think of Bloody when an investigation was required. However, he would unintentionally neglect Bloody during a battle. Just like how he used to believe that Thunder was a flying mount and overlooked its ability to fight. This was the reason why when Lin Huang encountered any problems during battles, Bloody and Thunder would fall in his blind spot and would be excluded from the battle by instinct.

As reminded by Xiao Hei, Lin Huang then realized that Bloody was indeed an unconquerable executioner in such a large-scale battle.

Lin Huang took a glance at the transcendent humans and realized that many of them were looking at him. He then made his way through the monster horde and summoned Bloody.

Bloody transformed into a purple snake and tangled around Lin Huang's left arm. Lin Huang told Bloody about his plan while killing the monsters.

"Bloody, we've limited time. I guess that we have less than ten minutes left till the monster horde flattens the human post. It's less likely that you can parasitize half a million monsters now. Can you control part of the monsters to attack the monsters that aren't parasitized so that there'll be an internal conflict among them? Or can you please stop the monsters on the front line so that they'll form a monster wall whereby the rest of the monsters at the back will be blocked?"

"I can save you some trouble. I'll have to parasitize a batch of monsters that will take the lead and change their direction. The rest behind will follow them." Bloody knew those monsters very well. "In such a monster horde, many of the monsters behind actually follow after the monsters in front of them blindly. They don't even look at the road. They'll just follow wherever the monsters in front of them go. As long as they change their direction, they won't crash into the human post."

"Is there such a thing?" Lin Huang was stunned to hear that.

"Yes, since you've killed the leading monsters, it's not difficult to do so." Bloody knew that all the transcendent monsters have been killed through his investigation and he was confident of handling things efficiently.

"Hurry up then. We don't have much time left," Lin Huang urged.

"I'll do it immediately. Please wait for about three minutes and I'll be able to handle it." After finishing its words, the colorless and transparent Leech Pods dispersed in the air towards the monster horde.

After about two minutes, Bloody's voice was heard again. "The parasitizing process has been completed. I'll now make them change their direction."

After it uttered its words, there was a stir in the monster horde. A few moments later, the monsters surrounding Lin Huang really started to change their direction.

Lin Huang felt that it was unbelievable as he witnessed that. He let Bloody hide in his sleeve as he flew down. The monster horde that was heading north suddenly made a turn and was now heading towards the west just like a diverted river. Other than the batch of monsters that had been controlled by Bloody, the monsters following behind them had indeed followed them and made the same turn.

When Lin Huang saw that, he immediately recalled Bai and Tyrant into their card forms. He then told Ai De and the rest, "Stop killing. The danger of the monster horde has passed! Come and have a look at the monster horde."

As Lin Huang's voice was heard, Ai De and the rest were surprised. However, Ai De chose to believe Lin Huang and flew into the sky.

Seeing the monster horde change their direction, he was startled. "What…? What's happening? Why did the monster horde suddenly change its direction?"

He immediately turned and looked at Lin Huang. Lin Huang opened both of his palms and shrugged to express that he knew nothing about it.

Ai De did not ask any further and immediately asked the rest of them to stop attacking. Following his instructions, the people then paused and flew into the sky to see what had actually happened.

As they saw the unusual phenomenon, the people were bewildered as they had no idea what was happening.

"Why did the monster horde suddenly change its direction?" One of them asked Ai De because he was experienced. The rest of them shifted their focus to Ai De as well.

"Don't ask me. I have no idea why as well. I've experienced the monster horde three times and it's my first witnessing such a situation." Ai De shook his head.

Right at this moment, one of them asked Lin Huang, "Lin Huang, you're the first one who discovered that the monster horde has changed its direction. What do you know about it?"

"I realized that the monsters surrounding me seemed to have changed their direction while I was killing them. I flew up to see what caused that to happen and found out that the monster horde is heading towards the west." Lin Huang had entirely omitted Bloody's role.

As Lin Huang mentioned that, the rest of them then recalled that the monsters had actually changed their direction abruptly without them noticing.

"Perhaps it's related to the monster leader that you've just killed." After falling into deep thought, Ai De came out with an answer. He probably wanted to give credit to Lin Huang.

"It's not definitely so. There might be other reasons that cause this to happen." Lin Huang shook his head. He had caught many people's attention as he had killed few of the immortal-level monsters. If Bloody's credit also went to him, he might find himself in too bright a spotlight. "Regardless of what the reason is, the danger we were facing has been overcome. That's good news as everyone is safe."

As the monster horde that headed towards the west was getting farther away from them, the people were relieved.

Ai De then shifted his gaze from the monster horde to Lin Huang, sizing him up. "I didn't know that you have a hidden combat strength. We thought that you were kidding when you said that you're going to kill the immortal-level monsters!"

"Yes, when you said that, none of us thought it was real," another middle-aged man said with a smile.

"I was serious when I said that. I have no choice if you don't believe me." Lin Huang shrugged his shoulders.

"Who would believe that a white flame-level could kill an immortal-level?!" The crowd burst into laughter.

"But I'm really a white flame-level…" Lin Huang silently said to himself. He just smiled at them, remaining silent.

As soon as all the monsters at the post had departed, the people quickly cleaned up the battleground. They exchanged contact numbers and left.

Only one out of 32 posts that had encountered danger were settled. The war with the monster horde was not over yet. Lin Huang seized the opportunity to kill more monsters as there was still time for his one-hour transformation.

"I'll probably need to unleash some powerful skills in the following battle. I need to change my face. However, if I disguise myself, those on immortal-level might be able to see through it, let alone the imperial-level…" As the rest of them had left, Lin Huang immediately headed towards the next post. He then realized that he had to conceal his identity.

He could still clearly recall that Xue Luo had told him about the Small Destruction Card possessing the power of curses. Even the God would be keen on having it and would seize power by all means. He had no idea if the God did really exist in this world, but there was the demigod. He would not be happy if he caught the demigod's attention.

"Xiao Hei, if I were to use the Disguise Card, will I be able to deceive the demigod?" Lin Huang knew that his Disguise skill would not be able to do so. He could only hope that the effect of the Disguise Card could meet his needs.

"Yes, you can. Regarding the exact effects, have a look at the card."

As soon as Xiao Hei's voice was heard, a card popped up in front of him.

The back of the Disguise Card was golden in color. On the front, there was an image of a colored mask. Lin Huang flipped the card around to read the information.

"Disguise Card

"Function: After activating the card, you can disguise yourself and take up any identity.

"Remark 1: When the card is activated, it'll be effective for 24 hours.

"Remark 2: Within the validity period of the card, you are allowed to remove your disguise. However, the card will be used upon removal, and you are unable to activate it for the second time.

"Remark 3: Disguise is not limited to any identity, and it can be any type of living beings.

"Remark 4: The strength of aura disguised is restricted. The highest level that the user can disguise as will be demigod level.

"Warning: The Disguise Card can only deceive the God or those of lower level. For those of higher level than the God, they will be able to see through the disguise."

After reading the description on the Disguise Card, Lin Huang felt slightly relieved. "It'll be fine as long as it works on the demigod. I'll be really unlucky if the God finds out about this."

"Don't worry. Under normal circumstances, the strength of this world is unable to bear the presence of the God. The God mentioned is actually the Virtual God. Even if the Virtual God is still alive, he won't be able to see through the effects of the Disguise Card."

"Virtual God?" Lin Huang was hearing this concept for the first time. "Is the Virtual God ranked above the demigod?"

"To be accurate, the Virtual God is a level higher than imperial-level. As for the demigod, it's a special way for the people in this world to address them. It is actually not a level. The so-called 'demigod' is the imperial-level who has failed to gather the Godhead."

Lin Huang had heard about the concept of the demigod for the first time from Xiao Hei. He then asked in doubt, "Since that's the reason, according to the historical sources that I've read in the Martial Hunter College, why is the demigod much stronger than the imperial-level?"

"Under normal circumstances, failure to gather the Godhead will cause the Godhead to explode. Their Life Palace will collapse, and their Life Wheel will be broken. As the Life Wheel breaks, their Life Power will be dissipated rapidly and soon, they will die. However, those who are powerful enough will manage to stop their Life Palace from collapsing with some special skills, retaining part of the broken Godhead. Due to the broken pieces of the Godhead that remains in their body, they possess the power of God. Therefore, people address them as demigods. Regarding why they are stronger than imperial-levels, it's also because of the power of God that they have in their bodies."

"Oh, I see!" Lin Huang finally knew how demigod level was achieved as he listened to Xiao Hei. Soon after, many doubts rose in his mind. "What's the difference between the Virtual God and the God?"

"The Virtual God has only managed to gather the Godhead, converting their Life Power to the power of God. As for the God, they ignite the divine fire and own the divine right. That's what I can tell you, and this not the area you should exploring for now. Stop asking."

"Alright…" Despite the many doubts in his mind, Lin Huang could do nothing as Xiao Hei was unwilling to talk about it anymore. He kept quiet for a moment, and he thought of something that he had not asked. "Is there any useful information retrieved from the Violaceous Enchantress's memory?"

"Yes, I'll send it to you. Have a look at it."

A few moments later, part of the information gushed into Lin Huang's mind. He immediately checked on it. After sifting through the information, Lin Huang frowned. "The monster horde is truly man-made!"

According to the Violaceous Enchantress's memory, she and the rest of the immortal-level monsters as well as part of the holy fire-level monsters had been released by someone on imperial-level from the laboratory.

The monsters released were divided into three groups and had left together with three imperial-levels that wore black robes.

The Violaceous Enchantress's group was then further divided into ten small groups and had been sent to a moderate danger zone as guided by the person in black robes. The person in black robes instructed them to kill the chief-level monsters in the moderate danger zone. As they had gotten control of the rest of the monsters, the monsters were sent to a place that had been set up earlier where a dimensional shift could occur.

Many new monsters entered and the number of monsters grew.

The monsters stayed there for about half a day before they were re-released. The Violaceous Enchantress and the rest then received a new instruction, which was to guide these monsters to start a monster attack…

Lin Huang knew what happened next.

"At least three humans on imperial-level joined them… From the environment of the laboratory, the Violaceous Enchantress and the rest of the modified monsters must be coming from the Scarborough Workshop. I made the right assumption. The monster outbreak is caused by the Purple Crow and the Scarborough Workshop." Although he could confirm that, there were still many things that Lin Huang could not understand. "However, 'theuglytruth' said that it's related to the Saint members. What do the Saint members have to do with the monster attack?"

Soon, Lin Huang arrived somewhere near the second post in doubt.

The post was more than 100 kilometers away from the first post. Lin Huang had arrived there in less than three minutes without activating his double acceleration.

Lin Huang could hear the sound of the explosions when he was still far away. He gazed upon the battleground from afar. The monster horde was less than ten kilometers away from the post, and it was an incredibly intense fight.

In mid-air, a few of the immortal-level were fighting the transcendent monsters whereas the holy fire-levels were clearing the monsters below them.

"Although there's a presence of immortal-levels in this post, the condition is even worse than the first post." Lin Huang frowned when he saw the scene in front of him. "I'm only able to overcome the danger at two posts in a short period of time, but I'm unable to overcome all of it in time. There are 32 posts in total. The distance to the south is about 3,300 kilometers… Even the imperial-level has to clear the monsters one by one."

Just as Lin Huang was wondering what he should do to curb the danger in the White Capital, a notification sound was suddenly heard.

"Mission card activated due to special circumstances.

"Mission: Kill count exceeds 10 million.

"Mission Due: One hour

"Reward: Obtain ten million Honorable Kills and three random Reward Cards.

"Failure to accomplish the mission before the time limit: you will be punished. Three Function Cards will be randomly removed!

"The mission announcement has been conveyed. Please read the back of the card for more information."

"It has been f*cking activated…" He had just been watching the battle from afar and did not even move. Lin Huang was speechless by the fact that the mission card could even be activated in such a way.

Lin Huang was still a distance away from the battleground. He did not expect to have activated a mission card.

"Killing 10 million monsters in one hour? Xiao Hei, are you crazy?" Lin Huang demanded helplessly.

"Again, the mission card has been activated due to special circumstances, and it's not within my control. The mission card is associated with a trigger mechanism. It'll be triggered if it detects that there's an immediate event that fulfills its requirements. It has nothing to do with me."

"Okay…" Lin Huang did not refute as Xiao Hei had shifted the responsibility away from itself. "You're just forcing me to use the Destruction Card. It's not easy to draw three of the cards. I wanted to keep it for future use as it might save my life."

Although only one Small Destruction Card remained, the region which it covered was limited to only 10,000 square kilometers. It would be unable to include all the monsters on the southern border. Aside from the Medium Destruction Card, Lin Huang could not think of any other way that could clear millions of monsters in an hour. He whipped out the Medium Destruction Card forlornly.

Lin Huang had skimmed through the effects of the Medium Destruction Card previously. He could vaguely remember that it covered up to a million square kilometers. He had not gone through the specific information on the card carefully and had forgotten most of the information.

The front of the Medium Destruction Card was similar to the Small Destruction Card. There was practically no difference between them. Both of them had a white spot in the sky that released a dazzling white light all over. There was also a dead, burnt, and cracked ground.

He then turned to the back of the card and read the description of the card.

"Medium Destruction Card.

"Function: When the card is activated, it can wipe all the specified targets that are on demigod-level or lower out. It covers up to 100 million square kilometers.

"Remark 1: The card cannot be canceled after it has been activated. Please specify the target and region of attack within one hour. Otherwise, the card will randomly choose its target and region. The user is not excluded from being randomly chosen as the target. (Once the user is randomly chosen as the target to attack, the user will definitely die if he or she fulfills the criteria of the destruction card.)

"Remark 2: The card is ineffective on those who have the Godhead (or broken Godhead) in their body.

"Remark 3: The card is ineffective on those who own the god item.

"Remark 4: The effects of the attack are restricted by the user's combat strength. The particular situation is as such: the maximum combat level of the attack is restricted to gold flame-level for users below the transcendent level. As for holy fire-level users of any rank, the maximum combat level is limited to immortal-level rank-9. For immortal-level users of any rank, the maximum combat level is limited to violet gold-level.

"Remark 5: The user has to be within a 100-kilometers range from the specified region. If the user is more than 100 kilometers away from the specified region, it will be ineffective.

"Remark 6: The user is unable to obtain card pieces, a complete card and all other rewards from the monsters killed."

"If I didn't pay attention to the card I might have been killed." After carefully reading the description of the card, Lin Huang noticed the first remark which emphasized that he might be randomly chosen as the target. He was speechless. However, he paid more attention to the fourth remark.

"The function of the card mentions that the user can specify all the targets below demigod-level. In fact, this is the maximum attack that the card can perform. The actual effect of the attack is constrained by my combat level. I'm only a white flame-level. At the very most, the attack can only be carried out on immortal-level rank-9. Basically, if its maximum attack is immortal-level rank-9, it's capable of killing all the monsters in the horde…"

Lin Huang was quite satisfied with the effect of the Medium Destruction Card. "The attack region is 100 million square kilometers. The southern border has a length of 3,300 kilometers and a width of more than 300 kilometers, so t should be enough to cover all the monsters in the horde."

As he confirmed that the effect of the Medium Destruction Card fulfilled his requirements, Lin Huang took out a Disguise Card. "Before using it, I have to disguise myself and change my clothes."

Lin Huang gradually landed on a hillside. Nobody from the battleground could see him as the hillside blocked their vision.

Again, he activated his Omniscient Nature to observe his surroundings. As soon as he could confirm that nobody was spying on him, he then crushed the Disguise Card.

"Disguise Card is activated. Please choose your disguise. Please choose the race that you would like to disguise as."

"Human race," Lin Huang chose without hesitation.

"Please choose a gender."

Lin Huang hesitated for a while. He then grinned evilly. "Female!"

He had chosen to disguise as a female mainly because he wanted to avoid anyone relating this to him. Of course, it was also a fetish as he wanted to know how real the Disguise Card could craft his temporary alter ego.

"Please proceed with a detailed character design."

"Random." Lin Huang did not want to waste his time on creating a face. He was familiar with his behavior from the way he played games in the past. If he were to create his own face, an hour would have passed after he was done with it.

"Starting to create the body of the character randomly. Appearance and attire loading… The character has been randomly created."

As the notification was issued, a mirror appeared in front of Lin Huang. He had become a beautiful girl in a white dress. The white dress was iced with frosty diamonds, but Lin Huang did not know much about fashion anyway. He carefully looked at his face, and he somewhat looked like a mixed-race. The girl had appealing and delicate features. Still, she looked like an Eastern girl as she had black eyes and jet black hair. Her skin was as smooth as white jade, and the dress matched her perfectly.

"Such a beautiful woman!" Lin Huang exclaimed.

"Would you like to confirm your disguise? (If your answer is no, a face will be randomly chosen again.)"

"Yes!" Lin Huang decided without a moment of hesitation.

After putting on the disguise, Lin Huang touched his chest and grabbed it. "Damn, that's real!"

He touched his stomach through his dress and moved further downward. After a short while, he was stunned. "My winky is gone…"

"The Disguise Card doesn't have a disguise effect. It changes the user's appearance to the specified look!" Lin Huang then understood the effects of the Disguise Card. It was not only eye-deceiving. The user's appearance had indeed changed to the facade one wished to disguise as.

However, Lin Huang did not bother so much about the effects of the Disguise Card. Soon after, he shifted his focus to the Medium Destruction Card in his hand.

Without hesitation, Lin Huang crushed the second card.

"Medium Destruction Card has been activated. Please specify the type of creatures that you'd like to destroy."

"All the monsters."

"The target has been successfully chosen. Please select an area."

A map then appeared in Lin Huang's mind. There was the distribution of the monsters.

Lin Huang managed to find the southern border of the White Capital. He extended his hand and circled all the monsters in the border. "I'm done choosing the area."

"The area has been selected. Are you sure that you would like to clear all the target monsters?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Destroy them all!" Lin Huang nodded vigorously.

The next moment, a dazzling dot of light the size of a grain appeared on his forehead. It gradually floated up as if it was escaping from his body.

As soon as the dot of light left Lin Huang's forehead, it shot into the sky rapidly. It penetrated through the layer of clouds in an instant.

It was too sudden and had caught many people's attention. They were baffled, gazing into the sky.

After a short while, a ring of white light appeared abruptly on the cloud layer, spreading all over the place. It looked like water ripples produced in the sky.

It was slightly after 3 a.m. and the sun suddenly appeared, lighting up the night as if it was daytime.

As the rippling light ring spread bigger and bigger, wherever the white light passed, the monsters were instantly carbonized by high temperature, turning into powder and were soon dispersed in the air.

It happened to a post near Lin Huang. As the ring of white light propagated through the area, the monsters at the battleground turned into powder form and disappeared.

None of the monsters were excluded. From levels below the transcendent-level to immortal-level, they were killed before they could defend themselves against it…

It was mysterious yet wicked. Everybody was stunned.

In the skies above the Martial Hunter College, four shadows in black robes materialized abruptly.

"Why did you bring me over here?" The Purple Crow leader asked the black-robed man.

"To look for someone," he said in his soft voice, and at the same time, his spiritual strength spread rapidly, propagating through every corner of the Martial Hunter College. "The person isn't here. Lucky guy. Let's go!"

"Can you really leave like this?" Right then, a voice was heard, and a human figure was seen slowly floating up into the sky.

"Liu Ming?!" The people could immediately recognize the plump, middle-aged man.

"Yes, it is I. Since you're visiting the Martial Hunter College, I shall play host to you. Please stay." Liu Ming was remarkably calm despite facing four imperial-levels.

"It's not easy to level up to imperial-level. Are you ready to bear the consequences of fighting us?" The soft voice could be faintly heard.

"It's just a matter of victor or loser. I can afford to lose." Liu Ming narrowed his eyes at them.

"Can you afford to lose your life?!" A black-robed man yelled and pounced towards him. The rest of them did not stop the man, but they did not help him out either.

The man's choice of weapon was a silver curved blade. As he brandished his sword, the shadows of his sword stacked mid-air, and Liu Ming was drowned in it.

Liu Ming took out his thin, black sword calmly. When he waved his sword, all the shadows in the air disintegrated.

"Level-5 sword realm?!" Witnessing that single move, a few of the black-robed men turned solemn.

Liu Ming simply laughed. He had gained new insights after challenging Lin Huang previously. He managed to break through his sword realm within four months. Also, he got to imperial-level and his abilities had grown more powerful.

When he was on immortal-level, he had already killed an imperial-level. Since he had achieved imperial-level in addition to the development in his sword realm, his abilities were undoubtedly even more intimidating.

"Back off. You can't fight him." The soft voice was heard again. After instructing his subordinate, he leaped and appeared opposite Liu Ming.

Just when he was about to advance, the black-robed leader's Emperor's Heart Ring suddenly vibrated.

"Huh?" The black-robed leader suddenly lost focus.

The black-robed man, who had represented his leader to fight Liu Ming earlier, wanted to make another assault but was stopped by his leader.

"Answer the call first. I'll wait." Liu Ming shrugged his shoulders. In fact, he wanted to take advantage of any delay. He hoped that the man would linger on the phone longer until the Union Government's backup team arrived.

"Thanks." It seemed like the black-robed leader did not mind wasting some time. He then answered the call.

He was wearing a headset and did not seem worried that the rest could listen to their conversation at all. He asked, "What happened?"

"Sir, something's wrong with the monster horde!" A hurried voice was heard.

"What's wrong?" Beneath the mask, the man frowned.

"A ring of white light spread throughout the area and soon, all the monsters turned into ashes. I've confirmed with two other people, and they saw the same thing. I can't contact the rest of the immortal-level monster leaders. If I'm guessing correctly, someone has wiped 1.5 billion monsters out in an instant. I suspect that the God helped them out!"

"All the monsters? Including the imperial- and immortal-level monsters?" The black-robed leader asked nervously.

"Other than the imperial-levels, all the immortal-level monsters and below have died. I think there're only three humans and three modified imperial-level monsters left alive."

After a moment of silence, the black-robed leader then said, "I knew it. Please buy me some time. We'll retreat as soon as possible."

"What happened?" The Purple Crow leader immediately questioned.

"Someone managed to get rid of the monster horde. Only three imperial-level monsters are alive whereas the rest have been killed." After hanging up the call, the black-robed man updated the three of them.

"How could it be?"

"That's not our concern now as it has already happened. You may leave first. After killing Liu Ming, I'll get back to you as soon as possible," the black-robed leader decided.

"But, Sir…" The black-robed man, who had attacked Liu Ming, wanted to say something but was interrupted by his leader.

"The one-way dimension of the White Capital has been sealed. One can only enter but can't get out. Zhou Xiong will catch up with us soon. Liu Ming isn't a weakling, and I'm the only one who can kill him in such a short period. Also, I have Mister's skill. If Zhou Xiong and the rest come after me, I'll be able to get rid of them. Leave now. Otherwise, you'll only be a burden to me," the black-robed leader ordered. The three of them then left.

Liu Ming was about to wield his sword to stop them, but he sensed that he was gripped with an intense sense of crisis that was fatal and intimidating. He did not dare to move although the three black-robed men were leaving.

"Both of us are also using swords. My sword realm's been stuck at Oblivion-level for a long time. I'll show you the power of the Void Breaker sword realm today," the black-robed leader cackled.

"As you wish!" As Liu Ming uttered those words, he thrust his sword relic forward.

…

At the battleground of the southern border in the White Capital.

With sufficient power, the Medium Destruction Card performed a mass culling of all immortal-level rank-9 monsters or lower. The white light that looked like blinding sunlight disappeared on its own and a notification from Xiao Hei was heard.

"You have killed more than ten million monsters. Mission completed!

"Congratulations, you have obtained ten million Honorable Kills!

"You are rewarded with Kill Card x1, Misfortune Card x1, Curse Card x1.

Just as Lin Huang was checking out his reward cards, the people around him were discussing the incident that had just happened.

"What happened? Did the God just help us out?"

The people were shocked. As they looked around, all that lay on the ground were monster carcasses. None of them had survived. Most of them suspected that it was the God who helped them out in the first place. They could not find a better explanation other than that.

"Thank God for all the blessings!" Some of them even knelt down and prayed. They felt that they were lucky they were able to overcome this.

However, some of them did not feel grateful, such as an Imperial Censor.

"F*ck! My summoning monster has been killed!"

"Who's the one who did that?! Three of my double mutated summoning monsters have died!"

"It's not easy for me to get a triple mutated summoning monster… I had to save up for several months to get the second one…"

Lin Huang had indeed neglected the Imperial Censor's summoning monster when he executed the destruction order. However, he did not do that deliberately. It was because he rarely encountered any Imperial Censor and was oblivious to his presence. It was a disaster for the Imperial Censor.

The summoning monsters of all the Imperial Censors who had joined the battle were killed. The Imperial Censors were startled as they did not expect such an accident to happen to them.

Although they managed to get rid of the danger of the monster horde, not all the battles had ended. There were still ongoing battles at few of the posts.

A tall man was floating in the air at the South Beacon, staring at the black-robed woman opposite him and the giant monster next to her.

"If I got it right, you guys started the monster attack to buy the invaders some time. Right now, many of the imperial-levels from other footholds have arrived. In addition to a few of the keepers of the city, there are at least 15 imperial-levels that are looking for your companions. It's 15 versus four. I don't think that your companions can survive.

"Of course, it's been carefully planned. You intentionally started a monster attack at the southern border. Even when the rest of the imperial-levels arrive, the people'll definitely clear the monster horde at the southern border first and won't have time to handle the four in the city. Unexpectedly, since the white glow instantly removed all the monsters, you guys have no way of retreating.

"So, are you going to continue wasting your time here or are you going to give up the companions that haven't been rescued? Since you're a woman, I'd like to remind you that if you choose the former, you'll probably die here."

"I didn't know that the master of the Shangguan family, Shangguan Feng Ao, is so good at nagging." The woman's voice came through the voice-modulating shell.

"Yo, I didn't know that you'd know me too. It seems like you've done your homework." The golden robed man chuckled, "Then, you should know that since you haven't even achieved imperial-level, you and the imperial-level monster next to you won't be able to defeat me.

"You're not only good at nagging! You're arrogant too!" The woman remarked.

"It's time to decide. Do you want to leave or fight?"Shangguan Feng Ao stopped being verbose and issued an ultimatum.

"Let's fight. Stop talking nonsense." The black-robed woman then instructed the imperial-level monster to attack Shangguan Feng Ao.

"I don't feel like fighting a woman…" Shangguang Feng Ao swung his arms, clenching his fists tightly and struck a blow.

Aside from the drama at the South Beacon post, the imperial-level from the Union Government encountered the imperial-level black-robed man and the king-level monsters at two other posts. They were engaged in a fierce fight.

…

A group of people remained still at the battleground of the post as all the monsters had turned into ashes. Soon after, there were people who recalled that the beam of white light had risen from behind the hillside. They immediately headed towards the direction where Lin Huang was hiding. They wanted to know who had actually killed more than 100,000 monsters on the battleground.

They formed a group of more than ten people and looked around.

Lin Huang had just finished checking his reward cards and realized that somebody had crossed the hill and seen him. He was definitely not going to come into contact with anyone as a woman. He immediately summoned a white Dimensional Portal and disappeared.

Only a minority of them saw Lin Huang's face whereas the rest could only see a lady in a white dress entering the white Dimensional Portal and leaving.

The white Dimensional Portal that Lin Huang had summoned instead of his Black Ink was the item he had obtained from Yu Wenbin's storage ring after he was killed. The name of the Dimensional Portal was the Golden Wheel, and it was a supreme relic. The door was golden in color, but he changed it to white so as to confuse the public.

In fact, after Yang Ling had completed his unlocking and right when Lin Huang had obtained the Golden Wheel, he had found out that there were seven Dimensional Portals of a similar style in Division 7. However, there were more than hundreds of these Dimensional Portals at the core zone. In addition to his feminine disguise, even if the Saint members saw him, nobody would tie it back to him.

Lin Huang had only used the Golden Wheel several times before. After removing the locations that Yu Wenbin had previously set, he had only fixed three locations in the Dimensional Portal, and the teacher's hostel of the Martial Hunter College was one of them.

As he strode over to the Golden Wheel, he appeared at his hostel. He was relieved after returning from the fight. Although he knew that three of the imperial-level monsters were still alive, it was somehow beyond his abilities. He also knew that the imperial-level from the White Capital would handle them.

As he was about to remove his disguise, Lin Huang suddenly heard the blast. It seemed like there was an intense fight in the sky above the Martial Hunter College.

"Why're they fighting over here?" Lin Huang found it strange as he had no idea what was happening in the city. However, from the force of the impact, he guessed that it was a fight between the imperial-levels.

"It can't be Hong Zhuang, can it?" Lin Huang thought of her in the first place as she had been hiding in the Martial Hunter College. According to what Mr. Fu had said, despite only being an immortal-level rank-9, her abilities could be compared to an imperial-level's. Both of these conditions matched the current situation of the battle.

Right when Lin Huang noticed the battle that was happening in the sky, the black-robed leader, who was fighting Liu Ming, could feel the energy pulse from Lin Huang's room. Beneath the mask, glee flashed in his eyes. "You came back at the right time!"

Forcing Liu Ming to retreat in one hit, the black-robed leader then appeared above Lin Huang's hostel. The whole building was uprooted in an instant as he smashed the building. Only the bare floor and a few furniture were left as well as Lin Huang who had not removed his disguise.

Lin Huang was dumbfounded as he stared at the bright moonlit sky. He could not react to what had just happened.

The black-robed man was stunned when he saw Lin Huang in the white dress. The first thought that flashed through his mind was: Did I destroy the wrong house?

He looked around. After confirming that he had not made a mistake, he then demanded, "Who are you? Where's Lin Huang?"

Right at that moment, Lin Huang had recovered from his thoughts. As he saw the black-robed man, he knew that he was one of those who had started the monster attack. He was not Hong Zhuang. However, after listening to his question, he instantly understood that the person was coming after him.

"Teacher Lin is living in the building next to me. I swapped rooms with him a few days ago." Lin Huang pointed at Hong Zhuang's hostel without hesitation.

The black-robed man was shocked, but he still chose to believe Lin Huang. He extended his hand and obliterated Hong Zhuang's hostel. However, nobody was there.

Just when the black-robed man wanted to ask again, a beam of white light hacked at his back. He immediately turned around and dodged the attack with his sword, then he retreated.

A few moments later, Liu Ming appeared at the position where he had been standing at just now. He lowered his head and looked at Lin Huang's hostel. He was stunned to see Lin Huang in the white dress. "Who are you? Where's Lin Huang?"

"I'm the new teacher who was recruited a few weeks ago. I've changed my room with Teacher Lin. He's living over there, but I think that he's not here today," Lin Huang told him the same thing because the black-robed man was present. He could not give up his identity. Moreover, he would never want to let Liu Ming know that he had become a woman.

"Look for a place to hide. You can't join the battle." Liu Ming did not doubt the woman's words as he knew that the college had been busy recruiting new teachers. He chose to protect her in the first place after knowing that she was one of the college teachers.

Lin Huang nodded his head and disappeared.

The black-robed man thought that he was a passerby and did not pay much attention to him. Nevertheless, he was disappointed.

Lin Huang hid behind a building while watching the battle between the two of them.

He fixed his gaze on the black-robed man, and a card appeared in his hand.

"Misfortune Card

"Function: After activating the card, misfortune will strike the target within three days.

"Remark 1: The target can be any creature.

"Remark 2: The target must be within the user's range of vision.

"Remark 3: The card is ineffective on those who have a complete Godhead.

"Remark 4: The card is ineffective on those who own a god item that is immune to misfortune.

"Remark 5: The card cannot be canceled after it has been activated. Please specify the target within half an hour. Otherwise, the card will randomly choose a target that is near the user, including the user itself.

"Remark 6: The effects of misfortune vary from person to person. The strength of the effect is random, and it will also be affected by the target's luck."

"Hehe, trying to catch me? I'll give you a Misfortune Card. It'll bring you bad luck for three days!" An evil smile plastered on his face as he crushed the Misfortune Card. "Target the black-robed man!"

Lin Huang had no idea who the black-robed leader was, but he was coming for him, and he was in rivalry with Liu Ming. Moreover, he had uprooted the building, confirming that the visit was an unfriendly one, so Lin Huang activated the Misfortune Card on him without thinking twice.

"Since you came uninvited, we shall see what the effects of the Misfortune Card are then." Lin Huang hid behind a building and peeped at the black-robed leader with half his head showing.

It was his first time using the Misfortune Card, so he had no idea what the exact effect was. As he crushed the card and aimed at his target, the card transformed into black mist and entered the black-robed leader's body. Despite his body being encompassed in a layer of black mist, he did not seem to notice. As the black mist lingered around his body, a portion of it went a meter above his head like dark clouds. It seemed like only Lin Huang could see the dark clouds while both the black-robed leader and Liu Ming who were fighting could not see a thing.

"What'll happen next?" Lin Huang was excited as he anticipated the changes. It would not take long to see the effects since the black-robed leader was jinxed with the Misfortune Card like a guinea pig. Black streaks and golden glow collided in the air while endless thunder rumbled in the sky. Although they were fighting thousands of meters above the sky, the Martial Hunter College was shaking from the impact. Energy waves swept the land like a typhoon, and many trees were uprooted. Fortunately, most of the houses in this world were well-built, or else, the houses would have been destroyed from their battle.

The black-robed leader did not notice anything wrong with his body. As he fought with Liu Ming, he had thoughts running through his mind.

"Lin Huang isn't in the Martial Hunter College today. It seems like we'll have to capture him next time. Liu Ming is much more powerful than I expected. It'll be difficult to be able to kill him in such a short period of time. Without the monster horde, the other imperial-levels should be here soon. Luo Wei and the rest should've escaped for quite a distance now. It's time for me to leave…"

As the black-robed leader was thinking of retreating, a voice came from behind. "Liu Ming, you've finally broken through to imperial-level! I always thought you'd never come this far."

The black-robed leader turned around. A silly, old man and a muscular middle-aged man appeared not far behind him.

"The Li family…" His eyes shrunk as he recognized both of them.

"Old Li, you're still alive! Many people in the White Capital thought that you're dead since you haven't been seen for so many years." Liu Ming smiled at the old man.

"Nonsense, I won't be dead before you go yourself!" The skinny, old man called Old Li replied.

"You guys have fun. I'm gonna make a move." The black-robed leader took this opportunity to run away.

"Where are you going!?"

The muscular middle-aged man next to Old Li grabbed the black-robed leader with his colossal hand.

The black-robed leader swung his sword in an attempt to scare the man away, but Liu Ming wirled his sword at the black-robed leader.

"Old Li, come join me! This guy might be the brains behind all this. Kill him together and extract his brains later!" Liu Ming shouted at Old Li.

Liu Ming had said that not because he knew who the black-robed leader was, but because of the fact that the black-robed leader wanted to take Lin Huang away. As Mr. Fu's No. 1 fan, Liu Ming took good care of Lin Huang. If Liu Ming let the black-robed leader go this time, he might come back for Lin Huang again, so he tried to kill the black-robed leader together with Old Li.

"Although it's sort of bullying, I guess there's no need to talk about morality since you brought the monster horde to threaten the foothold." Old Li then joined the battle and blocked the black-robed leader's way.

The black-robed leader did not expect the three of them to work together to fight him as imperial-level humans had their pride and would not work with anyone. He thought he could take advantage of that and escape, but he did not expect the three of them to work together to block his way.

"So, the imperial-level people in the White Capital are bullies…" The black-robed leader teased.

"Yes, we are, what can you do about it?!" Old Li jeered while he parried his sword towards the black-robed leader's face like lightning. The black-robed leader swung his sword to shove Old Li's sword away from his face. Meanwhile, Liu Ming's sword dashed towards the black-robed leader's neck silently. It was so fast that the black-robed leader did not have the time to block the attack with his hand. He then extended his left hand from his robe, golden circles forming on the side of his body. Although the golden circles cracked, it managed to block the sword attack.

Suddenly, the muscular middle-aged man dashed towards the black-robed leader's left chest with his fist. The black-robed leader managed to swing his sword in time. His sword collided with the man's fist. A resounding thud filled the air. The black-robed leader managed to defend himself from the three of them. Although Lin Huang could not catch their movements, he could tell that the black-robed leader was not on the losing end.

"The three of them can't fight him? He's so powerful!" Lin Huang was sure that the black-robed leader must be either one of the top leaders of the Purple Crow or the Scarborough Workshop, or else, it was impossible for him to defend against three imperial-levels at once. If it were Hong Zhuang, she would have been dead by now.

"He's using a sword as well…" Lin Huang thought of an idea while there was a card in his hand.

"Theft Card.

"Function: Once the card is activated, you can steal one skill from your target and make it yours.

"Remark 1: The target can be any creature.

"Remark 2: The target must be within the user's field of vision.

"Remark 3: The card's effect is useless on complete Godhead creatures.

"Remark 4: Can only be used once on each creature.

"Remark 5: Please make sure you have a vacant Monster Skill slot if you're stealing a Monster Skill, or else, the action will fail, and the card will be consumed."

Lin Huang smirked as he crushed the card after reading the detailed description.

"Target the black-robed leader's skill!"

"The card has been activated. Target is locked. Stealing skill…"

"Congratulations! You've obtained a new Skill Card - Almighty Surgical Knife."

"Skill Card.

"Skill Name: Almighty Surgical Knife.

"Rarity: Mythical-level (Pseudo).

"Type of Skill: Sword (Special).

"Status: Available.

"Remarks: This skill is a non-battle special sword skill that's mainly used for medical surgeries. It can always be used for modification of creatures.

"Card Remarks: Comparable with god skill!

"A pseudo mythical-level Skill Card!"

Lin Huang's eyes lit up as he read the card's detailed description. Although it was not a combat sword skill, it gave him a medical ability with special creature modification skills. Without hesitation, he crushed the card immediately and added the Skill Card into his slot. Just when the card disappeared from his hand, Xiao Hei's notification came through.

"New skill Almighty Surgical Knife has been detected. The skill can be used fix the system function. Would you like to authorize the skill to read the system core data?"

"This skill can fix the system?" It was the first time Lin Huang heard about a skill that could affect Xiao Hei.

"Yes, there's no way for the system to retrieve functions out of thin air. The system will usually have the possibility of obtaining new skills during the upgrade of authorization or under special situations such as absorbing the core source of other Goldfingers as well as what's happening right now which is fixing the lack of function of the system in terms of special creature skills."

"Will there be a new function activation after the system has been fixed?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"Yes, I've been studying the modified creatures that you killed earlier for a while, but it didn't manage to activate any new functions as there's some key data missing. The skill that you've just obtained is a remedy to the missing data coincidentally. Of course, without the key data, the missing part will come out on its own. However, that would take years."

"Alright, authorizing skill to the system." Lin Huang did not hesitate after hearing Xiao Hei's explanation.

It had been a while since Xiao Hei last activated any new functions. Although Lin Huang had leveled up to holy fire-level two months ago, all Xiao Hei had gotten was an upgrade in its authorization, but not an activation of new functions.

"Permission has been authorized. Reading Almighty Surgical Knife's core data… Reading is complete!"

Xiao Hei became silent after reading the data, Lin Huang did not urge any further, but he waited patiently as he watched the fight of the four imperial-levels on top. Around three to four minutes later, Xiao Hei's notification came.

"Congratulations, new function Monster Card Integration has been activated!"

"Monster Card Integration?!" Lin Huang could not wait to know what exactly this new function could do.

"There are two ways of Monster Card Integration: the temporary integration and the permanent integration. The temporary integration is the integration of two or more monsters of the same rarity and combat level. After the integration's completed, there's a possibility for a temporary upgrade to a monster of higher rarity and combat level to fight for you

"The effect of integration depends on the monster's bloodline. The higher the similarity of the bloodline, the better the impact of the integration.

"The integration period depends on the monsters' harmony with each other. The more harmonious they are, the longer the integration time.

"The more monsters involved in the integration, the more powerful the integrated monster will be theoretically. However, if there's a monster of higher bloodline repellent in the integration, the higher the likelihood of the integration failing."

"The Monster Cards involved in the integration will be sealed in different ways until after the integration period is over, and they can't be summoned. The sealing time ranges from one to ten days, or even longer. The higher the effectiveness of the integration, the longer the sealing time. If the integration fails, the Monster Cards involved won't be sealed."

…

"Permanent integration will consume ten monsters of the same rarity. It's not limited to the monster type and combat level. The Monster Cards involved in the integration will be gone forever while the newly integrated monster will become a new living creature.

"The more similarities in the bloodline, the higher the success rate of the integration.

"The higher the rarity, the lower the success rate. The integration success probability is as below:

Normal to Rare: Success rate of 50%.

Rare to Epic: Success rate of 10%.

Epic to Legendary: Success rate of 1%.

"Legendary to Mythical will consume the Monster Integration Card and the success rate will be random."

…

As Lin Huang read Xiao Hei's new function, Lin Huang recalled that he had many normal white Monster Cards as well as a couple of rare Monster Cards with him. After leveling up to holy fire-level, those Monster Cards were useless to him as the normal and rare monster cards could not be upgraded to the same holy fire-level. In reality, there were hardly any monsters that never went through mutation or single mutation that could be improved to holy fire-level due to some peculiar reason. However, the standard and rare Monster Cards that Lin Huang possessed had stopped upgrading at gold-level rank-3 under Xiao Hei's system.

Xiao Hei had explained that phenomenon before.

"The possibility for normal and rare monsters to level up to holy fire-level is low. It's much smaller than the standards the system has set. For convenient management, the system has gotten rid of the way of upgrading whereby the success rate is meager.

"However, if you encounter such an unmutated or single mutated transcendent-level monsters, the probability of obtaining a complete card is the same with other monsters after the monster's been killed. However, the monster will only stay on the level that it was in. The most a holy fire-level monster can level up to would be gold flame-level. An immortal-level can only level up to immortal-level rank-9, and it can't go any further."

Compared to permanent integration, Lin Huang was more interested in the effects of the monster integration as it would be perfect for battles. If he could not manage to fight his enemy, he could get a powerful integrated monster to fight for him.

All of a sudden, his thoughts that were flying everywhere were interrupted by a loud bang. He looked up into the sky and was shocked by the scene before his eyes. A gigantic golden palace had appeared on top of the black-robed leader's head. The golden palace door was opened, and a headless body walked out with a massive halberd in its hand.

"A dead demigod's body?" Liu Ming and the rest were shocked to see the headless body. The dead body swung its halberd, rending a hole in the sky like a black scar. There was a bright red glow on top of the gigantic halberd. Liu Ming and the rest did not dare to avoid it. Instead, they defended it because if they were to prevent the attack, half of the White Capital might be destroyed. The red glow catapulted the three of them tens of kilometers away.

