Monster Paradise Chapter 10, a 13 tzameti fanfic

Chapter 1101: Record-breaking Reward

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for entering the 74th checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!

"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for entering the 74th checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!"

After removing the illusion, Lin Huang spent less than five minutes and successfully broke through the 73rd checkpoint of the Stairway Tree. The record-breaking notifications popped up on all the Genius Union members' Emperor's Heart Rings.

"Damn, he broke the record again. It's been less than ten minutes!"

"I've just posted a thread on the forum saying it's impossible for him to break through the checkpoint within a short period of time. I feel like my whole face is burning up. ε(┬┬﹏┬┬)3"

"The commenter above, is your face swollen now? ψ(｀∇´)ψ"

"There, there. I've gotten used to getting a slap in the face from Lin Xie. My face is thicker than the corner of the city wall now. (￣３￣)a"

"I think the commenter above is giving out some strange vibes…"

…

A few minutes after the discussions went on, another three Stairway Tree notifications chimed again.

"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for entering the 75th checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!"

Everyone was speechless now.

The three notifications about Lin Xie in the morning flooded everyone's screens nine times.

Moreover, it was a system notification from the Stairway Tree which one could not block. Even if they were to log out of the Genius Union, they would receive the notifications on their Emperor's Heart Rings, so they were forced to look at the notifications.

Those who insisted that it was impossible for Lin Xie to pass the higher checkpoints again went completely silent after seeing the notifications.

However, Lin Huang logged out again after realizing that the 75th checkpoint was a monster stage.

The people in the Genuis Union thought it was strange for him to log out all of a sudden.

Most of them had the same thought pop into their head. 'Did Lin Xie fail?'

The first thing Lin Huang did after logging out was to look at his Emperor's Heart Ring to check the reward for breaking the reward.

He glanced through the nine public notifications and scrolled down. Then, he finally saw the rewards for breaking the record.

"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking the Stairway Tree record. You've been rewarded with a bizarre seed."

"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking the Stairway Tree record. You've been rewarded with a God-level soul crystal (Virtual God rank-3)"

"A bizarre seed and two God-level soul crystals. Not bad at all," Lin Huang murmured in satisfaction.

The bizarre seed was comparable to a unique god item. Lin Huang had obtained a Sword Spirit the last time he integrated one. He had no idea what he would get from the one that he had just obtained.

Meanwhile, he knew exactly what could the two God-level soul crystals do.

"With Virtual God rank-3 god-level soul crystals, one should be able to boost one God Figurine's Combat Soul to Virtual God rank-1. I can boost two of them with the two soul crystals."

Just when Lin Huang was going to summon his God Figurine's Combat Souls for elevating the combat strength, his Emperor's Heart Ring began vibrating.

It was the acting chief of the Heaven Alliance, Jian Fei, who was calling. Although Lin Huang thought it was a little odd, he accepted the video call request anyway.

"What's up?" Lin Huang asked directly upon seeing the projection of Jian Fei's chubby face.

"Deputy Chief Lin, congratulations for breaking the Stairway Tree record!" Jian Fei stepped back and revealed half of his body as he congratulated while smiling.

"It was just luck." Lin Huang smirked.

"Luck is just a part of ability. You're the only one in the Genius Union who made it. This proves your ability," Jian Fei proceeded to compliment.

"Just tell me whatever you're going to say, Chief Jian."

"Well, not only do the people from the Genius Union know about you breaking the record today, but it's spread to the entire cultivation world. Some media representatives contacted me, in hopes of interviewing you…"

Lin Huang got a rough idea of what Jian Fei was trying to say before he was done speaking. He wanted to seize the opportunity to boost the publicity of the Heaven Alliance with Lin Huang's fame.

"I'll agree to the interview, but I'll only do it with one media representative. There's no need to say the same thing to different media representatives. It's a waste of my time and others who are watching the news."

"Sure, I'll make the arrangements." Although Lin Huang had strict conditions, Jian Fei accepted it anyway. "Where should we hold the interview?"

"The venue…" Lin Huang thought about it and decided not to do it in Emperor City. He had been gaining too much attention lately, which was something he did not want more of. "Let's do it at First City in Division 1 then."

"There's a Stabubucks Coffee in southwest of First City's Union Square. Let's do the interview there."

"Sure, the media hopes to do the interview today. Do you have time today?"

"Yes, but the earlier, the better. I have something else to do after I'm done with that."

"I'll discuss with the media and I'll call you as soon as the time is set." Jian Fei hung up immediately.

Soon, he sent a message over.

"The time has been set at 1 p.m. We'll meet at First City's Stabubucks Coffee. The media that'll be interviewing you is The Pioneer."

"I'll be there on time." Lin Huang gave a simple reply. Naturally, Lin Huang knew about The Pioneer.

Although the media did not provide the most publicity, it was the Union Government's official publication. They rarely interviewed people who were not Union Government members.

However, it was beneficial to Lin Huang. At least, such an official media would not ask awkward and strange questions whenever they questioned people.

Seeing that there was still time, Lin Huang took out the two god-level soul crystals that he had just obtained. He then summoned the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the Ninetails Lynx. Then, he put the two soul crystals into their bodies.

The two God Figurine's Combat Souls began refining the soul crystals immediately.

On the other hand, Lin Huang set his alarm clock and began a new round of refining Godhead.

He did not integrate the bizarre seed that he had just gotten right away because he was not sure how long it would take for it to activate. He had too much on his plate right now, so he could only put it aside at the moment and figure out what to do about the bizarre seed after he was done with his stuff.

Soon, over two hours had passed and it was almost 12.30 p.m.

The alarm clock on Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring began ringing, stirring him from his Godhead refinement.

He opened his eyes and realized that the two God Figurine's Combat Souls had yet to refine the soul crystals completely. He then left the both of them behind at the Emperor Palace, and summoned the Divine Sun Tree to watch both the God Figurine's Combat Souls before walking out of Emperor Palace. He headed towards First City.

Lin Huang stepped into the dimensional portal after disguising as Lin Xie with a demigod-level mask. He arrived at First City in Division 1.

He arrived at the southwestern side of Union Square immediately and found the Stabubucks Coffee that he had been once before.

After ordering a cup of coffee, he found an empty table under a gigantic sun umbrella. He browsed through the Genius Union forum while drinking his coffee.

Suddenly, he realised that almost all of the topics were about him.

He opened a few trending threads and read the contents. Compared to the judgmental comments before, most of them complimented him.

Lin Huang even saw a few familiar user names who used to condemn him frequently, but they were teasing themselves for having misjudged him now.

As he was reading the threads, a man wearing black leather shoes walked straight to his table.

Lin Huang lifted his head. He could not help but raise his brow upon seeing the guest. It was the vice president of Agency EA, Guan Zhong.

"May I sit?" Guan Zhong asked.

"Suit yourself." Lin Huang closed the Genius Union forum page while looking at Guan Zhong.

"Master Emperor, I never thought you'd come to First City with this identity of yours." Guan Zhong exposed Lin Huang's identity as soon as he sat down. Clearly, Agency EA had already found out that Lin Xie was Lin Huang himself.

"I'm just meeting someone here." Lin Huang took a sip of coffee while holding the cup with both hands. "You don't have to look at me like I'm a thief."

"I've heard about you breaking the record," Guan Zhong said while smiling. "Congrats."

"It's just a child's play," Lin Huang raised his brow, "Is there anything that you need from me?"

"We've decoded most of God Bless's information. I'll send it to you within these two days after I've sorted it out," Guan Zhong spoke while smiling.

"Did you come all the way here just to tell me this?"

"I just happened to bump into you. I came here to have a cup of coffee." Guan Zhong smiled while explaining, "I'm a regular here."

"Alright then. Is there anything else?"

Guan Zhong thought about it and could not help but say, "I have a personal question that I'd like you to answer."

Lin Huang roughly knew what he was going to ask right away.

"Did you kill Zhuge Feifan, Master Emperor?" As expected, Guan Zhong asked what Lin Huang was expecting.

"Why? Are you going to take revenge?" Lin Huang asked while smiling.

"No, I just want to know the truth."