The black-robed leader scoffed and did not want to proceed with the fight. He stood up, kept his Life Palace and planned to leave. Suddenly, a golden card appeared in Lin Huang's hand.

Lin Huang crushed the card and instructed Xiao Hei, "Activate the Plunder Card and target the black-robed man!"

"Plunder Card

"Function: When the card has been activated, you'll be able to steal three items from the target randomly.

"Remark 1: The target can be on any creature.

"Remark 2: The target has to be within your field of vision.

"Remark 3: Items that don't belong to the target can't be stolen.

"Remark 4: The card can be used on the same target three times. Each interval has to be more than 24 hours apart.

"Remark 5: The card can't be used on god items and selected items with self-consciousness.

"Remark 6: You can't target creatures with a complete Godhead.

…

Lin Huang did not think twice as he activated the Plunder Card and targeted the black-robed leader just as he saw the person was planning to leave.

"The card has been activated. Target has been locked. Plundering in progress…"

A white glow shot out of the sky as Xiao Hei spoke. The black-robed leader was the focus of the light, including the golden palace and the headless dead body on top of his head. He attempted to run, but he could not move at all. It seemed like his movements had been paused.

Next, the headless dead body with a gigantic halberd in its hand shrunk into a red glow and shot into the white light in the sky. At the same time, the sword in the black-robed leader's hand, as well as his black armor, were taken away by force. They transformed into black and green beams of light and shot into the white glow too. As soon as the three glows disappeared into the cloud, the white glow shot from the sky disappeared. Xiao Hei's notification came into Lin Huang's ears.

"Congratulations, you have obtained Demigod Dead Body, Air Slicer, and Black Feathered Armor from the target!"

The black-robed leader regained his ability to move after the white glow disappeared. He was in shock.

"What just happened? Was that God?"

Although he could not move, he could see everything that was happening to him. His demigod Dead Body Puppet and two ancient relics, the Air Slicer, and the Black Feathered Armor, had been taken away by the white glow.

Without the black armor, his white coat was revealed. Fortunately, he had his mask on, so his face remained hidden. Without his most potent weapons, he did not even plan to retrieve the items that had been taken away from him. He was still stunned. He recalled his Life Palace without thinking twice and escaped far away…

"Hehe, this fella is such a scaredy-cat!" Lin Huang chuckled secretly as he saw the black-robed leader make his escape.

Meanwhile, Liu Ming and the rest looked clumsy as they were chased away by the headless dead body on top of the Martial Hunter College. Although they saw the white glow shoot into the sky from tens of kilometers away, they had no idea what just happened. By the time they got back, the black-robed leader had escaped, and it was too late to chase after him.

"Liu Ming, you saw that, didn't you?" Old Li queried in all seriousness.

"That's the demigod Dead Body Puppet from that battle." Liu Ming nodded as he frowned.

"He could drive the monster horde away, and he has the Dead Body Puppet. Could that fella be the remnant of a protoss?" Old Li asked.

"I don't think so. Mr. Fu told me a little about the protoss before. The monster horde that a protoss can drive would be way bigger than this. If it had really been done by a protoss, let alone the White Capital, the entire Division 7 would be destroyed overnight. As for the Dead Body Puppet, he probably got it from the battle ruins." Liu Ming shook his head.

"But I'll let Mr. Fu know what's happened and see if he knows anything about that," Liu Ming added.

"Let's inform Mr. Fu after the issue has been settled. Should we go after the fella?" The muscular middle-aged man replied.

"It's useless to chase after him. He has that Dead Body Puppet with him. We can't fight him. Let's search around for his partners. It'll be good if we could catch any one of them." Liu Ming shook his head.

The three of them spread out after that. Only when the noise had faded away did Lin Huang reveal himself at the dorm. He shook his head as he looked at the dorm that was now destroyed, then he summoned Kylie a while later. Kylie was shocked to see him in the white dress. The usually serious Kylie could not hide her smile this time.

"Bring me into the mini world." Lin Huang did not notice Kylie's smile as he was in deep thought.

Kylie waved her hand, and a black wave appeared. The both of them walked into it. Entering Kylie's mini world, Lin Huang just realized that he was still in his transformed body. He then deactivated the disguise and transformed back to himself. As soon as he transformed back, he reached his hand into the bottom of his storage space in search of his package.

"Ahh… There'd be trouble if this didn't come back to me," he sighed in relief.

After confirming there were no side effects from activating the Disguise Card, Lin Huang then looked at the items that he had stolen earlier. The three items were now in card form. He took out the cards to read the descriptions.

"Item Card: Air Slicer

"Type: Sword

"Item Level: Ancient relic

"Item Description: This is a battle sword that can be used as a surgical knife or a food cutter.

"Special Effect: Space attributes.

"Additional Attribute: Slicing

"Card Remarks: Good stuff

…

"Item Card: Black Feathered Armor

"Type: Defense

"Item Level: Ancient relic

"Item Description: This is just armor. What else do you expect it to be?

"Special Effect: Increase moving speed

"Additional Attribute: Wings

"Card Remarks: Good stuff

…

"Item Card: Dead Body Puppet

"Type: Puppetry

"Item Level: Demigod relic

"Item Description: This is a puppet made of a demigod's dead body. It requires a massive amount of energy for activation.

"Special Effect: None

"Additional Attribute: None

"Card Remarks: It's great stuff for your current situation. The only disadvantage is that it's burning money!

"A demigod relic and two ancient relics?!" Lin Huang did not expect to obtain something out of his imagination for the first time by using the Plunder Card. Although he had never seen such a relic, he knew it was an item of demigod-level. Meanwhile, the ancient relics were special items that would only fall out of rare king-level monsters of imperial-levels. They were much more powerful than supreme relics!

Naturally, Lin Huang knew very well that it was not by luck that he had managed to get the three relics, but also because the Misfortune Card had been activated on the black-robed leader. His extremely bad luck became Lin Huang's fortune in turn.

"Hmm, it seems like I must activate the Misfortune Card before using the Plunder Card," Lin Huang concluded as he looked gleefully at the three item cards in his hand.

The day was breaking when Lin Huang got out of Kylie's mini world. He had no idea if the chaos was over, but at least there were no loud explosions anymore, which meant that the areas nearby were safe. He was upset as he looked at the houses and he missed the flat land. Nevertheless, he felt much better as he thought of the three items that he had obtained from the black-robed leader just by activating the Plunder Card.

"Never mind then. I've earned something out of my expectations anyway."

It was 5.30 a.m. Lin Huang then walked out of the college. There was a store selling sumptuous soup and buns at the east gate of the college. It would usually be crowded when it was past seven in the morning, and they would be sold out before 8 a.m. He had only tried it a few times as the store was closed during the school holidays.

The store was managed by a middle-aged couple, and it was said that their child used to study at the Martial Hunter College. They had opened the store since the first year their child enrolled in the college, and they had been there for seven years. Their child became a hunter after graduation. Although they did not need the money anymore, they insisted on carrying on with their business. Many students loved their food which brought the couple immense pleasure.

The owners had just arrived not long ago when Lin Huang got to the store. They were busy making the meat filling. All of the buns were made fresh every morning and were limited as they had restricted manpower. They would leave after all of the buns were sold out at 8 a.m. every day. After that, they would rest, which meant that their working hours added up to less than three hours daily. The only downside to that was having to wake up early. However, that was nothing to them as they had gotten used to it, so the work was pretty easy for them.

The couple opened the store for lunch and dinner before their child became a hunter for extra income. They worked for more than 15 hours each day. However, they were much more relaxed as they were only open for breakfast now. Seeing that the couple was busy, Lin Huang did not disturb them and got himself a seat in the store.

"You're so early!" The lady boss was friendly. She did not know Lin Huang as he did not frequently visit, so she thought he was a student at the Martial Hunter College. He merely smiled and nodded.

"I didn't manage to get your soup and buns on normal days. Since I can't sleep today, I decided to come early, but I found out that you guys don't open this early."

"We usually get out of the house past 5 a.m. and get here around 5.20 a.m." The lady boss chatted with Lin Huang as she was preparing her store. Despite her chirpy talk, there was no delay in what she was doing with her hands.

"But you're too early. I've just turned on the oven. It'll take at least 20 minutes."

"It's okay. I can wait." Lin Huang then started reading the news on the Heart Network since he had nothing to do.

There was nothing about the monster horde attack in the White Capital on the Heart Network. It was evident that they did not want to panic the people. The White Capital was the No. 1 foothold in Division 7. If people knew that the White Capital had come under siege by a monster horde, that would mean that none of the other footholds in Division 7 were safe.

"Nothing on the Heart Network… Then, what does the Union Government have to say?" Just when Lin Huang was thinking to himself, the topic named "White Capital Thunder Phenomenon" popped up.

Lin Huang tapped on the topic and skimmed it roughly. The article was a fabricated story saying that the explosion in the White Capital in the middle of the night was called the Thunder Phenomenon, which had happened in a couple of footholds hundreds of years ago. It went on further to say that the phenomenon usually occurred in the wild zones and that it was a normal climate phenomenon causing strong gales and shaking on the earth.

"What a great made-up story! I'd definitely believe it if I had no idea what happened," Lin Huang laughed at the story. He then browsed for the Thunder Phenomenon on the Heart Network and found out that it had happened in a couple of footholds before. He thought about it and realized that the Union Government had covered up the truth of battles in the past by calling it a Thunder Phenomenon.

"People would take it seriously after being lied to for a couple of times…" Lin Huang smiled awkwardly.

However, it was not entirely a bad thing that the people did not know the truth. Just like the couple who was selling their buns; they had peace in their calm and carried on with their daily lives as they had no idea what had happened. Lin Huang knew that the regular people must be just like the couple. Although they did not know the truth, they were at peace with the lie.

Despite not knowing what happened on the Heart Network, many were talking about the incident on the Hunter Forum. However, most of them were discussing the monster horde in the southern border instead of the Thunder Phenomenon in the White Capital.

Some of the people who were stationed at the posts on the mountain described the white glow that was shot into the sky to be as bright as the sun when Lin Huang had used the Destruction Card. Some of them even posted photos of the lady of Lin Huang transformed into. They said the lady in white must be the person who had settled the monster horde since she appeared where the white glow was. However, there were differing opinions about the lady in the white dress.

Some of them thought she was the one who settled the monster horde as she was the only one there when the rest arrived. Besides, she left as soon as she was discovered. If she were the first one who arrived at the place, it was unnecessary for her to avoid the people who came after her. Some of them figured that the lady in white must have noticed the odd occurrence in the area as she was coincidentally on the way to the post. She might have left since the monster horde was over, and there was nothing worth staying for anymore. Moreover, it was normal for a lady to leave immediately as men were surrounding her and she chose not to talk to strangers.

The disputes of opinions caused chaos on the forum, and it did not stop since 3 a.m. It became even more tumultuous when the hunters from other footholds learned about the White Capital being attacked by the monster horde.

"Fortunately, I used the Disguise Card." Lin Huang was glad that he had not revealed his real face or else the entire world would be posting his photo everywhere.

"Your food's here." Just as he was reading the debate on the forum in excitement, the lady boss placed a tray of buns on the table.

"Thanks, lady boss." He then switched off the page and started gorging on the buns. He had the habit of giving all his attention to his food when he was eating. There were 12 buns on the tray, and it was enough for an average meal. It was past six when Lin Huang was done eating. By then, the store had become crowded. He bumped into two of his students when he was going out of the store to pay.

"Sir Lin, that's early!" The two female students greeted him.

"Morning." Lin Huang nodded with a smile. The two students asked him a couple of questions on Sword Dao, and he answered them patiently.

"Alright, you guys will need to queue if you don't go in now."

The duo then recalled why they were there and got themselves a table after bidding farewell to Lin Huang. He then left. As his dorm was destroyed, the only place he could go was the 24-hour library. His Emperor's Heart Ring started ringing when he was at the library around 8 a.m. It was Liu Ming who was calling.

Lin Huang turned on the soundproof barrier in the library cubicle and picked up Liu Ming's call.

Liu Ming looked distressed in the video call, but he was relieved as soon as he saw Lin Huang.

"Brother, where are you?"

"I'm in the library. Are you back in college?" Lin Huang replied and asked a question that he already knew the answer to.

"Yes, I just got back in the middle of the night. I wanted to spend more time on my trip, but I got a notification from the Union Government, so I got back right away."

Are you alright?" He asked Lin Huang in concern.

"I'm alright, but I don't know why the dorm has been destroyed." Lin Huang looked helpless, pretending that he had no idea what had happened.

"Well, I do know something about that…" Liu Ming rubbed his nose as he had witnessed how the dorm was destroyed.

"Are you free now? Drop by my office. There's something that I need to tell you, but we can't discuss that here."

"Sure." Lin Huang nodded and hung up. He flew from the library towards the office building.

Two minutes later, he appeared at the dean's office. As soon as he entered the office, Liu Ming took out a white sphere and pressed the button in the middle. A wave rippled and soon, the entire room was covered in a transparent bubble.

"Take a seat." Liu Ming then got up and gestured to Lin Huang to sit on the couch as he sat across him.

"What're you going to tell me that you don't want people to know?" Lin Huang smiled.

"You knew what happened during the middle of the night, don't you?" Liu Ming asked.

"I know about the monster horde in the southern border. I joined the battle as well," Lin Huang affirmed. "What's wrong? How's that related to my dorm being destroyed?"

"Actually, not only was there a monster horde last night. The city was attacked. Your dorm was destroyed by one of the attackers who wanted to capture you alive," Liu Ming explained.

"Capture me alive? Why? Who was it?" Lin Huang fired the two questions that he really wanted to know.

"I've no idea why he wanted to capture you alive, but I was fighting him. That's how I know he was coming for you. I have my own assumptions about who the person was, but I can't be so sure. The only thing that I'm sure of is that he's a chief-level from one of the top underground organizations."

"Do you mean he invaded the White Capital just for me?" Lin Huang frowned.

"No, it was just a convenience to capture you. Their main purpose was to get the Saint's first and second elders' dead bodies, which they managed to get." Liu Ming did not hide the truth.

"How about the monster horde? Was it orchestrated by the same group of people?" Lin Huang asked again.

"The monster horde was meant to stop the imperial-levels from entering the southern border while buying time for their partners in the city to escape," Liu Ming explained.

After Liu Ming's explanation, Lin Huang finally understood what had really happened. He had been speculating why would the imperial-levels want to get into the city, why would they drive the monster horde in only to reveal their identity… Now, everything made sense.

"So, did we get any of the attackers?" Lin Huang frowned.

"We killed one of them and captured another while the rest escaped. The one who's captured has had her identity confirmed. She's Hong Zhuang from the Purple Crow. She just became a core member of the Purple Crow. Although she's only on immortal-level rank-9, she's a dangerous lady…"

"Hong Zhuang has been captured..." Lin Huang had mixed feelings when he heard that. Honestly, he did not like the Purple Crow. However, after spending time together, he realized that Hong Zhuang was not as evil as he had imagined, but he could not eliminate the chances that she was remarkably skilled at acting.

"That lady called Hong Zhuang is just an immortal-level rank-9, but she fought with Shangguan Feng Ao using just a relic. If Shangguan Feng Ao did not have a demigod remnant, she might have escaped from the southern border…" Liu Ming kept rambling on about Hong Zhuang and did not notice Lin Huang's expression.

"How about the one that was killed? Who was that?" Lin Huang proceeded to ask. He wanted to confirm if the person was from the Scarborough Workshop.

"The one who was killed isn't from the Purple Crow. They're still identifying the person," Liu Ming said and recalled why he had asked Lin Huang there.

"Brother, do you know a lady who wears a white dress?"

"A lady in a white dress? What does she look like?" In his head, Lin Huang started making up stories about the lady that he had disguised himself as the night before.

"This lady." Liu Ming produced a photo. It was a front-facing photo of the lady that was taken near the post on the mountain.

"Isn't that the lady that everyone is talking about being a god on the Hunter Forum?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrow as he looked at Liu Ming.

"You don't know her?" Liu Ming asked.

"Of course not. Why would you ask that?" Lin Huang declined. He had thought about his reply if anyone asked him that question when he was in Kylie's mini world.

"But I saw her in your dorm last night. I asked her why she was in your dorm. She said she's a new teacher and that she swapped dorm rooms with you," Liu Ming explained.

"She must've lied to you. I've never swapped dorm rooms with anyone. I've been staying in the same dorm ever since the day I got the dorm room key." Lin Huang shook his head and smiled amusedly.

"I didn't overthink about it that time, but I only realized something was wrong later. I got Old Wang to send me the new teachers' details, but there's no such lady after flipping through the documents many times." Liu Ming smiled back awkwardly and nodded.

"But why would she appear in your dorm if you don't know her?" Liu Ming looked at Lin Huang doubtfully.

"How would I know?" Lin Huang shrugged.

Liu Ming fell into deep thought as he did not get anything from Lin Huang.

"Brother Liu, was the lady really the one who cleared the monster horde?" Lin Huang asked softly. He wanted to know what the Union Government thought about the lady that he had disguised as from Liu Ming.

"It hasn't been confirmed yet. The Union Government is still investigating it." Liu Ming shook his head.

"To prevent you from getting involved in this, I didn't tell the Union Government investigator about the lady claiming to know you. Don't tell anyone anything about this," Liu Ming added.

"I understand." Lin Huang nodded graciously as he knew Liu Ming had done that to protect him.

"Also, I heard from Vice President Zhang that you were close to Hong Zhuang when she was lurking in the Martial Hunter College. Since she's been captured, the Union Government might look for you. You can just tell them the truth about being forced to join the Purple Crow earlier. Mr. Fu will handle the rest."

"Alright, sure." Lin Huang frowned. He did not expect the news about Hong Zhuang knowing him to spread out so soon.

It was 1 December. Lin Huang initially had class as it was a Friday, but he did not need to teach anymore.

His class had been temporarily suspended.

The other teachers who were temporarily suspended, including Qin Tianxing, were those who had spoken to Hong Zhuang before. Even Vice President Wang Zijun, who had interviewed her, was suspended temporarily.

Hong Zhuang's identity was sensitive. The Union Government found out that she was not only the core member of the Division 7 Purple Crow but also one of the candidates of the Crow Spirit. Many students and teachers had seen Lin Huang and Qin Tianxing frequently eating with Hong Zhuang at the canteen. Furthermore, because Hong Zhuang got into the college by disguising as Lin Huang's cousin, Lin Huang was now a suspicious person. They were now being watched by the Union Government personnel and would be interrogated almost every day. They were brought into interrogation whenever there was a new clue, and some questions were repeatedly asked.

A familiar knocking came from Lin Huang's dorm room door that morning. Liu Ming had assigned him a new dorm as his previous one could not be accommodated anymore. Lin Huang opened the door helplessly. There were a man and a lady at the door. The man was tall and skinny. He was almost 1.9 meters tall and wore a gray trench coat. The lady was lanky as well at nearly 1.8 meters with her heels. With her sky-high hair bun, she was no shorter than the man. She wore a beige trench coat, and although her style was different from the one that the man wore, they looked like a couple.

The lady smiled as she greeted, "I'm sorry to disturb you again."

"Please come in." Lin Huang nodded and invited the both of them to go into the living room. He then poured some tea for the duo. They were the investigators who were responsible for his case these few days. The man remained expressionless. He looked pointedly at Lin Huang after taking a sip of tea.

"You know the drill."

Lin Huang nodded forlornly as it was useless for him to be pissed. The man was just doing his job.

"Name?"

"Lin Huang."

"Gender?"

"Male."

"Age?"

"16."

…

"When and where was the first time you met Hong Zhuang?"

"September last year at the Fog Canyon."

"Why were you at the Fog Canyon?"

"To kill the Vile Marionette so that I could level up to bronze-level."

"You're saying that you only took a year to level up from bronze-level to white flame-level now?"

"Yes." Lin Huang had to admit the fact that he had a terrifying speed of leveling up since the Union Government found out anyway, or else there might be consequences.

"Who were you with at that time?"

"Yin Hangyi, but he's passed away."

"Who else was with Hong Zhuang?"

"Xu Qiang, her partner at that time."

"Describe Xu Qiang's appearance."

"He's very tall. I think he's 2.2 or 2.3 meters. He's very muscular, much bigger than an ordinary person. He had a buzz cut and looked like he's ready to kill. There's nothing significant on his face. If not for his hulking size, he looks just like everybody else whereby it's easy to overlook him in a crowd," Lin Huang described as he really did not have much impression of Xu Qiang. He only remembered he was big and had a buzz cut.

"So, Hong Zhuang and Xu Qiang from the Purple Crow didn't kill you when you first saw them?"

"No, Hong Zhuang asked me to join the Purple Crow as she knew that I'm an Imperial Censor."

"And you agreed?"

"Xu Qiang gave me two options. One was to join the Purple Crow while another was to die. To keep my life, I chose the former as I knew I couldn't escape from the two transcendent-levels that time," Lin Huang explained.

"So, you joined the Purple Crow after that?"

"I was brought to the Purple Crow training camp, but I escaped after spending almost a month there."

"How did you manage to escape?"

"I used a relic that Mr. Fu gave me to fake my death," Lin Huang lied as he knew that it was impossible for the investigator to confirm that with Mr. Fu. Even if somebody did look for Mr. Fu to substantiate that, he knew that Mr. Fu would side him.

Although some people knew that Mr. Fu had only taken Lin Huang as his apprentice after he left the Purple Crow, nobody knew when was the first time they met. It was not the first time Mr. Fu gave something expensive to juniors that he liked.

"Nobody from the Purple Crow came after you since you betrayed them?"

"Please allow me to correct you right there. I didn't betray them as I've never joined the Purple Crow. The official steps to join the Purple Crow will be a graduation ceremony from the training camp and you'll be brainwashed before being considered a reserve member of the Purple Crow. The people in the training camp are only considered captives." Lin Huang frowned as he corrected the investigator as it was not his first time rectifying that fact.

"The Purple Crow sent someone to come after me, but I killed them. Mr. Fu knew about this later on and spoke to the Purple Crow leader. Nobody came after me since then."

"Why did Hong Zhuang find you after she came into the White Capital? Also, why didn't you expose her identity and even allowed her to bring a threat to the Martial Hunter College?"

"I've no idea why Hong Zhuang came here to look for me." Lin Huang stopped and fidgeted.

"I know her abilities roughly, that's why I didn't expose her identity. The dean wasn't around, so there was nobody who could fight her. She told me that the students and teachers of the college would suffer if I were to tell anybody about her. According to the Purple Crow's action model, I know she has her partner with her. Even if Union Government were to send someone to fight her, her partner, who was hiding somewhere, would attack the college. Moreover, she guaranteed that the Purple Crow would not harm the college and asked me not to intervene in her mission. Since there was no harm to us, I chose to keep mum about it."

"Why was Qin Tianxing so close to Hong Zhuang?"

"Hong Zhuang pretended to be my cousin when she joined the college as a teacher. Qin Tianxing thought she really was my cousin, that's why he was extra friendly with her since he was told that we were close." Lin Huang did not tell the investigator that Qin Tianxing might have been interested in Hong Zhuang so that he would not get into trouble.

After the uncomfortable interrogation ended, the man in the trench coat stood up and stared at Lin Huang in all seriousness as the lady next to him was done documenting.

"Lin Huang, Hong Zhuang wants to see you."

"What?!" Lin Huang thought that was ridiculous.

"She hasn't wanted to say a word the past few days since she was captured. There's a special layer of energy guard on her consciousness that makes her mind unreadable. The people in Building 33 tried many ways, but they couldn't get anything out of her. The only thing she said was that she wants to see you!" The man in trench coat glared deadly at Lin Huang, hoping to see a flaw in his expression.

"See me? Why?" Lin Huang had thoughts racing through his mind, but the most significant possibility he could think of was that she might want to use Mr. Fu to get out of her situation.

"She didn't say why. She said she'd only talk if we let her see you."

"What if I don't want to?" Lin Huang frowned.

"You must! The only way to prove your innocence is to meet her face-to-face," the man in the trench coat said solemnly.

Lin Huang frowned as he had no idea what Hong Zhuang wanted to do, but he did not eliminate the possibility that she might harm him. However, it was clear that he had to see her even if he was unwilling to as the request came from the Union Government. It was useless for him to reject the man in the trench coat now as the Union Government would definitely send someone else later. He might even be brought to see Hong Zhuang by force.

"Alright then, I'll see her." Lin Huang agreed to see Hong Zhuang after some careful consideration.

Building 33 was the Union Government's underground department. It was meant for shady businesses. Lin Huang learned about it when he was in the Purple Crow's training camp. However, he only knew that the organization was located under the White Capital, but he had no inkling where the exact point was. He did not expect Hong Zhuang to be locked up in Building 33. However, the Union Government did not arrange their meet-up at Building 33. Instead, they were meeting at the Union Government's headquarters.

It was past nine in the morning when Lin Huang followed the two investigators to the headquarters. Standing at the door, Lin Huang could not help himself but to look at the massive building once again. The building was like a giant pillar standing tall all the way to the sky. It seemed unreal as the top part was shrouded in clouds. He had heard from Mr. Fu earlier that the building was actually a demigod relic.

Apparently, the Union Government was worried that accidents might happen, which was why the meet-up was arranged at the headquarters. Lin Huang had expected that to happen. He knew there would be more than one imperial-level human watching them. Although he had his mind flooded with thoughts about how things might go wrong such as Hong Zhuang harming him or the Union Government threatening him, he decided to walk into the building anyway.

As he entered the hall, he realized that the building was not as luxurious as he expected to be. There were not much extravagant decorations. It was similar to a typical office building. The only expensive decor might be the golden sword in the middle of the hall. The sword was more than three meters long. Although the aura was hidden, Lin Huang figured that it was a demigod relic instead of an ancient relic.

He only managed to peep at the sword before he followed the two investigators to the 101st floor by taking the elevator. They were silent in the elevator, and it took them a while to arrive at the floor. The duo brought Lin Huang into one of the rooms. The room was small. It was only 40 square meters large. There was nothing on the three white-washed walls. Dark glass replaced the top half of the fourth wall. Although he could not see the other side of the glass, he knew that there were people watching him from the other side.

There was a small metal table and two chairs located across each other in the middle of the room. It was simplicity at its best. Besides, the two chairs were placed in front of the glass wall where no secret gestures could be done as they would be scrutinized. Lin Huang looked at the door and sat on the seat that was closer to the door. As he took his seat, the door shut immediately. He did not turn around. Instead, he sank further into the chair, leaning on his back and closed his eyes. He looked like he was resting, but in reality, he was coming up with answers to possible questions that might arise later.

Around five to six minutes later, the door opened again. A somber man in a military uniform brought in Hong Zhuang who was dressed in white and her hands were locked in black chains. As Hong Zhuang sat down, the man placed his palm on the table. A black chain came out of the middle of the table and linked together with the chain on Hong Zhuang's hands. Lin Huang frowned as he watched that.

The man looked at Lin Huang expressionlessly, then walked out of the room and closed the door.

"I didn't expect you to agree to see me." Hong Zhuang smiled as sat across the table.

"I didn't want to come, but I know I can't decline this." Lin Huang shrugged his shoulders.

"So, tell me, what's the reason you wanted me to come all the way here to see you?"

"Nothing, I'm just bored and would love to talk to someone. You know that you're the only person that I know in the White Capital."

"Even if there are still people from the Purple Crow in the city, they wouldn't have the audacity to come to the Union Government to talk to me," Hong Zhuang added.

"I see that you're still joking around. That shows the Union Government has been kind to you while you're here." Lin Huang raised an eyebrow.

"You'd know what they'd really do to me if I take off my clothes. But they've done everything they can. It's not that easy to get me to talk." Hong Zhuang glared at the black glass with an insulting tone.

There were a bunch of men behind the glass just like Lin Huang and Hong Zhuang expected. Even the director of Building 33, Zhou Xiong, was one of them. He glared murderously when he heard Hong Zhuang's insult.

"Don't take off your clothes. There are people watching. I'd feel shameful even if you don't." Lin Huang smiled politely as he declined Hong Zhuang's suggestion.

"Let's talk."

"You idiot!"

"We shall see who is the idiot when there's nobody around!" Lin Huang said, but he soon recalled how powerful Hong Zhuang was. He might be the idiot even when nobody was around. Immediately, he felt dumb for saying that.

Hong Zhuang smiled and said nothing.

"What do you want to talk about?" Lin Huang felt awkward as she was staring at him, so he changed the subject.

"Don't you have many questions? You can ask now, and I'll see if I want to answer them. But of course, not all answers are the truth." Hong Zhuang leered slyly at him.

Lin Huang was happy to hear the first half of what she said, but as soon as she finished her sentence, he thought there might be questions that he would rather not ask.

"Alright, let me think about it…"

"The first question. This has been bothering me for a long time. Why did you insist on me joining the Purple Crow when you first met me? Was it because of my summoning monsters?"

"These questions…" Hong Zhuang looked like she was recalling her memories.

"I was born into a wealthy family more than ten years ago, but they weren't royalty. They're an ordinary, rich family in a C-grade foothold. I have a brother who's two years younger than I am. He was cute when he was a kid. He was just like you. He had dark eyes too. He looked adorable even when he was mad, so I loved tricking him. That happy life lasted until I was 16…

"It was winter. I remember it was snowing that day. A Virtual Eye opened near our foothold. It was a disaster-grade monster horde, and the monsters flooded the entire foothold. None of the people from the Union Organizations managed to handle the monsters and they fled. There were even transcendent-level humans who could fly among them. They didn't even try to fight and they left the hundreds of thousands of people behind.

"I was screaming for help under the collapsed house. None of the passersby helped me. All they cared about was to run for their lives. No matter the everyday people or the 'brave' hunters, the 'fearless' adventurers, I watched them being attacked and eaten by monsters, so I decided to fake my death. The monsters seemed to be more interested in moving objects. Thus I managed to escape death.

"There seemed to be nobody alive in the entire foothold after the monster horde was over. I couldn't move as I was under the destroyed house. I was famished. I pulled a male dead body next to me and sucked his blood from his neck that had been bitten by a monster and ate his flesh. To fight the cold, I tore off his clothes and covered myself with them. That went on for three days.

"On the third morning, a man in a black trench coat found me. He told me that I had potential judging from my survival skill and asked if I would like to join the organization that he was in. I told him that I'd rather die if it were one of the Union Organizations. He then smiled and asked me if I heard of a creature called the Purple Crow. I shook my head. He then explained to me that the Purple Crow was a weak bird monster in the abyss. Although it was weak, it was fearless and courageous. They would attack the prey's eyes when they hunted in groups, then drill into the prey's eyeball and eat the brains, killing it. Monsters of all sizes couldn't scare them. He asked me if I would like to join the Purple Crow. I agreed to without thinking twice.

"My spine was broken. I was paralyzed from the bottom down when he saved me from the destroyed house. I wanted to get him to save my parents and brother, but he told me that there was nobody else alive in the entire foothold. I was the only human that was still alive that he found. I didn't believe him, so he moved the debris, and I saw my parents' cold dead bodies, but I couldn't find my brother.

"I followed him back to the Purple Crow, fixed my spine, and joined the training camp, then became a reserve member. I then became an official member, an elite member, and now a core member. Throughout the years, I didn't stop looking for my brother. Perhaps he's dead, but I can't move on. Until I met you last year, I felt that I see so much of him in you, so I used the excuse to get you into the Purple Crow. However, I didn't expect you to fake your death and escape…"

Lin Huang became silent after hearing Hong Zhuang's story. He always thought that she had treated him differently, now he finally understood why.

"How was it? Isn't my story good? Doesn't it sound real?" Hong Zhuang grinned and asked.

"You made that up?" Lin Huang was shocked.

"Of course, I made that up," Hong Zhuang chuckled.

"The real reason why I wanted you to join the Purple Crow was simple. The speed of your leveling up is faster than anybody else's. The summoning monsters that you own seem to be more powerful than the those owned by other Imperial Censors. I heard that you're hiding a big secret. I want to know what that is."

"Erm…" Lin Huang's heart skipped a beat. He did not expect her to have such sharp instincts.

"Too bad there's no way for you to find out what that secret is anymore," Lin Huang thought to himself.

"What else do you want to ask? Ask now. You won't get the chance to after today." Hong Zhuang smiled at him.

"Alright then, the second question…"

"The disaster-grade monster horde ten years ago…"

Lin Huang made some searched about the monster horde once he got back to his dorm. Hong Zhuang had given him many answers to his questions during the Union Government's interrogation. Although she answered his questions in detail, it was up to him to find out if she had told the truth. What was most impressive to Lin Huang was the first story that she had told him. It was her own story, and it did not sound like it had been fabricated as some of the details were personal. She would not have been able to make it up if she did not experience that. He could not imagine her despair when she was stuck under the destroyed house and had to eat a dead body.

The last thing Hong Zhuang said before leaving the room was in a carefree tone. "It's impossible for me to leave Building 33 alive. You're the only person that I know in the White Capital. Please pick my dead body up when I die."

Lin Huang's heart plummeted when he heard that. As he returned to the dorm, he could not help but feel curious. He wanted to find out if what Hong Zhuang said was real.

"It was winter 10 to 20 years ago. There was a Virtual Eye that opened near a C-grade foothold with a disaster-grade monster horde," Lin Huang concluded and started searching on the Heart Network. He found his answer a few minutes later.

"Two disaster-grade monster hordes happened in the entire Division 7 during that time. The one that matched what Hong Zhuang said with the opening of Virtual Eye and that particular season was foothold No. 7C125 in Hongling City.

"It was destroyed in the monster horde 13 years ago. In less than half a day, all of the 800,000 population was dead. Nobody survived." The disaster that happened in Hongling City was exactly the same as what Hong Zhuang had described. There were even photos of the disaster taken by the media. It was an obliterated city covered in snow. All of the buildings were damaged. Although the snow had covered the gruesome blood on the ground, there were dead bodies strewn everywhere. Within hours, the lively foothold was destroyed by the catastrophic attack.

The photos made Lin Huang recall the time when he had just traveled to this world last year. That day was the first time he realized how cruel this world was after reading about the aftermath of the monster horde. It seemed like his determination to get more powerful grew from that day on.

"I'm still not powerful enough…" Looking at the disastrous photo, he recalled being forced to see Hong Zhuang today. He was feeling more and more insecure.

"Even a holy fire-level, an immortal-level, and an imperial-level aren't powerful enough. It seems like one will only be invincible when he becomes a god in this world!"

It was noon when Lin Huang was done reading about Hongling City. Just when he was getting ready to head out for lunch, his Emperor's Heart Ring started buzzing. It was Liu Ming who was calling.

"Have you gotten back from the Union Government?" Liu Ming asked directly after he picked up.

"I'm at the college now. I'm just heading out for lunch."

"The case is being investigated. I heard Hong Zhuang has finally spoken. The Union Government investigators and monitoring personnel have left." Liu Ming gave him a piece of good news.

"Go for lunch first. Come to No. 101 battle training ground after that."

"Sure, I'll be there soon," Lin Huang agreed without thinking twice. Liu Ming was an expert in Sword Dao, and he had broken through imperial-level now. He should have broken through Sword Dao as well or else he would not have come back to the White Capital. To him, Liu Ming was the best person to train with.

After lunch, Lin Huang headed straight to the battle training ground. When he got there, the door was wide open. Upon entering, Liu Ming was standing in the middle of the ground waiting for him. He locked the door and dashed towards Liu Ming.

"Bro, aren't we training today?" Lin Huang noticed that Liu Ming did not have his sword with him when he walked closer.

Liu Ming sighed and took something out of his storage space, then passed it to Lin Huang.

"What's this?" Lin Huang thought it was odd that Liu Ming was passing him a Kraft paper envelope, but he took it anyway.

"Hong Zhuang left this letter in my office drawer. I've been hesitating to give it to you the past few days. I even consulted Mr. Fu, and he suggested letting you decide about this. I've thought about it. Hong Zhuang wanted me to pass this to you. It's inappropriate for me to keep it with me, and you have the right to know." Liu Ming explained where the envelope had come from, but he did not say what was in it.

"Take a look yourself."

Lin Huang opened the envelope and took out a folded paper. It seemed to be a letter.

"Hong Zhuang left me a letter?"

Lin Huang frowned as he opened unfolded the paper. There was nothing much on the two pages, but it took him almost ten minutes to read it carefully. Although the content was limited, it reminded Lin Huang how powerful Hong Zhuang was.

She entered the Martial Hunter College, left this letter in Liu Ming's office, created the monster horde and even staged her capture. Everything had been part of her plan whereby she took every detail into accurate consideration. She came up with this plan to escape from the Purple Crow, and she managed to achieve her goal. The reason why she planned all this was because she did not want to be a Crow Spirit.

From her letter, Lin Huang realized how powerful a Crow Spirit was in the Purple Crow. The Crow Spirit was not a formal designation in the Purple Crow but was a lessor of the world. As soon as one became a Crow Spirit, her self-consciousness would be taken away by the Crow God's will and her body would become the Crow God's temporary refuge. It was the spirit transfer that was always mentioned in novels.

However, because the Crow Spirit was too powerful, it would be damaging for its body to be trapped in another body, so the body could only be used for 10 to 20 years. When the time was up, the vessel needed to be replaced. The Purple Crow would select a new Crow Spirit now and then. Initially, Hong Zhuang was proud that she was being chosen as the Crow Spirit was an honor. However, the Crow Leader, who brought her into the organization, told her about the truth that nobody knew besides her and the leader himself. That prompted her to plan the mission.

She wrote this at the end of the letter.

"The Purple Crow has treated me well all these years, but I can't accept myself being a zombie and somebody's puppet after I die. My soul won't find peace even after I'm dead. To get away from the Purple Crow, I had to plan this so that I could be a free soul after I die.

"I have transferred all the valuables from my Emperor's Heart Ring to a fake Emperor's Heart Ring belonging to a 'Zhuang Hong'. They're yours now. I only have one request. Please burn my body after I'm dead and scatter my ashes into the Eastern Ocean. It was the place where my brother wanted to go when he was younger. If he's not in this world anymore, his soul must be wandering over there. I hope I could wander with him.

"Lastly, my real name is Zhuang Yuer and my brother's name was Zhuang Hong. I turned his name backward and used it as mine when I got into the Purple Crow. He was probably killed during that monster horde. He was probably eaten by the monsters since his body could not be found. For the past 13 years, I've been looking around for him, but all I got was disappointment… But if he's still alive and if you ever see him, please tell him that I never gave up looking for him…"

Lin Huang completely changed his perception towards Hong Zhuang after reading the letter that she had written to him. He always thought that she was sly, unpredictable, and a devil who would do anything to get what she wanted. She was like a beautiful snake demon with a dangerous aura on her.

However, the letter gave Lin Huang an utterly different perception about Hong Zhuang. At least, she sounded like an ordinary lady made of blood and flesh in the letter. She loved her brother. She had never given up looking for Zhuang Hong for the past 13 years. She even reflected her love that she had for her brother on Lin Huang.

He whooshed out a long breath after reading the letter and looked at the envelope that was slightly bulging. There was an Emperor's Heart Ring in there. He immediately recognized that it was the ring that Hong Zhuang was wearing when she was in the Martial Hunter College.

"She's quite a pitiful lady actually. It's just that she has bad luck..." Liu Ming said as he noticed Lin Huang was silent after reading the letter.

"Yeah..." Lin Huang thought what happened to her was a pity. If someone were to save her from her situation 13 years ago, her life might be completely different. Perhaps she might be one of the Union Government or Hunter Association members. It was unfortunate that fate had sent her into the endless abyss.

Lin Huang felt lucky that he had met Li Lang, Yi Yeyu, and the rest who were kind to him when he arrived in this world.

"I didn't want to give you the letter as I thought Hong Zhuang is such a terrifying woman. Her planning is flawless. She even predicted that you'd be investigated, so she slipped the letter in my drawer. Not only did she know nobody would check my office, she even considered my relationship with Mr. Fu. In reality, not many people knew what Mr. Fu said to me."

"Initially, I thought she might use this letter to threaten you. Besides, I thought knowing this might not be useful to you. Instead, it might even bring trouble to you, so I had been hesitating if I should give you the letter," Liu Ming explained why he had kept the letter for so many days before giving it to Lin Huang.

"Although this letter won't bring any benefits to me, now I know what exactly happened and some of the answers to the questions that I didn't understand before. Thank you, brother." Lin Huang nodded to show that he understood.

"Whether what the letter says is the truth or not, you must know this. As long as Hong Zhuang is still alive, she still belongs to the Purple Crow." Liu Ming looked at Lin Huang in all seriousness.

"I know."

Lin Huang knew what Liu Ming said was to remind him that Hong Zhuang still belonged to the rival. No matter what her past was, she was still with the Purple Crow and one of the top management. The Purple Crow, who was infamous for their cruel mindset, contradicted the Union Government's belief system. No matter what one's stand was on this, the rivalry was still there.

"I'll try my best to complete her death wish."

Liu Ming was relieved to hear what Lin Huang said.

…

In the trial room in Building 33, Hong Zhuang was sitting across a middle-aged man. The man was asking all sorts of questions while she was answering all of them slowly with a smile pasted on her face. There were two persons behind the two-way mirror outside the room. One of them was a hunk peering at Hong Zhuang through the mirror with his arms crossed while another had gauze bandages on his neck.

"So, she's speaking now?" The man took a lollipop from his pocket and put it into his mouth.

"Yeah," Zhou Xiong replied as his eyes were locked on Hong Zhuang.

"But she didn't say a word when we did everything to her earlier. Now, she's so obedient after seeing that kid Lin Huang?" Wu Sheng rubbed his neck on top of the gauze.

"Why are you trying to say?" Zhou Xiong turned around and looked at Wu Sheng.

"I think there's something wrong with that Lin Huang. He might have a higher position in the Purple Crow since he managed to get this woman to talk." Wu Sheng took out the lollipop from his mouth and looked at Zhou Xiong gravely.

"Do you think the Purple Crow would get a white flame-level to be a Crow Leader?" Zhou Xiong looked at Wu Sheng with his eyebrow raised.

"Of course not a Crow Leader as the leader's abilities would have to be convincing to the people. But it might be a Crow Spirit. After all, nobody has ever seen any of the Crow Spirits for the past 800 years. Nobody knows about the criteria of the Crow Spirit candidate." Wu Sheng put back the lollipop into his mouth after speaking.

Zhou Xiong's pupils shrunk as he tore his gaze away from Wu Sheng.