"The truth doesn't matter. Zhuge Feifan is dead now and you're alive. This should be the end of the story," said Lin Huang to Guan Zhong while staring at him.

Guan Zhong was stunned to hear that and nodded in relief. "Thanks."

He had already obtained the answer from Lin Huang. Apart from him and Qian Rui, nobody else other than Zhuge Feifan's killer knew that Guan Zhong made Zhuge Feifan show himself the other day.

'Zhuge Feifan is dead now and you're alive.' Lin Huang's answer was precisely what Guan Zhong wanted to hear.

Guan Zhong stood up and left right after thanking Lin Huang.

Just when he stood up, Jian Fei and the media representative doing the interview, Xu Qingya, arrived at the same time.

Xu Qingya recognized Guan Zhong right away. A shocked expression flashed through her eyes when he saw Lin Huang who was sitting there nonchalantly drinking his coffee.

Seeing Guan Zhong leave with his takeaway coffee, Xu Qingya and Jian Fei walked straight towards Lin Huang.

"Hi, Mr. Lin. My name is Xu Qingya. I'm the reporter from The Pioneer." Xu Qingya walked to the table and introduced herself.

"Please take a seat." Lin Huang lifted his head and observed her in silence.

Xu Qingya had neat, short hair. She looked very experienced. She did not dress very formally or too casually. It was just right.

Jian Fei, on the other hand, dressed in a formal suit. He looked like he was getting married.

Lin Huang would definitely tease him any other day, but he thought about it and said nothing since Xu Qingya was next to him.

After Xu Qingya and Jian Fei took their seats, they ordered two cups of coffee and the interview began.

"I'd like to start the interview by congratulating Mr. Lin for breaking the Stairway Tree record. Today is the biggest historical moment the Genius Union has ever had since it was founded."

"Thanks." Lin Huang nodded courteously.

"Mr. Lin, can you tell me your current combat strength?" Xu Qingya went into working mode.

"Immortal-level rank-9. Many people in the Heaven Alliance know about this." Naturally, it was impossible that Lin Huang would say that he was on immortal-level rank-10. Since he had immortal-level aura anyway, nobody could tell if he was on rank-9 or 10.

"You've gotten to immortal-level rank-9 so soon? From what we know, Mr. Lin, you were only on holy flame-level last year. Am I right?" Xu Qingya had been wanting to ask that for a very long time. She could finally ask him face-to-face now.

"Indeed, my combat strength elevation speed is faster than the rest. If you want a solid reason, I can only say that I have rather good luck." Lin Huang created an excuse for himself.

In reality, Xu Qingya was dissatisfied with the answer. However, since he clearly did not want to answer the question, she gave up instead of dwelling on it, figuring it might be his cultivation secret.

"Mr. Lin, since you're already on immortal-level rank-9, you're close to imperial-level now. When do you plan to elevate?"

"I just told Old Jian about this a few days ago. I'll take at least a month or at the most, 40 to 50 days. I'm almost done with the preparation," Lin Huang told her directly.

"Does that mean you'll withdraw from the Genius Union and the Heaven Alliance automatically a month later?" Although Xu Qingya was not a Genius Union member, she had studied the system before.

"Yes."

Jian Fei took over the conversation as soon as he heard that. "Deputy Chief Lin did indeed discuss his elevation with us a few days ago. We've already come up with a new Deputy Chief candidate list together. However, even though he's leaving the Genius Union, Deputy Chief Lin will be a part of our the Heaven Alliance forever. Chief Chan has said this before. Every Heaven Alliance member is family. It's a fact that will never change even if someone were to leave the Genius Union."

"I heard Mr. Lin and Mr. Chan are pretty close in private. Is that true?"

"We're pretty close," Lin Huang confirmed while grinning. "Boss Chan is a charming man with character. He's always cared for me. I'm fortunate to be working with him."

"Many people on the Internet say that the Five Princes are out of date now. They say there's only one name among the most powerful young generation, and that name is Lin Xie. What do you think of that?"

"First of all, I don't think I'm the No. 1 powerhouse of the young generation. All people see is the number of checkpoints I've broken through on the Stairway Tree. I don't think it means anything."