"Lin Huang is Mr. Fu's apprentice. We can't do anything to him as long as we don't have any proof."

"Mr. Fu? No matter how glorious he used to be, he's just an old man now, and he won't live for long," Wu Sheng said without bothering Zhou Xiong.

"I've no idea what he has on his mind. He's already dying, but now he's got himself an apprentice. He has no idea how many people are waiting to cut open his and Lin Huang's heads. As soon as he's dead, there'll be people from countless organizations wanting to capture him. There might even be people from the core zone."

"But as long as he's still alive, nobody dares to do anything to Lin Huang," Zhou Xiong concluded expressionlessly.

"That's true…" Wu Sheng could not deny the truth. He went into silence as his fingers played with the lollipop stick.

"Oh yeah, how's your wound now?" Zhou Xiong turned around and looked at his neck which was wrapped in gauze.

"No biggie, but I can't fight for now, or else my wound might rupture open," Wu Sheng said helplessly.

"There's something special about the person's sword whereby I can't heal the wound with my Life Power. I can only wait for it to heal slowly like an ordinary person. I guess it'll take one to two months to heal and there'll be an ugly scar. I would've been dead if you didn't stem the bleeding on the gash the other day. You would be looking at a different thing now, for instance, standing at my grave with a wreath."

"Take a good rest. I'm here to look after the building. Let's wait for your wound to heal." Zhou Xiong patted Wu Sheng's shoulder.

"I shall wait for another two days. I want to hear from the woman to find out who that black-robed man was the other day. I'll look for him and make him pay for what he's done to me!" Wu Sheng glared savagely. Zhou Xiong frowned but did not say anything.

"Oh yeah, what did the management say about this woman?" Wu Sheng asked.

"We can do whatever we want to her after the interrogation, but the management said her dead body must be passed to Lin Huang," Zhou Xiong answered honestly.

"Mr. Fu has spoken?" Wu Sheng looked annoyed.

"Yes."

"Let me handle this." Wu Sheng crushed the lollipop in his mouth.

"But your health condition…" Zhou Xiong was concerned.

"I don't have to fight anyway. Don't worry. I'll handle it." Wu Sheng took the lollipop stick out of his mouth and crushed the remaining candy in his mouth.

"Alright then." Zhou Xiong nodded.

In a dark secret room in Building 33.

Hong Zhuang lay naked on an operating table naked while her neck and limbs were bound. There was a young man in the room. Although he was wearing a green coat and the mask covered half this face, all of the staff of the Building 33 recognized that he was the deputy director, Wu Sheng.

"Such beautiful skin… Too bad it's useless now." Wu Sheng put on a pair of gloves as he caressed her from her thigh up. "But I could dissect you."

"Do you think you can scare me like that?" Hong Zhuang scowled at him with an insulting expression.

"I'm not scaring you. I just want to see what's your response when your body parts are being dismembered one by one while you're awake." Wu Sheng slid the surgery knife across her body softly from her belly to her busty breasts and stopped at her chin.

However, Hong Zhuang did not seem to feel the knife that glided across her body as she kept her head where it was. There was blood dripping out of her chin, but she remained unmoving as she looked at Wu Sheng with a mocking smile.

"I shall see how long you'll be able to hold that smile of yours!" Wu Sheng got pissed from seeing her expression.

The knife retreated from her chin, and he looked around her body. Soon, he targeted her hands. Her hands were soft and flawless, and her fingers were long like a pianist's. Her red nail polish gave her pair of hands an extra boost of glamor.

"What a beautiful pair of hands, just like an art piece. We shall begin our game with your hands then. Would you like to choose to start from your right or your left hand?" Wu Sheng gestured like a gentleman.

Hong Zhuang looked at him calmly like he was an idiot, which made Wu Sheng even madder. However, he suppressed his anger and proceeded.

"Since you want to keep quiet, I shall choose for you then. You're a right-hander, so as a humanitarian gesture, I shall choose your left hand instead. Of course, if you're not behaving, your right hand will be up next in the game."

Hong Zhuang remained silent with her expression unchanged.

"Among the five fingers on your left hand, which is your favorite?" Wu Sheng asked. He looked like he was talking to himself as she did not give him any response.

"Since you're still shy, I'll choose for you then. I suppose your pinkie is pretty useless for anything besides digging your nose. I'll get rid of this useless finger then…"

He looked at her, but her expression remained the same. Wu Sheng then pressed her left pinkie and sliced it off easily with a trickle of strength. As her combat level was sealed entirely, her flesh was just slightly stronger than an ordinary person's. No matter how strong, without any Life Power, her body was like a piece of tofu when a supreme relic was used against her.

Blood spurted out of her broken finger and flowed slowly. Throughout the entire process, not even did Hong Zhuang not make any sound, she did not even frown. Her mocking expression was maintained as she looked at Wu Sheng dangle her severed finger in front of her. He got even angrier now as he did not see any response from Hong Zhuang that he expected.

"Since you've no feelings about losing one finger, let's cut another two of them then…" Wu Sheng then looked at Hong Zhuang's left hand again.

"Your ring finger is useless besides wearing a wedding ring. Since you won't be getting married, I shall cut it off then. Let's cut your middle finger too since it's pretty useless besides flipping people off. What do you think?"

"It's decided then!" Seeing Hong Zhuang did not respond, Wu Sheng said to himself.

He cut both of her ring finger and middle finger together, then flourished the two fingers in front of her. However, Hong Zhuang did not move a muscle. Her expression was as if she thought Wu Sheng was an idiot.

Wu Sheng was getting more and more pissed at Hong Zhuang's attitude.

"It seems like you don't care about all of your fingers." Wu Sheng glowered at Hong Zhuang as he cut off the remaining two fingers on her left hand while he locked eyes with her.

Hong Zhuang had the same expression on her face as if she had lost all her pain senses.

"I want to see how far you can take this!" Wu Sheng then proceeded to cut off her wrist, hand, and her entire arm. Besides yawning, Hong Zhuang did not give any other response. Wu Sheng was furious. After cutting her left hand off, he then cut off her right hand, then both of her legs. She was now left with her torso and head. Hong Zhuang did not even frown throughout the entire process.

"Just like that? It seems like you didn't learn any skills from the man in glasses." Hong Zhuang mocked Wu Sheng as she observed his temper that was going to explode.

Wu Sheng's heart skipped a beat. He looked more and more upset.

"Tsk tsk. It's impressive that you managed to get into Building 33 and even become deputy director. You must've used some special technique to hide your memory. The man in glasses must have done all he can…" It was clear that Hong Zhuang knew that Wu Sheng was a spy.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Wu Sheng denied as his identity was exposed. Although there was no surveillance in the secret room and Hong Zhuang's Emperor's Heart Ring had been confiscated, he was careful about what he said.

"I'm good friends with the man in glasses. We've worked together many times. I recognize his work. I figured out that you're one of his Loyal Dogs among the other two when you cut my first finger." Hong Zhuang was getting more and more sarcastic.

"Do you think I'd let you go just because you're spouting nonsense?" Wu Sheng was panicking secretly as he did not expect to be exposed but he insisted on denying.

"I'm not talking nonsense. If I'm not mistaken, your memory shield has been switched on. From what I know, there's no way for this shield to be activated for the second time. As long as the Union Government investigates your memory, your identity as a spy will be exposed. How long do you think you can hide this for?" Hong Zhuang remained sarcastic.

"Don't you understand until now? From the day the man in glasses put you in Building 33, you've become a sacrifice is disposable anytime."

"Nonsense!" Wu Sheng's guard collapsed as Hong Zhuang taunted him.

"It's not nonsense. You know it yourself," Hong Zhuang smirked.

"I know a little about how the man in glasses trains his dogs. Ten years to train 10,000 orphans, ten years to kill each other, and the one who's left will live. The person will be brainwashed to think that being a Loyal Dog is an honor and he'll be the dog to the man in glasses willingly. You'd even die for him. But have you ever thought why he left you instead of his other two dogs in this place where you have nowhere to run?"

"It's because I'm more capable than them and I can complete the mission for my master!" Wu Sheng panicked and admitted his identity.

"Wrong! You have the answer yourself. It's just that you don't want to admit it." Hong Zhuang shook her head while smiling.

Wu Sheng did not know where to look. His clothes were soaking wet in his sweat.

"Do you want me to say it?" Hong Zhuang smiled even wider.

"No… No…"

"The man in glasses wants you to die here. Among the three dogs that he has, his least favorite is you!" Hong Zhuang revealed the truth cruelly.

"It's not like that… Nonsense!" Wu Sheng broke down onto the ground and started crying.

Hong Zhuang started speaking again after a while, "Instead of being eliminated by the man in glasses, why not get rid of him instead and find a new master?"

Wu Sheng was stunned when he heard that.

"I think you have great potential. As long as you're willing to serve me, I'll make you my only Loyal Dog…"

The tearful Wu Sheng was shocked as he looked at Hong Zhuang. She was smirking and looked at him, full of superiority.

"So, what should you call me now, my Loyal Dog?"

"Ma-Master!

Three days had passed since Lin Huang spoke to Hong Zhuang at the Union Government. The investigators had left the Martial Hunter College during the past few days and classes were back to normal. Lin Huang was back to his routine of going to the library, the training battleground, and his dorm.

Although he empathized with Hong Zhuang, he decided not to get involved in the case. He was not close to her after all. Although they knew each other, they were not on familiar terms. Lin Huang knew very well from the training camp that none of the people from the Purple Crow were honorable. Hong Zhuang chose her own path. As an adult, she should learn to accept the consequences of her decision, even if the result was death.

It was past nine in the morning. Lin Huang stuck to his routine of reading at the library. Suddenly, his Emperor's Heart Ring vibrated. It was a message.

"Hong Zhuang has been executed. Please bring her body back from the Union Government as soon as possible." Seeing the message, he did not hesitate. He closed the search page in the library and left. He had promised to retrieve Hong Zhuang's body, and he did not want any delay.

As he stepped out of the library door, he summoned his dimensional relic and stepped into it. He then appeared at the entrance of the Union Government. He asked for the morgue's location and headed to the first floor. The morgue was located at the west wing on the first floor. Lin Huang planned to ask the forensic officer for guidance, but seeing that the door was opened, he walked straight into the morgue.

"Hi, I received a message earlier. I'm here to pick up the body," Lin Huang spoke to the man who was standing next to a body.

The man with a lollipop in his mouth turned around and said, "Register at the forensic desk next door. They'll bring you back here after confirming your registration."

"Thanks." Lin Huang looked at him and walked to the forensic desk next door after thanking him.

After spending a couple of minutes registering himself, a lady in her 20's brought him back to the morgue to pick up the body.

"Hi, Deputy Director Wu." The lady blushed when she saw Wu Sheng.

"Hmm." Wu Sheng proceeded to check the body in front of him as he responded casually. He did not seem to bother about Lin Huang and the lady walking in.

"Please give me a minute. I'll look for it. Hong Zhuang's body was sent here this morning." A semi-transparent list appeared in front of the lady. Soon, she found the cabinet where Hong Zhuang was in and took her body out.

Lin Huang walked up to see a frozen corpse. It was Hong Zhuang. Due to the freezing temperatures, she looked pale. Her red lips were purple now. She was wearing the white clothes that she had on a few days ago. Her body was in pristine condition.

As he was checking the body out, Wu Sheng glanced at him secretly from the back.

"I don't see any wounds on her. How did you guys execute her?" Lin Huang asked after confirming that the body was still in perfect condition.

"The Union Government usually uses euthanasia for most prisoners nowadays. The same applied to Hong Zhuang," the forensic lady explained.

"Euthanasia… I hope she didn't have to suffer before she died." Lin Huang nodded and looked at Hong Zhuang's peaceful expression which seemed like she was asleep. Perhaps death was a relief for her.

"So, do I just bring her away with me?" Lin Huang asked.

"Yes, you may since you've already registered. Just make sure that it's the right body." The forensic lady smiled.

"Alright then. I'm bringing her with me." Lin Huang then put Hong Zhuang's body into his storage space.

"Thanks!" He thanked the forensic lady. He even nodded at the man with the lollipop as he was the one who had asked him to register.

As he left the Union Government, Lin Huang stepped into his dimensional relic and arrived at a B-grade foothold near the Eastern Ocean. He did not want to delay anything as Hong Zhuang's wish was to scatter her ashes there. Since it was still early, he planned to burn her body somewhere with nobody around.

He then summoned Thunder and in less than half an hour. He arrived at the Eastern Ocean beach. After confirming that there was no one around, he took Hong Zhuang's body out. After all, it was inappropriate to burn a body in front of strangers. It would be horrible if kids witnessed it. Luckily, there was nobody around where he could do that openly.

He took some time to figure out the fire source as he took the body out. It would take forever to burn her body with regular fire. The first thing that popped into his mind was Charcoal as its Dragon Flame would be the quickest solution, but it would be too much to burn a body alone.

"Never mind then. I shall use Witch Fire." Lin Huang performed a hand seal. The Witch Fire was one of the techniques from Witchcraft. It was a fire attribute attack, but it was much more challenging to fight compared to a typical fire attack. It was hard to put the fire out as soon as one was attacked.

It only took Lin Huang a couple of seconds to perform the hand seal. A cloud of blue flame covered Hong Zhuang's body. The frost on her body disappeared as the fire burned and her clothes were burnt to ashes. Lin Huang did not realize anything was wrong under the burning flame. Suddenly, Hong Zhuang's eyelids moved under the blue flame. Soon, she opened her eyes.

"Xiao Linzi, are you planning to kill me?" In less than a minute since Lin Huang had summoned the Witch Fire, her voice was heard. The body that was covered in flames stood up slowly. Before a shocked Lin Huang could put the fire out, the blue flames disappeared after an energy wave rippled. Lin Huang looked at the naked Hong Zhuang in apparent shock. He was dumbfounded that she was still alive. On the other hand, he was stunned by her voluptuous body.

"My little brother, do you miss me?" Hong Zhuang walked towards Lin Huang. He looked away and tossed a set of clothes that he had found from his storage space to her.

"Erm… Please dress first."

Hong Zhuang smirked as she put on the clothes that Lin Huang passed to her.

"I'm dressed now. You don't have to look away anymore."

Lin Huang had given her a set of male clothes that he had never worn before and kept in his storage space after purchasing them. Hong Zhuang looked attractive even in male clothes.

"You faked your death?" That was the first question Lin Huang asked.

"I learned that from you." Hong Zhuang grinned at him.

"But how come I could keep you in my storage space even though you faked your death?" Lin Huang thought it was odd.

"Because my way of faking death is more advanced than yours. So advanced that the storage space even mistook me as a dead body." Hong Zhuang smirked as she explained.

"So, you're using me to escape the White Capital?" Lin Huang squinted.

"Not really. I really thought I would die this time. It's just that I was lucky enough to meet a friend at the Union Government…" Hong Zhuang stopped there and did not proceed to explain further.

"Alright then. Since you managed to escape, please behave yourself." Lin Huang was skeptical.

"I'm giving you back your stuff. Please don't come to me anymore." He flicked her Emperor's Heart Ring to her and walked into his dimensional relic.

"I'll remember owing you my life. I'll return you the favor when I get the chance." Hong Zhuang smiled as she waved goodbye at Lin Huang.

"It seems like I have to make another fake identity and stay low-key for some time…" She glanced at the storage space ring in her hand as she watched Lin Huang left with his dimensional relic.

Mu Yuntian had been in horrible luck ever since he returned from the White Capital. A flower pot fell on his head when he was walking on the street, a brick flew at him as he was walking at a construction site, and he encountered various birds when he was flying and covered in feathers as well as bird shit…

Those were just the minor ones. What annoyed him was that everything he used in the laboratory exploded. He even made a huge gash on his hand when he was dissecting a body. Fed up, he went back to his office to deal with his documents, but a fire broke out of nowhere. Many of his documents were destroyed, and even his Emperor's Heart Ring was not working.

"Can you please focus on your work?! Look at you these past few days. You've made the laboratory explode 11 times. Are you messing around?!" The white-bearded Si Nan glared at Mu Tianyun in the office. "Are you unhappy with me and actually intend to mess with me?!"

"No… No." Mu Yuntian held his head down. He had no idea why he was so unlucky these few days. No matter what he did, something terrible would happen!

"You even lost the demigod relic a few days ago. Tell me what else you're going to do now!" Si Nan proceeded to scold him. In his gold-framed glasses, Mu Yuntian hung his head as he thought to himself, "Am I cursed? If this persists, I'll need to go to a shaman…"

Life Power was a magical thing. Some of the Life Power would turn into negative Life Power when one died. The negative Life Power carried a unique curse or other adverse effects with it. Most of the people could not see the curse. Only a shaman could see and remove it.

Mu Yuntian started wondering if he was cursed since things had been going wrong for him for the past two days.

"Oh yeah, did you get anything from the two dead bodies these few days?" Si Nan just remembered after scolding Mu Yuntian for ten whole minutes.

"I've tried to break through their brains, but that didn't work. The team's thinking of other ways to decode it." Mu Yuntian did not dare to tell him that the laboratory had caught fire two days ago and almost destroyed the two bodies.

"Alright then, since we have the bodies with us, we don't have to rush to decode their brains. Take it slow, do it properly, and don't damage the bodies," Si Nan said, frowning.

"What noise is that?"

"What noise?" Mu Yuntian was stunned as he heard the banging as well. He had a bad feeling. Alarm broke in the entire base.

"There's a meteor shower around the ocean near our base. There's a giant meteorite that just landed on Skull Island above us. A third of the island is destroyed!" A panicked announcement came from the monitoring room.

"Skull Island has been destroyed?!"

Mu Yuntian and Si Nan were shocked. They then summoned a dimensional relic and stepped into it. They appeared above Skull Island to see that the northern side of the island was destroyed. The building under the island was revealed, upsetting the duo. Since the building was out on display, that meant the Union Government and the other organizations might find out about the underground base that they had built for tens of years.

Meteorites were still raining down. Some of them were headed towards Skull Island while some crashed into the ocean, creating vigorous waves.

"Let me handle this. Bring the two bodies away. Don't let anything happen to the two bodies!" Si Nan flew up and destroyed the meteorites with black streaks that shot out of his two fingers. Without hesitation, Mu Yuntian summoned his dimensional relic and stepped into it.

Just when he returned to the base under the sea, he smelled something burning.

"What's happening?" He grabbed an alarmed staff.

"I think the quake just now broke a couple of lamps and a fire spread. Many of the Surveillance Snails went into their shells, so most of the cameras have been blacked out. Until now, we're unable to find the source of the fire."

"Useless!" Mu Yuntian snapped the staff's neck and rushed towards the laboratory where the bodies were.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw smoke coming out of the laboratory. As he attempted to unlock the door with his fingertips, the door only responded with a notification that the door was not working.

"F*ck!"

Mu Yuntian did not expect this to happen. He punched the door twice, but nothing happened. Only then did he recall that the door was made of a unique metal to prevent theft. It was as powerful as a supreme relic which could not be opened with violence.

"Sir, the laboratory door isn't working. It's not opening." Mu Yuntian had to ask Si Nan for help.

"If the door isn't working, can't you just break the wall? Did you lose your brain?!" Si Nan shouted.

Mu Yuntian was stunned when he realized that the door was made of metal but not the wall. As he hung up, he punched a hole in the wall and smoke billowed out of it.

He could not care about the smoke anymore, and he crawled out of the wall. The laboratory was in a mess. The bodies were covered in flames. Mu Yuntian's heart dropped when he saw that scene. He put the fire out immediately and put them into his storage space without checking. He took out the bodies again to monitor their condition only after he had left the burning laboratory.

The bodies were burnt, and the automatic fire extinguisher in the laboratory seemed to be spoiled way before the fire happened which caused the bodies to be burnt. Mu Yuntian did not know what to do as he looked at the corpse heads that were completely burnt. Suddenly, the base was trembling again. Before Mu Yuntian could react, the ceiling on top of him collapsed. He managed to dodge the falling ceiling, but the two heads were totally crushed…

Mu Yuntian was in shock. There was still hope to save the burned brains earlier, but now nothing could be done as the heads were utterly crushed.

"I've handled the meteorites, but the base is destroyed now." A voice came behind Mu Yuntian.

The voice was getting closer.

"Where are the bodies?"

Before Mu Yuntian could respond, Si Nan spotted the two burnt bodies.

"Please don't tell me these two bodies are…" Si Nan's heart almost stopped beating.

"I'm sorry, Sir…" Mu Yuntian did not expect this to happen and he wanted to cry.

Si Nan was upset beyond words.

As Hong Zhuang's case was entirely over, Lin Huang's routine was back to normal for the next few days. He would go to the library and the battle training ground every day and return to his dorm. He would go to class when it was time. It was as if nothing had happened. He did not say anything about Hong Zhuang faking her death. The Union Government had announced to the public that she sentenced to death, and they did not mention that Lin Huang had taken her body away.

This time, the Union Government announced the truth on the forum of the Union Organizations. The attack was made by the Purple Crow together with an underground organization called the Leib Lab with the intention to take the bodies of the first and second elders of the Saint. The monster horde outside the White Capital was orchestrated by them as well. The objective of the monster horde was to get the imperial-level humans there so that the attackers in the city could escape.

Many were unfamiliar with the Leib Lab, so the Union Government shed more light on that as well. The organization had been the top underground organization 200 years ago, also known as the Scarborough Workshop. It was a hot topic among the Union Organizations members as the two top underground organizations worked together against the Union Government.

The Union Government announced war on all the Union Organizations forums but since the forums were only opened to the cultivators, ordinary people did not know about that. All of them thought that the monster horde had been caused by an opening of a Virtual Eye while the explosion in the White Capital was a weather phenomenon that the news had explained earlier.

Lin Huang noticed that 'theuglytruth' had posted the truth on the website again, but nobody believed in him. None of the people thought his prediction would come true as they had not seen his previous speculation about the fight between the two underground organizations and the Union Government. As Lin Huang had been upset the past few days, he did not follow the updates anymore.

However, Lin Huang had become popular in the Martial Hunter College after the news about him joining the Purple Crow training camp was exposed. Many thought that he was a Purple Crow spy at the beginning of the investigation. However, the investigation results from the Union Government proved that he was innocent.

Many of the teachers and students looked up to him now as he had managed to escape the Purple Crow under Hong Zhuang's watch, especially some of the teachers who knew that Hong Zhuang's ability was comparable with an imperial-level's. Even if she was not as powerful as she was a year ago, she should have been one of the top-ranked among the immortal-levels. Meanwhile, Lin Huang was not even on holy fire-level a year ago. However, some of them suspected the accuracy of the investigation and still insisted that Lin Huang was a Purple Crow spy. Lin Huang decided to ignore those people.

Without Hong Zhuang and the Purple Crow's threat, Lin Huang was in contact with Lin Xin again. It was the first weekend of December. Lin Huang had brought her to hunt for a bronze-level Life Seed, so Lin Xin was now on bronze-level. He then dropped by a severe danger zone to get Lancelot to kill a double mutated Sword Dao monster. He obtained a new sword servant called the Swordfiend Soldier.

What he did not expect was that the new sword servant would trigger Lancelot's triple mutation's hidden conditions. He had completed his triple mutation, and he was now the legendary-level Ruthless Sword Dominator. He did not undergo any significant changes. His black armor was now a dark maroon, and there was a claret red crown on his head. The black mist surrounding him was also now dark red. Lancelot's upgrade was a complete surprise. However, he did not obtain any special bloodlines. Lin Huang then used the last Reborn Card on Lancelot.

In Kylie's mini world, Lancelot transformed into a dark red cocoon under a golden glow. He broke out of the cocoon the next day. He had not changed much, but the mist surrounding him had disappeared. His aura was even more terrifying now. Even Lin Huang, who was on the same combat level, was slightly threatened by his aura.

"Which bloodline did you get?" Lin Huang asked.

"God's blood. The Ruthless God, low-level," Lancelot replied.

Lin Huang was stunned as he did not expect to obtain a second god's blood! He then activated his last Blood Thickening Card on Lancelot. After getting out of the cocoon for less than a minute, Lancelot transformed into a maroon cocoon once again…

Soon, a couple of hours had passed. Lancelot got out of the cocoon, and his bloodline was now at mid-level. Lin Huang then looked at the card's description.

"Monster Card: Lancelot

"Rarity: Legendary

"Monster Name: Ruthless Sword Dominator

"Type of Monster: God's Blood (Mid-Level)

"Nickname: Ruthless

"Combat Level: Gold Flame-Level

"Major: Sword Dao

"Major Skills: Sword Master, Dark Sword Spirit, Sword Dao secret skill, Saber Dao Territory, Holy Power.

"Minor Skills: Sword Steps, Dark Mirror, Enhanced Regeneration

"Summon Authority: Activated

"Card Remarks: Intensive training is recommended!"

There were significant changes to the card, and there were now many skills in the slots. There were more than 30 skills in the Sword Dao secret skill alone, and there were more than ten of them under minor skills.

"Freaking amazing!" That was Lin Huang's comment on the new Lancelot.

"The Dark Mirror seems to be an upgraded Dark Shield…" Lin Huang looked at the changes on his exclusive card and noticed that the Dark Shield was replaced by a Dark Mirror.

He took a close look at the card and realized that nothing much had changed to his defensive abilities whereby his limit was still ten times of his most powerful attack. However, there was a new attack bounce function whereby he could make the attacker's assault rebound back at 100% within his defense limits.

"This skill is ridiculous!" He was stunned as he studied the upgraded skill.

He thought of what he needed to do after his initial excitement. He could finally extract Lancelot's skill now. He still had two skill slots that were reserved for Lancelot. Xiao Hei's notification came soon after he crushed the Skill Extraction Card.

"Extracting skill… Excluding Dark Mirror that has been extracted… Selecting a skill randomly… Random selection is completed!

"Congratulations, you have obtained Sword Dao Territory!

"The system has detected that this skill can be integrated with Medium Territory to create a new secret skill. Would you like to activate a Skill Integration Card for the integration?"

"Yes!" Lin Huang decided without thinking twice.

"Skill Integration Card has been consumed. Monster Skill Sword Dao Territory and secret skill Medium Territory have been consumed. Coming up with a new Secret Skill card…

"Congratulations, you have obtained a new Secret Skill Card: Exclusive Territory.

"Exclusive Territory: Make a 1,000-meter radius into your own exclusive territory. Within the area, your ability will be twice as powerful, and you can suppress your opponent's ability up to a certain level.

"Remark 1: Within the territory, the user can attack any corners of the territory with any attacks and the attack strength won't be weakened.

"Remark 2: Territory can be integrated with a small part of defensive skills to strengthen the defense power.

"Remark 3: The territory attributes can be modified according to your combat needs. The attack strength will be increased when the territory attributes align with the attack attributes."

"Exclusive Territory? Isn't that a skill that only imperial-levels have?!" Lin Huang was familiar with Exclusive Territory. It was a skill that was activated whenever a Life Castle was summoned to increase the combat strength. He had heard of it from Mr. Fu before, but he did not expect to obtain this secret skill when he was only a holy fire-level.

"I wonder if my Life Castle Exclusive Territory can be activated together with this in the future. If that's possible, that means I'll have double territory!" Lin Huang was thrilled.

After Lin Xin broke through bronze-level, she leveled up to bronze-level rank-3 in less than a day just by eating Life Crystals. Her speed of upgrading was so fast that even Lin Huang, who owned a Goldfinger, was impressed. Luckily, she could not break through a whole level just by eating Life Crystals, or else she would get to imperial-level within a week.

Since her Life Power was almost stable now, Lin Huang started training her once a week, mainly to strengthen her battle experience. She was also fast in gaining battle experience. Besides training Lin Xin, Lin Huang gave his all to his students as well. His class on Friday should have started from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., but he would always stay back until 11 p.m. and sometimes even midnight. That was like giving three sessions of classes. However, the students of Sword Dao Class 2 were all ambitious. None of them complained and were dedicated to learning.

The battle drill at the beginning of December was when Lin Huang had been interrogated for Hong Zhuang's case which caused the Sword Dao Class 2's assessment results to deteriorate. Although the class ranked No. 2 in the Sword Dao faculty, they were more than 200 points away from Class 1 and almost ranked No. 3 at less than 20 points ahead of No. 3. That made the students even more determined in their training.

Lin Huang was glad to see the students' dedication. Meanwhile, Qin Tianxing seemed to be depressed due to Hong Zhuang's incident, and he did not sit in this time. Lin Huang knew that it had nothing to do with himself, but because Qin Tianxing liked Hong Zhuang. He took it very hard when he found out that Hong Zhuang was one of the Purple Crow members and that she was now dead.

However, Lin Huang did not plan to tell him that Hong Zhuang was still alive. On the one hand, it was because Hong Zhuang wanted to keep it a secret and on the other hand, he did not want Old Qin to get close to her. With his character, it was very possible that Hong Zhuang might kill him. Qin Tianxing was one of the countable good friends that Lin Huang had in the college. He did not want to see Qin Tianxing fall into Hong Zhuang's trap.

Time flashed by, and it was the end of December. Some parts of the White Capital was snowing. Although it was sunny every day in the Martial Hunter College which was located in the central zone, the lake in the college was frozen. Students started wearing fur coats to college. Of course, this weather was nothing to transcendent-level humans. Lin Huang still dressed casually in school to continue his routine to the library, the battle training ground and his dorm.

After dinner, he trained with Liu Ming again. Liu Ming suppressed his combat level to purple flame-level during the training. If not for his breakthrough in Sword Dao, Liu Ming would have suppressed his combat level to gold flame-level while training with him. Throughout the 20 days, Liu Ming was impressed by Lin Huang's abilities. He could feel Lin Huang's improvement over time when they trained. It was scary to know that Lin Huang was getting more and more powerful with each training.

With Liu Ming's high Sword Dao mastery and the pressure of his abilities, Lin Huang did not limit himself to sword skills anymore. He used Vampire Particles, Telekinesis, Witchcraft, Punishment, and other attack Monster Skills during the training. As he grew in his command of Sword Dao, Lin Huang was getting familiar with Vampire Particles, Telekinesis, Witchcraft, and the other skills. He had activated some new techniques from those Monster Skills. He had even modified his Worldly Purification to Flowing Fire Sword!

The new technique was inclusive of tens of millions of sword techniques whereby the effect was similar to Worldly Purification. The target would be burnt to ashes from the attack. Lin Huang was working on the second technique as he wanted to compress the Thunder Sting to become a powerful attack with even faster speed. He had been discussing with Liu Ming for the past few days as well as training for many days, but nothing happened.

"Bro, why are you still going to the library every day? Shouldn't you have finished all the sword skills required by the school programme? I've already shown you the sword skills that aren't in the books. Why not use the time you spend in the library to train here?" Liu Ming felt refreshed over time as he trained with Lin Huang since they were going for different directions in Sword Dao. Although Lin Huang's mastery of Sword Dao was not as far as Liu Ming was, Liu Ming would always learn something new from Lin Huang, so he wanted to train more.

"I've already read about all the sword skills and learned all of them. What I'm reading now is about other combat skills including Saber Dao, Spear Dao, and other gunfighting techniques to see if I can get some inspiration."

Liu Ming was stunned when he heard that as he had never thought of reading about other topics. It was definitely an inspiration for him, but there might be some disadvantages to that.

"It's okay to read other stuff as long as you're not distracted."

"Don't worry. I'm not distracted." Lin Huang shook his head while smiling.

"Oh yeah, it's less than a month to the school holidays. What plans do you have?" Liu Ming asked in anticipation. He was not asking what plans Lin Huang had during the holidays, but rather if he would like to teach in the school after the semester.

Lin Huang understood what Liu Ming was trying to say.

"I'll leave Division 7 after I'm done with some stuff. I won't be able to teach after this semester ends." Lin Huang shook his head and smiled.

Although Liu Ming was disappointed, he had expected that.

"It's good to leave. The proper place for you to shine would be the core zone. You don't have to resign. I'll save a spot for you here. You're always welcome back," Liu Ming said.

"Since you have leveled up to imperial-level, I supposed you'll leave next year too, bro?" Lin Huang recalled.

"Yeah, the management has informed me that I'll be the Vice President of the Martial Hunter College in Division 3. There'll be a new dean sent here, but that doesn't change your position here. Many people in this college hold the position of a teacher, but they don't teach. Besides, the college's system is connected. If you're willing to, you can follow me to Division 3 to teach," Liu Ming invited.

"It's okay. I don't think I'll have the time to teach." Lin Huang shook his head.

"Then, you'll still have your position in the college, but you don't have to teach. It's set." Liu Ming decided to ignore Lin Huang's rejection.

"Alright, then." Seeing that Liu Ming insisted, Lin Huang did not decline.

"Oh yeah, brother, there's something that I need to ask," Lin Huang recalled something that he had always wanted to ask Liu Ming or Mr. Fu. "You know that I'm on holy fire-level now. I'm restricted from a lot of information if I don't join any organization. Do you have any suggestion about what I should do?"

"There's nothing much that you can do if you don't join any organization since most of the information is held with organizations nowadays. The information open to transcendent-levels and above is expensive on the black market. They even sell some of the free information, and there is plenty of fake information. The best is to join an organization.

"But, of course, you can build your own small organization if you don't want to join any organization. Though, you'll have to work with other bigger organizations for your information data bank. There's nothing else you can do as it takes tens of years to build a data bank for your own organization." Liu Ming did not have any better suggestion than that. "I think it's easy for you to get yourself an executive position in the Hunter Association. Their management is pretty liberal."

"It won't take much time to be a staff below the executive level, but executives will have to sign a contract, and there's a mission every year. I'm used to being on my own. Let me think about it then." Lin Huang smiled awkwardly as he shook his head.

Positions above executive level were officially considered top management in the Hunter Association. There would be some restrictions as they would not have the freedom of ordinary hunters.

"Why not you ask Mr. Fu?" Liu Ming could not think of anything else than that.

"Alright, then. I'll ask him after he comes back a few days later. He might be busy now." Lin Huang nodded.

"Wait for him to come back? Where did he go?" Liu Ming raised an eyebrow.

"He said he would leave Division 7 for a couple of days. I've no idea where exactly he's gone. He's been away for half a month." Lin Huang shook his head.

"He left Division 7? Why did he leave?!" Liu Ming was in shock.

"What's wrong with him leaving Division 7?" Lin Huang thought what Liu Ming asked was odd.

"No… Nothing." Liu Ming peeped at Lin Huang and did not say anything further.

"It's late. Let's end our training here," Liu Ming said after realizing it was past 11 p.m.

"Bro, are you and master hiding something from me?" Lin Huang figured that something was not right.

"I guess Mr. Fu has his reasons for not telling you. It's better for me to not interfere. Maybe it's better for you to ask him yourself." Liu Ming did not deny it.

"Okay, then." Lin Huang thought about it and shook his head.

It was a Wednesday on 5th January. The sky was blue while the sun was shining brightly. It was a good day. More than 3,000 Year 1 students queued according to their classes on the Martial Hunter College field, including Lin Huang and the other teachers. It was the last battle drill for the Year 1 students in the semester where the results would be taken into consideration for their final exam. It was important that the teachers and the students took it seriously. Everyone was present.

It was the first time the Year 1 students saw how the dean, Liu Ming, looked like. Since he had leveled up to imperial-level, Liu Ming had lost weight. Lin Huang had contributed to that as well since the both of them were training every night for at least five hours a session. It was impossible for Liu Ming not to lose weight when he was working out every day. His features were sharper now. Although he was short, his position gave him a magnificent vibe. If Lin Huang did not know him, he might have been scared of Liu Ming.

That intimidation worked on the students on the field. As the news of Liu Ming leveling up to imperial-level spread in the college, the students looked at him with awe and respect. There was complete silence when he appeared; none of the students spoke. He then started giving his speech. As it was his first time speaking since the semester started as well as his last time speaking during his tenure in the college, he made it a long one.

Lin Huang poked the gloomy Qin Tianxing next to him with his elbow.

"Old Qin, how's your preparation with the students for this assessment? Are you confident in winning Class 1?"

"It's alright, I guess, but it's difficult to surpass Class 1." Qin Tianxing smiled awkwardly as he shook his head. He had lost his usual confidence and determination.

"Have you been going too easy on yourself these days? Why have you been so mopey recently and not sitting in my class?" Lin Huang jested and pretended that he did not know about his crush on Hong Zhuang.

"You're the one who's going too easy on yourself!" Qin Tianxing glared at him and gave an excuse. "Maybe I've been busy recently…"

"That's a shame. Let's get a drink tonight. Tell your bro all about it!" Lin Huang could not take Qin Tianxing being in the doldrums anymore.

"Okay then," Qin Tianxing agreed after some hesitation.

The both of them drew lots but they were not selected as the guardians of the battle drill this time. The battle drill would take place from Tuesday to Friday, so those would be their rest days for the next couple of days. After Liu Ming finished his speech, the other two Vice Presidents went up to give their speeches. Before the battle drill officially started after that, Lin Huang and the other teachers spoke to the students one last time.

Lin Huang then walked to the students of Sword Dao Class 2. The students were upset because they had heard he would not be teaching anymore after the semester ended.

"Sir Lin, are you really not teaching us next semester?" Zhou Ling had tears pooling in her eyes.

She had complained about him for a couple of weeks when the semester started and had even talked badly about him behind his back. However, her attitude changed after going through classes. With Lin Huang's guide, it was obvious that the Class 2 students had improved by leaps and bounds. Zhou Ling was not the only one. The other students did not want Lin Huang to leave either.

Lin Huang nodded and did not bother hiding the truth.

"We'll meet again. I'll leave Division 7 after this and won't be teaching you guys anymore.

Hearing that he was going to leave Division 7, all of them fell silent as that confirmed that he would definitely leave the college.

"Don't think too much. Focus on your assessment. We have one last class next week. I'll teach you guys a new sword skill. It's a simplified gold-level combat skill!" All the students' eyes lit up when they heard Lin Huang's promise.

The students had learned four sword skills this semester as Lin Huang would teach a new one every month. That would add up to be five sword skills if he taught another one next week. Meanwhile, most of the students from other classes had only learned two sword skills while another two or three classes had picked up three sword skills. A gold-level combat skill would mean that the sword skill could be used all the way until they got to gold-level. The college usually only taught bronze-level skills while some of them would teach up to silver-level skills. There had never been a teacher who taught gold-level skill, let alone a simplified one.

The students were all pumped by this news. Lin Huang then gave the students some reminders before seeing them off to the dimensional relic. The battle drill took place at a grade-2 wild zone, the Dry Desert, this time. As the semester had passed, all of the new students were now on iron-level. They were vastly different from who they were months ago, so it made sense for the battle drill to be more difficult this time.

As the Dry Desert was a grade-2 wild zone, there were bronze-level monsters there. The threat was much more prominent than the first two assessments that had taken place in a grade-1 wild zone. Moreover, this wild zone had limited water source. The assessment was extra challenging because the students were prohibited from bringing any food or water during the three days in the wild zone. Lin Huang and Qin Tianxing were laughing as they watched the excitement on the students' faces from the video projection.

"These kids think that they're on vacation," Qin Tianxing chuckled.

"I'm sure somebody's going to cry soon," Lin Huang laughed and nodded.

The Dry Desert looked beautiful as the humidity in the air was low. The dehydration rate would speed up with time, and perhaps the students would be thirsty in less than two hours. Some of the students realized that and looked for a water source the moment they arrived there while most of the students were taking selfies with the beautiful scenery.

As Lin Huang expected, many of them started feeling thirsty after one to two hours. They realized that the assessment was not as simple as they had thought. In reality, everyone, including the teachers had no idea that it was Lin Huang who had suggested the venue to Liu Ming. He wanted to leave the students with an important lesson before he departed the college. Liu Ming agreed to his suggestion right away, not because of Lin Huang's position, but because he wanted the students to remember the battle drill as well. As expected, many students were crying even before the first day of assessment ended.

"I'm so thirsty! I need water…"

Meanwhile, Lin Huang who was the culprit of the students' suffering was merrily drinking with Qin Tianxing.

The battle drill that stretched over three days was a miserable one. Among the 3,000 students, only 800 of them completed the drill, which was barely a quarter of them. Most of them were brought back by the guardians after suffering severe dehydration. Still, the 800 students who completed the assessment almost cried when they heard the drill was finally over. Many teachers could not help but laugh when they watched the students crying for help from the surveillance cameras.

"What a great assessment venue the dean picked! I'm sure the students will remember this battle drill for the rest of their lives and figure that the real wild zone isn't as simple as they thought." Qin Tianxing drank with Lin Huang during the first couple of days. He vented out his crush towards Hong Zhuang while sobbing. He ended up feeling much better after that. However, Lin Huang did not tell him that Hong Zhuang was still alive.

"It was I who suggested the venue to the dean," Lin Huang whispered into his ear.

Qin Tianxing was speechless.

The assessment results came out on Monday. Among all of the Year 1 students, the highest passing rate came from Lin Huang's Sword Dao Class 2 whereby among the 50 of them, 36 students had passed. In contrast, no other classes had more than 20 students who passed. 19 students passed in Saber Dao Class 1 and 16 from Sword Dao Class 1. Therefore, Sword Dao Class 2 became the dark horse of the assessment and achieved the first place among the entire Year 1. They did not only surpass Sword Dao Year 1 but also Saber Dao Class 1.

Of course, there were two most outstanding students. One of them was Mu Xiao from Saber Dao Class 1. He had leveled up to bronze-level rank-3 during the past few months. It was obvious that he did not take it easy on himself at all. Another one would be Lin Xin (Ling Xue). Lin Xin's combat level was actually the same as Mu Xiao's, but she had concealed her real abilities. She used gunfighting technique during the battle, and she was only 12 points away from Mu Xiao, which was far away from the third best student.

Looking at the results, Qin Tianxing could not help but ask Lin Huang, "Did you tell the students about the assessment venue before the battle started?"

"Definitely not. I know the rules, I've never ever mentioned the battle drill's venue." Lin Huang shook his head as he looked dead serious.

"Then, how do you explain your students' excellent passing rate?" Qin Tianxing was still skeptical.

"I've always taught them the ways to handle different terrains. You've sat in my classes before. Besides the desert, I've taught them the survival skills to go through islands, glaciers, and the ocean," Lin Huang explained. Qin Tianxing thought about it and recalled that Lin Huang really did talk about all those during his class and had gone through them thoroughly in his explanation.

As the results were announced on Monday, many of the students who did not complete the battle drill thought that they would fail, but Liu Ming gave all of them a pass and explained the purpose of the battle drill. The assessment left a deep impression on all of the students. After the results were announced in the morning, the students sat in class as usual. It was the last week of class in this semester. All of the cultural studies' examinations would end this week.