"'Powerful' is a word with broad meaning. Having powerful ability is just a part of it. Some people might be more powerful than me on the inside, some people might be more intelligent than me, some people might have willpower that's stronger than mine. Being called a powerful person is just a shallow title."

"About the Five Princes, I don't think the Five Princes are just about Boss Chan and the other four. They're the sign of a new era, one that encourages us to look up and fight. This era is one it itself, irreplacable.

The interview with Xu Qingya went on for over two hours. The entire thing was more relaxed than Lin Huang expected.

Opposed to what Lin Huang was expecting, although Xu Qingya was very young in her early 20s, she was careful with her words. The entire interview sounded more like a chat with a new friend.

He had no idea that he surprised her even more.

She initially thought that Lin Xie was all about theories and might not have deeper a opinion on things. She took on this interview because Lin Xie was the trending topic in the entire cultivation world.

However, throughout the interview, Xu Qingya realized not only did he have powerful abilities, but he also had deeper knowledge and more insightful opinions than she expected.

Even Jian Fei's jaw dropped from the many things that Lin Huang said.

At the end of the interview, Xu Qingya finally went back to the initial topic. "Many people wondered on the Internet if you have techniques for killing monsters? Can you share that with us a little?"

"Techniques of killing monsters? Doesn't everyone do the same thing where we just annihilate them? Maybe I'm an Imperial Censor, so I've got the upper hand in this aspect. After all, I have very powerful imperial monsters and I can summon quite a number of them."

"How about your technique of breaking through checkpoints? Is there any strategy that you can recommend us?"

"I really don't. Boss Chan and the rest know that I never look at the checkpoint-breaking strategies. I almost never looked at the contents of the checkpoints before the 56th checkpoint, and I never looked at the strategies either since the 63rd checkpoint. However, figuring that it might be difficult to break through the checkpoint, I checked the contents from the 63rd to the 72nd checkpoint in advance."

"Why don't you look at the content and strategies?"

"Because I think it's unnecessary. Breaking through the checkpoints itself is a process to test one's abilities. To me, breaking through checkpoints with strategies can't test my personal ability. Perhaps I want different things than the rest. I personally hope to enjoy the process instead of treating it as a challenge. If breaking checkpoints is no fun to me, I'd rather not do it."

"So, why did you quit when you got to the 75th checkpoint today? Is it because the 75th checkpoint is more difficult?"

"No, the 75th checkpoint is a monster stage. I've already gotten the maximum points on the Stairway Tree today, so I'll have to do it tomorrow. After all, ten billion points are still points." Lin Huang answered while smiling.

"So, you logged out when you were on 71st checkpoint earlier for the same reason too?"

"Yes," Lin Huang said honestly.

"So, Mr. Lin, which checkpoint do you think you can get to? Is it possible that you'll surpass the entire the Stairway Tree?" Xu Qingya asked her last ultimate question.

"I'm not sure about that because I've no idea about the checkpoint contents and difficulty after this, so I can't speculate. However, I personally hope to break through the entire the Stairway Tree before I elevate to imperial-level," Lin Huang responded while smiling, "In reality, I'd really like to know what will happen after I've broken through the entire Stairway Tree."

"I'll congratulate you for breaking through successfully in advance then. Smash through the entire the Stairway Tree!" Xu Qingya extended her arm while grinning at Lin Huang. "I've actually asked questions that I shouldn't have asked in the interview today. Nonetheless, your response has gone beyond my expectations. I've got a feeling that this might not be last time I'll be speaking to you. I hope to interview you again in the future for a nice chat."

"Thanks, I hope for that day to come too." Lin Huang extended his arm to shake her hand. He thought time had flown by quickly after the interview that lasted for over two hours ended.

Watching Xu Qingya leave with Jian Fei, he stepped into the dimensional portal and returned to Emperor City.

When he arrived at the Emperor Palace, the two God Figurine's Combat Souls, the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the Ninetails Lynx had refined the god-level soul crystals completely and elevated to Virtual God rank-1.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang went into his Godhead refinement mode again.

The next morning, he logged into the Genius Union after breakfast.