Knowing that all of them passed the battle drill, the students were relieved. In the following days, Lin Huang proceeded with his routine. He basically memorized all of the information that he had studied in the library. He even had copies of the information stored in his Emperor's Heart Ring. Soon, it was Friday, the students' last day of the semester.

In the battle training ground, Lin Huang gathered his 50 Sword Dao Class 2 students and taught them the sword skill that he had promised them - the Great Sword Scripture (simplified). The Great Sword Scripture was actually an advanced sword skill which Lin Huang had first learned. It formed a solid foundation for him and made the learning of other sword skills easier for him. There were 36 forms in the complete Great Sword Scripture, which belonged to the transcendent-level combat skill and was challenging to learn. If Lin Huang had not learned it by accumulating card pieces, it would have taken him one and a half years to master this sword skill.

To make it easier for the students, Lin Huang broke the sword skills down into 12 forms and downgraded it to a gold-level combat skill. It was now much easier to pick up.

"The sword skill that I'm teaching today is called the 12 Great Swords. It comes from a transcendent-level combat skill…"

"A transcendent-level combat skill?!" All of the students' eyes lit up when they heard that.

"This is the last sword skill that I'll be teaching you guys. I hope that you'll learn it properly."

After the simple introduction, Lin Huang started performing the 12 forms three times before letting the students train. The students were serious during this class where they trained from 2 p.m. until past 11 p.m. None of them left. Some of them who had bought tickets to board the Demonic Crystal Spaceship postponed their ride. Lin Huang looked at the 50 students who were present and gave his farewell message.

"I hope that all of you can shine at what you're good at after you graduate two and a half years later. I believe I'll be proud of you when I meet any of you in the future."

"Sir Lin…" Many of the girls started weeping, and some of the boys even had tears rolling down their faces.

"Alright, the class ends here. Class adjourned!" Lin Huang looked across the room and beamed.

"Sir Lin, please don't go yet. I still have questions for you!" Shangguan Hui raised her hand.

"Sir Lin, I have questions too!" Zhou Ling and the rest echoed Shangguan Hui. The students raised their hands one by one.

Lin Huang smiled awkwardly as it was already past 11 p.m. but the students still refused to leave.

"Alright then, each of you gets to ask one more question, and then you've got to stop messing around. Go back to your dorm after this! It's okay if you don't need rest, but the management lady deserves her holiday!"

"Sir Lin, which division are you going next year?" Somebody asked immediately.

"I think this has nothing to do with your learning." Lin Huang was irritated.

"Sir Lin, please tell us that!" A couple of students insisted.

"Alright then. I'm considering going to Division 3," Lin Huang answered helplessly.

"Sir Lin, Sir Lin, I heard the girls saying that Ling Xue from Class 1 is your sister. Is that true?" The students went into gossip mode.

"She's my cousin." Lin Huang nodded and admitted. As Lin Xin was using a different alias now, he had to say that she was his cousin.

"Sir Lin, are you really only 16?" Another girl asked.

"I'm 17 this year." Lin Huang smiled.

…

The students asked their questions rapidly. Most of them were merely gossip that had nothing to do with their studies. None of them followed Lin Huang's rule of one person getting only one question each. They chatted until 3 a.m. and soon, the sky was getting bright. Lin Huang stopped the questions as some of the students were evidently sleepy.

"Alright, return to your dorms to rest. Go back home during the holidays and spend more time with your families. I won't delete the group chat, so I'll see whatever you guys are talking about. You can talk to me personally if you need to. I'll still be in Division 7 before New Year's Eve."

The students left unwillingly. Lin Huang watched the battle training ground after sending of the students. He knew that it was the end for him and the college…

"Brother, when did you come back last night?" Lin Xin walked down the stairs while looking sleepy in her pink pajamas early in the morning. She had gone to Lin Huang's dorm after packing her stuff yesterday afternoon. She thought she could chat with Lin Huang, but he was still not back at 1 a.m, so she had gone to sleep.

"I could have been back just slightly past 11 p.m, but the kids didn't want to let me go, so we chatted until past 3 a.m." Lin Huang was making breakfast in the kitchen as he turned around and smiled at her.

"Brother, did you really resign?" Lin Xin had heard about the news.

"Yes, but the dean rejected my resignation, so I still have my position in the college. However, I won't be teaching." Lin Huang shook his head.

"Go wash up and get ready for breakfast. We'll talk later."

"Oh…" Lin Xin then went upstairs. She had gone to the kitchen as she heard the sounds of moving about before she could wash up. Soon, Lin Xin came downstairs while Lin Huang served breakfast on the dining table. He did not get the chance to make breakfast for the past few months as his three meals had been provided at the college canteen. However, it was the winter holidays now. The canteen and the stores near the college were closed, so he had to settle his usual three meals by himself.

"Brother, where do you plan to go next year?" Lin Xin asked as she munched on her fried egg.

"That's what I'm about to tell you…" Lin Huang swallowed the food in his mouth before he spoke again, "I'm leaving Division 7 and head to Division 3."

"You're leaving Division 7?!" Lin Xin was shocked to hear that. She put down her cutlery immediately. She knew that Lin Huang would leave the college, but she did not expect him to leave Division 7 at all.

"Yeah, I'll leave after settling some stuff next year." Lin Huang nodded.

Lin Xin remained silent. Whenever Lin Huang disappeared, no matter how long, he was always within Division 7. She could not accept him leaving Division 7 out of nowhere.

Seeing that Lin Xin was unhappy, Lin Huang comforted her, "I won't be leaving for long. I'll be back in July during your summer break. It'll be from March to June, so that's just four months. It's going be the same as when I was in Division 7. Just pretend that I have a long mission in Division 7."

"Oh…" Lin Xin was still upset.

"Oh yeah, where do you want to go during this winter break?" Lin Huang changed the subject.

"I haven't thought about it." Lin Xin shook her head.

"How about we go to a couple of wild zones and return to Winter City on New Year's Eve?" Lin Huang suggested.

"Wild zones? But you're not allowed to help me!" Lin Xin was excited.

"Of course, it's for you to train your battle skills," Lin Huang smirked.

After they decided, they started packing their stuff. Since Lin Huang would not be teaching at the college anymore, he would have to move out of his dorm. Having finished packing his things at past 10 in the morning, he cleaned the dorm one last time. He sent a goodbye message to Liu Ming, and Qin Tianxiang then stepped into the dimensional relic with Lin Xin. The both of them appeared on an island.

"This is a grade-3 wild zone, the Wild Forest Island. Give me all your food and water. You have to survive on your own for the next three days." Lin Huang extended his hand.

"Are you being serious now?" Lin Xin was surprised.

"Of course, you'll need to protect yourself since I won't be in Division 7 next year," Lin Huang replied in all seriousness.

"Alright then." Lin Xin passed Lin Huang all her food and water.

"Send me your location at 10 a.m. three days later, and I'll come get you." Lin Huang put her food and water into his storage space.

"Then, what will you be doing during the next three days?" Lin Xin was curious.

"I'll train somewhere. Okay, your battle drill starts now." Lin Huang had arranged his own agenda.

Lin Xin projected the map and headed into the forest with her Black Eagle 33 after identifying her location. After she disappeared, Lin Huang summoned Kylie.

"Follow her. Protect her in secret. Don't help her unless she's in danger."

Kylie disappeared in her black armor from where she was after recalling the 12 black wings on her back.

After settling Lin Xin, Lin Huang called someone. A while later, the video call was connected. A beautiful lady with long legs appeared on the screen.

"What's up? What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into again?" Yi Yeyu wore a light pastel shirt with short sleeves and a mini skirt. It was as if she was not living in the same season as Lin Huang.

"It's winter. Is it really okay for you to dress so lightly?" Lin Huang was speechless.

"I don't feel cold. Why do you bother? We have a heater at home." Yi Yeyu rolled her eyes.

"Okay…"

"Is it a holiday at the college?" Although Lin Huang had never mentioned it, Yi Yeyu had found out that he was teaching at the Martial Hunter College. It was easy for her to ask around the social circle that she was living in.

"Yes, it's the first day of the holidays, but I've already resigned."

"Resigned? Were you fired because you're lousy at teaching?" Yi Yeyu grinned.

"You're overthinking. My students got the first place among the Year 1 batches in their year-end battle drill, alright?" Lin Huang raised an eyebrow.

"I could easily ask around about the truth of this. Don't lie to me." Yi Yeyu grinned.

"Go ask around. My class did get No. 1."

"Alright then. Why did you call? Are you looking for a new job?" Yi Yeyu asked.

"Are you free next year?" Lin Huang asked directly.

"I'm free during February and March. What's up?"

"I have a ruins key with me. Let's form a team to go into the ruins with your brother," Lin Huang finally admitted his purpose of calling.

"Really? Where did you get the ruins key? Only top organizations would have that. Even our family only have two sets." Yi Yeyu was shocked.

"I have to keep this a secret… So, are you coming?"

"Of course! But including my brother, that would only make the three of us. Isn't it a little wasteful to go into the ruins with only three people? Yi Yeyu asked.

"I'll get a few more friends, and we'll go together."

"Great, let me tell my brother so that he can clear his schedule. When exactly is it?"

"I'll let you know next year, but don't tell anyone about the ruins key," Lin Huang reminded.

"Of course, I know that!" She rolled her eyes at him.

After he hung up, Lin Huang called Leng Yuexin. It was much simpler speaking with her compared to Yi Yeyu.

"What's up?"

"Are you free next year?"

"When exactly?"

"Around mid-February to mid-March. We'll need a month," Lin Huang provided her with some rough dates.

"I'll try to postpone some of my plans. It shouldn't be a problem." Leng Yuexin agreed before even asking what they were going to do.

Lin Huang then told her that he planned to go into the ruins with a team. Although she was surprised that he had a ruins key with him, she agreed to join without asking further. After getting Leng Yuexin to commit, Lin Huang then called Li Lang and Qin Tianxing. Li Lang decided to join without even thinking while Qin Tianxing rejected him with a wan smile. He had classes next year, and he did not like to take leave from work. It would take more than a month, which meant that he would miss four to five classes. It was unacceptable to him. In conclusion, Lin Huang managed to get a total of five people to join the ruins excursion.

Twelve days passed by quickly. Lin Huang brought Lin Xin to three wild zones. Her battle ability and adaptability to various environments had improved tremendously during that half a month. Lin Huang occupied himself during those 12 days as well. He had modified a sword skill called the Thunder Eclipse with Thunder Sting as the foundation. It was more than ten times faster and more powerful than Thunder Sting.

"Brother, where are we going next?" Lin Xin, who had dirt all over her, smiled at him, baring her fangs. She did not feel tired for the past 12 days. On the contrary, she had fun killing monsters.

"Of course, we're going back to Winter City. It's the New Year in three days. You should rest." Lin Huang picked out the fallen leaves caught in her hair. "You could do with a shower when we get back."

"It's another three days to the New Year, so why not we go to another wild zone? Let's spend two days hunting and one day for the New Year!" Lin Xin was not done with her killing spree.

"We need to go shopping, and there are things to prepare before the New Year. One day is not enough for that. Even if we manage to get all those done, it would be quite a rush for us." Lin Huang shook his head and rejected her suggestion.

"Let's head back earlier. We can shop for two days and rest for a day. That's more like it."

"Alright then." Lin Xin had to admit that his arrangement made more sense, so she agreed to it.

As they stepped into the dimensional relic, they arrived at their home in the Winter City. The city was much colder than the wild zones that they were in for the past week. The Emperor's Heart Ring showed that it was -15 degrees Celsius. Although Lin Xin was shivering, Lin Huang did not feel the cold.

Lin Huang covered Lin Xin with a coat and lit up the black rock in the furnace on the first floor.

"Stay warm for a while. Let me look for hot water." Lin Huang walked to the bathroom. It had been half a year since they left the Winter City. The air quality there was much higher than the air on Earth. There was not much dust in the house, but the place was dull. He had no idea if some of the home equipment were even still working.

He turned on the Demonic Crystal heater and let the cold water out. He then filled the bathtub with hot water.

"There's hot water in the bathroom. Go and shower after the tub is filled. I'll open the windows for circulation. We can turn on the heater later. "

The house had a centralized heater whereby the heat would be sent all over the house when the valve was opened.

Lin Xin nodded, then stared at the flaming red furnace.

"Brother, where do you think Xiao Xuan is right now?" Lin Xin asked when Lin Huang was going upstairs after opening the windows on the first floor.

Lin Huang was stunned when he heard her, and he froze on the stairs. He recalled last year this time when Lin Xuan had been there with them. The three of them had spent New Year's Eve together. Lin Xuan loved staring at the furnace while he sat on the carpet.

"He should be doing well. Don't worry about him." Lin Huang forced a smile. He knew what he said was not only comforting to Lin Xin, but to himself as well.

"Do you think he misses us?" Lin Xin remained silent for a while and asked Lin Huang again.

"Of course he does. We're family!" Lin Huang was sure of that.

"Alright, go take a shower now!"

"Okay." Lin Xin seemed to have heard the answer that she was waiting for. She nodded and headed towards the bathroom.

Lin Huang went upstairs to open the windows on the second and the third floor. There was snow nearly 20 centimeters thick on the balcony of the second floor. Although the sun was shining, the snow did not melt in the cold city.

He opened the sliding door on the second door and looked far away as he stepped on the snow. It was the spot where he had watched Lin Xin and Lin Xuan playing in the snow last year.

"Where are you, Xiao Xuan?"

After letting the fresh air in for ten minutes, he closed all the windows in the house and turned on the heater. He then took a shower on the second floor.

When he returned to the first floor, Lin Xin was already dressed and sitting on the carpet next to the furnace. Her hair was still damp. Lin Huang walked into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and got rid of the food that had expired. There was nothing much left in the refrigerator.

"There's nothing to eat at home. Let's eat out later and go shopping after lunch. But before that, let's clean the house since it's been half a year since we last cleaned it." Lin Huang got Lin Xin to help him on purpose so that she would be distracted.

"Okay!" Lin Xin snapped out of her zone.

They spent more than an hour cleaning the third floor. It was almost noon when they were done, and they left the house after they changed. Lin Xin's mood was much better when she saw the snow outside.

"The snow on the ground is so thick!" As they had arrived in the living room on the first floor earlier, Lin Xin did not notice the snow outside.

"The winter in this city is longer. It starts to snow in October, and the snow only melts in April. The Winter City snowed a few times when we were away," Lin Huang smiled as he explained.

Lin Xin took some photos of the scenery and posted it on a social media app. Many of her friends liked her pictures. Lin Huang had the same app, but he hardly used it. They started shopping after they had lunch at a restaurant. Perhaps due to the shopping or the beautiful scenery, Lin Xin felt much better. They shopped until past six in the evening. Lin Huang only managed to get a few items as they spent most of their time buying clothes for Lin Xin. They had dinner and headed home when it was past 10.

"It seems like we'll have to shop again tomorrow," Lin Huang thought to himself when they got home. He was much relaxed the day before New Year's Eve while Lin Xin was back to her shopaholic mode. She started buying cosmetics thanks to the influence of her roommates. Lin Huang began to decorate the house the day before New Year's Eve after he was done with shopping, making the house looked rather festive.

On the night of New Year's Eve, Lin Huang sent his well wishes to his friends. Besides Mr. Fu, the rest of them replied his message. Mr. Fu seemed to be busy, but Lin Huang thought about it and decided not to disturb him. On the first day of the year, the Winter City started snowing again. Lin Xin woke up early in the morning and dashed down the stairs in excitement. She could not wait to open her presents. Meanwhile, Lin Huang was sitting on the couch, reading the news quietly. Most of the news was really New Year wishes, and there was nothing much on the Hunter Forum, which made Lin Huang realize the importance of the restriction of information.

"Brother, this is for you!" Lin Xin gave him a present.

"You got this for me?" Lin Huang was surprised. Lin Xin was holding a small box wrapped in golden wrapping paper. He accepted the box immediately.

Just when he was about to open the box, he noticed a blue box on the coffee table.

"One would be enough. Why did you get me two presents?" Lin Huang smiled as he shook his head.

"That's for Xiao Xuan. I've saved half of the stuff that you bought for him. If he returns one day, we can give him all the presents." Lin Xin beamed warmly.

Lin Huang did not say anything and patted Lin Xin's head.

"Sure, let's keep the presents for Xiao Xuan!"

"Brother, open your present now!" Lin Xin then urged Lin Huang to open his present.

Lin Huang opened the box immediately. There was a black scarf in it. It looked somewhat normal without any patterns. However, Lin Huang did not have any expectations as it was the thought that counted.

"Do you like it?" Lin Xin was excited to hear what Lin Huang thought.

"I like it!"

"I knitted it myself!" Lin Xin declared proudly.

"You made this? When did you learn to knit?" Now, Lin Huang understood why this scarf looked so ordinary.

"My roommate taught me. I worked on this every night when I had the time. I've knitted two scarves in the past few months. One for you, one for Xiao Xuan. The one for him is white in color," Lin Xin explained.

"Brilliant craftsmanship!" Lin Huang tied the scarf around his neck and gave her a thumbs up.

"I've got a triple mutated Frost Demon. Are you interested?"

"I'm sorry, not interested."

Lin Huang turned off the black market mission page after replying in a dark forest. At the beginning of November last year, Lin Huang's Life Fire was already burning at its limit of 300 meters high. After more than a month, his combat level completely stabilized in December and he was ready to level up to crimson flame-level. However, it was already February now, yet he had yet to find a tinder monster that was suitable, so his combat level stagnated.

The reason was simple. Lin Huang was picky when it came to choosing tinder monsters. First, it had to be at least triple mutated and there were not many monsters that qualified for that condition in Division 7. It was rare as many Imperial Censor families were after this type of monster as well. Secondly, the monster would be, at best, a holy fire-level, and the highest would be an immortal-level rank-1. To be honest, triple mutated monsters were powerful. He might not be able to handle a monster higher than immortal-level rank-1 if he ever encountered one. If that happened, instead of obtaining tinder, it would become a suicidal attempt.

Thirdly, the tinder would have to cater to his needs. That last condition made the mission impossible. As it was difficult to find the tinder that he desired in Division 7, he had to head to the core zone. The safe zone in Division 3 was 2.4 times bigger than Division 7. The safety zone was much more developed than Division 7. Besides having more powerful monsters, the number of monsters were a couple of times more than the number of monsters in Division 7.

Without compromising the criteria of his tinder, the only way to level up was to look for the tinder in the core zone. As he turned off the black market page, Lin Huang sensed somebody walk into his territory. He smirked as he looked at the person's direction. Soon, Lin Xin revealed herself within the trees. She had a light silver glow under her feet. She had leveled up to silver-level. Although they were in a grade-4 wild zone, she was not as clumsy as she had been before. She had leveled up to silver-level two days ago and she was now on silver-level rank-3. She could definitely fight gold-level rank-3 monsters now.

Just as Lin Xin appeared, a black shadow materialized. It was a lady in a black dress. The triple mutated Wicked Witch looked exactly like a human. She had been familiarizing herself with Lin Xin and Lin Huang recently. Initially, Lin Huang wanted to get Kylie or Tyrant to protect Lin Xin as she was more familiar with the both of them. However, their appearance was too attention-seeking, so he thought that the Wicked Witch would be more suitable for the job. Besides, the Witch could conceal herself in Lin Xin's shadow to protect her anytime, anywhere.

"Brother! Witch!"

Lin Xin leapt from the branch when she saw Lin Huang and the Witch, landing less than two meters away from Lin Huang.

"Not bad," Lin Huang complimented as he knew Lin Xin could basically protect herself now.

The three of them stepped into the dimensional relic and disappeared from the forest, appearing at their home in the Winter City.

It was the Wicked Witch's first time here. She looked around with curiosity.

"Xin Er, show the Witch around," Lin Huang suggested.

"Brother, are you leaving tomorrow?" Lin Xin looked at the calendar on her Emperor's Heart Ring.

"I'm meeting my friends the day after tomorrow, but I want to go there tomorrow night. It's I who invited them after all. It'd be horrible for them to wait for me. There's still half a month to your winter holidays. Enjoy the holiday or train your gunfighting techniques at home. I've already booked the ticket back to the White Capital for you. They'll confirm your trip with you a day before," Lin Huang said.

"Alright then." Lin Xin knew that Lin Huang was not going to Division 3 this time but to the ruins. He would be back in March, so she was not that upset.

"Witch, let me show you around!" She waved at the Wicked Witch.

…

It was the middle of the night on the second day at foothold No. 7B51 Laotian City. On the 131st floor in a luxury hotel, Lin Huang gazed at the snow while standing on the balcony with a glass of green juice in his hand. The communication page on his Emperor's Heart Ring was open.

"I'm here. Let's meet at the City Sky Hotel at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Don't be late." He sent the message to four people in his contact book.

"Got it!"

"I know."

…

Soon, the four of them replied. The next morning, Lin Huang woke up early. It was not even eight when he was done with his buffet breakfast. He checked out at the reception and sat down at the cafe on the first floor. He ordered a black coffee as he read the news. It was less than ten days since New Year's Day had passed. There was nothing much on the news or on the Hunter Forum. Most of the hunters were relaxing during this period, so there was nothing new.

As Lin Huang was bored, he decided to check his social media app. Many friends posted photos of sceneries and food. He snapped a photo of the coffee that he was drinking and posted it on the app. Lin Xin was the first one who liked his photo while Yi Yeyu and the rest followed suit. After turning off the app, he then launched another app called Weibo and started reading news on topics that he was following. He came across a short post by 'theuglytruth'. It was posted before the new year.

"There's a battle of demigods in Division 1. Many of the islands on the quiet ocean have collapsed… It's too far away, so I can only see the blur images."

"A demigod battle in Division 1?" Lin Huang frowned. A person sat across him before he could think any further about the post.

"You sure know how to enjoy life!" It was Li Lang who he had not seen in a while. As usual, he was wearing his boring white suit with a red ribbon around his neck and combed back his hair.

"You're pretty early." Lin Huang turned off the app and smiled at his old friend.

"Of course! I've always been a punctual man! Tell me, are there any hot babes this time?" Li Lang bent down and asked softly.

"Yes, the lady from the Yi family that you've met."

Li Lang rolled his eyes. "Who else?"

"Her brother." Lin Huang grinned.

"I'm talking about ladies!" Li Lang emphasized.

"There's another one."

"Who's that?" Li Lang was excited.

"She's here!"

Lin Huang looked up at the hotel entrance. A girl in a white trench coat and sunglasses spotted him at the same time. He waved to her. She nodded and walked towards him.

"This is...?" Li Lang could not recognize her.

As she walked over to them, Lin Huang and Li Lang stood up immediately to offer their seats.

"This is Ms. Leng Yuexin. This is my friend Li Lang," Lin Huang introduced.

"Hi." Leng Yuexin took off her sunglasses and shook Li Lang's hand.

"You're the lady from the Leng family?" Li Lang was stunned.

The three of them sat down. After Li Lang and Leng Yuexin took a few sips of their coffee, Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu arrived at the hotel. The duo had seen the photo that Lin Huang posted and headed straight to the cafe. Yi Zheng was wearing a slate blue trench coat, looking exuberant while Yi Yeyu wore a navy blue dress under a knitted coat. It was not even 8.40 a.m. when the five of them gathered. Lin Huang was dressed the most casual among the five of them in his regular sports attire. Since it was still early, Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu ordered coffee for themselves as they chatted after the introduction.

The Yi siblings knew Leng Yuexin as they had met at some events before. Many people in the cafe were looking at them as the five made a handsome bunch.

"Lin Huang, you've grown taller," Yi Yeyu teased.

"Yeah, I'm 178cm now. Maybe 180cm when I'm wearing shoes." Lin Huang nodded. He was not the kid that they knew two years ago.

"I wouldn't have noticed that if you didn't mention it. He was a whole head shorter than I was two years ago, but now he's catching up with me." Yi Zheng had just noticed Lin Huang's height.

The four of them had met two years ago where they recalled Lin Huang's height when they first met. Lin Huang had grown from a teenager to a man.

"But why are you still on white flame-level? I'm already a purple flame-level and Xiao Yu is now a crimson flame-level, going onto blue flame-level." Yi Zheng thought it was odd.

"There's no tinder that I'm after in Division 7." Lin Huang shook his head.

"Did you choose a triple mutated monster?!" The four of them looked at him in shock.

"Yes," Lin Huang confirmed.

"Which monster did you choose to get to white flame-level with?" Now, even Leng Yuexin was curious.

"The Blacksword Killer," Lin Huang told a half-truth.

"You're insane!" Li Lang was shocked. It was difficult for him to kill double mutated monsters, but Lin Huang had managed to kill a triple mutated monster.

As they chatted and got familiar with each other, it was almost 9 a.m. and they had finished their coffee.

"Where's the entrance? How long does it take to fly there?" Yi Zheng glimpsed at the time and realized that it was about time they moved.

"Don't worry about it. I've already pinned the location last night. Just step into the dimensional relic and we'll be at the destination." Lin Huang brought the four of them out of the cafe and summoned his dimensional relic. The five of them stepped into the dimensional relic. As it closed, the five of them disappeared from the hotel.

As they stepped out of the dimensional relic, the five of them appeared in a canyon.

"Is this the War Canyon?" Yi Zheng studied the cliffs on both sides and figured out where they were.

"Yes." Lin Huang nodded and summoned Kylie.

Besides Lin Huang, the four of them were stunned when they saw Kylie, who was clad in black armor and had 12 wings on her back, appear before them.

"Kylie, the ruins key," Lin Huang instructed.

Kylie glared at the four of them and passed Lin Huang a black metal box with the ruins key inside. Lin Huang accepted the box and recalled Kylie.

"Was that an angel?" Li Lang was skeptical.

"I think so. A Dark Angel." Lin Huang was not paying attention.

"A purple or gold flame-level?" Yi Zheng asked as he felt he might not be able to fight Kylie.

"A gold flame-level." Lin Huang did not plan to lie.

"Is she triple mutated? The bloodline thickness should at least be mid-level," Leng Yuexin offered a more concrete estimation.

"Yes," Lin Huang replied but did not give an exact answer. He opened the metal box directly. There was a conical cube the size of a palm in the box.

The four of them looked at it immediately.

"Is this the ruins key?" It was the first for them to see a ruins key up close.

The ruins key detached from Lin Huang's palm after he inserted a full Life Wheel of Life Power into it. It floated in the air and transformed into a black swirl of energy less than 20 meters away from them.

"Alright, let's go!" Lin Huang nodded to them.

The four of them entered the whirlpool accordingly while Lin Huang was the last to step in. In less than a minute after Lin Huang stepped into it, the black swirl disappeared from the canyon as it had never appeared before. The five of them entered a space with a dark sky and an ominous aura in the air. All they could see was dry land with craters left by the damage of the war. There were monsters and even human bones scattered everywhere.

As the ruins entrance behind them closed, the key returned into Lin Huang's hand. It seemed to be able to recognize Lin Huang by his Life Power. He kept the key in his sleeve when he heard Yi Zheng speak, "This seems to be an ancient war zone, so there should be many undead and spirit monsters here."

"If that's the case, are these skeletons our enemies as well?" Li Lang asked softly.

"We can't exclude that from the facts," Yi Zheng said.

"What do you know about this ruins? Do you have a map?" Yi Zheng turned around to ask Yi Zheng.

"Erm… Don't ask me. I don't even know what grade of ruins this is." Lin Huang was stuck.

"How dare you bring all of us here when you don't even know the grade of the ruins?" Li Lang was speechless.

"You idiot!" Yi Yeyu scolded.

"The ruins take a year to reopen. I can't be coming here myself and only get your guys in next year. So, I thought of getting all of you to discover this place together. If it's suitable, we can kill the monsters. If the grade is too low, we can leave right away. I'll buy you guys a meal. Treat this as a New Year's gathering. If the grade is too high, we can come back a few years later," Lin Huang explained helplessly.

"Where did you get the key? Do you not know anything about this place at all?" Yi Yeyu was irritated.

"I got the key from the Saints last year. I really know nothing about this place." Lin Huang smiled awkwardly and shook his head.

"Let's just pick any direction then. Without any information, we can only explore blindly," Leng Yuexin said.

"Then, you pick the direction then since you're the leader." Yi Yeyu poked Lin Huang.

The three of them looked at him expectantly. Lin Huang looked around, completely lost. It was a barren land that was left from the war, and it seemed like there was no difference which direction they picked. The map on their Emperor's Heart Ring would not work in such an isolated space. Besides that, the communication and network were locked. It would spell trouble if they lost each other along the way.

"Let's just pick any direction. It looks the same anyway," Li Lang urged Lin Huang when he noticed that he could not make up his mind.

"Wait!" Lin Huang suddenly thought of a card that he owned that could be used here as he was feeling lost.

"Treasure Card

"Function: Once the card is activated, it'll guide you to the nearest location with treasure including mineral mountains, graveyards, and ruins.

"Remark 1: The card is not used to create a treasure. Instead, it's used to track the location of the treasure. The detection point will be tracked from the user's activation point, and the limit is a 1,000-kilometer radius. As soon as the card is activated, the detection point will be set. Whether there's treasure within the range or not, the card will still be consumed."

"Remark 2: Each card can be used once, and only one treasure point can be selected. The treasure point can't be changed once confirmed. As soon as the user is guided to the treasure point, the coordinates will disappear.

"Remark 3: Once the card is activated, the coordinates will stay for a month. After that, the coordinates will disappear if the user doesn't arrive at the coordinates and will be considered as an aborted mission."

"Remark 4: There will be three colors of the coordinates according to the value of the treasure. White color indicates normal treasure, red color for rare treasure and gold color for legendary treasure. If there are gold-colored coordinates, the brighter the color, the higher the value of the treasure."

Lin Huang instructed Xiao Hei secretly after reading the card's description, "Xiao Hei, activate one Treasure Card!"

"Are you sure you want to use your current location as the detection point and to start searching for treasure?"

"Yes!"

"Treasure Card has been activated."

A ten-meter long white arrow appeared at Lin Huang's two o'clock.

"White coordinates… I really have bad luck!" Lin Huang thought to himself.

"I've decided. Let's go here!" Lin Huang pointed at his two o'clock and flew up without waiting for them to say anything. The four of them followed him as they did not have a choice.

As Lin Huang moved along the direction of the white arrow which was invisible to the others, it was still flickering at a distance of fewer than 20 meters away from him.

He maintained the regular speed and flew for more than half an hour. Lin Huang and the four of them behind him found it odd that they did not see any living beings over the distance of hundreds of meters. The five of them heard nothing else aside from the whistling sound produced from the friction between the air and their clothes. Not even a single buzz from the worms or a single chirp from the birds could be heard. It was as if they were in a deadly still world.

"Do you guys feel that the ruins are horrifying?" Li Lang asked Lin Huang and the rest.

"We haven't encountered any living beings so far. It's unusually quiet." Yi Zheng's voice was soon heard.

"Could the resources have been depleted? If so, no treasure can be found in the ruins," Yi Yeyu expressed her opinion.

"It can't be. If the resources have been depleted, the ruins will collapse, but the ruins are still operating as usual. However, it's bizarre that there are no traces of living beings." Leng Yuexin frowned.

"Don't overthink it. We've arrived at our first destination." After flying for more than half an hour, Lin Huang could finally see the final location pointed by the navigation arrow at a distance of more than 700 kilometers away from the entrance, and he quickly landed.

The other four of them felt it was strange but still, they followed after Lin Huang and landed.

After descending, Yi Yeyu and the rest then discovered that there was an entrance to the underground.

Lin Huang and the four of them landed at a distance less than ten meters away from the entrance to the cave. Right at that moment, Lin Huang could see that the white arrow had disappeared.

"You have crazy excellent eyesight to discover the cave at such a height!" Li Lang laughed as he said.

"I have a monster skill that's somewhat similar to the ocular skill," Lin Huang simply came up with an excuse as to hide the fact that he was using a Treasure Card.

"Let's go in and have a look!" Yi Zheng was eager to take the lead. However, he was stopped by Lin Huang.

"Wait a moment!" Lin Huang summoned Bloody.

Bloody turned into a purple, scaleless small snake and twisted around Lin Huang's left arm. It looked like a harmless animal in an anime. As it blinked its pair of big eyes, Yi Yeyu and Leng Yuexin were attracted to it.

"It's so cute!" Yi Yeyu felt like touching it.

"Bloody, have a look at the situation inside the cave," Lin Huang instructed.

More than ten dots of purple lights were released from the surface of Bloody's body and dispersed towards the entrance of the cave.

When Yi Yeyu was about to grab one of them when Yi Zheng grabbed her wrist, shaking his head. Yi Yeyu thought that Yi Zheng wanted to stop her from bothering them. In fact, Yi Zheng vaguely felt that the dots of purple light were intimidating.

Leng Yuexin could feel that as well. Her eyes flashed with a trace of uncertainty, shifting her focus towards the little beast that twisted around Lin Huang's arm.

"Lin Huang, what's Bloody's combat level?" Li Lang was familiar with Bloody as he and Yi Yeyu had witnessed Bloody's investigating skill before at the Volcanic Hell.

"Its combat level is higher than yours." Lin Huang did not give a direct reply. Instead, he just answered with a cryptic smile.

"How could it be? My crimson flame-level Life Fire is filled. I'm going to proceed to blue flame-level." Li Lang found it unbelievable.

"Is it a gold flame-level?" Yi Zheng guessed. The level of the monster would definitely not be lower than his as he could feel that the monster was intimidating.

Lin Huang nodded. In order to avoid the rest from asking him the combat level of his summoning monsters, he explained, "Most of my summoning monsters have basically reached gold flame-level."

Yi Zheng initially thought that he would be the strongest among the team members. However, when he heard what Lin Huang said, he instantly understood that Lin Huang was the one with the strongest overall abilities despite the fact that he was just a white flame-level.

"So what even if it's a gold flame-level? It definitely won't be able to fight me in an actual battle." Li Lang glanced at Bloody arrogantly. Up until now, he was still naive as he was set on the thought that Bloody was a monster that could not fight.

Bloody blinked its eyes while looking at Li Lang. It then turned around and looked at Lin Huang innocently. Although it did not say anything, Lin Huang understood what it wanted to say from its gaze. He meant to say, "I can fight 10,000 people like him alone!"

Lin Huang sniggered. With Bloody's parasitic abilities, it was not joking when it implied that it could fight 10,000 people like Li Lang. Bloody's parasitic abilities allowed it to defeat weak enemies. As long as their combat strength was below its own, they would not be able to escape from being parasitized by the parasite. Quantity meant nothing to Bloody. If Li Lang were unable to surpass Bloody, even if there were one million Li Langs, they would all become Lin Huang's puppets.

Yi Yeyu did not pay much attention to Bloody's combat strength. Similar to Li Lang, she originally thought that Bloody was just an ordinary summoning monster. However, it was so powerful even though it was just a double mutated monster. She thought that its strongest ability was its detection which could be done by releasing the dots of light. Perhaps, the remaining skills were merely skills for protection, and it did not have any attack skills.

However, Yi Zheng, who was on purple flame-level, and Leng Yuexin, who was on blue flame-level, had a completely different opinion. Both of them had encountered the transcendent monsters more often than Yi Yeyu and Li Lang had, and they were more sensitive to danger. Despite disguising itself well, both of them could still sense that it was not an ordinary summoning monster.

Before obtaining the results of the investigation, Yi Yeyu then stood next to Lin Huang and touched Bloody's head. Seeing Bloody had closed its eyes as it enjoyed being caressed, Li Lang joined her as well.

"You two idiots," Yi Zheng scolded quietly.

In just a short while, Bloody opened its eyes and sent the image detected by its Leech Pods to Lin Huang's mind.

"Is there any news?" Yi Zheng immediately asked as he noticed Bloody's reaction.

"Yes, let's go in," Lin Huang nodded and instructed. Lancelot that was wearing a maroon armor gradually appeared in front of them.

Although the surface of Lancelot's body was no longer misty, it became even stronger after integrating with the aura of god. Its appearance was somewhat intimidating compared to Kylie's.

If it were a game, there would be a name in bloody red color on top of Lancelot's head, indicating that it was an extremely dangerous character.

Aside from Lin Huang, Yi Zheng could confirm that the monster that was in the maroon armor could easily kill four of them within seconds.

"Lancelot, please lead us," Lin Huang instructed.

Lancelot's blue eyes gazed at Yi Zheng and the rest, then finally, it nodded as it looked at Lin Huang. It then strode into the cave.

Lin Huang and the four of them followed after Lancelot and entered the cave as well.

As the five of them took a few steps forward, Li Lang's voice could be heard, "I'm envious of the Imperial Censors!"

The five of them followed after Lancelot and entered the cave.

The channel towards the cave was like a descending slope.

As they walked along the twisting path for more than ten minutes, Lancelot then dove into an underground cave with them.

The cave was dark, and they could not even see their fingers in front of their faces.

However, darkness did not hinder the vision of transcendents like Lin Huang and the rest. Soon, the five of them could clearly see the situation inside the cave.

The cave was quite spacious, and the ceiling of the cave was about ten meters high. It was a vast underground world.

However, their concern was not the size of the underground world. Instead, they were worried about the monsters in the cave.

From their body size, they looked like monkeys. However, there was no fur on their bodies. They had pale, waxy skin that resembled dead human corpses. Also, they had elongated limbs. Their faces looked like humans' with ears that were about twice the size of the average human ear. Their eyes had no pupils and irises. Only the white of their eyes could be seen. They had no noses, and there were only two tiny nostrils where a nose should have been. They had sharp teeth that looked like dogs' and when they extended their tongue, it was about three times longer than that of the ordinary human's.

Some of these monsters were climbing the wall while some of them were hanging upside down from the ceiling of the cave. There were at least 100 of them, and it looked like they had fallen asleep.

"There are finally creatures here. They look hideous!" Li Lang commented.

"Are they Cavernous Devils?" Yi Yeyu asked in doubt. She had heard of the monster before, but she had never looked up the information of the monster in the monster guide.

"Yes, they are Cavernous Devils." Lin Huang nodded his head.

He had been going through various types of reading material at the Martial Hunter College. He could almost remember all the contents of the monster guide. Although he could not remember the information in detail like Bloody could, he could basically recognize all the monsters recorded in the monster guide.

The Cavernous Devil was a type of monster that lived underground. It normally ate carrion. When there was no carrion, they would hunt down living beings and eat them after they had decomposed. Under conditions when there was an insufficient supply of food, they would go dormant. If the issue of food supply could still not be solved after being dormant, they would hunt their own species. Therefore, these monsters were rather ruthless.

The monsters liked to live in a group. When they became adults, they would automatically level up to gold-level. A minority of them was commander-level, and their claws and teeth were poisonous. This was the reason why even people on holy fire-level were unwilling to offend this type of monster.

Lin Huang and the rest had intruded into the Cavernous Devil's lair.

Although the monsters had gone dormant, with their sensitive hearing, they would still be awakened if anything happened.

"There are more than 400 of them. Looking at the population size, it's highly possible that there are commander-level monsters and there might be more than one of them." Leng Yuexin shifted her gaze towards Lin Huang. She only told them what she had analyzed without giving any suggestion.

"It's not worth killing such monsters. Nothing from their bodies can be used as a material, and it'll be troublesome to kill them due to their large numbers. Should we fight them?" Yi Zheng was not interested in hunting this type of monster.

"Let's warm up since we're already here," Lin Huang said, "It won't take us a lot of time to clear these monsters."

Lin Huang had no intention to reveal Bloody's parasitic abilities. He then gave Lancelot a simple instruction, "Kill them all!"

A blue glow flashed through Lancelot's blue eyes. Before Yi Yeyu and the rest could react, a golden glow quickly formed in front of his body, shining brightly throughout the cave as if it was daytime.

The ray of light triggered the Cavernous Devils that had gone dormant. They woke up and started growling crazily.

Yi Yeyu and the rest were speechless when they saw this. They wanted to secretly kill the monsters since they had gone dormant. They tried not to make any noise and intended to kill as many of them as possible. Therefore, even when the monsters woke up, the monster horde would not have such a significant advantage over them.

Lin Huang was kind of speechless as well as he placed his hand on his forehead. He had instructed Lancelot to kill all the monsters, but he did not ask it to kill them alone. However, Lancelot had apparently thought that it had to kill them on its own. Therefore, it had unleashed its ultimate skill, the Sword Manipulation. The golden glow flashed through the air and a short blade that measuring about 10 centimeters long was formed.

As the group of Cavernous Devils knew what was happening, they pounced on Lin Huang. The short blade blasted off and penetrated through the bodies of the Cavernous Devils. Soon after, the second and the third groups of monsters were attacked.

In less than ten seconds, the crypt that was initially noisy became quiet.

Yi Zheng and the rest of them were stunned, staring at the carcasses of the Cavernous Devils that were scattered all over the ground. They remained silent for a few moments.

The four of them had just witnessed how powerful Lancelot was in the one-sided battle. They were shocked.

"It's so powerful!" Li Lang had no idea what else could he say to describe what he had just seen.

"The killing rate is terrifying!" Yi Yeyu gushed.

"I might not be able to defend against the skill if it were to use it as a single attack." Yi Zheng had only seen Lancelot's skill once, and he could confirm that he was incapable of fighting Lancelot.

"Is that the… Sword Manipulation?" A flicker of fear flashed through Leng Yuexin's eyes. The thought ran through her mind, but she had not dared to ask about it earlier.

Lancelot's abilities had been revealed, but it was not planned. Lin Huang was helpless as he had not given explicit instructions just now. However, since its abilities had been exposed, there was nothing to hide as he still had many other monster cards.

"Since the Cavernous Devils have been killed, let's take a look and see if there are any valuable things here. Otherwise, there's no use sticking around." Lin Huang was the first one to look around the cave.

Actually, Bloody had roughly studied the cave. Lin Huang walked straight towards the big pit, lowering his head and peering into the pit. There were skulls of various types of living beings, both monsters as well as humans.

"Come over here!" Lin Huang shouted at them.

Yi Zheng and the rest of them immediately rushed over there when they heard Lin Huang shouting at them.

"A bone pit? Is that the grave of the monsters?" Yi Yeyu asked curiously.

"No, this is the place where the Cavernous Devils stored their food to eat," Lin Huang explained. "In other words, it's their kitchen, dining room, and also their rubbish bin. All the monsters that have been killed are thrown here. As soon as the dead bodies have decomposed, they'll eat them and all that's left are the skulls. That's the reason why the bones have accumulated over here."

"Are we going to find any treasure here? Even if there are many of the Emperor's Heart Rings, we can hardly dig them out." Li Lang opened his palm and said.