Lin Huang's body shrunk 1,000 times again at the monster stage of the 75th checkpoint. His Divine Telekinesis and Territory were also blocked.

The entire checkpoint looked like a peaceful, golden desert in his field of vision. He did not even see a single monster.

In reality, the monster on this checkpoint was a type of desert spider. Lin Huang had never seen a completely golden desert spider in the monster guide before. Therefore, he had no idea what its exact name was.

All he knew was that such a spider would usually hide under the gravel. They would attack whenever they sensed movement in the ground. At the same time while attacking, they would spit webs out to capture their prey.

The reason why Lin Huang knew that was that he had been attacked when he stepped into the checkpoint yesterday. A spiderweb had gotten stuck on his face.

However, the spider that was merely on imperial-level white gold-rank suffered even more than he did as he sliced it into 18 pieces with his sword.

"I can't fly on the the Stairway Tree, so I can only walk on the sand. I can't use my Divine Telekinesis and Territory, so I can't predict if the spiders are hiding under the sand. This checkpoint is risky to most whereby they might fall right into the mass of spiders if they're reckless, but this is a totally easy one for me."

Lin Huang summoned the Divine Sun Tree this time.

Although he could not use his Territory, the Divine Sun Tree stretched its branches out one after another hundreds of meters away. His tens of branches shot out like long whips, shooting golden sparks out in the desert wherever they passed by.

The sparks were dense, and there was one almost every meter. As the sparks lit up, the spiders that were burned shrieked devastatingly. Some of them got out of the sand and rolled on the ground. They attempted to put out the fire, but their efforts were futile.

Most of the spiders were burned to death before they made it out in time. The rest were obliterated to ash after struggling for less than three seconds upon getting out of the sand.

"Let's go all out today. Killing an imperial-level white gold-rank monster earns 10,000 points, so we have to kill a million of them in order to obtain ten billion points although not all the monsters are on imperial-level white gold-rank in this checkpoint," Lin Huang gave his order to the Divine Sun Tree.

The Divine Sun Tree went all out hearing that order. One must know that each monster it killed would turn into spiritual energy for it to absorb.

Lin Huang, on the other hand, followed behind the Divine Sun Tree and waited for it to obtain the maximum points for the day on the Stairway Tree patiently.

After approximately two and a half hours, Lin Huang practically flitted through the 75th checkpoint to the 79th checkpoint. Realizing that the 79th checkpoint was a monster stage, he logged out again.

Although it had been the second day that he broke the record, everyone in the Genius Union was still in a mad hype since he had passed another four checkpoints again.

Due to his record-breaking feat for two days consecutively, the amount of members online multiplied. Even members who hardly logged in were online. Almost the entire forum was discussing Lin Xie.

After logging out, Lin Huang checked the Genius Union forum. He wanted to see if there was any new topic apart from discussions about him. In the end, he realized that all the topics were related to him after scrolling through a few pages.

The hottest thread of all was 'Exactly How Many Checkpoints Can Lin Xie Break Through?'

People were guessing any number under the sun. Many even said he would pass a few thousand or tens of thousand of checkpoints. Some gave a detailed analysis whenever they commented.

Lin Huang chose to ignore them after having a good chuckle about the responses that he read.

Some threads were wordy as if the content was useful, but Lin Huang realized that some of the responses were not even about him.

After logging out of the Genius Union forum, he then looked at the news page on his Emperor's Heart Ring. He realized that his photo was on the headline. To be exact, it was a photo of Lin Xie's face.

The title of the news articles was 'Lin Xie: The Five Princes Are An Era!'

Lin Huang knew who the writer was the second he saw the title. He clicked on the article. As expected, it was Xu Qingya who had written it.

In the article, she only wrote a portion of what they talked about. She wrote everything about him saying the Five Princes were an era without changing a single word. Although she tried her very best to be objective throughout the entire article, she could not help but reveal the admiration she had for Lin Huang.

Her article made many see the other side of Lin Xie, the No. 1 genius that was lesser known to the people.

Many people had the same impression as Xu Qingya did. They thought that such a powerful man would usually be dumb and think he was the best.