"Be patient." Lin Huang grinned. "Bloody!"

Bloody then came out of Lin Huang's sleeve and plunged into the bone pit.

A few moments later, Bloody's body turned into the shape of a sphere from which its antennas extended. The antennas then swooped downwards and penetrated through the gap between the skulls.

Soon after, Bloody managed to dig out the Emperor's Heart Rings with its antennas. After a few minutes, it had found hundreds of Emperor's Heart Rings.

"There's such a function?!" Li Lang was startled.

Inside the bone pit, Bloody did not stop spreading its antennas and continued penetrating through the gaps between the bones. It extracted the Emperor's Heart Rings and a few valuable items.

After more than half an hour, Bloody stopped digging and gradually floated out of the pit. It levitated in front of Lin Huang. As it opened its mouth, it spat out all the items it had extracted.

Lin Huang and the rest glanced through the items. There were thousands of Emperor's Heart Rings among the rest of the items.

"There are 2,276 Emperor's Heart Rings in total. As for the relics and the other valuable items that are still in good condition, there are 133 of them." Lin Huang obtained the exact figure from Bloody. "Let's see if there's anything that you guys need."

They shook their heads. Apparently, they were not interested in items of such levels.

Lin Huang then took out the storage ring that Leng Yuexin had given him previously and stored all those items in it.

"Since we got these items together, I'll store them in the storage ring first. After exploring the ruins, I'll look for someone to unlock the ring. I'll then make a list, and we'll divide the stuff among the five of us equally. That way, we don't have to go through the redistribution of the stuff each time since it's a waste of time," Lin Huang suggested. "Of course, you may speak up if there's something that you need. You'll have the priority over the others and get what you want. The person will have to exchange it for the item of the same value and give it to the rest of the group."

"What if several people request for the same item?" Li Lang raised one of the possibilities.

"We'll then come up with a solution to distribute the stuff to which those who request for the item agree. After the ownership has been determined, regardless of what the result is, the rest of them mustn't argue against it." Lin Huang had thought of this answer earlier.

"What if the item costs a lot and the person can't afford to exchange the item for the rest of the items the person has? Does the person need to pay the balance with other items?" Li Lang asked.

"Yes, the person will have to pay the balance according to the market price. It's best if one pays back with the items that we need instead of something unnecessary. If there's indeed nothing that we need, one may pay the balance with Life Crystals or other types of crystals," Lin Huang explained the additional conditions.

"As for the personal items that you guys get on your own, if the others ask for it, it depends on whether the owner of the stuff is willing to exchange it with items of similar value. If the owner disagrees, nobody can force a trade.

"Let's come to an agreement first to avoid any conflict when it comes to the distribution of stuff. You may raise your objections now if there're any or if there's anything else that has to be added."

Since they were all friends, Lin Huang did not want them to fall out over money. Therefore, he lay out the rules beforehand. If anything happened during the distribution of the items, they would handle it according to what they had agreed upon earlier so that there would be no arguments.

"I have no objection." Leng Yuexin was the first one to nod her head.

"The same goes for me." Yi Yeyu looked like she did not care.

"Although the rules are simple, you have made everything clear. We'll discuss in detail if there're any contradictions in future." Yi Zheng agreed as well.

"I can't think of anything to add so far." Li Lang had no objection as well after thinking about it.

"Okay, since everyone has agreed, we'll follow the rules." Lin Huang then continued, "The four of you are all my friends. If there's anything that you really need, don't feel embarrassed to ask for it. Since it's a fair deal, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. Don't regret when the item that you need is given to the others."

The rest of them nodded in agreement when they heard what he said.

"Bloody, please check again if there is any remaining stuff. If there aren't any items left, we'll leave." Lin Huang then turned around and gave Bloody a new instruction.

Bloody rereleased the dots of purple light and looked around. It found a few more Emperor's Heart Rings from the Cavernous Devils' fingers. It seized the opportunity to parasitize the commander-level Cavernous Devils and retrieved the information regarding the ruins from their memories.

After confirming that there was nothing left, Lin Huang then led the team and returned to the ground.

"Bloody, please check the situation in the ruins." As they returned to the ground, Lin Huang gave Bloody a new instruction again. It then investigated the situation in the ruins.

Bloody floated in mid-air. Countless dots of purple light were dispersed in all directions, resembling purple clouds that were clearing away.

"It's so beautiful!" Yi Yeyu exclaimed.

"What an amazing investigating skill!" As usual, Li Lang was envious of the Imperial Censor.

"How many detection pods can it release at most?" Yi Zheng was somewhat interested in its abilities.

"It can release millions of those pods at most," Lin Huang answered with a smile.

"Is the distance that the pods can cover restricted? How far away can they leave Bloody?" Yi Zheng asked again.

"I've never considered this. It seems like there is no restriction. Let me ask and see…" Lin Huang smiled and looked at Bloody. After a short while, he answered, "Bloody said that there's no problem to cover the whole A-grade foothold."

That was actually the answer that Bloody told Lin Huang to inform Yi Zheng. The actual answer was that it could cover half of the safe zone.

"What about their speed? It seems like they move quite fast," Yi Zheng continued asking.

"I guess their maximum speed is about 1,200 kilometers." Lin Huang had asked Bloody about this before. However, Bloody had given him the answer before it leveled up to holy fire-level. Their speed must be much faster now since Bloody was already a gold flame-level that had gone through its third mutation.

It seemed like Yi Zheng was interested in Bloody's investigating abilities as he continued asking several questions. After listening to Lin Huang's reply, he then nodded his head in satisfaction and kept quiet.

"Are we going to wait over here until the investigation ends?" Seeing the pods had all disappeared, Leng Yuexin turned back and asked Lin Huang.

"We don't have to wait until the investigation ends. Let's walk around as we might probably discover the second exploration point before it." Lin Huang smiled, shaking his head.

Bloody shared the information that had been extracted from a few of the Cavernous Devils' brains with Lin Huang, so he now had a brief understanding of the ruins.

The level of the ruins was high. According to Cavernous Devils' memories, the strongest monster that they had encountered was an imperial-level. Therefore, it must be at least a 4-star ruins.

Most of the monsters lived underground during the day and would return to the surface at night to hunt for food. Moreover, the dry bones that they could see everywhere along the roadside would be revived at night. These monsters had a strong desire for blood and flesh, and they were quite sensitive to the aura of living beings.

There was only one way for Lin Huang and the rest to survive in the ruins, which was to look for a site that could cover their aura before sunset.

There was such a site in the memory of the commander-level Cavernous Devils, and it was not far away from them.

Lin Huang could not explain how he had obtained the memory of the Cavernous Devils. Therefore, he guided the four of them and headed towards the right location. It was the only place where they could survive the first night.

"I have a foreboding that there's a big treasure waiting for us over there!" Lin Huang pointed in the direction of their four o'clock.

"Did you just randomly point towards a direction?" Yi Yeyu rolled her eyes as she felt that Lin Huang was too spontaneous.

"Don't tell me it's a bone pit again!" Li Lang said.

"Let me check it out since I'm the leader." Lin Huang then flew into the sky along with the four of them and Lancelot, heading towards the second destination.

The ruins in the Cavernous Devil's memory were located more than 600 kilometers away from the cave.

Within half an hour, Lin Huang saw the ruins under him and quickly descended along with Yi Yeyu and the rest.

"Yo, the ruins exist for real!" Li Lang teased as he thought that Lin Huang had got it right only by sheer luck.

"See! I didn't lead you guys the wrong way." Lin Huang was proud of himself.

"What's so good about that? We don't know if there's anything in it." Yi Yeyu raised her eyebrows and glanced at Lin Huang. She could vaguely feel that Lin Huang had known that the ruins were there in advance.

Yi Zheng and Leng Yuexin did not say anything as if they noticed that as well. Lin Huang was resolute in his action as he pointed towards the ruins. Moreover, he was flying in a straight line, and the ruins were just in front of them without any deviation. If he had found the cave by luck the first time, it was strange that he had managed to find the ruins by luck for the second time.

Both of them were smart. Although they knew that it was strange since Lin Huang did not want to talk about it, there was no need for them to delve further into the matter as well.

After looking around, Leng Yuexin frowned. "It looks like a war foothold…"

"It is indeed a war foothold. Judging from its size, it's not a regular, small foothold. It's a least a medium-sized one. The underground must be expansive." Yi Zheng was born in the Yi family, and he could identify it at first glance.

"Did you really think that you're the only one who knows this?" Yi Yeyu rolled her eyes at Yi Zheng. She finally had the opportunity to show off what her talent, but Yi Zheng had stolen her thunder.

"Fine. Pray, tell." Yi Zheng immediately noticed that he had made a mistake.

"I'm not interested!" Yi Yeyu turned her head away.

Lin Huang and the rest believed what Yi Zheng said.

Leng Yuexin had met the Yi siblings earlier, and Li Lang knew about Yi Yeyu's background as they had gone to the Volcanic Hell together. Any of the Yis knew about stuff related to the armed forces very well, let alone the descent of the Yi family.

"So… Brother Zheng, are there any treasures in it?" Li Lang immediately asked.

"There might be the remnants of the army in the storehouse. However, it seems like the foothold existed hundreds of years ago. It's useless despite valuable items like medicine remaining." Yi Zheng felt that it was less likely that they would retrieve anything from the ruins. "Of course, the storehouse might have been emptied, and there could be nothing left…"

"Keep your big mouth shut, Brother Zheng. I was hoping that I can get something valuable here!" Li Lang immediately shouted.

As both of them were chatting, Lin Huang instructed Bloody again, "Bloody, please check it out."

Bloody then released dots of purple lights that spread into the ruins.

Just when they were waiting for the results of Bloody's investigation, Yi Zheng walked towards one of the walls of the ruins. As he put pressure on the wall, a hole was instantly formed. The place where Yi Zheng had touched with his fingers was crushed, turning into sand.

Yi Yeyu then went over and asked, "Can you determine the exact year of the foothold?"

"As it has weathered to this extent, the foothold must have existed for at least 500 years or even longer." Yi Zheng could only make a rough estimation.

"Division 7 has only been developed for about 300 years…" Yi Yeyu was dumbfounded.

After a short while, they obtained the results of Bloody's investigation. In the ruins, many monsters were gathered. Three floors under the ground, there was a chief-level monster that was fast asleep in the storehouse which made up the most significant area.

"A chief-level monster? What's its rank?" Lin Huang immediately asked Bloody when he heard the news about it.

"From the aura, its combat level can't be exceeding immortal-level rank-3." Lin Huang was relieved after listening to Bloody's reply.

"Alright, Bloody has confirmed that there are many holy fire-level monsters in the ruins as well as an immortal-level," Lin Huang shared the results of Bloody's investigation.

"There's an immortal-level?!" Four pairs of pupils dilated when they heard about the immortal-level.

"Let's explore another place." Li Lang wanted to retreat.

"An immortal-level… That's troublesome indeed." Leng Yuexin frowned.

Yi Yeyu then looked at Yi Zheng. "Are you confident about defeating an immortal-level?"

"I barely managed to kill the immortal-level rank-1. I'm unable to kill those on rank-2 or higher." Yi Zheng shrugged his shoulders and looked at Lin Huang. "Can you determine the rank of the immortal-level monster?"

"It can't be higher than rank-3." After Lin Huang finished his words, all of them remained silent. Lin Huang then continued, "I'll kill it."

"Are you sure?" Yi Zheng took a glance at Lancelot before asking Lin Huang.

"Yes." Lin Huang nodded.

"How confident are you?"

"I'm 100% positive," Lin Huang answered dauntlessly.

"This is not the time for heroics. How confident are you?" Yi Yeyu frowned and repeated Yi Zheng's question.

"100% positive!" Lin Huang gave the same answer.

"Lin Huang, if you fail to kill the monster, all of us will have to die here. Stop fooling around!" Yi Yeyu stared at Lin Huang with a serious expression.

"Don't worry. It's not my first time killing an immortal-level rank-3." Lin Huang had no choice but to reveal one of his small secrets.

"Are you really that amazing!?"Li Lang stared at Lin Huang with eyes wide open.

The four of them knew Lin Huang very well. They knew that he would not put their lives at risk. However, they were shocked to hear that.

"Let Lancelot take the lead. We'll work together with it and clear all the monsters."

Lin Huang did not intend to reveal Bloody's parasitic abilities since its ability to manipulate a battle was rather terrifying. It was also one of Lin Huang's trump cards. Although he had faith in Yi Yeyu and the rest of them, the trump card was something too personal. Unless he had no other choice, he would not easily reveal it to the others.

"Lancelot, try not to use a large amount of your Life Power. The usual attack will do. We'll handle the remaining monsters. Minimize the use of your Life Power and save it for the ultimate warrior," Lin Huang instructed Lancelot. It would not bode well if Leng Yuexin and the rest did not get to kill a single monster. He could not let them follow Lancelot and lament about how powerful it was.

"Do I need to summon the Sword Servant? The servants will kill the weak monsters, and I'll be able to save my Life Power," Lancelot suggested. Apparently, he wanted to clear all the monsters on its own and did not want to miss out on any of them.

"There's no need to do so. Just make some random kills, and we'll do the rest," Lin Huang rejected its suggestion.

"Alright." Lancelot did not say any other thing. It lifted its legs and strode into the ruins.

The five of them immediately followed after it.

Most of the regions of the war foothold had collapsed. The walls and the ceilings that had disintegrated sealed many of the places off, resulting in dimming the whole ruins.

As Lin Huang and the rest entered, they started sizing up their surroundings.

The wall of the room was covered with moss and poisonous mushrooms of various colors that grew in the corner of the wall. There was the occasional grass that occasionally appeared on the ground, and the leaves rustled as the wind blew past, reminding them that they were not in an entirely dead world.

Lancelot followed after Bloody, leading them towards the entrance of the underground.

Earlier, Bloody had checked the buildings that had collapsed to ensure that there was no presence of monsters. However, Lancelot, Lin Huang and the rest were still being careful as they walked through the place.

On their way, they saw more small plants and fungus. Aside from that, they found nothing.

After walking along the path that Bloody detected for five to six minutes, they finally arrived at the entrance of the underground.

The entrance looked like a straight path that would lead them to the well of the underground. However, the area of the opening was much larger than the well as it had a diameter of about five meters.

Rust covered the metal staircase at the entrance. Fortunately, they were not going to use that.

Lancelot was the first one that jumped through the entrance, and soon, Lin Huang and the rest followed after it.

When their feet touched the ground after a while, Lin Huang looked upwards. The underground cave was at least hundreds of meters deep.

However, Lin Huang soon noticed that something was wrong.

Previously, when he was underground, he could not detect anything with his Territory skill as if something had blocked it. However, his detection abilities had recovered although he was underground now. He could sense that within the region of his territory, apart from Yi Yeyu and the rest, there was the presence of other creatures.

Lancelot could sense whatever Lin Huang could as the detection radius that its Sword Territory could cover was similar to Lin Huang's Territory.

"It's so smelly!" Yi Yeyu mumbled softly and quickly pinched her nose a second later after her feet touched the ground.

Yi Zheng and the rest were on high alert. Despite not possessing a territorial talent and not being able to detect the presence of the monsters, the pungent smell was apparently due to the excretion of the monsters. This indicated that the monsters in the underground were still alive. If those monsters had died, the smell would have disappeared after hundreds of years.

There was a long corridor that had a diameter similar to that of the well. They frowned seeing the muddy and wet ground. They immediately floated up to a distance of a few centimeters away from the ground to avoid their shoes from getting dirty.

Lancelot did not mind at all and took a step forward. As its feet touched the mud on the ground, it squished and echoed in the darkness.

Lin Huang and the rest followed after it. Aside from Lin Huang, all of them summoned their relics and got ready for a fight.

As they walked along the corridor, they soon arrived at the first room in the underground.

The room was at least 1,000 square meters large and had a ceiling of about 10 meters tall. Within the region that Lin Huang's Territory covered, there were more than hundreds of holy fire-level monsters. A minority of them was awoken by Lancelot's footstep, and they peered curiously at them.

"Are they Bloodthirsty Corpses?" Yi Yeyu asked.

"Yes. Bloodthirsty Corpses can be easily identified as they have very fair skin which causes their greenish-purple veins to be rather apparent. The veins on their arms and legs that look like tattoos can be seen at first glance. Other than that, their bodies are deformed to a certain extent due to the side effects of demonification. The characteristics on their face are obvious as well. Their eyes tend to glow bright green in the darkness. Besides, they have sharp teeth which are similar to canine teeth of carnivores…" Lin Huang gave a brief scientific explanation. "One thing that is different from the Cavernous Devil that we encountered earlier is that it has a very sensitive sense of smell. Even if we didn't make any noise, the Bloodthirsty Corpses that are asleep would wake up if they smell the aura of living beings."

After finishing his words, many of the Bloodthirsty Corpses that were asleep seemed to have sensed their auras and gradually opened their eyes, looking in their direction.

Before Lin Huang could even instruct him, a dark red sword appeared in Lancelot's hand.

As it swung its sword, it penetrated through the heads of the Bloodthirsty Corpses that were about to attack from hundreds of meters away. Before the rest could react to it, Lancelot had started a one-sided killing spree.

Each time it brandished its sword, the head of four to five Bloodthirsty Corpses that were within its Territory would explode without any trace. With every step forward, there would be at least ten monsters that were killed by its sword.

Yi Zheng and the rest were shocked at the scene in front of them, and they were still immersed in their thoughts even after a while.

Lin Huang was speechless as well. Obviously, Lancelot was not going to miss any of its targets.

"Is that the Territory skill?!" Yi Zheng was the first one to recover from his thoughts and discovered the skill which Lancelot was using.

Lin Huang nodded his head helplessly.

"It seems like we don't need to fight." Leng Yuexin seemed to be upset as she had no chance to fight the monsters.

"Lin Huang, where did you obtain such a summoning monster? I'd like to seal a monster like this with my monster taming token." Li Lang salivated over the possibility of that.

"You're overthinking. There's only one monster like this that exists in the world." Lin Huang shook his head. "I don't have the energy to train another monster like this."

"Isn't it the triple mutated monster that Mr. Fu caught for you?" Yi Yeyu asked curiously.

"No, I caught it on my own. It had just gone through its first mutation when it's caught," Lin Huang explained.

The four of them instantly kept quiet. Although they did not have a thorough understanding of the job scope of the Imperial Censor, even Reserve Hunters knew that it was challenging for a monster to go through a mutation even only once. A lot of resources and time were needed for training. Therefore, most of the strong Imperial Censors would capture an already triple mutated monster. They had no idea how much effort was required to train a mutated monster into a triple mutated one. This was also the reason why Lin Huang had said that there was only one such in the world.

In the underground room, despite Lancelot not activating its ultimate skill, its performance was terrifying.

As covered its Territory, it seemed like none of the monsters was able to approach Lin Huang and the rest of them. They were at least hundreds of meters away from them. Regardless of which direction the monsters were coming from, as long as it thrust its sword forward, the monsters were instantly killed.

In less than three minutes, it wiped out hundreds of holy fire-level Bloodthirsty Corpses. Lin Huang and the rest became its cheerleaders again.

The blood of the Bloodthirsty Corpse had medicinal value. Therefore, their carcasses were valuable. Lin Huang started collecting the dead bodies.

While he was collecting the carcasses, Bloody chose few of the strongest Bloodthirsty Corpses and completed its parasitizing process. It also retrieved their memories from their brains.

After collecting the carcasses, Lancelot stopped and was about to continue their journey. Yi Zheng, who was standing next to them, finally said, "Let us take the lead and the both of you can follow after us. Otherwise, there's nothing for us to play with."

Lancelot then looked at Lin Huang in doubt.

"Why are you looking at me? You ate the meat without saving the soup for them. Let's back the rear up." Lin Huang grinned, shaking his head.

Lancelot then slowed down so that Yi Zheng and the rest could overtake them before he followed after them.

"There are three floors underground. On the first floor, there are 16 rooms that are similar to the first room we entered, and each room is occupied with hundreds of holy fire-level monsters. On the second floor, there are 12 rooms with holy fire-level monsters that are even stronger. Basically, they are on blue and purple flame-level. There are fewer monsters over there as there are 30 to 50 monsters in each room. On the third floor, which is also the lowest floor, there are two big storehouses. The first storehouse contains four gold flame-level monsters whereas there's an immortal-level monster in the second storehouse…"

Lin Huang gave brief introduction according to the information he obtained from Bloody. He then continued, "Let's start from the first floor. Kill all the monsters in each room and go further down. If we do so, when we're going to kill the last immortal-level monster, it won't have any backup. If the monsters aren't all cleared, we might be hindered during the process of killing it."

The four of them nodded in agreement.

Soon, they reached the second room. As they stepped into the room, the monsters pounced on them without a moment's hesitation.

"Damn! What's that!? It's moving so quickly!" Li Lang immediately dodged the attack with his spear as a monster almost struck him.

Yi Zheng brandished his sword supreme relic and attacked a few of the monsters that came after him.

At this moment, Leng Yuexin and Yi Yeyu who were standing behind them, joined the fight.

Lancelot turned its head and looked at Lin Huang. Although it did not say anything, Lin Huang knew what it wanted to ask.

"If you join the battle, they won't have any fun. Let's kill the monsters that they missed." Lin Huang did not intend to fight, and he put his hands in his pockets.

Lancelot turned back and looked at the four of them who were fighting helplessly. However, it did not have the chance to attack.

The monsters in the second room were Blind Apes. Their appearance was similar to apes, and they were just as agile as well. There was green fur all over their bodies. However, their eyesight had deteriorated entirely. They could only rely on sound waves released to identify a situation and hunt for their prey.

Blind Apes would level up to holy fire-level by default when they reached adulthood. Under normal circumstances, the highest level that they could achieve would be blue flame-level. It would be tough for them to get to levels higher than that. The monsters had strong limbs, a rapid attack speed, and immense strength. They preferred to live in groups. Typically, those who were on gold flame-level would not want to offend them.

There were almost 200 Blind Ape in the second room. Under normal circumstances, those below immortal-level would not provoke this kind of monster. However, Yi Zheng and the rest were going to provoke a faceoff.

Among the four of them, Yi Zheng was the most formidable as he was on purple flame-level. He was followed by Leng Yuexin, who was a blue flame-level. Yi Yeyu and Li Lang were on crimson flame-level. Although they were not stronger than the Blind Apes, as they fought against the monsters together, they managed to defend themselves against the attack of hundreds of Blind Apes. Aside from the fact that they had taken advantage of the supreme relics, this indicated that the four of them had extraordinary abilities.

However, they could soon feel the pressure coming from the monster horde.

"These monsters are moving too quickly!" Li Lang grumbled. He was using a long spear which compromised his agility. As they fought the monsters together, he only barely managed to defend against them. Whenever he wanted to perform a counterattack, the Blind Ape would have retreated. After a couple of minutes, only a few of the monsters were injured by his attack, but none of them died. His face was dismal.

Yi Yeyu was not in any better condition than him though. She only managed to kill three monsters after a few minutes. Watching Leng Yuexin's performance, she felt annoyed.

Leng Yuexin's performance was much better as she had completed level-2 Sword Dao and could possibly achieve level-3 anytime. In fact, the speed of her sword was much faster. It somehow gave people the illusion that it was slow, causing many Blind Apes to be killed by her.

Yi Zheng was the strongest as he managed to kill a Blind Ape each time he slashed his sword. He never missed any of them. Within a few minutes, he had killed about 50 monsters, which were more than the total number of monsters killed by Leng Yuexin and the other two.

It seemed like Yi Yeyu had been triggered by Leng Yuexin and Yi Zheng as she was suddenly flipping out. Red flames were gushing out crazily from her blade that was already blood red. In an instant, a few of the Blind Apes surrounding her were drawn into the flames. The Blind Apes that were shrouded in flames started growling from the pain they suffered. However, their growls lasted for less than five seconds before they stopped. The red flames then disappeared, and the Blind Apes had utterly turned into ashes.

"The temperature of the flames is scary!"

The power of Yi Yeyu's flames surpassed Lin Huang's expectations. Even Lancelot that was standing aside fixed a nervous glance at the blade.

Soon after, it seemed like Yi Yeyu was not going to hide her abilities. She waved her sword that was covered in flames. The Blind Apes that were tainted by the flames were burnt in an instant even though only their fur was tainted with the spark. The monsters that she had killed were no weaker than her. The power of her flames was incredibly potent.

On the other hand, Li Lang frowned. Seeing the three of them so mighty and his lack of progress, he felt stressed. The long spear that he was holding became longer and bigger, transforming into its second state. The spear that was originally 1.5 meters long and 5 centimeters thick was transformed into a massive spear that measured more than three meters long. Aside from the tip of the spear, it looked exactly like a large blunt blade.

Initially, it was a one-handed spear. However, it had now evolved into a two-handed spear. After the supreme relic had changed its state, there was a significant change in its weight.

Several Blind Apes pounced on Li Lang again and attacked him. However, Li Lang fought back, thrusting his spear forward. When his spear touched the Blind Apes, the cracking sound of the bones was immediately heard. The apes were flung away as they were attacked by Li Lang and were smashed against the wall. Nobody knew if they were alive or dead.

"He has improved like mad!" Seeing Li Lang's performance, Lin Huang nodded in satisfaction.

The team of four could easily pin down all the monsters as Yi Yeyu and Li Lang showed off their abilities.

Previously, Lancelot had been wielding a spear in its hand as it got ready to fight. However, when it saw what had happened, it had no choice but to put its sword away. It then continued watching the battle.

Soon, the four of them had wiped out about 200 of the Blind Apes. None of the monsters survived.

Yi Zheng and the rest started collecting the carcasses. The voice box in the Blind Ape's throat was a unique type of biological material which many laboratories were looking for.

Lancelot was upset as it did not get a chance to fight.

"Now you know how it feels? Previously, you killed all the monsters alone, and the others could only be your cheerleaders." Lin Huang laughed teasingly at Lancelot.

Lancelot kept quiet as it finally understood why Lin Huang had asked it to let the rest to kill the monsters that it missed.

"After cleaning up, let's proceed to the next room!" Lin Huang shouted at Yi Zheng and the rest while patting Lancelot's shoulder jovially.

Four hours later, Lin Huang and his posse cleared all the monsters in 16 of the rooms on the first floor. From the second room onwards, it basically became their show time as Lancelot would only help them out occasionally.

Most of the monsters on the first floor were below blue-flame level. One to two blue flame-level monsters would only appear once in a while and barely provided a challenge to them.

After Yi Yeyu and Li Lang showed off their abilities, Leng Yuexin and Yi Zheng started fighting freely.

Leng Yuexin's Sword Dao was utterly different from that of Yi Yeyu's as it was of the ice element. If she showed her elemental powers, the speed of the monsters would be affected. In addition to the terrifying Sword Dao that she possessed, she could handle her sword fluidly like flowing water.

Yi Zheng's Sword Dao belonged to the wind element. The level of his Sword Dao was on par with Leng Yuexin's. However, his sword realm was completely different. It could launch a swift and fierce attack with a horrifying killing rate. Each time he brandished his sword, the effect of the attack would never be rendered useless.

Lancelot finally found something interesting while watching the battle among the few of them, fixing its gaze on Yi Zheng, Leng Yuexin, and Yi Yeyu. Although the level of its sword realm was much higher than the three of them, it could still learn something new from them.

"It's not a problem for Yi Zheng and Leng Yuexin's Sword Dao to achieve level-3 before they get to the immortal-level," Lin Huang secretly evaluated their performance. Since he now possessed a level-3 Sword Dao which was also called the Pinnacle level, he could easily identify their accomplishments in Sword Dao.

He then shifted his gaze towards Li Lang and Yi Yeyu. He knew that aside from a few of the killing skills that Li Lang had not used, he had basically done his best. Most of the monsters that Lancelot destroyed were monsters that he had missed.

However, Yi Yeyu was in greater trouble. Although she had a fast attack speed and could even be compared to Leng Yuexin's quickness, her attack was too dependent on the flames in her body. This would suppress the development of her Sword Dao to a certain extent, and it was not beneficial in the long run. If this continued, Yi Yeyu would be able to trounce the weak monsters. However, she would be quickly killed by the strong ones, especially those that were immune to elements.

"We've killed all the monsters on the first floor. Let's take a break and have some snacks. The fight on the second floor will be more difficult," Lin Huang suggested after the last battle on the first floor where they had cleared all the monsters.

Yi Zheng took a look at the time and shook his head. "It's already two o'clock now! Four hours have passed!"

"I didn't even notice that." Li Lang lowered his head to confirm the time. "It was shocking how time flew by so fast!"

They exited the room that was full of blood stains and returned to the clean corridor. They then took out their snacks. They had dried meat and dried vegetables as snacks. Yi Yeyu saw that Lin Huang did not give any food to Lancelot, so she gave a piece of dried meat to it.

Lancelot then turned its head back and looked at Lin Huang, asking for his approval. Lin Huang nodded and said, "Take it. You may have a try."

Lancelot then accepted the dried meat from Yi Yeyu. When it moved its index finger, it cut a small piece of it and tossed it into its mouth. After munching on it, it gave the remaining to Lin Huang. "It doesn't taste good."

"Alright…" Lin Huang had no choice but to take the piece of dried meat. He had never fed Lancelot before. Therefore, he had no idea what Lancelot preferred to eat.

Yi Yeyu was upset when she heard Lancelot's comment. However, it was just a summoning monster, so she could not do anything to it. She could only shoot Lin Huang a deadly stare.

Lin Huang then took a bite of the dried meat that Lancelot had given him. After a few bites, he nodded his head at Yi Yeyu and remarked, "It's quite delicious. Perhaps something is wrong with its taste buds."

Lin Huang then gave Lancelot some dried vegetables. Lancelot hesitated for a while as it supposed it should reject human food after giving the dried meat a try. However, it felt that because Lin Huang was its master, it was inappropriate to do so. It then accepted it.

Again, it cut a small piece of the dried vegetable and put it into its mouth. After a few bites, its blue eyes glowed in delight. "It's delicious!"

It then put all the vegetables left in its mouth. After finishing them, Lancelot turned to look at Lin Huang. Although there was no expression on his metal helmet, Lin Huang knew that he had fallen in love with vegetables just by examining his pair of blue eyes.

"It likes eating vegetables…" Lin Huang mumbled to himself. At the same time, he took out a packet of dried vegetables from his storage space and gave it to Lancelot. "It's all yours."

The stony, cold expression on its face immediately disappeared as it gorged on the vegetables. It looked like a kid that had been starved for many years and had just seen delicious grilled meat.

"Why didn't you tell me that he likes vegetables?" Yi Yeyu stared at Lin Huang again.

"You gave it meat without asking," Lin Huang answered. However, a thought ran through his mind. "How I would know what it likes to eat? I've never fed it."

"Hmph!" Yi Yeyu growled with a pout and ignored Lin Huang.

As Lin Huang was chewing on his third piece of dried meat, Lancelot had already finished the whole packet of dried vegetables. Even the small morsels of dried vegetables in the empty packet had been cleaned up. Until it was sure that nothing was left in the packet, it turned to peer at Lin Huang.

"I don't have many packets of dried vegetables left. You finished the whole packet in just a short while. We're going to stay in the ruins for a month. There won't be enough dried vegetables for you if you eat at the speed at which you do!" Lin Huang was speechless.

"So petty! You don't even want to feed it dried vegetables," Yi Yeyu mumbled and took out another pack of dried vegetables for Lancelot. "I have some with me! Eat mine!"

Lancelot did not accept it. Instead, it looked at Lin Huang expectantly again.

"Take it. I only bought a few packets of the dried vegetables." Lin Huang shook his head helplessly.

Since Lin Huang had granted permission, Lancelot then took the packet of dried vegetables from Yi Yeyu. However, after learning that the supply of the dried vegetables was limited, it ate at a rather slow speed.

Leng Yuexin and the rest could not stand watching its plight and gave it their dried vegetables.

Seeing that Lancelot holding four packets of dried vegetables, Lin Huang found it humorous. He then extended his hand and said, "Give three packets to me. You should just take one."

Lancelot hesitated for a while when it heard what Lin Huang said.

"You even know how to save the food for yourself!" Lin Huang chuckled, "I'll keep it for you. They're all yours."

Lancelot then gave three packets of the dried vegetables to Lin Huang unwillingly.

The four of them simmered with laughter as they saw this.

They had finished their snacks and Lancelot had finished half of its second pack of dried vegetables.

"Alright, it's time to work." After resting for about half an hour, the five of them were prepared to go to the second floor.

Lancelot had stopped eating. As it realized that Lin Huang was staring at the half packet of dried vegetables that it was holding, it hid the snack behind its body as if it was not going to give it to Lin Huang.

Seeing its aggrieved expression, Lin Huang did not demand it back. Instead, he smiled, shaking his head. He then turned around, leading the team to enter the second floor. "Let's proceed to the second floor!"

The entrance to the second floor was situated in one of the rooms that they had cleaned out. To be accurate, it was in the eighth room that they had cleared about two hours ago.

After cleaning up all the 16 rooms, the five of them returned to the entrance to the second floor underground.

The staircase was different from the first one as they were made of stone.

As they went down the stairs, they found out that not only were there scratches on the staircase but also on the walls beside the staircase. The scratches were of different depths. That being said, they seemed to be made by various monsters.

Seeing the scratches, Yi Yeyu frowned. "It seems like many monsters appear over here."

"Many of them are new. It's obvious that these scratches have been made within three days," Yi Zheng added, "This indicates that the monsters go out often to hunt for food."

"Most likely, that's the reason. It seems like all the monsters that we encounter in the ruins are nocturnal, and they'll possibly hunt for food in a group at night," Leng Yuexin further analyzed.

Their analysis was precisely what Lin Huang wanted them to find out for themselves as he could not explicitly tell Yi Zheng and the rest that about the monsters hunting for food at night.

He had gotten this information from Bloody as it had retrieved the memory of the monsters. Lin Huang could not explain the source of the information as he had told them earlier that he had never been to the ruins. He would be contradicting himself if he told them about it.

However, since they had guessed that the monsters would hunt for food at night, Lin Huang added, "It seems possible that all the monsters in the ruins are nocturnal. That's why we didn't encounter a single monster during the daytime.

"There's also the existence of the chief-level monster in the ruins, which means that this is at least a 3-star ruins. There's certainly the presence of other chief-level monsters. If our guess is correct, the ruins will be extremely dangerous at night!"

Because they had come up with their own inference, Lin Huang then concluded based on the facts that he already knew. However, he kept it secret that they were at least in a 4-star ruin.

Their faces turned grave after listening to what Lin Huang said.

"If the monsters appear in the 3-star ruins at night, it'll be very dangerous." Yi Zheng fretted.

"However, we shouldn't overthink. Let's kill the monsters before night falls. We'll be in great trouble if we are surrounded by the monsters at night," Lin Huang reminded them what they had to do now.

As reminded by Lin Huang, Yi Zheng came up with a plan. "Regardless of whether we made the right guess, we'll have to clear all the monsters here. We're at a depth of more than hundreds of meters, and there's an aura from the monsters everywhere. They'll be able to cover our aura. The main thing is that there's only one entrance which has a diameter of five meters. They can hardly attack us. If hordes of monsters do really appear at night, this place is ten times safer than places that are larger. Even if the monsters manage to squeeze through the entrance, the number of monsters will be limited, and we'll be able to defend against their attack…"

The rest of them soon noticed the importance of them clearing the monsters in the ruins. They snapped out of their thoughts and became serious.

Lin Huang felt relieved as he was wondering how he should tell them that the monsters in the ruins would appear at night and that it would be the safest for them to hide in the ruins. He did not expect that everything would turn out well just as he wished.

In less than two minutes after they had finished their conversation, they arrived on the second floor of the ruins.

There was a long corridor at the end of the stairs. There was no need for Lin Huang to show them the way as Yi Zheng and the rest saw that on the left-hand side of the corridor, there was an entrance to the first room.

Still, Lancelot and Lin Huang brought up the rear while Yi Zheng and the rest rushed into the room.

In the first room on the second floor underground, the sleeping Bat Demons were awoken by the four of them as they entered.

The Bat Demon was a type of demon with a black or greyish-black body. It had a falcon-like head and a human body structure. Without looking at its head and wings, it looked exactly like bodybuilders in the human world. Bat Demons were very muscular, but they had a dark skin tone. However, they were different from humans as their feet and palms were agile. They could fully support their body with their feet and hang upside down while they were sleeping. Besides that, they would also cover their whole body with their wings. While a group of Bat Demons was sleeping, people would think that they were black hanging ceiling lamps.

However, the "ceiling lamps" woke up as Yi Zheng and the rest entered.

Upon realizing that the monsters were Bat Demons, their faces turned grave. Although there were only 50 to 60 of the Bat Demons and the number of monsters was lesser than those on the first floor underground, their abilities were incomparable to the Bat Demons'.

Most of the Bat Demons were on blue flame-level after becoming adults. Some of the talented ones could even get to purple flame-level. Their combat strength alone surpassed the monsters on the first floor.

Besides, the Bat Demon could fly, and they were skilled at performing short flights. The Blind Apes that Lin Huang and the rest had encountered on the first floor were extremely agile monsters. However, the Bat Demon was way nimbler than the Blind Ape.

Aside from that, the Bat Demons did not build those muscles for fun. This type of monster had immense strength. The strength of the blue flame-level was on par with purple flame-levels. As for those that were on purple flame-level, they would definitely be able to fight gold flame-level monsters with their power. That being said, it was a type of monster that possessed all speed, strength, and agility.

At almost the same time as the four of them rushed into the room, a few of the Bat Demon pounced on them.

Leng Yuexin immediately activated her ice element whereas Yi Zheng brandished his sword. However, there were still two of the Bat Demons that went after Yi Yeyu and Li Lang.

Both of them could not block the two Bat Demon's actions in time, and they could only dodge their attack.

Bang! Bang!

The loud thuds were heard at almost the same time. Soon after, two shadows were blown out of the room, smashing against the wall on the corridor. In an instant, two big cracks that looked like spider webs appeared on the wall, forming an indent in it.

Unexpectedly, Yi Yeyu and Li Lang were the ones smashed against the wall.

Just as the two Bat Demons were about to pounce on them and continue attacking, Lancelot appeared, standing in front of both of them. It was using a single-handed sword, slashing its sword down on the Bat Demons. They were instantly killed, and their black blood splattered all over the place. Lancelot put its left hand that was still holding the packet of dried vegetables behind its body as it was afraid that it might stain its precious food with blood.

"Ahem!" Li Lang coughed as he got up from the indent on the wall. As he patted the dust from his body, he said, "Dirty tricks. He gets me with a sneak attack. I'm just not ready for the fight yet!"

Yi Yeyu's face turned grave, keeping quiet. However, her body was emitting red flames. Not only was her sword surrounded by flames, but her whole body was also burning. Apparently, she was angry.

When she got out of the wall, Yi Yeyu gradually walked towards the room. With every step forward, the flames on her body became more intense…

Lin Huang had already known from early on that the flames in Yi Yeyu's body were of a high level. When they were at the Volcanic Hell, he had witnessed her physique almost being able to pin down all the fire element monsters. However, as he watched Yi Yeyu fight with her flames once more, he had a completely different feeling this time.

Shrouded in flames, Yi Yeyu looked like a burning goddess. Even if the Bat Demon had not touched her sword, they would still get instantly engulfed by the flames if they even had a slight contact with her burning body and turn into ashes.

Although Yi Yeyu's combat strength was just at the crimson flame-level while most of the Bat Demons were at the blue or purple flame-level, none of them was excluded. Anyone of them who had come into contact with Yi Yeyu's body would be turned into ashes within moments.

The flame attacks grew more and more aggressive compared to what Yi Yeyu had shown them on the first floor.

Yi Zheng, Leng Yuexin, and Li Lang were shocked at the scene they just witnessed. Afraid that they would be harmed by her flames, they distanced themselves from her.

"The flames are too fierce. Even gold flame-level monsters would be instantly killed by those flames." Lin Huang felt that Yi Yeyu was like an unconquerable lighter, being able to ignite anything at her whim and burn them to ashes. There was no need for her to fight as she was invincible even when standing still. "I wonder if such an effect works on those at the immortal-level."

As soon as few of the Bat Demons got burned to death, the rest of the Bat Demons gave up on their attacks against Yi Yeyu. Instead, they began to attack Yi Zheng and the rest.

However, Yi Yeyu noticed that the Bat Demons were avoiding her and attempted to attack them with her sword. However, it was rendered useless. She then put her sword away and created a red flaming whip with her Life Power.

Yi Yeyu's whip attack could cover a large area. Beams of red light appeared in the air as her flaming whip flashed through. Despite the fact that the Bat Demons had terrifying speed, they could hardly dodge all the attacks. Many of them were hit by her whip and soon, they were burned to ashes.

As Yi Yeyu waved her whip, a look of excitement could be seen on her face. It was then that Lin Huang vaguely felt that she had made the wrong choice when she chose the Sword Dao. It seemed like a whip suited her rather well.

It had become a one-sided battle in the first room after Yi Yeyu unleashed her skill. It took them about ten minutes to end the battle and more than fifty of the Bat Demons were killed.

The muscle fibers of the Bat Demons could be sold to many biological firms at a good price.

Unfortunately, only a few of the carcasses were in a good condition. Yi Zheng and the rest collected the remaining ten carcasses and put them away.

"Let's go to the next room." Lin Huang nodded his head at Lancelot after they had finished cleaning up.

After she had vented her anger with the attacks, the flames around Yi Yeyu's body disappeared and her expression returned to normal.

"I'd suggest for you to minor in the whip." Lin Huang suggested while walking along the corridor.

"Are you trying to imply that I'm not talented enough in the Sword Dao?" Yi Yeyu glared at Lin Huang."

"I didn't mean that. Since you can't become a gunmaster, you can overcome your weakness in ranged attacks with the whip. You're quite talented with the whip." Lin Huang explained.

Yi Zheng coughed as if he wanted to interrupt their conversation.

Yi Yeyu then raised her head and stared at Yi Zheng. She then explained, "To be honest, I really liked using the whip when I was younger. However, my father and brother told me that it would be hard to marry me off if I chose the whip as my main weapon so they forced me to take a major in sword skills."

'Would it be hard to marry you off if you use a whip?' Soon, a man who was being tied appeared in Lin Huang's mind and a woman in leather whipped him. 'Could that be the reason?'

"That's just prejudice. Females have the right to choose any weapon they prefer. The Rose Demigod is an exception. There are many women who use whips as a weapon before the Rose Demigod. If it wasn't a problem then, why would you say that using a whip is a problem seeing that this only seemed to happen to her?" Leng Yuexin said. It was what she wanted to tell Yi Zheng.