However, Lin Huang was humble throughout the interview, especially when it came to the comment on the Five Princes. Many were impressed by his humility.

Naturally, many people condemned that Xu Qingya had written all those just to butter Lin Xie up.

Some even said some horrible things and tried stirring things up by saying that Xu Qingya and Lin Xie were messing around.

Lin Huang frowned a little when he read that, but he soon saw Xu Qingya fire them back with her own identity.

"I didn't butter Lin Xie up. You'll find out about that in the video interview that I've just posted on my account. As for those malicious slander and rumors spread around affecting my reputation, just you wait for my lawyer's letter! I've already screenshot the evidence, so it'll be futile even if you guys delete your posts."

"This girl is so tough!" Lin Huang smiled while shaking his head. He had somewhat seen the other side of Xu Qingya.

After turning off the news page, Lin Huang opened his social media app and soon found Xu Qingya's account. He saw a video that she posted approximately half an hour ago.

It was the raw video of her interviewing him for more than two hours interview. After playing it, Lin Huang fast-forwarded the entire video and realized that it was indeed unedited. He realized he performed pretty well in the video.

Although the video had just been posted half an hour ago, there were positive and encouraging comments below it despite the fact that it was impossible for anybody to have finished watching the two-hour video by then.

Clearly, many of them finished the video by fast-forwarding it just like Lin Huang did.

"I was just a passerby, but now I've been converted to a fan. I thought Lin Xie was just a tough man. Never would I've thought he's intelligent on the inside too!"

"Little Sister posted the uncut interview to prove herself. She's very sincere about it! I support her!"

"I knew someone was trying to stir things up! Is it so hard to admit that someone is outstanding? People, I urge you to be kind!"

"I'm a converted fan right after watching this video. Master Lin Xie, you're the best!"

"Little Sister, you're the best! I support sending those jokers your lawyer's letters! Teach them a lesson!"

Lin Huang thought about it and liked Xu Qingya's video using Lin Xie's account. He picked nine pictures of the sea king monster having icebergs stuck in its mouth that he had taken on the 72nd checkpoint of the Stairway Tree and posted a collage of nine pictures.

Eight of the nine pictures consisted of the sea king monster's various angles. Meanwhile, the other one was a picture of Lin Huang with the sea king monster in the background with icebergs sticking out from its mouth.

The caption of the collage picture was '72'.

Since one's social media account was tied to their Emperor's Heart Ring, him doing that would mean verifying his identity. Lin Xie usually did not have any notifications on this social media account, but he gained more than ten million fans that day.

People started discussing as soon as the photo was posted.

"What does '72' mean?"

"This special effect of the sea king monster isn't too shabby. It looks so real."

"As a pro who has been Photoshopping photos for eight years, these nine pictures are real. Believe me."

"This sea king monster looks so embarrassed and innocent! Why do I feel like laughing?"

"Did Master Lin Xie shove the two icebergs into its mouth? Err… Why do I feel like he should've shoved them somewhere else?"

"The commenter above, please mind your words. There are kids here."

…

Merely a couple of minutes later, the picture Lin Huang posted garnered tens of thousands of comments and over 80,000 likes.

After reading the comments for fun, Lin Huang turned off the app upon realizing there were more and more comments flooding in. He stopped checking the notifications. He then opened the notification page on his Emperor's Heart Ring and looked at the record-breaking rewards after scrolling past the numerous notifications.

"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking the Stairway Tree record. You've been rewarded with a set of god relic telekinetic weapon.

"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking the Stairway Tree record. You've been rewarded with a God-level soul crystal (Virtual God rank-3)

"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking the Stairway Tree record. You've been rewarded with a Godhead (Virtual God rank-9)"

Lin Huang checked his storage space as soon as he read the notifications. Soon, he saw the set of telekinetic weapon rewards. It was a set of dark-silver flying daggers.

He played with it for a while, and took a fancy to it.

He took out the god-level soul crystal after putting the flying daggers away. He thought about it and summoned the Nightmare Tapir. He put the soul crystal into the Nightmare Tapir's body while waiting for it to finish the refinement patiently.

As for the two Virtual God rank-9 Godheads, Lin Huang sensed clearly that the number of Godheads he could contain in his body was now at full capacity. He could only set them aside for now since he could not put any more in at the moment.

After sorting out the few rewards that he had just obtained, he began a new round of refining Godheads.

Stepping onto the 79th checkpoint on the Stairway Tree, Lin Huang's body shrunk to 1/10,000 his regular size. He was even smaller than the size he had shrunk to before.

He had done a preliminary investigation when he entered the checkpoint yesterday.

There were no imperial-level black gold-rank and imperial-level white gold-rank monsters on this stage at all. All the monsters had a combat strength of imperial-level purple gold-rank. Moreover, compared to other monster stages, this checkpoint had various monsters everywhere instead of only a single kind of monster.

Lin Huang had already seen more than ten different monsters from the simple investigation yesterday.

Fortunately, this stage did not impede his territory or his Divine Telekinesis.

"Since my body has shrunk to 1/10,000 of my original size, it would mean that the initial 10,000 meters that I have to pass have now become 100,000 kilometers. In other words, I'll need to pass 100,000 kilometers that are filled with imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters to break through this checkpoint. Furthermore, imperial-level purple gold-ranks can sense my existence simply with their Territory." Lin Huang was stunned by this round of assessment. "I'll just have to bite the bullet then. Perhaps, the designer of this checkpoint doesn't want anyone to pass through his final assessment. I won't be able to break through if I've got no God Figurine's Combat Souls."

Lin Huang's current combat strength was immortal-level rank-10. Without his God Figurine's Combat Souls and imperial monsters, his ability would be the equivalent of a normal imperial-level purple gold-rank monster whereby nobody could tell who would win. However, he basically had to run away if he encountered a pseudo-mythical-level monster.

The success rate of passing 100,000 kilometers filled with tens of millions or even up to hundreds of millions of imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters was almost zilch. All of the monsters here would be able to sense his existence easily. As soon as a fight started, the other monsters around would flood the place, and he would not be able to run by then.

The settings of this checkpoint made it almost impossible for normal immortal-levels to break through. It would be rare for even imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouses to pass.

Lin Huang only grinned but said nothing after that. He then summoned the Divine Sun Tree directly and ran through the checkpoint without using any fancy tricks.

The devilish Ant Tribe was burned to death!

The Golden-backed Centipedes were burned to death!

The Flying Grasshoppers were burned to death!

The Blood-striped Toads were burned to death!

…

Whatever encountered the Divine Sun Tree would be ignited and charred black. None of them even got the chance to get close to Lin Huang.

Even though that was the case, he took a day to arrive at the destination after passing through the 100,000 kilometers. He only broke through the checkpoint when it was close to midnight.

As he stepped onto the 80th checkpoint, he realized everything before him was different.

"This… isn't the Stairway Tree." Lin Huang looked around and realized he was in a city now.

People strolled on the streets. He spread his Divine Telekinesis and realized they were real humans.

"Is this an illusion?!" Lin Huang was confused. The first reaction he had when he saw the city streets and humans was that he might be in an illusion. However, Divine Telekinesis was always accurate unless the person who created this illusion was much more powerful than he was and deceived his own Divine Telekinesis.

"This checkpoints seems to be different from the earlier ones. Be careful," Bloody that was in his sleeve reminded him.

"Don't tell me I have to kill people in this round of assessment!" Lin Huang peered around and frowned a little.

At that moment, a black crack appeared in the sky all of a sudden.

Lin Huang sensed that something was off and lifted his head to gaze into the sky. He saw the crack was expanding at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye. Abruptly, his expression changed dramatically.

"Is that a Virtual Eye?!"

It had been more than three years since Lin Huang came to the gravel world. He had seen news of various Virtual Eyes opening on the Heart Network, but he had only encountered them a few times himself.

The people in the streets noticed the strange phenomenon that was happening in the sky. They began to panic.

Although he was temporarily teleported to this city, Lin Huang flew into the sky and summoned the Enchanted Fairy as well as the Divine Sun Tree at the same time.

He had no idea where he was. Whether this city was a foothold in the gravel world or not, the people here were real.