"The Rose Demigod?" Lin Huang had no idea who she was.

Bloody seemed to have sensed what Lin Huang was thinking and immediately explained to him.

"The Rose Demigod is a female demigod that existed more than 500 years ago. She was powerful and her weapons were two whips laced with poisonous thorns. More than 500 years ago, her husband was caught in bed with another woman. Her husband and his lover were whipped into mincemeat and after that incident passed, she became mentally ill. Following that, she would often gather information about married couples and whenever she found someone who was having an affair, they would bear the brunt of her whip. This terrified the people in the core zone."

"The president of the Union in Division 2 was found to be cheating on his partner as well. She attacked him in public but she faced attacks from others and fled before becoming insane. It took her several years to get in league with the monsters beyond the safe zone as they prepared an apocalypse-grade monster horde with the intention to destroy the entire Division 2."

"There were 16 demigod-level monsters and more than a dozen billions of monsters that joined the monster horde with most of the monsters in the safe zone joining them as well. With that, they managed to almost wipe out the entire Division 2 in a single night. Thanks to the backup team from Division 3 and Division 1, they managed to prevent Division 2 from getting destroyed."

"Although the Rose Demigod killed the president of the Union, she didn't leave the battleground after she was exhausted and was killed by another demigod. Although it has already ended, humans still avoided using the whip as a weapon after hundreds of years, especially for females who intend on majoring in the whip."

After listening to Bloody's explanation, Lin Huang knew that he had misunderstood the matter.

Yi Zheng was speechless that Leng Yuexin supported Yi Yeyu. Although he knew that his understanding was inaccurate, he was still on his father's side and advised Yi Yeyu to give up her intentions to learn the whip.

"That's discrimination toward women. If women shouldn't learn to use whips just because of the trouble created by Rose Demigod, why aren't the men prohibited from using swords after the Sword Maniac incident? Instead, the number of men who use sword has doubled after the incident." Leng Yuexin hated double standards.

Yi Zheng remained silent as he knew that he was in the wrong.

Li Lang who was standing next to them dared not interrupt them as he was not close to them.

Since Lin Huang majored in the sword, he knew very well about the Sword Maniac incident.

More than 400 years ago, a person named Sword Maniac was said to have the most powerful weapon in the world. He always held a black sword in his hand and challenged people from various places.

He challenged most of the people who were not using swords from Division 3 to Division 1 and none could defeat him.

Once he discovered that he was invincible, Sword Maniac went out of his mind. He went to the forbidden area in Division 3 and broke its seal, releasing hordes of monsters that had been sealed more than 800 years ago. He even fought against the first generation protoss for seven days and seven nights before eventually dying of exhaustion.

His insane actions had brought a great disaster to Division 3. It was then that the people said that the only reason they were able to suppress the first generation monsters was with divine help.

However, none of them suggested prohibiting the use of swords after the Sword Maniac incident. Instead, the number of people who were training with swords grew.

While he was being told the story about strong men in the past, Lin Huang felt that there were countless madmen in this world that would simply put their lives at risk.

"It's fine. I simply wanted to give a suggestion. What you guys are arguing about?" Seeing the situation becoming awkward, Lin Huang immediately jumped in. "Nobody cares much about that nowadays. There are many of them who use whips in the arena. Yeyu, you can still train in the whip if you want to do so. However, it'll take you some time to learn it. If you don't want to learn the whip, you can minor in other things."

The rest of them merely kept quiet for a moment. As they reached the end of the corridor, they turned right at the T-junction and soon arrived at the second monster room.

The monsters in the second room on the second underground floor were the Bladefoot Worms.

The monsters looked like praying mantes. However, they had six pairs of long legs. Four of their hind limbs under their abdomen possessed an incredible jumping ability and grip which allowed them to climb anywhere. They would attack with eight of their forelimbs and each of them was as sharp as a sword, even comparable to an expert-grade relic.

Most insects would have a blind spot on their back. However, the Bladefoot Worm did not have any. Even if somebody attacked them from the back, they would be able to twist their bladefeet to defend against the attacks. They could twist like a professional yogi.

One of the abilities of the Bladefoot Worms that were often neglected was their wings. The pair of wings on their back were actually bladed wings that had a sharpness that was on par with their bladefeet. To be precise, there were not only eight blades on their body, there were ten of them instead. Many of the hunters were deceived by its name and were killed by their wings.

It was a monster that had speed, explosive power, and an incredible killing ability on their side.

The body of the adult Bladefoot Worm measured a length of about five meters with most of them on the blue flame-level. A small minority of their population managed to achieve the purple flame-level and were one of the top predators among monsters of the same level. Put simply, their personal abilities were a rank higher than their actual rank.

The moment Yi Zheng and the rest saw that the monsters in the second room were Bladefoot Worms, their faces turned grave.

This was especially so for Li Lang because he knew that it would be difficult for him to kill even a single monster like that.

"Xiao Yu, Xiao Li, be careful." Yi Zheng reminded both of them. Unlike the Bat Demons, they might be killed if the Bladefoot Worm's attack struck them.

Lin Huang and Lancelot were standing behind four of them looking relaxed. They were not interested in such monsters.

"Lin Huang, be careful. Ask your summoning monster to pay attention to the other monsters since they're exceedingly fast." Leng Yuexin was unsure of Lin Huang's abilities so she frowned as she reminded him. She was curious as to why Yi Zheng did not remind Lin Huang about this. She then thought that it could be that Yi Zheng was of the opinion that Lancelot was strong enough to protect Lin Huang.

In fact, Yi Zheng felt that even if Lin Huang was weaker than him, he would not that much weaker since they had done battle before Lin Huang leveled-up to the holy fire-level. Yi Yeyu was one of the members in the audience of that battle and she knew how strong Lin Huang could be. As for Li Lang, he had earlier witnessed Lin Huang's abilities at the Volcanic Hell and had no idea how much stronger Lin Huang could be but there was one thing he knew for sure — Lin Huang was much stronger than him. Leng Yuexin was the only one who had yet to witness Lin Huang's abilities during the time when he was still at the complete gold-level. This was the reason she was worried about him.

"Don't worry. Lancelot won't let the monsters to come near me." Lin Huang answered with a smile, without further explanation. He then told Yi Yeyu and Li Lang, "Yeyu, Old Li, be the doorkeeper. Don't go too far."

Li Lang knew that he was not strong enough and dared not enter rashly.

Yi Yeyu was reluctant to do so as she wanted to activate her flames again. However, she knew that the effect of her flames would not be similar to what it could achieve during a battle drill and she gave up after thinking carefully about it.

Soon, the Bladefoot Worm sensed the presence of Lin Huang and the rest as it immediately pounced on them.

Yi Zheng and Leng Yuexin were on the frontline, so they immediately made their way through the monster horde while Yi Yeyu and Li Lang were guarding the door not far away from them. Each of them had a monster coming after them.

Under such circumstances, there was a big gap between four of their abilities.

Li Lang's long spear had transformed into a large spear that was about three meters in length. His abilities were on par with the Bladefoot Worm.

Yi Yeyu on the other hand, ignited her blood-colored sword as the both of them were similarly locked in their own battles.

As for Leng Yuexin, she held a sword in each hand. The swords were made up of the ice and fire elements respectively. She rushed towards the monster horde as an explosion occurred due to the opposing elements. The monsters retreated the moment she passed by.

On the other hand, Yi Zheng's sword had already slipped out of his hand but he moved his hand slightly, manipulating the sword like the wind. By doing so, his sharp, long sword pierced through the body of the monsters.

Leng Yuexin and Yi Zheng had also finally shown their true power. As Yi Yeyu and Li Lang could not help out at all in the fight, both of them could no longer retain their abilities.

To be honest, Leng Yuexin's dual attributes and Yi Zheng's Sword Manipulation were out of Lin Huang's expectation as he had never seen them using such skills.

Leng Yuexin's current attacks were effective. She would freeze the monsters with ice and kill them with fire. Also, her ice sword could be used as a defensive weapon and she could launch an attack with her fire sword. However, Lin Huang knew that it was actually the simplest skill of the dual attributes. Leng Yuexin must have some other skills up her sleeves that were even more powerful.

Since he had seen the Sword Dominator's skills, he had nothing to say about Yi Zheng's Sword Manipulation. Right when Yi Zheng was about to unleash his Sword Manipulation, Lin Huang felt curious as to why did he not create few more swords. However, once he saw that Yi Zheng could not even control a single sword smoothly, he instantly understood that he had been expecting too much from him. Yi Zheng's Sword Manipulation was obviously different from the one obtained from the monster. Instead, he practiced it on his own.

Lin Huang who had fought Yi Zheng before clearly knew that it was not Yi Zheng's strongest skill. However, it was currently the most effective skill that he had. The speed of the Bladefoot Worm was fast and they could hardly be killed by a regular sword attack.

All of a sudden, one of the Bladefoot Worms gave up on its attack against Leng Yuexin. It changed its target and pounced on Li Lang instead.

With the strong explosive power of its hind limbs, it appeared in front of Li Lang in a blink of an eye before Li Lang could pick up his large spear in time.

"Damn it! I'm doomed!"

Scenes of how he would be cut into pieces flashed through his mind. Right this moment, a dark red glow flashed through the air and the Bladefoot Worm that attempted to attack Li Lang immediately exploded. It looked like a bullet that had penetrated through a watermelon, casusing it to explode.

Seeing the Bladefoot Worm's dead body fell onto the ground, Li Lang then turned back and caught a glimpse of Lin Huang. As usual, Lin Huang was still watching the battle at the corridor, folding his arms across his chest. Lancelot took out a dried vegetable and put it in its mouth as if nothing had happened.

"Hey, don't get distracted during a fight." Lin Huang's languid voice was soon heard.

Li Lang then shifted his gaze from them to the battle. Still, he could not calm himself down even after a long while. Despite the fact that he already knew that Lancelot was strong, he had never witnessed its strength before. However, the fact that Lancelot managed to kill in a split second frightened him. Not to mention that he had no chance to fight back at all, he could not even dodge its attack. He could only react to it when Lancelot's attack had penetrated the Bladefoot Worm's head. That being said, he would be killed by Lancelot within seconds.

"Could Lin Huang himself defeat Lancelot?" Li Lang doubted it. The next second, he denied his own doubt and thought to himself, "Lin Huang is only at the white flame-level. He's definitely incomparable to Lancelot."

The battle in the second room finally ended after half an hour.

A few of the monsters that attempted to attack Li Lang and Yi Yeyu were killed by Lancelot within seconds, the rest of the Bladefoot Worms seemed to have felt that there was something unusual so they dared not attack them any longer.

After fighting for about half an hour, more than sixty of the Bladefoot Worm were killed by Yi Zheng and Leng Yuexin.

The feet of the Bladefoot Worms were the most valuable parts of their bodies. They were one of the main materials used to make sword-type relics. Eight of its bladefeet could be sold at a price of two expert-grade relics. Heck, they could actually make some money from this.

After collecting the carcasses, they headed towards the next room.

It was six in the evening when Lin Huang and the rest cleared the twelve rooms on the second underground floor. In the presence of blue and purple flame-level monsters, they gave their all without holding back. Besides their ultimate move, Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu had used almost all of their skills.

Lin Huang noticed that Yi Zheng was the most powerful among the four of them where he was almost at the standard of someone at immortal-level rank-1. Leng Yuexin, on the other hand, was slightly weaker than Yi Zheng. Although she was not at immortal-level, she was not far from him and much more powerful than gold flame-level monsters. Yi Yeyu and Li Lang's combat level was restricted as they were merely at the purple flame-level. If Yi Yeyu were to use her ultimate move that Lin Huang claimed to be a 'lighter', her ability would be comparable with Leng Yuexin.

As they cleared the twelve rooms, Lancelot did not get to fight much. The couple of times he got involved was to kill sneaky monsters for Yi Yeyu and Li Lang. Under Lancelot's protection, the both of them managed to fight the monsters one-on-one. It was the perfect opportunity for them to train their abilities. However, Lin Huang did not get to fight at all. All of the monsters that broke through their defensive circle to take an attempt at attacking Lin Huang were killed by Lancelot.

The entrance to the third underground floor was in the fourth room in the second underground floor. After clearing the twelve rooms, they returned to the fourth room and walked down the stone staircase.

"Xiao Yu, Xiao Li, you guys won't be able to join in the battle on the third floor. You guys can watch." Yi Zheng reminded the both of them.

"I can use my flames…" Yi Yeyu was keen to help.

"Xiao Yu, our main purpose in these ruins are to upgrade our abilities. Obtaining any treasures would have to come after that. It would be your loss if you rely on your flames instead of upgrading your abilities. Upgrading your abilities are similar to improving your foundation, the flames should only be used as your survival skill." Yi Zheng hardly spoke like that to his sister but he could not help himself as he saw Yi Yeyu exploring her talent.

Yi Yeyu went into silence as she heard that, she noticed that she had been depending on her flames recently.

"There are four gold flame-level monsters downstairs. Your brother and Miss Leng should be able to handle them. Don't worry, if they aren't able to, I'm here." Lin Huang said as he noticed the awkward atmosphere.

"How do we do this? Two monsters for the each of us?" Leng Yuexin looked at Yi Zheng as they were near the end of the stairs.

"I'll take three monsters, you can come and help me after killing one. It'll be more efficient." Yi Zheng suggested.

As they got to the end of the stairs, they arrived in a massive room. the size was more than twice bigger than the rooms in the second underground floor. Just when they arrived in the room, pairs of eyes were looking at the six of them from different directions. The four monsters located at the four corner of the room while they arrived in the middle of the room.

"It seems like we'll have to kill two monsters each." Yi Zheng smiled awkwardly and dashed toward the two monster ahead.

Without saying a word, Leng Yuexin disappeared as she turned around and appeared behind them, dashing toward the two monsters that were coming for them. The four monsters was the Crimson-Eyed Scorpion, the Violethaze Spider, the Spiky Helminth and the Scavenger Horseshoe.

There were all venomous, and none of them were easy to handle especially the Spiky Helminth. It gave Yi Yeyu goosebumps when she looked at it.

The Crimson-Eyed Scorpion was more than five meters long with a crystal clear body. Its eyes and tail were bloody red like a precious stone. It was not ugly but rather, it looked like an exquisite art piece. However, it would naturally be difficult to place this monster at home as an art piece. The Crimson-Eyed Scorpion would be at the gold flame-level one it became an adult and was extremely fast and venomous. Immortal-level humans who were at a low rank would not dare offend it. The venom stored in its tail could kill an immortal-level rank-3 human.

The Violethaze Spider had long legs and a purple, venomous haze surrounding it. Humans that was below immortal-level might die from just breathing in the haze. Besides, as its fangs and legs were surrounded in a venomous haze all year round, the venom would be able to kill humans that were below immortal-level rank-2. The Violethaze Spider could also release a venom that could penetrate the pores on any creature. Within seconds, the venom-contaminated area would decay, bones and all. That was the reason why even an immortal-level human would not want to offend it.

Meanwhile, the Spiky Helminth was a worm-like monster that was seven to eight meters long with colorful thorns on it. This monster had up to thousands of different venoms in its thorns. Once one came into contact, it would almost be incurable as the venom was a combination of an entire range of venoms. Although it moved slow and weak in attack, it was tough to handle. Aside from its venomous thorns, it could divide its body hundreds of times once it was separated. It would be hard to handle especially in the limited space that they had.

Lastly was the Scavenger Horseshoe that was almost 10 meters long. It fed on carcasses and minerals of all sorts. Consuming minerals would change its body differently. Consuming sufficient elemental minerals would give it elemental strength while consuming sufficient metallic minerals would give it an extraordinary defensive ability. It applied to other minerals where it would be able to obtain various abilities from consuming different minerals.

The Scavenger Horseshoe they were looking at must had consumed metallic minerals which caused it to look a darker shade of silver. Its defensive ability must be terrifying. Naturally, it was venomous as well. As soon as one was bitten, one would die from the decay that would happen on one's body. As Lin Huang looked at the four monsters, he knew that it would be a tough battle for Yi Zheng and Leng Yuexin.

"Lancelot, be ready to help." Lin Huang spoke to Lancelot telepathically. The four monster were venomous and would spell trouble for the duo so Lin Huang got Lancelot to back them up.

Yi Zheng was fighting the Violethaze Spider and Scavenger Horseshoe Crab and they were tough. One excelled at mid-distance attacks while the other excelled at long-distance attacks. The dark silver Scavenger Horseshoe Crab had terrifying defensive abilities. Yi Zheng could not break its defenses with his normal attack, all he could do was to leave white trails on the monster's back. Although using a powerful sword skill on the Scavenger Horseshoe Crab would work, it had a powerful healing ability that had an effect not unlike Enhanced Regeneration. Flesh would grow out from the wounds and it would be completely healed in mere seconds.

On the other hand, the Violethaze Spider would concurrently attack in a random manner. It spat venom and spider webs occasionally but it remained at a distance as it attacked, seemingly realizing how powerful Yi Zheng was. Although it had a venomous haze surrounding it, it remained careful and did not dare to go near Yi Zheng as it attacked. As he was fighting the Scavenger Horseshoe Crab, Yi Zheng did not have the time to fight the Violethaze Spider. Fortunately, both monsters did not overpower him, making the battle seem like a stalemate.

Meanwhile, Leng Yuexin was fighting the Crimson-Eyed Scorpion and the Spiky Helminth. The two monsters were on-point with their attacking tactics. Although the Spiky Helminth was not strong in its defenses, it was not afraid to be attacked at all. It played the role of a shield as it was close to Leng Yuexin. The Crimson-Eyed Scorpion on the other hand, maintained its distance as it carefully attacked using its venomous tail.

Fortunately, the Spiky Helminth was slow and Leng Yuexin could manage them with her frost ability, preventing the two from doing anything to her. However, whenever she wanted to attack the Crimson-Eyed Scorpion, she would be blocked by the Spiky Helminth's thorns. The battle on this side was at a stalemate as well. More than ten minutes had passed, and Yi Zheng was irritated as the battle remained in a stalemate.

"Lin Huang, without me and Ms. Leng, how confident are you that you can kill that immortal-level monster?" Yi Zheng shouted at Lin Huang.

"100%." Lin Huang gave the same answer as before.

Yi Zheng did not use his ultimate move as it would drain his Life Power. Initially, he wanted to save that to help Lin Huang with the immortal-level monster. However, it seemed like he had underestimated Lin Huang as he did not need his help.

In reality, Yi Zheng was still skeptical when Lin Huang said he could kill immortal-level monsters before entering the ruins. However, his doubts disappeared when he saw Lancelot fight. He was not judging the fact that Lancelot could go against an immortal-level rank-3 on his own but he guessed that Lin Huang had other powerful cards apart from Lancelot. After confirming that Lin Huang that he could kill an immortal-level monster on his own, Yi Zheng thought he did not have to save his Life Power for the immortal-level monster anymore.

"Elemental Enlightenment, Blast!"

"Level-2 Saber Dao!"

Lin Huang's eyes lit up when he saw Yi Zheng's sword swing. Aside from the Saber Dao combination, it had a special charm to it. A purple spiraling light shot out at the speed of light from his saber, to the point that even the Scavenger Horseshoe Crab that had been defending against his attacks sensed how lethal the attack could be. However, it was too late when it realized this.

The light on his saber pierced through the Scavenger Horseshoe Crab's chest and shot out of its back. A hole of a fist size tore opened on the Scavenger Horseshoe Crab, allowing one to see through its body. With the intense pain came from its chest, the Scavenger Horseshoe Crab attempted to heal its wound but it found out that there was a special force left on its wound that it could not get rid of as it lost blood at an alarming rate.

Ten seconds later, the Scavenger Horseshoe Crab that was acting as a shield was destroyed. It would still be fine if other parts of its body were injured, even if it could not heal them within a short period of time. However, Yi Zheng's attack pierced through its heart. The fact that this happened was not due to Yi Zheng's powerful abilities, it was the Scavenger Horseshoe Crab that underestimated his abilities to a certain extent. It would not have died if it had moved a couple of centimeters away. However, it was reckless and underestimated Yi Zheng, thinking that he could not do any harm to its carapace so it had lesser time to respond to the attack.

Lin Huang was surprised when he saw Yi Zheng killing the Scavenger Horseshoe Crab.

"There seems to be something else aside from his Saber Dao..." Lin Huang mumbled softly.

"It's the Elemental Enlightenment, Blast that boosted his speed and attack power," Lancelot explained.

"Elemental Enlightenment? I didn't know it could be combined with Saber Dao… He was only on level-2 in Sword Dao but his attack was as powerful as someone at level-3." Lin Huang had yet to master Elemental Enlightenment. He thought it was refreshing as it was his first time witnessing such an ability.

After killing the Scavenger Horseshoe Crab in one attack, Yi Zheng dashed and appeared in front of the Violethaze Spider. The Violethaze Spider spat venom at them as it attempted to get Yi Zheng to back off but that did not work. Yi Zheng swung his saber and the the purple spiralling light pierced through its half-open mouth. The spiralling glow on its saber then shot through the Violethaze Spider's abdomen. After that, he backed off immediately without touching the venomous haze and the Violethaze Spider died before it disappeared.

After killing two gold flame-level monsters in less than a minute, Yi Zheng turned around in an attempt to help Leng Yuexin. He saw that half of the room that she was in had frozen over. The Spiky Helminth was also frozen and could not move as Leng Yuexin fought the Crimson-Eyed Scorpion that had a white frost all over it, causing it to move slowly.

"Let her handle them." Lin Huang said to Yi Zheng.

Yi Zheng nodded, put away the two monster carcasses and teleported himself to Lin Huang and the rest while watching Leng Yuexin fight. Leng Yuexin seemed to hear the conversation between Lin Huang and Yi Zheng earlier so she did not hold back as she fully showcased her frost attribute abilities. The frost in the half-frozen room began spreading until there was a layer of white frost under their feet. The room was now so cold that Li Lang and Yi Yeyu could no longer bear it anymore, let alone the extreme temperature that the two monsters Leng Yuexin were fighting had to suffer.

"She should have already mastered Frost Enlightenment…" Yi Zheng looked serious. From what they were looking at, he was sure that Leng Yuexin's ability no weaker than his. The forces Leng Yuexin had on her side from her ability was perfect to oppress these two monsters. The Spiky Helminth and Crimson-Eyed Scorpion were cold-blooded monsters, so the low temperature affected their movements tremendously.

The Spiky Helminth was frozen while the Crimson-Eyed Scorpion was moving slowly from the low temperature. It was no longer as powerful as it was earlier. As Leng Yuexin confidently swung her saber, the area trailing the saber's path frozen over. Soon, half of the room turned into a freezing hell. Even the Crimson-Eyed Scorpion could not escape its frozen fate and turned into an ice sculpture while the Spiky Helminth became completely frozen.

Just when they were thinking if the two monsters were already killed, Leng Yuexin pulled her second saber out. There were blue flames on her saber as a terrifying force accumulated on it.

"Blaze Enlightenment?!" Yi Zheng's pupils shrunk as he watched, not expecting Leng Yuexin to have mastered two enlightenments.

Soon, the flame on the saber peaked. Instead of attacking the two frozen monsters, Leng Yuexin stabbed her saber into the ice on the ground and as soon as the saber touched the ground, the ice around it went up in flames. The ice seemed like it was fueling the flames. Lin Huang pulled Li Lang and Yi Yeyu's hands as he immediately backed off, Yi Zheng did the same. An intense spark appeared in front of them as an explosion was heard, causing the ground to shake violently. The collision of two enlightenments was terrifying.

The entire room was swallowed by flames but Lancelot managed to defend against it with Dark Mirror. Soon, the explosive impact dissipated while the frost covering the two monsters disappeared. The two monsters disappeared as well but Leng Yuexin stood standing with her white trench coat.

"What a terrifying skill." Lin Huang smirked.

Lancelot removed the Dark Mirror and all of them appeared near the wall on the other side of the room.

"I'm sorry, it's my first time using this in battle. I haven't fully mastered its power." Leng Yuexin shook her head while forcing a smile.

"That should be able to kill an immortal-level rank-1 and injure an immortal-level rank-2." Yi Zheng was impressed with Leng Yuexin's skill.

"Looks like I have to spend some time studying Elemental Enlightenment when I get back." Lin Huang was half joking.

"You haven't mastered Elemental Enlightenment yet?" Yi Zheng was surprised.

"Yea, I hardly use elemental force." Lin Huang admitted.

"Why not we enter the last room after our Life Power has recovered?" Leng Yuexin suggested.

"Don't worry, you guys can step aside and watch. Let me handle the last monster." Lin Huang smirked and brought them to the last room.

Lin Huang and the rest stopped once they arrived at the corridor of the last room on the third underground floor.

"Don't come in." Lin Huang knew that Yi Zheng and the rest would not be able to handle the next battle.

"Lancelot, stay here and protect them," he turned around and instructed Lancelot.

"Don't you need my help?" Lancelot asked.

"No." As he replied, his supreme sword relic appeared in his hand. He did not use his ancient relic Air Slicer as it would drain too much of his Life Power.

Yi Zheng and the rest were surprised to see his sword.

"Do you plan to fight by yourself?" Leng Yuexin asked. She thought Lin Huang would summon one of his summoning monsters to kill the immortal-level monster instead of fighting himself.

"Don't worry, just watch." Lin Huang shook his head and smiled. He knew he was underestimated by them.

Lin Huang leaped with his sword and appeared in the last room. In the dark, twelve red lights lit up like twelve red lamps hanging ten meters off the ground. Then, chirping sounds were heard in the air like there was something crawling about and soon, a giant appeared less than twenty meters from Lin Huang. They finally saw how the immortal-level monster looked like. It was a gigantic black centipede, and aside from its black head, the twelve red lights that were similar to streetlamps were its twelve eyes. It was hundreds of meters long and had black, spiky legs attached to each joint. That aside, venomous spikes also protruded from its purplish-black back.

"Kaiserpede!" Yi Zheng and the rest had their pupils shrink when they saw the monster. The Kaiserpede was a gigantic arthropod that was not unlike a centipede. It was a giant insect monster. Such monster would have a hundred pairs of legs when it reached adulthood and achieved the immortal-level. It would grow a pair of legs each year so when it lived until it was a thousand years old, it would have more than a thousand pairs of legs and would possibly at the imperial-level by then, making it a king. That was how the name Kaiserpede came about.

The Kaiserpede was ferocious. When it was hungry, almost every living thing in the room would fall prey to its hunger. It also had terrifying venom, and the longer it lived, the more venomous it would become. A Kaiserpede that had just reached adulthood would usually be at immortal-level rank-1 but its venom would still be sufficient to kill a human at immortal-level rank-3. Its poisonous teeth was even more venomous, as a single bite could kill a human at immortal-level rank-4, possible even posing a huge threat to someone at immortal-level rank-5.

Bloody could not identify its combat level as it was sleeping earlier. Looking at its 300 pairs of legs, it was obvious that it was at immortal-level rank-3. It was clear that immortal-level rank-6 and rank-7 monsters would not want to fight it in these ruins. Yi Zheng and the rest were shocked when they saw the monster's appearance.

"Hehehe… It's been a long time since I last ate a human." The Kaiserpede did not attack them when it noticed them but uttered those words instead.

"It's my first time seeing a living Kaiserpede!" Lin Huang looked up at his opponent.

"It seems like you're not afraid of me." The Kaiserpede did not sense even an inkling of fear from Lin Huang at all. Instead, he was calm and he did not seem like he was pretending.

"Kid, you're only at the white flame-level, why aren't you afraid of me? Do you have some hidden card that I don't know about?"

It seemed like it was not the first time the Kaiserpede had encountered humans. It had its guard up when it noticed Lin Huang's odd behavior, possibly due to the fact that it might have fallen into a human's trap before.

"I'm not afraid of you because your ability isn't at a level where it can make me fear you." Lin Huang answered.

The Kaiserpede then looked at the people behind Lin Huang. It peeped at Yi Zheng and the rest but stopped when it saw Lancelot.

"A triple mutated gold flame-level monster… It might really pose a problem to me but that's about it. If that's all you got, I'm sorry to say that you guys might become my appetizer tonight." The Kaiserpede figured that Lin Huang was an imperial censor.

"It's almost time for me to hunt for food outside after eating all of you."

"Too bad you won't be eating dinner tonight." Lin Huang smirked.

Hearing Lin Huang and the Kaiserpede talking about dinner, Lancelot recalled the dried vegetable that he had in his hand and began munching on it. He seemed like he was unafraid of the battle that was about to begin. Yi Zheng and the rest glared at Lancelot, speechless. They could not understand how it was possible for him to be so casual about it.

"Lancelot, does Lin Huang have summoning monsters that are more powerful than you?" Yi Yeyu could not help but ask.

"With my current ability, he does." Lancelot gave a short answer and did not want to reveal more.

His answer surprised Yi Zheng and the rest, making them doubtful at the same time.

"Why doesn't he summon them now?" Leng Yuexin frowned, she thought Lin Huang was being careless.

"Because he doesn't need to." Lancelot said that and proceeded to eat his dried vegetable.

Lin Huang remained standing less than twenty meters from the Kaiserpede, not seeming like he was about to summon any of his monsters.

"There's a human saying that goes — the naive ones are fearless. I can finally understand what it means today. It's great that your naivety would cause you to become my appetizer tonight." The Kaiserpede learned about humans in the past but it did not think that Lin Huang was showing off before it. Instead, it thought he was being naive. Just as it said this, the Kaiserpede dashed toward Lin Huang, not unlike an agile baby snake as it appeared before Lin Huang in an instant.

Yi Zheng and the rest were shocked when the Kaiserpede moved. It was so fast that they could not even respond in time. Suddenly, a white glow flashed in the air — it was the glow of a sword at the Pinnacle, level-5 Sword Dao and came from the sword in Lin Huang's hand. That single swing of the sword had stopped the immortal-level rank-3 Kaiserpede. Lin Huang smirked as he looked at the giant monster before him.

"You asked why am I not afraid of you. The reason is simple, it's because I'm more powerful than you!"

Yi Zheng and the rest were shocked to see Lin Huang stop the Kaiserpede with one sword swing. Yi Zheng knew Lin Huang was powerful but he did not know Lin Huang was this powerful. Initially, he thought Lin Huang should be slightly weaker than him. No matter how powerful Lin Huang was, Lin Huang should not be more powerful than him. However, it seemed like he had underestimated Lin Huang.

Meanwhile, Yi Yeyu and Li Lang were even more shocked than Yi Zheng was. They had witnessed his ability when he was at the gold-level and even then, he was already a genius. Now he was even more powerful than he was in the past. Lin Huang's ability now was at an entirely new level to the both of them, he was even more terrifying than the legendary supreme genius. A supreme genius meant a human would be one level more powerful than their current combat level. Lin Huang was only white flame-level now but he could fight an immortal-level rank-3, that alone already exceeded the one-level-higher rule.

Of course, Leng Yuexin was the most surprised one among the four of them. The last time she met Lin Huang was at the Mystery Auction but she did not see him fight so she had no idea what Lin Huang's ability was. She only knew that he had powerful summoning monsters like Tyrant, and had always thought that he would depend on his summoning monsters. If she did not witness the events unfolding before them with her own eyes, she would never believe anyone even if they told her that he was able to fight an immortal-level rank-3 monster when he was only at the white flame-level.

"A white flame-level fighting against an immortal-level rank-3, I think I must be dreaming." Li Lang's jaw almost dropped, he even pinched his own cheeks.

"Is this really the Lin Huang that I know? I'm suspecting if this guy reincarnated from a god." Yi Yeyu snapped out of her shock.

"I've always thought I'm quite talented and never believed that there's any supreme genius that could fight a monster that's a level higher in this world. I've never thought I would witness this with my own eyes today." Yi Zheng forced out a smile. He was affected by how powerful Lin Huang was.

"This guy… I've underestimated him." Leng Yuexin looked envious.

Lancelot was the only one who was not surprised. He proceeded to eat his dried vegetable calmly as he already knew how powerful Lin Huang was. The fight between Lin Huang and the Kaiserpede continued in the room. That one collision had made the Kaiserpede realize that Lin Huang was more powerful than he looked. Although it was still skeptical of Lin Huang's ability, it was no longer relaxed anymore.

"So you're a supreme genius, no wonder you have the audacity to challenge me. A supreme genius must taste even more delicious than other humans! Hehehe…" The Kaiserpede had its guard up as Lin Huang managed to block its attack with a single swing of the sword.

"That'll depend if you have the capability to eat me." Lin Huang smiled and gestured the Kaiserpede to come to him.

"Is he crazy, he's challenging an imperial-level monster. How nice would it be if I could do this one day." Li Lang watched in excitement.

"I think you should forget about it. Judging by your ability, even if you get to gold-level, you'll definitely run away if you encounter an immortal-level rank-3 monster." Yi Yeyu rolled her eyes as she insulted Li Lang, he was speechless.

"I guess I can only fight an immortal-level rank-3 when I get to the complete gold flame-level. But I don't think I could block the Kaiserpede's earlier attack even when I'm at the complete gold flame-level." Yi Zheng frowned and voiced his opinion.

"This giant insect's ability isn't comparable with other insect-type monsters." Leng Yuexin nodded and agreed. That single swing of his sword had revealed many details about him.

"Brother, do you mean you won't be able to fight Lin Huang now even if you're at the complete gold flame-level?" Yi Yeyu was unhappy as she asked that.

"I'll definitely lose if he uses his summoning monsters. But if we're fighting one-on-one, it'll be a 50-50 chance for me but naturally, it won't be accurate as he has only shown very little of his current abilities." Yi Zheng did not admit that he was weaker than Lin Huang.

As they were chatting, Lin Huang and Kaiserpede had collided dozens of times in the room. Although the Kaiserpede was massive, its speed was terrifying. Each attack was like flowing water, so smooth that it must have peak control and had mastered control of its body. It used its advantages fully in each attack by incorporating its venomous thorns, powerful strength, and defensive abilities. Lin Huang was challenged. He had to admit that the Kaiserpede's venomous thorns brought much trouble to him as the thorns grew randomly on its body without a fixed sequence. Most importantly, the Kaiserpede could shoot the thorns out of its body like a weapon, making it tough for Lin Huang to estimate as the thorns grew in random places. Without his Territory, he would be hit by the thorns many times.

Another trouble he had was the Kaiserpede's defensive ability. No matter how many times Lin Huang attempted to break its purplish-black shell, his swing of the sword only left scratches that looked like it was from a cat even though he had activated his Sword Dao. Besides, the monster had regenerative healing abilities. Even though it was not as powerful as Enhanced Regeneration, its healing ability was strong. The scratches that Lin Huang left on its body disappeared in less than a minute.

"This fella is much more powerful than I imagined." Lin Huang was considering to use his cards. After all, he did not use any sword skills throughout the collisions.

"The Kaiserpede's weakness is its joints, especially the one connected to its head," Bloody said.

"I know that but this guy is too agile, it's moving all the time and its thorns keep coming at me, causing my attacks to miss its target." Lin Huang had been trying to attack its joints but the Kaiserpede was careful.

"Tackle its speed by being faster than it is." Bloody suggested.

Lin Huang was stunned to hear that. Soon he recalled something and smirked.

"Faster than it? I know how I can do that!"

The Kaiserpede's defensive ability was immensely powerful, with its only weakness being its joints. However, the 300 joints that it had looked similar to one another. With its terrifying high speed, it was hard to target a single joint repetitively. Bloody's suggestion had enlightened Lin Huang. If it was fast, the only thing that you had to do was to be faster than the monster! Since he could not differentiate the joints, he attempted to attack the first joint at the back of its head!

Lin Huang gave up his plan of attacking it by force the moment he was enlightened. Although he could kill the monster with his current ability, that method would be quite draining.

"Our warm-up is over now. I'll show you what I've got right now." Lin Huang smirked. The white Life Power surrounding his sword now turned to lightning, turning the black sword into a white thunder sword in less than a second. Even the sword itself was a couple of centimeters longer now.

"That was just a warm-up?!" Yi Zheng and the rest were shocked.

"Is this the lightning attribute?" Yi Zheng was skeptical as he watched as he did not understand what Lin Huang was trying to do.

"There's no Elemental Enlightenment in this…" Leng Yuexin frowned. Without the Elemental Enlightenment, the attack would be useless on the Kaiserpede unless the attack was of a high enough level. The lighting that covered Lin Huang's sword seemed to be regular lightning that was transformed from his Life Power.

The Kaiserpede was initially stunned to see Lin Huang's sword transformation but when it realized that it was just Life Power transforming to regular lightning, it burst out laughing.

"I actually thought you were going to do something bizarre. This lightning will do me no harm even if it strikes me for the entire day!"

"Really?" All Lin Huang did was smiled. The white lightning spread to his entire body as he dashed towards the monster at lightning speed.

"That's fast!" Even the Kaiserpede was shocked to see Lin Huang's speed.

Yi Zheng and the rest could not capture his movement any longer. All they saw was that Lin Huang had disappeared. In reality, Lin Huang had already teleported above the Kaiserpede's head and before it could react, he swung his transformed, white-lightning sword at the first joint behind its head repetitively. His speed was so fast that he managed to swing his sword hundreds of times.

"ROARRRR!" The Kaiserpede roared in agony, countless venomous thorns shooting towards Lin Huang. This time, he did not dodge but instead used a black mirror that appeared before him to block the attack. The thorns landed on the mirror, causing a shockwave to emanate from the collision but it was soon absorbed by the mirror and was reflected. The reflected thorns were targeted at the Kaiserpede's joint behind its head where Lin Huang was swinging his sword at.

The Kaiserpede's thorns were no weaker than Lin Huang's swinging sword. Many of the venomous thorns collided with the joint where Lin Huang was swinging his sword at and the Kaiserpede groaned from the pain. However, as the thorns targetted one of the bony joints, it was unaffected by the venom. The venom could harm itself if it managed to enter its bloodstream but it had a higher immunity to the venom so if it was poisoned, it would only some minor reactions but would not die.

Since the attack failed, the Kaiserpede decided to run away. Although it had a stunning healing ability, it could not take Lin Huang's repetitive attack on its joint. As soon as the joint broke, it would affect its movement immensely. The Kaiserpede moved its hundreds of legs in an attempt to rid itself of Lin Huang.

"You're running?!" Lin Huang shouted and chased it like a bolt of lightning. If he was fighting some other monster, he would have definitely remained standing on the monster's back. However, the Kaiserpede had countless thorns on its back so there was nowhere that he could stay put at. The only thing he could do was to attack its joint as he pursued it by means of flight. The Kaiserpede's constant change of speed and direction made it difficult for Lin Huang to attack the right joint, with only half of his attacks landing on the joint.

The Kaiserpede knew that although its healing ability was tremendous, its joint would definitely break if Lin Huang did not stop attacking the same point. As soon as the joint broke, it would not be as agile as it was and at that point, it would definitely be killed.

"Human, you've left me no choice!" The Kaiserpede knew that it could not hold back anymore or it could die in the hands of this white flame-level human genius.

There was purple silk being secreted from the Kaiserpede's thorns on its body. The silk was as thin as spider silk and they formed a web on the Kaiserpede's back. Its body that was initially purplish-black was now completely black, as it the silk had absorbed all the purple. Lin Huang's pupils shrunk as he this and he backed off immediately. He acted this way because the Kaiserpede was going to perform its ultimate move.

It was called Endless Threads where it would use all the venom from its body to form a web in the air. The venomous web was like a contagious disease that would spread in the air, forming purple spiderwebs everywhere. The venomous silk could even penetrate into the pores of other creatures and invisible beads would enter one's lungs as one breathed. Since it was the entirety of the venom accumulated in the Kaiserpede's body, it could even cause the death of a human that was two ranks higher than the Kaiserpede within three minutes.

The Kaiserpede was unwilling to perform this as the entirety of its venom would be cleared from its body and it would take it hundreds of years to accumulate such an amount. Another reason for its unwillingness was that it would degrade its own combat rank after performing this.

"Seems like I've brought some trouble to myself…" Lin Huang did not expect the Kaiserpede to perform this so soon.

"If this is the first time the Kaiserpede is doing this, perhaps everything within 60 kilometers might die when the venom spread with the current strength of its venom. The venom would stay for more than a month it fades." Bloody estimated.

"Lin Huang, let's go before the venom spreads." Yi Zheng knew that it was impossible to fight the Kaiserpede as soon as it used its ultimate move.

"I really don't want to do this to an immortal-level rank-3… I'd be bullying it." Lin Huang shook his head helplessly. His white-lightning sword was now transformed into flames.

"Flowing Fire Sword!"

A white glow filled the entire room as Lin Huang said that. The only thing that Yi Zheng and the rest saw was a sword that was as bright as the sun releasing a white glow in Lin Huang's hand, turning the entire room white. A shadow landed from the air as the white glow faded ten seconds later. There was no longer any purple silk in the room, and the gigantic Kaiserpede was nowhere to be seen.

"Lin Huang, you've won?" Although he knew that, Li Lang asked that anyway.

"Yes."

"Where's the Kaiserpede? It ran away?" Yi Yeyu asked immediately.

"Naturally, it's dead." Lin Huang shook his head and smiled.

"The venom has been cleared?" Yi Yeyu was skeptical.

"Yes, it's been cleared. Don't worry." Lin Huang nodded.

"The skill that you used…" Yi Yeyu proceeded to ask but Yi Zheng tapped her shoulder and shook his head.

It was clearly Lin Huang's ultimate move. Although Yi Zheng was curious regarding the exact move he used, he did not ask as he knew he would be crossing the line. Yi Yeyu then realized that it was inappropriate for her to ask that after Yi Zheng stopped her, so she nodded and held her tongue.

"It's a warehouse here, let's see if there's anything worth taking. Since there's no treasure along the way, there should be some hidden in this room." Lin Huang looked across the room but he saw nothing.

As they spread out, Leng Yuexin found a hidden entrance to the basement. The entrance was disguised with a rock, and neither Bloody nor Lin Huang's Territory managed to detect or sense anything odd. They walked down the stairs to the basement once they discovered the giant rock, and found a warehouse that was less than 200 square meters. All of the cabinets had collapsed, with a pile of Emperor Heart Rings, weapons, armor, and assorted relics in good condition spread on the ground. There were also various military equipment replicas but they were now obsolete.

Bloody gave the final calculation after checking out the items.

"There's a total of 3,587 Emperor's Heart Rings, 327 expert-grade relic replicas in good condition, 511 relics and other miscellaneous items, some Life Crystal pieces, and some minerals.

"Not bad!" Lin Huang was satisfied with what they found.

"Same old rule, we divide them equally."

As they put away all the measure into their storage rings according, Lin Huang brought them out from the basement, all the while attempting to figure out how he was going to explain the ruins to them.

"Many monsters are coming out of the basement!" Bloody said as they arrived at the first underground floor.

Bloody did not bring good news this time. The moment the Kaiserpede was killed, Bloody put its parasites on it. Immortal-level rank-3 was the maximum level of a monster that Bloody can put its parasites in. The information that this chief-level monster knew about was much more than the other monsters that Bloody put its parasites on earlier.

According to the memories that Lin Huang retrieved, the Kaiserpede that he killed had been in this ruins for many years. The most powerful monster in this ruins was not at the imperial-level, as three demigod remnants along with a mysterious monster. He thought it was a grade-4 ruin where an imperial-level was the most powerful, only realizing how wrong he was after reading the Kaiserpede's memories, it was a grade-5 ruin with demigods in it!

The three demigod remnants and the mysterious monster required a massive amount of flesh energy so the ruins would have a blood sacrifice every month. After the killing ended, all the monster carcasses would be sacrificed to the demigods and the mysterious monster. Every month, the three demigod remnants would fight with the mysterious monster to decide who would get the sacrifice. If the sacrifices were insufficient, the three demigod remnants and the mysterious monster would kill the monsters themselves.

Lin Huang knew very well that the blood sacrifice would not cause the monsters in the ruins to go extinct. As soon as the monsters in the ruins dwindled in population, the ruins would be reset. A Virtual Eye would open and a massive amount of monsters would enter. What Lin Huang was concerned about was the blood sacrifice that would happen three days later. The three demigod remnants and the mysterious monster would awake from their slumber.

"Three more days, do we really leave our journey behind just like that?" Lin Huang was upset. Although he had the ruin key with him so he could enter once again, the next time had to be a year later. The blood sacrifice would affect all living things, even hiding in the foothold would be unsafe as the monsters around them would search for things to kill. There would be no safe havens in the ruins. With Lin Huang's current ability, he could definitely fight an immortal-level monster. However, if he encountered an imperial-level monster, he was not so confident that he could defeat it even with his ultimate ability. That was the reason he was considering to leave the ruins before the blood sacrifice began.

Another thing that Lin Huang had in his mind was how he was going to explain this to the rest. Just as he was deep in thought, Bloody spoke, "There're many monsters coming out from the basement?"

"It's already dark outside?" Lin Huang was stunned.

"Yes, it's time for them to hunt." Bloody answered.

The hunting time was during the night between the sunset of that particular day and the sunrise the following morning. This was not the monthly blood sacrifice, but was the food hunt that every monster would participate in every night in the ruins. They would not invade any of the monster lairs so it was safe for Lin Huang and the rest to hide in the underground warehouse. The warehouse used to be the Kaiserpede's lair, so the monsters would usually avoid the place when they were in its vicinity.

"What's wrong, Lin Huang? You don't look very good." Leng Yuexin noticed Lin Huang's concerned expression.

"It's dark outside, Bloody just told me that there're monsters hunting for food on the ground." Lin Huang kept quiet as he organized his thoughts to give them the news.

"How many monsters are there?" Yi Zheng asked.

"Quite a lot of them and it's getting more." Bloody spoke out loud, sounding like a young boy.

"How about their combat level? Can you sense that?" Yi Zheng asked again.

"The most powerful one is at the imperial-level." Bloody had not detected any imperial-level monsters yet, it said that as it was Lin Huang's instruction.

"So this is actually a grade-4 ruin!" Yi Zheng frowned while the rest looked concerned. If it was a grade-3 ruin, the most powerful monster would only be at the immortal-level. It was worth the journey for them as the rewards were lucrative. However, a grade-4 ruin would be too risky as they might die if they encountered an imperial-level monster.

"Are you sure there's an imperial-level monster?" Leng Yuexin asked Bloody, attempting to confirm the fact.

"I'm sure! And there are more than one of them wandering out there right now." Bloody replied without thinking twice.

"A grade-4 ruin… We aren't qualified for such a high-level ruin yet." Yi Zheng went silent for a moment before he spoke to Lin Huang.

"Judging by our current combat level, this ruin is just too risky." He added.

"I agree with Brother Zheng. Lin Huang, maybe we should leave." Li Lang was convinced. With his abilities now, he could not even fight an immortal-level, let alone an imperial-level monster.

"We've just been here for a few days and you guys want to leave? Such scaredy-cats!" Yi Yeyu voiced her disagreement.

"It would take the ruins a year to reopen, and we've only been here for such a short period of time. If we leave now, we can only come back next year." Leng Yuexin was unwilling to leave as well.

"That's right, aside from some dead person's Emperor's Heart Rings, we haven't even gotten anything valuable yet!" Yi Yeyu was on the same side as Leng Yuexin.

"I agree with Brother Zheng, we should come back next year since we can't fight the monsters." Li Lang was ready to leave.

"Lin Huang, what do you think?" Leng Yuexin remained calm when she asked Lin Huang.

"I think we should stay for a few days, it's better to figure out what's happening instead of just leaving like that. If we're sure that the risk is more than what we can stomach, it's never too late to leave at that point." Lin Huang suggested.

"I agree with Lin Huang. We aren't sure of anything yet, is it necessary to scare ourselves like that?" Yi Yeyu was pissed at Yi Zheng insisting on retreating.

"I think we should try staying for a few more days, it's not easy to come here after all." Leng Yuexin agreed with Lin Huang.

"Alright then…" Yi Zheng finally compromised. He did not want to leave as well but suggested that as he was thinking about everyone's safety.

"Since all of you insist on staying, I'll go along with you then." Li Lang was scared but he made a compromise.

Soon they arrived at the entrance of the first underground floor.

"Let's hide our aura before going up. We should see those monsters ourselves." Lin Huang stood at the bottom of the well and pointed upward. The rest nodded and flew slowly out of the well.

The five of them activated their supreme relics to hide their aura before leaving the well. They had prepared the relics before entering the ruins, to be used to sneak away and escape. The relic could be used to hide the aura of those below imperial-level, but even those at the imperial-level could hide their aura to certain extent. As they got out of the well, the five of them followed the path of the wreckage and arrived at its entrance.

The five of them needed to get out from the wreckage. The sun had set, and the sky was dark. There were many monsters wandering around, at least hundreds of them within their field of vision.

"There are a couple of immortal-level monsters." Yi Zheng did not bother about the holy fire-level monsters as he scanned for more powerful monsters among them. Soon he noticed four immortal-level monsters.

As the sky was getting dark, more and more monsters appeared in the ruins. Many of them crawled out of the cracks on the ground. There were all sorts of monsters in the ruins. Aside from flesh monsters, there were many skeleton monsters that ranged from those at the holy fire-level to immortal-level as well. To top it all off, there were monsters in human form as well. However, the skeleton monsters seemed to be the rivals of the flesh monsters as they would fight when they encountered one another.

"These spirit-type skeleton monsters must be the civilians who used to stay in this war ruins. The flesh monster should come later from the Virtual Eye." Leng Yuexin observed and gave a guess. Lin Huang nodded as he knew that from the Kaiserpede's memories since the beginning. The spirit monsters did not only kill the flesh monsters, there seemed to be a rivalry between human skeletons and monster skeletons as well. Meanwhile, the flesh monsters killed mainly for food while the skeletons fought to survive.

"It seems like they don't dare to come near this ruins that we're at." Yi Yeyu thought that was odd.

"Perhaps this used to be the Kaiserpede's territory. Although the Kaiserpede was only immortal-level rank-3, its venom was terrifying as monsters below immortal-level rank-6 wouldn't even dare to offend it. It was considered to be the boss of these ruins." Yi Zheng voiced his guesses.

"The number of monsters are increasing now…" Li Lang was concerned as he watched the wandering monsters. Aside from holy fire-level monsters, there was a growing number of immortal-level monsters as well. They could see almost ten immortal-level monsters within their field of vision.

"Although we haven't seen any imperial-level monsters, looking at the number of immortal-level monsters, Bloody's investigation shouldn't be wrong. This really is a grade-4 ruin." Leng Yuexin frowned.

"I think we're done watching, let's go back underground." Lin Huang was relieved as they now knew the danger of the ruins.

They nodded and began retreating. Suddenly, Li Lang accidentally stepped on a withered branch which caused a cracking sound. All of them stopped moving and looked far away, as a couple of monsters looked in their direction. Some of them hesitated but they did not come near. However, two gold flame-level monsters walked carefully towards them after some hesitation.

"Busted!" All of them thought.

Before Lin Huang did anything, Lancelot stepped outside showing himself. He shot a deadly stare deadly at the two monsters that were coming close. The monsters stopped walking but without waiting for their response, Lancelot swung his sword and two monster heads flew, causing blood to spurt everywhere. The monsters nearby looked at Lancelot in fear, including the immortal-level monsters. Lancelot scanned the surroundings and dragged the two monster carcasses back to his location.

The monsters around started walking away from the area. The immortal-level monsters that were looking at them, looked away immediately, no planning to fight them anytime soon. Aside from Lin Huang, the rest of them were trembling. It was Bloody who asked Lancelot to do that. If humans exposed themselves here, the monsters would definitely attack them without hesitation. However, it was a different case if it was Lancelot. The monsters would only think that a powerful monster had appeared in the vicinity. The territory used to belong to the Kaiserpede, so the appearance of Lancelot would mean that the Kaiserpede had a powerful guard with it. That was the reason why the immortal-level monsters ignored the incident earlier. They were not afraid of Lancelot but were afraid of the Kaiserpede instead.

"It's okay now, let's go." Lin Huang brought them underground after confirming that everything was okay. Within the span of a few minutes, Leng Yuexin froze the entire room in the first underground floor. They took out mats from their storage space and sat together after getting rid of the odor in the room.

"Now we can confirm that this is at least a grade-4 ruin." Lin Huang was the first one who spoke.

"At least?" They looked at him.

"Not seeing a demigod doesn't mean that there aren't any demigods in these ruins. So, we can only identify it as a grade-4 ruin at the moment." Lin Huang explained.

"Lin Huang, is there something that you didn't tell us? If you treat us as your friends, you shouldn't keep secrets from us." Leng Yuexin could not help but ask him as this was not the first time she noticed his odd behavior.

"Alright then, I'll tell you all about these ruins." Lin Huang nodded after a moment of silence. Leng Yuexin managed to force Lin Huang to tell them about the ruins. They were excited when they knew about the existence of demigod remnants and mysterious monster in this ruins.

"This is such important information, why didn't you tell us since the beginning?" Li Lang questioned him.

"I didn't know this in the beginning, I've only found out about this after encountering the Kaiserpede. I read its memories after killing it…" Lin Huang felt helpless.

They were shocked to hear about his ability to be able to read a dead monster's memories as it sounded too bizarre. Now they understood why Lin Huang kept it a secret.

"Then… Can you read inherited memories as well?" Li Lang was curious.

"I can't read information that's sealed." Lin Huang hid part of the truth as Bloody's ability was too stunning as it was able to unseal memories that were below demigod.

"Such a powerful ability…" Yi Zheng paused, organized his thoughts before proceeding.

"We'll keep the secret, there won't anyone else who'll know this aside from us."

"I found out about these ruins from the Cavernous Devil but it didn't have anything about the Kaiserpede." Lin Huang explained.

"We won't ask further about your ability. What we should talk about now is that whether we should explore this ruins any further. After all, it was you who said that there'll be a blood sacrifice three days later and that no living thing would be able to escape from this war." Yi Zheng said.

"No monster would dare invade this room. Firstly, is due to the fact that the Kaiserpede used to live here, and secondly, we hid our aura so no monsters are able to sense our existence. However, we can't head out at night as it's the monsters' hunting time so we can only hunt for monsters during the day."

"About the blood sacrifice three days later, monsters would definitely come here so I think it's wise to stay here. The entrance is only this big so there's only a limited amount of monsters that can come in each time. That aside, this underground area is made of special materials, so even an imperial-level monster wouldn't be able to destroy it. As long as we get through this the first time, we're safe for the entire month." Lin Huang voiced out what he thought.

"But what should we do if an imperial-level or one that has an even higher rank than an imperial-level monster come in? There's only one exit, there's no way we can run if powerful monsters come in!" Yi Zheng was concerned.

"That's why I'm thinking we should conquer a few more sites for the next two days and pin the location of the sites on the dimensional relic. If powerful monsters come into any of the sites, we could go to another site using the dimensional relic. If the second site was invaded, we could go to the third site!" Lin Huang got that idea from Bloody.

Their eyes lit up.

"There're a limited number of imperial-level monsters in the ruins, it's impossible that we have such bad luck that all the imperial-level monsters will come to us. Moreover, we have Bloody to observe if there's any foothold that has monsters that aren't out of our league." Lin Huang proceeded to convince them, hoping they would stay to go through this together.

"That's a great idea, I'm standing on Lin Huang's side this time!" Li Lang was excited.

"I think it's worth the risk. We will have one month of safety if we get through this one night." Yi Yeyu agreed as well.

"I think this plan is workable. It's a grade-5 ruin after all, as long as we get through this, we'll have great rewards for the following month." Leng Yuexin nodded.

"Alright then, although it's a little risky, the plan sounds workable. We should discuss the details." Yi Zheng was silent before nodding.

After some discussions, the five of them finally came to an agreement.

Soon, three days had passed. Lin Huang panted as he looked at the gigantic monster carcass on the third underground floor. He used seven Life Wheels of Life Power to kill the immortal-level rank-4 Ghoul Spider. It had the most powerful energy that he had ever encountered since he leveled-up to holy fire-level. He put away the monster carcass into his storage as he caught his breath while Yi Zheng and the rest walked to him.

"Are you alright?" Leng Yuexin asked in concern.

"I'm alright, just that it drained my Life Power." Lin Huang smiled as he shook his head.

"You can even kill an immortal-level rank-4 monster, that's ridiculous!" Li Lang exclaimed.

"The most powerful skill that the Ghoul Spider has is that it could control monster carcasses. Since we've cleared all of them along the way, that was equivalent to clearing its back-ups. Besides, it wasn't the most powerful among the immortal-level rank-4 monsters. That's how I managed to kill it, I might not be able to do so if I encounter other monsters on the same level." Lin Huang knew very well that he could fight immortal-level rank-4 monsters now. However, it was difficult for him to kill one unless it was weaker compared to monsters of the same level.

"Your ability is terrifying enough to be able to fight an immortal-level rank-4 monster by yourself. You're only at the white flame-level after all." Yi Yeyu consoled him.

"I'm alright. Let's collect the rewards while I rest." Lin Huang nodded at Yi Yeyu as he crossed his legs in the middle of the air. The rest followed Bloody to collect the rewards.

Just as they were looking at the rewards that were piled up, Li Lang shouted out of nowhere while the rest looked shocked. Lin Huang had just closed his eyes for a few minutes, but he still opened his eyes and looked at them.

"It can't be, is this really a God Crasher?" Li Lang said loudly.

Lin Huang was stunned when he heard that, he teleported himself to them. They were surrounding a black cannon that was three meters long with complicated golden patterns on it.

Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu could not help themselves as they touched the cannon. Since they were born in a military family, such military relics were like a gift to them. The both of them did not say a word after touching the cannon.

"So is this a God Crasher? Say something." Li Lang urged the both of them.

"Why do you need to ask that? Can't you tell this is obviously a God Crasher?" Yi Yeyu glared at him.

Lin Huang was shocked to hear Yi Yeyu's confirmation. He had never seen a God Crasher before but he had heard of it. It was a weapon that was created more than 800 years ago by humans to fight powerful monsters. As it was created mainly to kill demigod-level monsters, it got the name God Crasher. Although the name was cool, the God Crasher did not manage to kill any demigods. Even the most powerful third edition God Crasher could only harm a demigod but not kill it. However, as long as there were sufficient energy crystals, the God Crasher could kill imperial-level monsters.

Yi Zheng frowned after going through the God Crasher thoroughly.

"Brother, it can't be used anymore?" Yi Yeyu asked immediately when she noticed his expression.

"It still can be used, but at most, we'd be able to use it one or two more times. As the third edition of God Crasher's power was too strong, it can only tolerate ten attacks before it becomes useless. Looking at the level of damage on this cannon, it has probably been used for at least seven times. Since it's placed in this medium foothold, it must have been thrown away by somebody else. It'd be great if it could even be used once since it's been here for so many years. It's basically a collectible now." Yi Zheng shook his head.

"I'll have this, deduct this from my reward based on the value." Yi Yeyu put away the God Crasher into her storage space immediately.

"Hey, why would you want it when you don't even know how to operate it?" Yi Zheng was upset as he wanted the item more than Yi Yeyu did.

"Didn't you say this is more like a collectible?" Yi Yeyu stared at Yi Zheng.

"But it might still be able to be used." Yi Zheng was annoyed.

"I don't want to use it, it would be spoiled if I do. The value would remain high if I treat it as a collectible." Yi Yeyu insisted.

"It'll be useless in your hands, be a good girl and give it to your brother." Yi Zheng attempted to persuade her.

"Go away! I'm not a kid!" Yi Yeyu became mad.

"Lin Huang, this item…" After his failed attempts, Yi Zheng looked at Lin Huang with a pitiful expression.

"There's nothing that I can do since it's family related matters. The item isn't with me anyway, solve your own problems, alright?" Lin Huang opened his arms wide.

The two of them fought for the God Crasher until Bloody had calculated all the items.

"4,112 Emperor's Heart Rings, 301 expert-grade relics in good condition, one God Crasher, 528 other treasure, miscellaneous items, and some minerals."

"It's only past four in the afternoon, let's end our day here. The blood sacrifice will start in less than three hours. We've drained ourselves from the battles just now, let's rest before the blood sacrifice begins." Lin Huang looked at the time and said.

Hearing that the blood sacrifice was commencing, Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu finally stopped fighting while Leng Yuexin and Li Lang wore a serious expression on their faces. They soon found an empty space in the warehouse and rested, getting ready for the war tonight.

Throughout the three days, Lin Huang and the rest occupied themselves by conquering four medium sites, three small sites, and pinned all of the site locations on the dimensional relic. They rested well every night as there were no monsters coming to them where they hid.

Aside from the seven sites that they had conquered, they had found a large site with an imperial-level monster and a medium site with two immortal-level rank-5 monsters. They decided not to go to those sites after careful consideration. In reality, Lin Huang hesitated before coming to this particular site with immortal-level rank-4 monsters. Without the help of his cards, he did not have the confidence to kill the Ghoul Spider. It was fortunate that he finally managed to kill it.

Time passed in the ruins, Lin Huang and the rest had enough rest in the warehouse while the sky was getting dark. The empty ground in the ruins was now filled with monsters from the underground floors. It was extra crowded tonight, in the few hours after the sun set, there were more than tenfold the amount of monsters than it usually had.

"The blood sacrifice is commencing!" Bloody said to Lin Huang.

The sky was completely dark in the ruins, the quiet ruins now filled with at least hundreds of billions of them monsters. There were hundreds of imperial-level monsters alone, tens of thousands of immortal-level monsters as well as millions of holy fire-level monsters. Almost all of the living monsters got out of the underground for the monthly blood sacrifice. If such a terrifying monster horde appeared in Division7, it would bring major disasters if it was not destroyed.

Lin Huang and the rest were watching the projection from Bloody's Life Power in the third underground floor. They turned pale when they looked at the number of monsters in the projection, including Lin Huang, he was pale too.

"I didn't know there were so many monsters hiding in these ruins!" Li Lang was shocked to see the monsters in the projection, he opened his mouth wide as he watched.

"The amount has exceeded the apocalypse-grade monster horde!" Even Yi Yeyu who was usually courageous had fear in her eyes.

"Not only are their numbers scary, I can sense the immense power these monsters that are beyond my imagination through the projection. I feel defeated just by standing here." Yi Zheng looked at the monsters in the projection in fear.

"Grade-5 ruins are much scarier than I imagined." Leng Yuexin frowned.

If they were not watching this with their own eyes, Lin Huang would not believe that these ruins had so many monsters.

"This world is so much richer than we imagined…" Lin Huang exclaimed.

He had been to many places in Division 7, even more than most holy fire-level human had ever been. However, those were just a small part of Division 7. There were more than 8,000 footholds in Division 7, and Lin Huang had only been to less than 100 of them. Including the wild zones and danger zones outside of the foothold, he had only been to 1% of Division 7. To some extent, he was still a frog in a well. There were many places that he had never been and many sceneries that he had never seen.

It was his first time seeing so many monsters as he looked at the number of monsters in the projection. It was overwhelming just by looking at it. However, he knew that there must be places in this world that were even more stunning than the projection that he was looking at. It reminded him of video that he saw when he was on earth. It was a video comparing earth and other planets. When compared, the earth was just an insignificant speck of dust in the galaxy. At the end of the video, the galaxy was mere dust in the universe while humans were just sentient beings on a speck of dust. It was such an insignificant existence.

That made Lin Huang think about the world that he was currently in. How big the places were outside the twelve safe zones. Aside from this world, are there any other worlds that were even bigger than this?

"I've no idea how big these ruins are, but I know this is definitely bigger than an A-grade foothold." Li Lang thought Lin Huang was talking about how big these ruins were so he initiated the topic.

Lin Huang snapped out of his thoughts and smiled as he shook his head, he did not bother to correct Li Lang.

When it was 8 p.m. sharp, a human voice was heard.

"Fight!"

The voice pierced through the ground and it was loud and clear to them. They were shocked to hear that. In reality, the voice was loud and clear to all the lifeforms in the ruins. As the voice was heard, all of the monsters became frantic. The ruins were similar to a boiling kettle, as its atmosphere boiled.

Bloody projected the seven footholds that they had conquered, the war started as the voice was heard. Countless monsters began frantically attacking their rivals. Many skeletons were attacking the flesh monsters while human skeletons attacked the monster skeletons. Besides, there were flesh monsters of all types killing other flesh monsters. It looked like all the monsters in the entire ruins had gone crazy. Within a few minutes, many monsters were killed and the once dry land was now soaked with blood.

Lin Huang and the rest were shocked as they watched the monsters from the projection.

"These monsters seem like they've lost their mind." Yi Zheng gulped.

"It's not that they've lost their mind but more like they're required to fight. If there aren't enough monsters for the blood sacrifice, the demigods and the mysterious monster would kill the monsters themselves. There are still chances to live for the monsters who were more powerful but as long as the demigods and mysterious monster comes out to fight, there won't be a chance for them to live." Lin Huang shook his head as he frowned.

"It seems like they're not planning to fight into these sites." Leng Yuexin was slightly relieved as she did not see any monster crowd invading the sites.

"They'll go to the sites after they've killed all monsters around them." Lin Huang explained helplessly. All of them were stunned to hear that.

"We can't escape from the fight, let's just hope that we encounter weaker monsters." Lin Huang shook his head and forced out a smile.

Time passed by in the ruins, as more and more monster carcasses appeared on the ground while the blood flowed into a river, but the massacre still continued. The fight had come to an end in many places once it was past 12 midnight. The ones that won near the site that Lin Huang and the rest were hiding at was an imperial-level gigantic bear leading its team.

"We can't stay here anymore, the gigantic bear is an imperial-level. I think they'll come here in less than two hours." Lin Huang was ready to leave.

The rest did not say anything all they had seen how powerful the gigantic bear was from the projection. In the fighting, the bear summoned its Life Castle which was a terrifying hammer. It only took the bear three swings to kill the other imperial-level monster. It was clear that the bear was one of the more powerful imperial-level monsters.

"We can't go to site No.3 any longer." Leng Yuexin said. The numbering of the sites followed the sequence they conquered it at. The site that they were in was the last one, which was No.7. Site No.3 was conquered a few days back.

They looked at the projection immediately when they heard Leng Yuexin. The battle near site No.3 was ending, and the one that won was naturally another imperial-level monster. It was a powerful ant monster with an ant army. The ant monster's Life Castle was a gigantic nest with tens of thousands of ant monster formed from Life Power. They were all transcendent-level and more than ten of them were immortal-level. Once the Life Castle was summoned, countless Life Power ant monsters dashed out of it. Once the ant monsters were dead, they would return to the nest as Life Power and reemerge as ant monsters again, seemingly in an endless stream. The ant monster alone could not fight the gigantic bear, but the bear could do nothing to it as an ant army. If the bear's army was not as powerful as they were, their abilities would be definitely inferior to the ant army.

"We can't go to sites No.1 and No.4 as well…" Yi Zheng said. The two sites were now occupied by imperial-level monsters. Although fight had yet to end, the results did not really matter.

"There are imperial-level monsters in the four medium sites that we've conquered… How about the remaining three?" Lin Huang looked at the remaining three small sites.

"Site No.2 has an immortal-level rank-8 monster while site No.6 has an immortal-level rank-7 monster," Bloody said as Lin Huang looked on with concern.

"There's an immortal-level rank-4 monster near site No.5," said Bloody as Lin Huang quickly looked at the projection. Although the fight was ongoing, it seemed like it was going to end soon. If everything was in their expectation, the immortal-level rank-4 vine monster would win. It seemed to be a parasite as all of its followers had a transparent thread on their heads.

"Let's go to site No.5!" Lin Huang made his decision.

Out of the seven sites, only site No.5 site was the safest one. Lin Huang and the rest did not have any other option apart from that. The five of them and Lancelot stepped into the dimensional relic without hesitation. They arrived at site No.5 which was on the second underground floor 6,000 kilometers away. There were only two floors beneath this small site, and the size was only a quarter of the size of a medium site.

Bloody projected the battles when they arrived at site No.5. The imperial-level gigantic bear that was near site No.7 began to attack other sites. Meanwhile, the battle in the No.3 site was over. The imperial-level ant monster had killed all of the monsters thousands of meters around it. The battles were still going on in other sites.

Soon, the battle ended in site No.5 where they were located. As expected, the immortal-level rank-4 parasitic vine won. It was controlling its parasites to invade other monster lairs.

"The parasites will come to this small site in an hour," Bloody said.

"We've got an hour, please be prepared. This should be a tough one." Lin Huang passed Bloody's message to the rest.

"It's a parasitic monster, can we fight it?" Yi Zheng frowned.

They had seen the parasite monster fought in the projection, it seemed to be even more powerful than the Ghoul Spider that Lin Huang killed not long ago with its seamless parasitic ability.

"I'm not sure since I haven't fought it." Lin Huang could not guarantee if he could kill the parasite monster without the help of his cards. However, he was not afraid. If he could not handle it, he could use a Transformation Card to level-up to gold flame-level.

"You're not sure! We might be the monster's parasites if we lose, that would be worse than dying." Li Lang complained.

"I mean I'm not sure about my ultimate move." Lin Huang smiled.

"What if you use your ultimate move? Are you confident?" Li Lang asked.

"I'd only need a swing of the sword." Lin Huang smirked and looked confident.

They looked at him with their eyes wide opened.

"Stop messing around, just tell us if you have the confidence to win. If not, we'll have to think of other ways." Yi Yeyu was stunned and thought Lin Huang was not being serious. He might have said that just to tone down the tense situation.

"What the hell you got me." Li Lang realized Lin Huang might be kidding when he heard what Yi Yeyu said.

"I'm not messing around." Lin Huang looked at them calmly.

Although it did not make sense for a white flame-level to kill an immortal-level rank-4 monster with merely one sword swing, looking at how serious Lin Huang was, they did not doubt him anymore. There were secret skills in this world that could increase a person's ability tremendously in a short period of time. It was possible for Lin Huang to master such secret skill, his master was Mr. Fu after all. In reality, Lin Huang planned to use such secret skill to mask the effect of his activated Transformation Card.

After confirming that how powerful Lin Huang's ultimate move was, they stopped dwelling on the question. Time was passing by as they stared closely at the projections. The battles sites No.1 and No.4 ended soon. One was taken over by a human skeleton monster while another was won by a Black Boa King. Both of them were imperial-level, and were just slightly weaker than the gigantic bear in site No.7. All the winners were tough to handle.

Meanwhile, the killing spree of the immortal-level rank-4 parasitic vine in No.5 site went on. It did not drain its energy, on the contrary, it was getting more and more powerful and it had more and more parasitic hosts following it. In less than an hour, it already had five immortal-level hosts following it, including two immortal-level rank-3 monsters. What Yi Zheng and the rest were concerned about was the hosts that the parasitic vine was controlling. They seemed to not feel any pain as they killed endlessly.

"This parasite is much more powerful than a normal immortal-level rank-4 monster." Yi Zheng exclaimed as he peeped at Lin Huang, waiting for his response.

"Definitely a tough one." Lin Huang remained calm as he responded with a smile.

"I've seen this monster on the monster encyclopedia, it's called something vine and it's rare. There's nothing much about this monster on the monster encyclopedia." Yi Yeyu said.

"It's called the Puppet Vine, it has never appeared in the Division7 before. This monster can secrete a type of thread into the host's body and control them like puppets. The host can be living thing or dead carcasses. It could even be fleshless skeletons. This monster has powerful parasitic abilities."

"But it has obvious weaknesses too. Its parasitic thread is made of Life Power with means the amount of host is limited to its Life Power. Looking at this vine's combat level, the largest number of hosts it can get would not exceed 4,000. Moreover, if the hosts are living things, the combat level of the hosts has to be lower than the vine itself. Besides, the Puppet Vine doesn't have the Supreme Intelligence skill so it can only control the hosts at the basic level. Most of its hosts are like puppets that wander the area fearless but they don't have their own abilities. Only minority of the hosts that were synced with the vine for a long time would have their own abilities."

"Such plant monsters are afraid of fire, but most of the Puppet Vines that have evolved for many times would be immune toward fire to a certain level and were unafraid of fire. However, their biggest weakness is that they were afraid of lightning!"

As compared to Bloody, the Puppet Vine was far behind. Yi Zheng and the rest were stunned as what Lin Huang told them were the weaknesses that the Puppet Vine had.

"Most of the things that you said aren't on the monster encyclopedia, where did you get that from?" Leng Yuexin could not help but ask. She had memorized the entire monster encyclopedia but she had no idea the Puppet Vine had so many weaknesses.

"The monster encyclopedia that you guys read wasn't complete." Lin Huang explained. In reality, the monster encyclopedia that he had was incomplete as well. However, the edition that Mr. Fu gave him that was all on the parasite monsters.

They knew what Lin Huang meant by incomplete edition. They were the royal families and they know there was a forbidden edition of the monster encyclopedia that could not be found in the market. The reason being the content was too scary where only imperial-level humans had the right to read it.

"The Puppet Vine is coming to us now!" Bloody said before the rest could speak.

"Be ready to fight, it'll only take 10 minutes for the Puppet Vine to get here." Lin Huang said to them as he heard what Bloody said.

"Let's follow our plan of killing the monsters at the entrance." Yi Zheng nodded at them.

They then returned to the entrance on the first underground floor and stood in formation that they discussed while waiting for the Puppet Vine patiently.

Lin Huang and Lancelot stood in front while Leng Yuexin and the rest stood behind while Yi Zheng stood last in the formation.

"Remember, attack the Puppet Vine's puppets. We must chop off their heads, other attacks are redundant. These puppets don't feel pain so it's useless to attack any parts of their bodies. Chopping off their head would cut off the puppet thread." Lin Huang reminded them again.

Lin Huang had mentioned that to them before but he wanted to emphasize that before the battle started. All of them nodded at him with all seriousness as they knew the battle would be a tough one. On their side, they only had six of them including Lancelot while the Puppet Vine had more than 3,000 puppets with five immortal-level monsters among them.

Bloody removed the projection on the first underground floor, it was complete silence in there. They could even hear Li Lang and the rest's nervous breath.

"They're here!"

As Lin Huang said that, they looked at the entrance while holding tight to their weapons. In less than three seconds, there were buzzing sound coming from the well on top. Within a second, there were insect monsters that looked like mosquitoes appearing at the bottom of the well. They had a low combat level as two were at the crimson flame-level while another was at the blue flame-level. It was obvious that these three monsters were just pathfinders.

Before the three monsters could see them clearly, Lin Huang attacked first. A white glow flashed in the air, and the monster heads were chopped off, falling onto the ground before they could even make a sound. Lin Huang was so fast that they were shocked, even Leng Yuexin did not see him swinging his sword. He then kept the monster carcasses wearing an expressionless face while waiting for the next monster to come.

"Usually the Puppet Vine would have its guard up when its pathfinders are killed so it would send more pathfinders later to find out what happened. To prevent it from finding out what happened, I'll kill the pathfinders as soon as I could so it won't know what happened. It would definitely attack us without a doubt if it finds out that there are only six of us." Lin Huang told them the reason why he killed the three monsters in one hit earlier.

As expected, the Puppet Vine send more pathfinders without showing itself. The pathfinders this one were still insect monsters but they were five different types of them. All of them could fly and the most powerful one was gold flame-level. However, all five of them were immediately killed by Lin Huang as soon as they got to the bottom of the well. The sword in his hand was now not unlike white lightning. It was so quick that even Yi Zheng did not see the attack and the battle had ended.

Lin Huang's performance shocked all of them.

"The third wave won't be this easy anymore…" A man with silver hair appeared next to Lin Huang as he spoke. The man looked like he was in his early twenties. He had silver hair and wore a black robe, good looking but cold. He gave the impression that he was hard to talk to. Lancelot who had been expressionless looked at the silver-haired man as he appeared while the rest looked at him too.

"This is Bai, he's my partner." Lin Huang did not say too much. Bai looked at them and nodded lightly.

"This guy looks exactly the same as a human…" Yi Yeyu and the rest knew what Lin Huang meant by 'partner', they realized that Bai was no different than humans after observing him.

"No matter how many monsters are coming in the next wave, you and Lancelot will help me kill them as soon as possible. Also, these monsters are all puppets. You'll have to chop off their heads, attacking other parts of their body wouldn't do anything." Lin Huang instructed.

"Hmm." Bai nodded.

As Lin Huang had yet instructed them, they were buzzing sound coming above. It sounded like there were more than ten flying monsters on top. As the entrance was small, the pathfinders could not come all at once so they came down one by one. As the two monsters landed at the bottom of the well, Lin Huang, Bai and Lancelot attacked together.

A white glow, a couple of bloody glows and a dark red glow flashed in the air. As soon as the two pathfinders were killed, a couple of red glow crawled up the well and strangled the ten monsters that were above the well. Their heads were separated from their bodies in the next second, and the annoying buzzing noise stopped as all the headless monsters fell to the bottom of the well.

"The Vine Puppet would have known we're tough by now so it might retreat together with its puppets or it might be furious and attack us." Lin Huang said.

"Perhaps this is the biggest difference that we have with an imperial censor. We don't usually think of what the monsters would think during battles. All we know is to think about the monster's weakness and how to fight now." Yi Zheng realized that Lin Huang's way of thinking was different from others.

"Don't underestimate the intelligence of monsters. Many of them are as intelligent as human and some of them are even smarter than humans." Lin Huang did not explain much. Most of his summoning monsters were comparable with humans while Bloody and Clown who possessed Supreme Intelligence were far smarter than a regular human.

"The Puppet Vine is intelligent too. It's highly possible that it would retreat as its pathfinders are killed continuously. But looking at the special circumstances like the blood sacrifice, it might choose to fight instead." Lin Huang frowned.

The entrance was silent once again. After a long time, there was nothing coming to the well.

"Did they retreat?" Lin Huang asked Bloody. Bloody then projected the scene on top of the well. The Puppet Vine stood not far away with all sorts of puppets around it. Thousands of monsters surrounded the well, they had never left. The Puppet Vine seemed to be thinking whether it should retreat. Yi Zheng and the rest were concerned as they looked at the number of monsters in the projection. They knew that if the Puppet Vine decided to fight, Lin Huang and his two summoning monsters would not be able to handle them while the rest of them could not just watch the battle like they did earlier.

After minutes of hesitation, the Puppet Vine seemed to have made its decision. Its body that was on the ground stood up without making any noise, less than 10 meters away from the well. The parasites that were controlled with the threads jumped into the well one after the other. Lin Huang and the rest held their weapons tight when they saw the first monster in the bottom of the well on the first underground floor from Bloody's projection.

The projection in front of Lin Huang faded away. Next second, a few monsters landed at the bottom of the well at the same time. The fight had started! Red glows flashed through the air, the monsters that had just landed had their heads chopped off. Their powerful bodies were now carcasses. Bai completely absorbed the qi-blood in the puppets when it attacked. To it, it was nothing different compared to chopping off their heads. A body without qi-blood was equivalent to a dead human body that was oxidized for thousands of years. Even a three-year-old could crush the body with a toy hammer.

However, Bai's ability had shocked Yi Zheng and the rest. As the first batch of monsters was killed, the second batch was sent next second. It was Lancelot who attacked this time, the monsters' heads were chopped off with a swing of sword. There was dark red mist coming out of Lancelot's body, Yi Zheng, and Leng Yuexin were fearful of his aura. Soon the third batch of monsters were sent, it was Bai who attacked again. The fourth batch was then handled by Lancelot. The both of them took turns as they agreed before so that they got to show their abilities according.

As the well was small, there were just small amounts of monsters come to each of them. Sometimes there were six to seven of them, sometimes there were just three monsters.

Lin Huang did not have to move at all while Bai and Lancelot did not seem to be tired at all. Lin Huang chose the both of them due to their special physique. To Bai, its energy was endless as long as it was provided with sufficient qi-blood while Lancelot could gain energy from killing.

Meanwhile, as Lin Huang's Life Wheels were connected to his monsters, as long as they did not stop killing and absorbed Life Light, the Life Power within his body would be refilled endlessly. Of course, that did not mean the three of them were invincible just because their energy was not drained. They would be tired eventually. Lin Huang did not fight as he did not have to while another reason was he wanted to save his energy for later.

Bai and Lancelot did not give their all as monsters below immortal-level were nothing to them. They basically killed all of the monsters within mere seconds. After losing hundreds of puppets, the Puppet Vine saw what was happening at the bottom of the well through the puppets' eyes.

"Human… Be my puppets!" The Puppet Vine said when it saw Lin Huang and the rest.

To many parasite monsters that could retrieve memories, the higher the intelligence of host the better as it could read more information and learn more from the host. The parasitic monsters loved hosts like humans as they had exceptional learning abilities as there were many things in the human world that they could not learn from monsters. The Puppet Vine was over the moon when it found out there were human in this site. However, it soon realized that it would be a tough battle.

After carefully thinking it over, the Puppet Vine made its decision. Five of its immortal-level puppets shrunk themselves and jumped into the well. Since holy fire-level monsters could not fight them, the Puppet Vine thought it would have to use immortal-level puppets instead.

"There're five immortal-level puppets coming our way!" Bloody said to Lin Huang, Bai and Lancelot.

Soon, the five immortal-level puppets landed at the bottom of the well. Two of them were human but their combat level was low with one at immortal-level rank-1 while the other was at immortal-level rank-2. Meanwhile, there was a fiend, a mutated beast that looked like a lizard and a colorful monster that looked like a snake, seemingly venomous. Aside from the two humans, the other three puppets shrunk themselves before entering.

However, the two humans clad in a black robe, making Lin Huang and the rest think that they were human-type monsters. They only found out that they were human when they saw the relics that the two humans were holding. Monsters could not activate human's relics.

"Fight!"

As Lin Huang shouted, Bai, Lancelot and himself attacked the five monsters without hesitation. Bai was fighting the mutated beast and the human while Lancelot fought the other human along with the snake. Lin Huang fought the fiend on his own.

Among the five monsters, the fiend was the most powerful as it was an immortal-level rank-3 monster. It was a Terraflame Fiend, completely red without legs but had four other limbs instead. Its eyes were flaming while its body levitated less than ten centimeters from the ground. It might not be able to enter the well if it did not shrink itself. Lin Huang did not hold back and dashed towards the Terraflame Fiend with his sword. A white Life Power glow covered his sword and transformed it into a gigantic sword as it collided with the Terraflame Fiend's punch.

"Ka-cha…"

A light cracking sound was heard, Yi Zheng and rest saw a crack on the Terraflame Fiend's first. Lin Huang could do this to an immortal-level rank-3 fiend with just a simple swing of the sword without a sword skill?! They learned something new about Lin Huang's ability. However, Lin Huang did not care about what the attack did as he swung his sword again and again, seemingly so fast that they could only see his afterimage.

They could not tell how many times had Lin Huang swing his sword. Soon, he kept his sword and backed off. Just when they were thinking what Lin Huang was doing, the Terraflame Fiend's body collapsed and exploded. Blood that seemed like lava spilled all over the ground.

Killed in a second! Lin Huang killed the immortal-level Terraflame Fiend in a second! Although he had swung his sword hundreds of times, it only took one second. Yi Zheng and the rest were stunned to see that, as Lin Huang's ability seemed bizarre to them.

"So he had never given his all before this." Yi Zheng looked at Lin Huang and realized that his talent that he had been proud of since young was nothing compared to Lin Huang.

"He's the true supreme genius, he would rank on top even in the core zone." Leng Yuexin mumbled to herself.

"I'm thinking if he could kill god when he reached imperial-level." Yi Yeyu teased.

"If he really could kill God, nobody will be able to fight him in Division 7 when he reaches imperial-level." Li Lang forced out a smile, their differences were just too big.

"Division 7 isn't his place to shine. He doesn't need to wait until he reacts imperial-level, I suppose nobody could even take him on in Division 7 now." Leng Yuexin shook her head.

Lin Huang did not tell them about his plan of leaving Division 7 soon. Asking them to join the adventure in these ruins was actually a farewell gift to all of them. He planned to break the news at the end of their journey in the ruins. As he killed the monster under on the first underground floor, Bai and Lancelot were still fighting hard. Bloody projected the scene outside the well again.

The Puppet Vine was making up its mind whether to enter the well. It was terrified when it saw Lin Huang killing the Terraflame Fiend within a second. The Terraflame Fiend was its most powerful puppet as it took much effort to capture. However, Lin Huang killing it in one second had it second-guessing its decision to go into the well. It was in a pickle as it was desired to capture human puppets.

Lin Huang killed the Terraflame Fiend in one second in order to make the Puppet Vine back off. However, it seemed like it was insufficient. Looking at the Puppet Vine's expression in the projection, Lin Huang smirked as he was ready to give it a show. Life Power filled his sword again and Lin Huang disappeared from where he was. At the very next second, his sword slashed through to human puppet's head. He had scored another kill in a second once again! He then used his back hand to chop off the immortal-level rank-1 human puppet's head.

The Puppet Vine then recalled its remaining two immortal-level puppets immediately. The two immortal-level puppets flew up and disappeared from the well. After recalling its two immortal-level puppets, the Puppet Vine left with its puppets without thinking twice. The well that was crowded was now silent again. Yi Zheng and the rest were relieved to see the Puppet Vine left with all its puppets from Bloody's projection.

"I thought the battle would be a tough one luckily the Puppet Vine left on its own." Yi Yeyu kept her saber that she was holding."

"It didn't leave on its own, Lin Huang made it leave." Li Lang laughed.

"Killing an immortal-level rank-3 monster, you've been keeping this a secret for too long." Yi Zheng turned around to look at Lin Huang.

"Oh well, I must scare the Puppet Vine away. That's the only way to do it." Lin Huang shook his head and smiled.

"Since the Puppet Vine has left, we should be safe as long as there arent anymore monsters coming to us for the next couple of hours. That being said, we should still be careful and watch the site closely. "Leng Yuexin was still tensed.

Lin Huang agreed with Leng Yuexin, scaring the Puppet Vine off did not mean they would be safe so the next couple of hours.

"Bloody, continue to monitor this site and inform me as long as something is happening." Lin Huang instructed Bloody.

They returned to the second underground floor after scaring the Puppet Vine away while they waited for the sun to rise. As long as they got through tonight, they would not have to worry for the entire month.

…

An hour later, the Puppet Vine leading its puppet army and arrived at a medium site 2,000 kilometers away. It went into the entrance without thinking twice as soon as it arrived. Few minutes later, a bloody snake that was the size of an adult dinger came out of the well. Its bloody eyes looked far into the site where Lin Huang and the rest were.

"A human genius? The god would be happy if we bring him to the blood sacrifice!"

Just when it said this, countless monsters dashed out of the well. There were tens of thousands of them, the Puppet Vine was one of them. There were another six monsters with an aura that was similar to the Puppet Vine. The snake dashed and arrived on top of a dragon skeleton's head. It then roared into the sky with volume that did not match its body size. As the loud roar sounded, the monster army flew up into the sky and headed towards the site where Lin Huang and the rest were hiding.

…

As an hour of silence went by, they finally relaxed when it was almost 3 a.m.

"Two more hours before the sun rises, we're almost there." Li Lang said to them with a smile.

Suddenly, Lin Huang had a change of expression.

"What?!"

He knew from Bloody that the monster army was approaching.

"Trouble is here! The Puppet Vine is only an imperial-level monster's follower, it told the imperial-level monsters about us and now they're coming with an army!"

"Lin Huang stop messing around, this isn't funny at all." Li Lang said.

Yi Zheng, Yi Yeyu, and Leng Yuexin looked at Lin Huang upset, they knew he would definitely not joke about something like this.

"Project it." Lin Huang patted Bloody's head, Bloody projected the scene of the monster army that was coming for them.

In the projection, there were countless gigantic monsters dashing towards them, including the Puppet Vine that escaped an hour ago.

"The leader of the monster army is that bloody snake, it's an imperial-level. Including the Puppet Vine, it has seven immortal-level followers, with the most powerful one being the immortal-level rank-8 dragon skeleton while the immortal-level rank-4 Puppet Vine that attacked us is the least powerful one." Lin Huang pointed at the projection and told the information that Bloody told him.

"There are 30,000 of them, all of them above holy fire-level, and most of them being above the blue flame-level. They'll need eighty minutes at most to arrive!"

Yi Zheng and the rest were upset when they knew about the monster army that was coming to them.

"What should we do now, run to other sites?" Yi Yeyu asked.

"Bloody, what's the situation in other sites?" Lin Huang looked at Bloody.

Bloody then projected the scenes of the other six sites. In the projection, all of the sites were occupied by monster armies.

As soon as the blood sacrifice commenced, the underground room seemed to be the only safe place. No matter living or dead, everything on the ground would become a sacrifice for the three demigod remnants and the mysterious monster. Therefore, all of the monsters that won the battle would hide underground that was nearby the foothold.

Yi Zheng and the rest frowned when they looked at the projection.

"No.1, No.3, No.4, and No.7 are all occupied by imperial-level monsters, only No.2 and No.6 are occupied by immortal-level monsters. However, regardless of whether we go to sites No.2 or No.6, we'd still be surrounded by thousands of holy fire-level monsters. The site with the least monsters would be No.2 but there are still more than 8,000 of them…" Bloody gave the statistics but Lin Huang immediately interrupted.

"The number doesn't matter anymore, we shouldn't go to any of the six sites. No matter which site we go to, we'll be drowned in thousands and even tens of thousands of monsters. I could save myself by using Transformation Card but I can't protect all of you."

"There's nowhere that we can run to…" Yi Zheng said the truth after a moment of silence.

"The least powerful leader occupying these sites is an immortal-level rank-7 monster with more than three immortal-level monsters with them. Their followers are blue flame-level monsters at most. No matter which site we go, I can't live for more than 10 seconds." Li Lang knew that himself.

"Lin Huang, I know you're unwilling to leave but it seems like leaving is the only option now. It's not worth it if we die here, we can come back next year when we're ready." Yi Yeyu wanted to leave.

"Since going to other sites are impossible, we can stay in this site that we're at right now." Lin Huang insisted.

The rest turned silent again.

"Let's hear your plan then." Leng Yuexin spoke when Yi Zheng was going to persuade Lin Huang to leave.

"Let's look at the case with the size of the well again. As long as we're not surrounded, the number of monsters doesn't really matter. The size of the well has limited the number of monsters that can come in each time, so no matter there are ten thousand or a million monsters out there, there'll only be a fixed amount of monsters coming at us at once. All we have to do is to survive until the sun rises around 5 a.m. It's past 3 a.m. now and it'll take the monsters an hour and twenty minutes to arrive here. They'll get here around 4:30 a.m. which means we'll only have to hold on for an hour." Lin Huang voiced out his plan.

"But the biggest issue we have now isn't the number of monsters and the time we have to stand guard, it's their combat level. What do you plan to do to the imperial-level monster? It'll definitely fight if its followers can't get through the well by the sun rises." Leng Yuexin looked at Lin Huang when she asked that.

"Use the God Crasher, it should be able to kill an imperial-level monster." It was Bloody who gave Lin Huang the suggestion.

All of them were stunned to hear that, they almost forgot about the God Crasher.

"Even if the God Crasher manages to kill the imperial-level snake, what do we do to the immortal-level monsters? The leader has seven immortal-level followers, and the most powerful one is an immortal-level rank-8 monster." Leng Yuexin asked.

"Let me handle the immortal-level monsters, you guys can help Bai and Lancelot to kill the rest." Lin Huang decided to carry the biggest responsibility.

Leng Yuexin did not say a word as she looked at Lin Huang.

"You can handle an immortal-level rank-8 monster?" It was Yi Yeyu who asked the question.

"I should be able to if I use my ultimate move!" Lin Huang nodded.

All of them were speechless, they did not imagine his ultimate move to be that powerful.

"So… Can you kill an imperial-level monster with your ultimate move?" Li Lang asked a stupid question.

"Do you think I'm the reincarnation of a god?" Lin Huang glared at Li Lang.

They were relieved to hear Lin Huang's reply. They were doubtful of the existence of supreme genius before seeing Lin Huang killing an immortal-level rank-4 monster. However, after witnessing him doing that, they would believe him even if he said he could kill an imperial-level monster. Fortunately, he denied his ability which made them realized that there was a limit even to Lin Huang's ability.

"It's impossible for me to fight an imperial-level even using my ultimate move. That's why I thought of using the God Crasher to kill it. It's such a waste that the God Crasher can't be used more often or I'd use it to kill the immortal-level monsters as well." Lin Huang admitted the truth.

"It's not that terrible that we have a God Crasher with us. It's monitored by the Union Government, making it impossible to find on the market. It wouldn't have been gotten rid of during the war if it hadn't been used for so many times and we wouldn't find it." Yi Zheng explained in all seriousness, he was excited to talk about military matters.

"I think it won't be a total loss for us. Although the monster army is terrifying, have powerful imperial and immortal-level monsters as well as a massive monster horde with them, we'll have a safe month as long as we manage to get through an hour of their onslaught. I think it's workable. But of course, I'll respect your decisions if any of you are unwilling to stay and take the risk. I'll bring all of us out of this site." Lin Huang looked at Yi Zheng before looking at the rest.

"Let's vote. Those who want out, raise your hand." Yi Zheng said out of nowhere. Leng Yuexin and Yi Yeyu held their heads down without raising their hands, neither did Yi Zheng. Meanwhile, Li Lang was hesitating. As he realized nobody raised their hands, he stretched his body with his hand that was half raised.

"I'm just stretching, don't think too much okay." Li Lang smiled awkwardly to them as he thought nobody noticed that he wanted out.

"Alright then, since nobody is giving up... Let's get crazy together, with me!" Lin Huang was relieved, he thought that they would want to give up and did not expect them to want to stay.

It was 4:24 a.m., the quiet night was crowded again. After more than an hour of nerve-wracking wait, the imperial monster had arrived. The leader snaked brought its army of followed to the well that Lin Huang and the rest were hiding. More than 30,000 of them surrounded the well. Without having Bloody to project the situation, they could hear the roaring coming from the top of the well. Their faces turned pale when they saw the countless monsters in the projection.

In the projection, the snake was flying on top of the well as it looked down. Since it did not find anything special, it dashed back onto the dragon skeleton's head and roared. The roar sounded like a gigantic monster that was screaming its lung out, it did not match its tiny body at all. After it roared, a couple of flying monsters came out of the monster crowd and headed into the well.

"Devil Flies!" Leng Yuexin's pupils shrunk.

The Devil Fly was an insect with transparent wings, it was a parasitic monster and was one of the fastest flying monsters among holy-fire level monsters who can only fly short distances. Aside from that, it also had intelligent flying skills. It was obvious that the snake did not send the Devil Flies to attack but to investigate what was happening. After all, it was possible that the humans that were hiding escaped after the Puppet Vine left more than two and a half hours ago.

It only took the Devil Flies less than a second to arrive at the well that was a hundred meters before it saw Lin Huang and the rest who were hiding at the bottom of the well. Suddenly, a few red glows shot out of a silver-haired man's back. The glows pierced through the Devil Flies' heads before they could do anything. It was Bai who killed the pathfinders at the speed of light, the Devil Flies did not even manage to make a sound.

The snake that was above the well seemed to realize what happened since the Devil Flies did not return. The snake looked down at the well again but there was nothing as the Devil Flies' carcasses were already put away. The Devil Flies were blue and purple flame-level monsters. They now had a brand new perception toward humans as the Devil Flies were killed within seconds.

The snake roared again after some hesitation. A couple of gold flame-level Devil Beetles flew out of the army. They were one of the holy fire-level monsters that had the most powerful defensive abilities and were experts in flying. Although their attacking abilities was nothing out of the extraordinary, they played the role of being the shields in battles. They were only gold flame-level but even an immortal-level rank-2 would not be able to break through their defenses within a short period of time.

The snake obviously wanted the Devil Beetles to block the attacks and get the other monsters to enter the well. If it did not do that, it would be the same as the Puppet Vine described where monsters were basically digging their own graves when they headed down the well.

"Can you kill these Devil Beetles in one second?" Yi Zheng was concerned as with his own ability, he could only break the monsters' defense with all he had but he would not be able to kill them.

"No problem." Lin Huang then looked at Lancelot.

"The weakest part of the Devil Beetles is the opening at the end of their abdomen. Yes, it's the anus."

The Devil Beetles shrunk from five meters long to one meter after they received the instruction before heading into the well. Soon, the Devil Beetles landed at the bottom of the well. As they were ready to attack when they saw Lin Huang and the rest, a couple of red glows from the sword came from their back. Then… (graphic content), the Devil Beetles were dead. The snake had been watching on top of the well, all it could see was that the Devil Beetles died immediately as soon as they got to the bottom of the well. It was stunned as the carcasses were gone. It saw the red glows as well but it had no idea what kind of attack that was.

Lancelot used Saber Dao Territory so the attack happened out of nowhere as the monsters were within the area of effect. The attack was bizarre to the snake. Although it could not understand how the attack happened, the snake was sure that the attack was not that powerful. Aside from not being able to harm the snake, it would not work on most of its immortal-level followers.

After some hesitation, the snake looked at its immortal-level follower. Since the Devil Beetles were killed in one second, it knew that it would be useless to send its holy fire-level monsters. It was not sure of the ability of the humans and was worried that it might lose its immortal-level monsters. However, it seemed like the humans under the well had restricted abilities which would not get its immortal-level followers killed.

Lin Huang and the rest were watching the projection, they knew what the snake was going to do by looking at its action.

"It's going to send in immortal-level monsters!" Yi Zheng frowned while the rest looked concerned at Lin Huang. Nobody knew what ultimate move that Lin Huang was planning on performing. No matter how much trust they had on him, they were not sure if he could win the battle before he killed any immortal-level rank-7 or immortal-level rank-8 monsters.

Above the well, the snake instructed all the six immortal-level monsters aside from the dragon skeleton. Among the six immortal-level monsters, the Puppet Vine was unwilling to fight but it could not disobey the snake's instruction. Meanwhile, the other five immortal-level monsters were excited as it had been a long time since they killed humans. They then shrunk their bodies and entered the well. The Puppet Vine decided to be the last one to enter.

Yi Zheng and the rest clenched their fists as they watched the six immortal-level monsters come into the well on the projection.

"Use the Transformation Card to upgrade my combat level and hide my transformation ability." Lin Huang communicated with Xiao Hei secretly. As the instruction was given, his combat level rose tremendously. He leveled-up from white flame-level to gold flame-level within seconds.

Sensing his aura that was rising, Yi Zheng and the rest were stunned before they looked at him in shock.

"Gold flame-level?!" As Yi Zheng was a purple flame-level, his senses were the most sensitive and he was sure that Lin Huang's current combat level had exceeded his.

"He leveled-up four ranks at once!" Leng Yuexin was shocked, she had never heard of such secret skill.

Yi Yeyu and Li Lang only sensed that Lin Huang's combat level had increased tremendously but they had no idea which level he was on now. The both of them looked shocked as they had their mouths wide opened.

Just as Lin Huang transformed, the six immortal-level monsters landed at the bottom of the well…

Among the six immortal-level monster, the most powerful one was the immortal-level rank-7 Onyx Rat. To be exact, it was monster that looked like a rat with black hair. Naturally, it was much bigger than the normal rats. Excluding its tail, it was over two meters long after it was being shrunk. It was at least seven to eight meters long when it was above the well. It was a mutated beast rat, a monster that was cruel where it would eat almost everything and it was violent. It would eat all preys within its field of vision no matter what type of monster the preys were.

Although it looked ordinary with its black hair, its ability was terrifying and it was a dangerous monster. Meanwhile, the remaining immortal-level monsters were a snake monster, a blue scorpion, a red spider, a spirit monster in a white robe and the Puppet Vine that they encountered earlier. the snake and the spirit monsters were both immortal-level rank-6 while the scorpion and the spider were immortal-level rank-5. The Puppet Vine was the least powerful one among them which was only immortal-level rank-4. However, it had two immortal-level puppets with it. Although it had yet to summon them, their combined abilities would be nothing lesser than an immortal-level rank-5 monster. The imperial-level snake's followers were all powerful.

Under the well in the No.5 site, Lin Huang who had transformed into gold flame-level held a sword with golden lightning on it. As the six immortal-level monsters landed at the bottom of the well, Lin Huang moved.

"Thunder Eclipse!"

His body seemed to merge with his words as he dashed like golden lightning. Within seconds, a golden glow flashed at the bottom of the well and a golden arc was produced. The attack was so fast that even Li Lang and Leng Yuexin did not catch Lin Huang's movement. All they saw was the golden arc in the air.

Lin Huang performed his ultimate move as soon as he attacked. Thunder Eclipse was a merged skill that he came up by combining many sword skills such as Thunder Sting including sword skills from his monsters. It was an exceedingly fast sword skill. Although he had yet to complete the integration, its speed and power were dozens of times faster than Thunder Sting. The reason why he used this was simple, he wanted to kill the monsters as soon as he could. All six monsters were immortal-level with the least powerful of them being an immortal-level rank-4 monster. If any of them managed to break their formation, Yi Zheng and the rest would not be able to handle the monsters.

The snake and the dragon skeleton were watching from above the well. The dragon skeleton's iced blue pupils shrunk when it saw Lin Huang's attack, even the snake showed a shocked expression that looked like a human. It did not expect the human that was hiding underground to have such an ability. As the golden glow was slashed in the air, besides the immortal-level rank-7 Onyx Rat, the remaining five died immediately. Suddenly, blood of varying colors splashed on the ground, the bottom of the well was now colorful.

"How great would it be if I didn't come to them a few hours back…"

Puppet Vine looked at its body that was chopped into pieces in regret. It accidentally offended a mad killer which now ended its life. The other monsters were in shock as they were killed before they could even do anything. The Onyx Rat lowered its body as it looked at Lin Huang in death. Although it did not die, there was blood coming out of its abdomen.

Yi Zheng and the rest were stunned when they saw Lin Huang killing five immortal-level rank-4 to rank-6 monsters while injuring an immortal-level rank-7 monster with a swing of the sword. It was not because his opponents were weak but instead, it was because Lin Huang was too powerful! He was possibly the most powerful person ever!

"Such stunning effect after his secret skill upgrade. Does this mean there won't be any immortal-level monsters that can fight him if he reaches the gold flame-level in the future?!" Yi Zheng and the rest thought to themselves.

Yi Yeyu would think that it was a lie if somebody were to say that a gold flame-level person could kill an immortal-level rank-9 monster. However, she definitely thought Lin Huang could do that now. Lin Huang frowned as the rat was still alive, as his attack did not live up to his expectations.

"Looks like the skill need to be polished, it's still not powerful enough."

Above the well, the snake was impatient as it watched its five immortal-level followers killed. If it did not attack itself soon, the rat would die and the only immortal-level follower that it would only be left with would be the dragon skeleton.

As it thought about that, it used its tail and patted the dragon skeleton's head. The dragon skeleton shrunk its body and entered the well. Lin Huang was still in the battle in the rat so he did not see Bloody's projection, but Yi Zheng and the rest were watching it. Yi Yeyu took out the God Crashed that she prepared without thinking twice.

"Lin Huang, move!" Yi Zheng stood behind the God Crasher as he shouted, adjusted the cannon and aimed at the bottom of the well.

Lin Huang pulled Bai and Lancelot as he teleported behind the God Crasher. Almost right after Lin Huang moved, the snake who rode on top of the dragon skeleton's head landed at the bottom of the well. Yi Zheng fired the God Crasher without hesitation. There were sparks that looked like meteors in the air, they drowned the rat that was dying together with the snake and dragon skeleton.

"Bang!"

A loud thud exploded, the ground was shaking like it was an intense earthquake.

The ground where Lin Huang and the rest were standing cracked, it felt like it would collapse at any moment. They did not have the time to worry whether the site was going to collapse as they watched the direction where the cannon was fired. They wanted to know if the imperial-level snake was skilled. Soon, a red glow shot among the spark and dashed towards Lin Huang directly before the spark faded away. They did not see what happened but Lin Huang saw that the snake was still alive. Although it had blood all over its body and it was burnt, he was sure that it was still alive!

As the snake dashed out of the spark, it shot a deadly glare at Lin Huang and the rest. Eventually, its eyes stopped at Yi Zheng who fired the cannon and dashed towards him.

"We're doomed…"

Lin Huang's back had cold sweat when he realized that the imperial-level snake was still alive. He knew that Yi Zheng and the rest would be killed immediately as they could not fight the snake. He then blocked in front of Yi Zheng with his sword and swung it at the snake with Thunder Eclipse…

A bright red glow collided with the golden sword glow like thunder. The first underground floor was shaking from the collision, and the corridor was filled with cracks, looking like it could collapse at any time. As soon as a loud bang was heard, the bright golden glow was engulfed by a bloody glow. The golden shadow was shot back a more than a hundred meters into the first underground floor's corridor before eventually landing on the wall. The wall that was additionally reinforced even collapsed from the collision, as cracks that looked like a spider's web expanded several meters away.

"Lin Huang!" Yi Zheng and the rest shouted. The shadow that was shot out was him. From that one collision with the snake, Lin Huang realized the huge difference between an immortal-level and an imperial-level monster. The feeling when his sword collided with the snake felt like a person was being hit by a train, struck by unsurmountable force. His hand that was holding the sword exploded into a bloody mist, and his organs were affected as well. With his heart almost stopping, he spat out blood. His body was thrown away by that unstoppable force before it landed on the wall. Lin Huang had no idea how many broken bones he had in his body now.

That one hit alone finished Lin Huang. The major difference in ability could not be made up with certain skills or any other way. After the snake defeated Lin Huang in a single hit, its ruby eyes glared at Yi Zheng again. They did not dare to move as they knew any movement would trigger the snake's attack. Lin Huang was already dying from that one attack so Yi Zheng and the rest were in despair. His glory of killing five immortal-level monsters in a swing of the sword was now gone because of the snake. That was testament to the snake's strength, they definitely could not fight it.

Bai and Lancelot stood where they were, knowing full well that Lin Huang did not die. If he was dead, both of them would disappear. However, they could not initiate the attack at this moment as the enemy was overpowering; whoever moved would be asking for death. Yi Zheng knew the only thing that could turn the table around was the God Crasher before him but he was not sure if the God Crasher could even fire one more time.

Meanwhile, the snake glared at Yi Zheng was who the one who attacked it in the first place, ignoring the rest. Naturally, that was because Bai and Lancelot held back their aura, or else they would turn into the snake's snack. Although Yi Zheng tried his best not to look at the God Crasher, his eyes betrayed him. Him peeking at the God Crasher had shifted the snake's attention.

"So… This is probably the thing that you used to attack me?" The snake's voice echoed in the corridor of the first underground floor. It sounded like a mature man with a deep voice, which was completely mismatched to its size.

Yi Zheng and the rest were surprised to hear that. As long as they lost the God Crasher, that would mean they had completely lost the battle as Lin Huang was 'killed' by the snake.

"Guess I'm right." The snake seemed to be intelligent as it figured out the answer from their expressions.

Suddenly, the snake opened its mouth. A red glow shot out and engulfed the God Crasher. As soon as the red glow disappeared, the God Crasher was broken into pieces.

Since the snake was not sure if they could control the God Crasher from afar, it destroyed it instead of claiming it as its own.

"Now, we'll talk about the price you'll have to pay for hurting me earlier." The snake looked at Yi Zheng with its ruby eyes, face wearing an insulting expression after destroying the God Crasher. They were in despair when they saw the God Crasher getting destroyed.

"In the end, we can't escape death. We're dying in this grade-5 ruin that nobody knows about…" Li Lang forced out a smile. This was what the rest was thinking about as well.

"Since you've all realized that, let me send you off." The snake said but as it opened its mouth, another voice was heard.

"Hey little worm, our fight hasn't ended yet." Lin Huang came out of the sunken wall a hundred meters away, his injured body now almost healed. Even his arm that had gone through an explosion was healed like it was brand new, while his sleeve revealed the muscles on his right arm. He extended his hand, and his sword that was pierced into the wall nearby returned to his hand. The collision earlier only left a tiny crack on his supreme sword.

"Enhanced Regeneration? No... This seems to be something more powerful than that…" The snake was surprised and began checking Lin Huang out with its ruby eyes.

"Only a gold flame-level but you've managed to defend yourself against my attack. It seems like you're a supreme genius in the human world. I'll have some amazing memories if I engulf you, I've never eaten a human supreme genius before…" The snake seemed to be interested in Lin Huang as it observed.

"Eat me? That depends if you have the ability to even do such a thing!" Lin Huang replied as his aura tremendously increased once more. Within mere seconds, his combat level increased from gold flame-level to immortal-level rank-3.

He secretly communicated with Xiao Hei and used three Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Cards, it was the maximum number of cards that could be used at once. The six Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Cards that he had were now halved. Seeing Lin Huang's aura, Yi Zheng and the rest were shocked as they knew he used a secret skill to increase his combat level by four ranks but now, he upgraded his combat level for the second time?!

The snake did not know Lin Huang's real combat level was only at the white flame-level. It felt like something was odd when it sensed his aura increasing.

"Upgrading your combat level with a secret skill? Even if you upgraded to immortal-level rank-3, you're still a ways to go from the imperial-level." The snake soon snapped out of its doubt.

"You have no say in that." Lin Huang put away his sword and took out his ancient relic Air Slicer.

He obtained this from the black-robed leader who attacked the White Capital earlier. He had never used it as the Life Power of someone at the holy fire-level could not activate this ancient relic. He could finally use it as he was temporarily at the immortal-level.

The snake wiped off the insulting expression it wore when it saw the ancient relic in Lin Huang's hands, fear evidently showing in its ruby eyes…

Lin Huang gave his all in this battle. After activating a Transformation Card and three Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Cards, he managed to get himself from white flame-level to immortal-level rank-3 temporarily. The ancient relic sword that he was holding was the highest level relic that could be obtained by killing a triple mutated imperial-level monster.

As he held the Air Slicer, he looked at the snake in all seriousness. The snake was only the size of an adult's middle finger. Its base color was black with red patterns all over its body with eyes that were ruby red. It looked like an art piece that was placed on an office desk when it was not moving. Although it seemed harmless, Lin Huang knew about this monster.

It was called the Eclipse Boa, a triple mutated monster with the ancient mutated beast Sky Boa's bloodline. It maintained one size from birth to death and would not experience any changes to its body size. When it became an adult, its combat level would automatically be at the imperial-level and it would have powerful abilities. It would be quadruple mutated if it could create Godhead for Virtual God and become Solar Boa where it would be more powerful than most monsters of the same level.

The Eclipse Boa that Lin Huang was looking at should have just turned adult not long ago. The Eclipse Boa's body would transform for the third time when it reaches adulthood. The first transformation would give its black body red patterns. The second would cause blots of red spots to appear, not unlike ones that were drawn using a paintbrush while the last transformation would cause red spots all over its body, turning it into a red boa. The Eclipse Boa would reach its pinnacle when it completed its third transformation but the one before him was just at the first phase of adulthood.

There were five ranks to imperial-level which were the black gold, crimson gold, white gold, and purple-glow rank. The Eclipse Snake should be at the crimson gold-rank now. Since it was injured by the God Crasher earlier, its ability should only be as powerful as one at the black gold-rank now. Lin Huang had the confidence to fight it as he knew the facts well. Since he was able to kill a weaker immortal-level rank-4 monster when he was at the white flame-level, he could definitely take on an imperial-level monster since his combat level was now upgraded to immortal-level rank-3.

The Eclipse Boa had its guard up when it saw the ancient relic that Lin Huang was holding. What it was fearful of was the relic but not Lin Huang's ability. What could an immortal-level rank-3 do to it? Even a supreme genius would not be able to fight an immortal-level rank-9. Although the imperial-level black gold-rank was only a rank higher than an immortal-level rank-9, the difference was more like two ranks instead of one. Even a supreme genius would need to be at least an immortal-level rank-6 to fight the boa so there was nothing to be worried about since Lin Huang was only at immortal-level rank-3 now. The Eclipse Boat thought that only thing it had to be wary of was the ancient relic sword.

As the monster and human looked at each for a few moments, they were analyzing each other in the heads.

"Thunder Eclipse!"

Lin Huang shouted and purple lightning surrounded his sword, to the extent that even his body was covered by a layer of purple lightning.

"I thought you would have something new to show me so I can feel refreshed after your combat level has been upgraded. It's the exact same thing as before, seems like I won't have to waste my time anymore. Go to hell!" The Eclipse Boa teased.

The Eclipse Boa then dashed towards Lin Huang in a red glow. It was like an arrow shooting into the air. Meanwhile, Lin Huang moved like purple lightning. A hundred meters long purple glow was seen in the corridor. As the two glows collided, the middle of the corridor was filled with the two colors, seeming like nobody was winning. The intense collision created shockwaves that shook the already collapsing ground that was. The walls that were initially cracked were now worse as the shockwaves rippled towards the corridor.

Lancelot held his Dark Mirror without hesitation while Bai pulled the four of them under the well. As the force wave hit, Lancelot was thrown out onto the wall of the well. The Dark Mirror was barely defending them against the shockwave but Lancelot was determined to fight it as Li Lang and Yi Yeyu would not be able to live under such a strong shockwave. They might actually die if they were hit by the wave at such short distance.

Bai noticed that and created a defensive layer with his Vampire Particles covering the inside of the Dark Mirror. The initial single layer of defense was now doubled. However, the situation did not seem to be better.

"It's not working, we're not going to last long!" Bai frowned.

Yi Zheng and the rest were concerned.

"Let's go out!" Leng Yuexin looked at the well.

"But outside…" Yi Yeyu attempted to say something but she was interrupted by Yi Zheng.

"Miss Leng is right, we have no other option that escaping the well." Yi Yeyu and Li Lang no longer voice their disagreement after Yi Zheng said that.

Suddenly, Lancelot's Dark Mirror broke. He leaped and activated the Dark Mirror again but this time, he was aiming at the bottom of the well. As the shockwave hit on the Dark Mirror, Lancelot was throw out of the well a few times faster than what Bai encountered. The thousands of monsters looked at them as they appeared above the well with Bai and Lancelot.

Lancelot blocked the Dark Mirror in front of them without hesitation. A black sphere floated in the air, no matter how the monsters attacked, they were not harmed at all. Instead, it reflected the monsters' attacks. Some of the monsters did not manage to escape the attacks that were reflected and were killed immediately.

"We're finally safe now, that was scary." Yi Yeyu was relieved as she knew that Lancelot's Dark Mirror, now a black sphere could completely block out the attacks.

"Imperial-level monsters are just too powerful. That was just the shockwave from the fight and it's already enough to kill us." Li Lang was traumatized as he thought about what they just witnessed.

Yi Zheng and Leng Yuexin were silent as they looked at the well.

"I wonder if Lin Huang would win…" Yi Zheng voiced his concern a while later.

"He must win! If he doesn't, all of us would die in this ruins." Leng Yuexin looked at them and said.

As Yi Zheng and the rest escaped from the underground, the fight between Lin Huang ad the Eclipse Boa continued on the first underground floor. Banging noises were heard underground. The Air Slicer that Lin Huang was holding transforming into a purple glow and collided with the red glow that transformed from the Eclipse Boa. Each collision would create an intense tremor. The thud that was as loud as thunder could be heard hundreds of meters away while the tremors that felt like an earthquake could be felt dozens of kilometers away.

The first underground floor began to collapse as the duo fought. Gravel fell down from the top of the corridor as the walls collapsed. There were even cracks on the ground. The corridor was in a mess, and no part of it remained in a good condition. The duo backed off after another collision and Lin Huang glared deadly at the boa that was not far away. The Eclipse Boa was more powerful than he imagined. Although it was injured by the God Crasher, its abilities were no less than Lin Huang, even after his combat level had been upgraded.

"An imperial-level monster is really something." Lin Huang realized how powerful the monster was as it was his first time fighting against an imperial-level monster. His Thunder Eclipse was continuously upgrading during battle. Some of the parts that he had yet to master were now complete, all while its speed and strength grew more powerful.

The Eclipse Boa was getting more and more fearful of Lin Huang now. It did not expect that an immortal-level rank-3 could go toe-to-toe with it. It was obvious that Lin Huang was not merely a supreme genius. Aside from that, Lin Huang was gaining confidence as the fight continued. His sword skill was improving, and the wounds on the Eclipse Boa could not be healed as Lin Huang continued doing battle with it. As time passed, it was evidently on the losing side.

However, the Eclipse Boa had not lost hope fighting an immortal-level rank-3 opponent. It knew fairly well that it would win the battle as long as it managed to endure the duration of Lin Huang's secret skill. As it thought of this, the Eclipse Boa shot a deadly glare with its ruby-red eyes once more and dashed towards Lin Huang while glowing red. Lin Huang was in a trance — his Thunder Eclipse almost flawless in this battle. At least to him, it was flawless. It was now one with the Sword Dao and was one step away from perfection.

Lin Huang dashed towards the Eclipse Boa as a purple lightning again.

"Bang!"

The collision this time had created a terrifying shockwave that exceeded the limit that the walls could take, causing them to completely collapse, leaving nothing behind on the first underground floor. Soon, the red and purple shadows shot out of the sky and clashed again. They were so fast that their movements could not be seen with the naked eye. Yi Zheng and the rest could only see the afterimages that were moving in the sky.

Without the underground corridor acting as a barrier, the sound from their fight was now much louder than before. Every collision sounded like the Thunder God's roar, causing even the clouds to fade from the shockwave.

"It's not safe here anymore! Let's hide on the second underground floor." Yi Zheng noticed Lancelot's defenses beginning to tremble. Bai nodded and activated his Vampire Particles that transformed into arms, grabbing the rest before they headed underground while Lancelot tailed them from the back.

There were monsters that came after them but they were immediately killed by Lancelot's Saber Dao territory. The six of them arrived at the collapsed site and founded the entrance of the second underground floor, finally safe once more as they entered.

Meanwhile, the fight between Lin Huang and the Eclipse Boa peaked in the sky. Their movements were limited by the corridor earlier, but they were no longer restricted in the sky.

Their clashes became more frequent, a red and purple glow shooting sparks into the dark sky. Each clash would appear at a different place and a loud bang could be heard each time. Many holy fire-level monsters below their battle were killed from the shockwave, others were blown away, while some of them began escaping.

"Thunder Eclipse!"

Lin Huang shouted as he merged himself with the sword into a purple lightning and dashed, several times faster than before. Thunder Eclipse had finally reached its perfection during the battle, causing its speed and strength to become several times more powerful than before. This time, the red glow was shot into the ground from the collision. It was the first time Lin Huang seemed to be the victor in the battle.

Lin Huang looked at the Eclipse Boa from afar. He knew that it had yet to unleash its powerful abilities but he was no longer afraid. In the hole that was hundreds of meters deep, the Eclipse Snake slowly got up and shot a deadly glare at Lin Huang with its ruby eyes.

"I never would've thought that you could push me to my edge!"

"Show me all you got or you'll never have another chance." Lin Huang looked at the Eclipse Boa with the gaze that an emperor would spare a peasant.

"As you wish!" A gigantic red boa head appeared above the Eclipse Boa's head.

Lin Huang know that it was summoning its Life Castle. He dashed towards it, body not unlike purple lightning as a golden glow enveloped sword. As the head of the red boa that towered a thousand meters completed its formation, Lin Huang's sword was completely covered in a golden sheen, not unlike a scorching summer sun. It was so bright that it made the surrounding look like it was daytime.

"Moon Engulf!"

"Flowing Fire Sword!"

Both of them shouted at almost the same time. The head opened its mouth and absorbed everything around it like a black hole…

Meanwhile, Lin Huang's sword that shone like a sun collided with the head…

A strong wind blew within hundreds of meters of them clashing, gravel was sent flying while other monsters that were escaping were sucked into the boa's mouth.

Suddenly, the golden sheen on the sword exploded, its glow shining hundreds of meters away. Soon, the wind stopped blowing and the golden sheen faded. The ruins were dark once more, the chaotic thunder no longer present.

"Is it over?"

Yi Zheng and the rest figured the fight ended as they did not hear anything on the second underground floor. Their hearts were beating as fast as a drum as they wondered — Who won the battle?

They were relieved as Bai and Lancelot were still around, so Lin Huang was definitely still alive. However, nobody knew who exactly won.

"You guys stay here, I'll go take a look." Yi Zheng suggested.

"Let's go together, we won't be able to live if Lin Huang loses the battle. If he's already won, it wouldn't be dangerous if we go up." Leng Yuexin's plan was thorough and gained nodding approvals from Yi Yeyu and Li Lang.

They then crawled from the collapsed site and looked around from a broken wall. A person was standing nearby. Lin Huang knew that they had left the underground floor but he remained unyielding, not turning around as he continued his gaze at the boa's carcass. It was Lin Huang who won the battle. He had drained nine out of his ten Life Wheels to kill this monster.

"Congratulations, you've obtained a new legendary-level card - Eclipse Boa!"

"Would you like to extract the tinder?"

Xiao Hei's notification came.

"Xiao Hei, does its tinder suit me?" Lin Huang did not expect to obtain a complete Monster Card and his concern was more regarding its tinder.

"It depends on you. All I can say is that the Eclipse Boa is a powerful legendary-level monster with a good tinder that can be evolved. To a certain extent, it would be able to inherit the complete bloodline of the ancient beast — Solar Boa."

"Alright then, extract the tinder then." Lin Huang had been stuck in the white flame-level for too long as he was not able to find a suitable tinder. The one that he was looking at was a good one indeed.

He pressed his palm on the monster, and Xiao Hei immediately extracted the tinder.

"The sun is rising! The blood sacrifice is ending! Let's get back underground!" Lin Huang put away the monster carcass and ran toward them. Soon, they returned to the second underground floor but before they could ask him anything, Lin Huang found a place to sit and began merging his body with the Eclipse Boa's tinder. His temporary upgrade in combat level that lasted for half an hour was forcefully ended by Xiao Hei. As his powerful aura faded back to white flame-level, his ascension to the next level began…

The sun rose in the ruins when it was past 5 a.m. The monsters that were fighting hard throughout the night returned underground while the ground was filled with carcasses and blood. A bloody shadow appeared not far above the collapsed site as Lin Huang and the rest returned underground for less than five minutes. The shadow seemed like a human that was made of a bloody mist, but nobody could tell if it was a human or some other creature.

The bloody shadow floated in the air as it was looking at the burnt ground, seemingly looking for something. In less than five seconds, another shadow appeared less than twenty meters from it. It was a human corpse with part of its skeleton was showing. There was no skin left on its body, it was like a dead body that was ripped off its skin and dried before decaying. It was a disgusting thing to look at.

"You've crossed the line, this is my territory." The corpse sounded husky.

The bloody shadow looked at the corpse and ignored it as it continued to look around. Suddenly, another two undead appeared next to it. One was a dragon while another was a bird. Three of them were in an odd condition as their bodies seemed to show part of their skeletons.

"You shouldn't be here." The bird flapped its wings that were left with a couple of feathers and warned.

"The blood sacrifice has ended and the sun is rising. We don't have much time left, I'm sure you don't want anything to go wrong now. Am I right?" The undead dragon said to the bloody shadow.

The bloody shadow looked up into the sky and did not say a word before disappearing.

"Why did that person come to our territory?" The bird asked the corpse.

"I have no idea, I sensed its aura when I woke up. It seems to be a fight between it and an imperial-level earlier…" The corpse looked around.

"Let's not bother about it, it's not the first time the fella invaded our territory. We don't have much time left, let's eat." The dragon looked at the sky that was getting bright.

The dragon and bird faded away, the human corpse was the only one left. It floated into the air and opened its mouth. The qi-blood of the monster carcasses on the ground turned into a bloody mist and was soon swallowed by the corpse. It was quite a majestic scene. If Lin Huang and the rest were still on the ground, they would see the flesh of the monsters, even those that were hiding underground being shredded away from their bodies. All that was left were their bones.

However, the remains did not stay. Within seconds, they turned into a white mist, engulfed by the human corpse in the air. If one observed it closely, one could see there was flesh growing on the human corpse's exposed ribs. It lasted for three to five minutes until all the qi-blood in the surrounding thousands of kilometers were gone. It then teleported to another area and began another round, engulfing the qi-blood…

Lin Huang and the rest had no idea what happened on the ground. After a near-death experience, all of them hid quietly in the second underground floor while waiting for Lin Huang to level up patiently. They were chatting as they guarded the place while Lin Huang focused on leveling up.

"Lin Huang's secret skill is just too ridiculous, he can even upgrade his combat level twice!" Li Lang was envious. If only he could learn the secret skill himself. Although he would not be able to fight an imperial-level monster, he could definitely fight a few immortal-level monsters.

"It's mainly because he's a supreme genius himself, and he has stunning abilities. We might not even be able to handle the boa's attack even if we leveled-up to immortal-level rank-3. I'm sure I would've heard if there were immortal-level rank-3's who could manage an imperial-level in the core zone, but nobody could even imagine doing that in Division 7. At least I've never heard of it." Yi Zheng shook his head.

"There are such geniuses in the core zone. I heard from my grandfather that there was a holy fire-level human who killed a demigod in Division 1 before. I've always thought it was just a myth until I found out it really happened when I traveled to Division 3. I heard the holy fire-level mastered a higher power that doesn't belong on our life level. There had only been one genius like that who ever existed in the world. Naturally, there's no one in our generation who can go against such a genius but there are a few immortal-level geniuses who could definitely kill an imperial-level monster.

"There are people in the core zone that are so powerful?" Li Lang was skeptical.

"The population in the core zones are more than tenfold of that in our division. They have better resources as well. It's not out of this world that they managed to train such powerful people." Yi Zheng explained.

...

Lin Huang had finally completed his level-up to the crimson flame-level when it was past 8 a.m. Aside from having a major upgrade in his body, his Life Power transformed as well. The Life Fire in his ten Life Wheels changed from a pure white to a crimson red, the first Life Fire that burned three hundred meters high was now burning at its original height at only a few centimeters, almost the same with the second Life Fire. Both of them were now parellel, not unlike two tea leaves.

The Eclipse Boa's skill was amazing. Lin Huang obtained an engulfing secret skill that was similar to Moon Engulf. That aside, Lin Huang also learned something new. The ruins were categorized into four parts with three demigods and a mysterious monster. The mysterious monster terrorized the last half of the ruins while the three demigod remnants had their own share of the remaining area. Even so, their territories were similar to half the size of the earth

Every time the blood sacrifice ended, the four monsters would engulf the qi-blood in their territories, never once invading any of the other three other territories. The three demigods remnants were no longer remnants as their bodies were now semi-recovered from the blood sacrifice. Meanwhile, nobody had ever seen how the mysterious monster that managed to conquer the three demigod remnants looked like. Apart from the blood sacrifice, the four monsters would hibernate, only waking up during the blood sacrifice.

Another piece of information was there was a large site in the central zone of the ruins. There would be white-robed people who would come in once in a while to gather around in that area…

Lin Huang opened his eyes slowly as he digested the boa's memories. Yi Zheng and the rest were having breakfast, while Bai and Lancelot joined them later. Lancelot was eating fried vegetable as usual while Bai rank a red, sweet and sour drink. The both of them had broken through the gold flame-level and had leveled-up to immortal-level rank-1 automatically.

"Cough!"

Lin Huang coughed as he realized that nobody noticed that he had woken up. Yi Zheng and the rest turned around and looked at him.

"You're finally awake!" They laughed.

"Go wash up, we're going to the next site after breakfast!"