Lin Huang did not think too much about that. He just thought he should not ignore whatever that was happening.

Before the Virtual Eye in the sky could completely form, the Enchanted Fairy moved according to Lin Huang's command.

A gush of chilliness came out of her body and spread around. The water in the air froze wherever the chill passed by. Within merely some ten seconds, the Enchanted Fairy created a giant ice barrier that was 1,000 kilometers in diameter.

Although it did not cover the entire city, it protected the area that was closest to the Virtual Eye.

Just when the Enchanted Fairy was done with building the defense, the Virtual Eye in the sky finished forming.

There seemed to be a pitch-black pupil in the sky that was watching the world.

As soon as the Virtual Eye was formed, a mission box popped out of Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring all of a sudden.

"The Stairway Tree's 80th trial has officially begun!

"Trial Mission: Protect the foothold.

"Mission Requirement: Protect the foothold for 24 hours. The number of deaths must be no more than 80 million people.

"The mission will be deemed to have failed if the time is less than 24 hours or the number of deaths exceeds 80 million people!"

Lin Huang was stunned when he saw the mission box popping out. He did not expect the Stairway Tree to have a new model. Nevertheless, he read everything in the mission box carefully.

Just when he was done reading the last word in the mission box, monsters came rushing out of the Virtual Eye like a torrent.

There were monsters of all sorts but all their combat strengths were on imperial-level black gold-rank.

Almost when the monsters came racing out, the Divine Sun Tree shook its branches a little.

In the next second, all monsters were lit in golden flames. They were soon drowned in the flames and turned into ashes.

Although the Divine Sun Tree did not miss out any monsters, Lin Huang looked rather grimly at the Virtual Eye.

Usually, weaker monsters would come out of the Virtual Eye first and the subsequent monsters that came out later would be more powerful.

However, the first batch of monsters that came as soon as the Virtual Eye opened was already on imperial-level. Although they were only on imperial-level black gold-rank, Lin Huang had a hunch that there might be demigod-level or even virtual god-level monsters appearing later.

Time was ticking. The Virtual Eye kept sending imperial-level black gold-ranks out. This went on for four hours and Lin Huang finally saw the first imperial-level crimson gold-rank monster advancing. Subsequently, the second, the third… More and more imperial-level crimson gold-rank monsters were rushing out of the Virtual Eye, replacing the first batch of imperial-level black gold-rank monsters.

Upon seeing that, Lin Huang had a preliminary guess of the Virtual Eye's monster pattern.

"The imperial-level crimson gold-rank monsters only came out four hours later. This pattern might continue later. If this is the case, demigod-level monsters may emerge during the last four hours, which is about 20 hours later!"

Lin Huang's head was clouded with thoughts as he watched the monsters that were rushing out of the Virtual Eye like a flood.

This round of assessment had reached a point where it was getting ridiculous.

If monsters streamed out for 24 hours continuously, it would mean that he would have to protect the foothold round the clock without stopping.

Judging from the current number of monsters and frequency, even a demigod-level powerhouse's Life Power would be drained in less than ten hours. If not for the Divine Fire in his body that was supplying endless energy for his God Figurine's Combat Souls, there was no way that he could bear it for 24 hours.

Moreover, looking at the pattern of the Virtual Eye at that instant, there would be more than just one demigod-level monster emerging during the last four hours. Even if he had sufficient Life Power, a demigod-level powerhouse might not be able to push through the last four hours. Under normal circumstances, only virtual god-level powerhouses might have hopes of passing this checkpoint.

This confirmed what Lin Huang was thinking earlier even more. Perhaps the person who designed this checkpoint on the Stairway Tree never wanted anyone to break through.

Lin Huang looked at the sky again as he shook off all sorts of thoughts that were bothering him.

Since earlier, he noticed that he had not been gaining any points despite the Divine Sun Tree killing the monsters on the checkpoint.

However, this gave him another benefit. The Divine Sun Tree could slay monsters endlessly and replenish his spiritual energy. Moreover, the killing would give him complete Monster Cards and Monster Card pieces.

In other words, apart from not obtaining any points on the Stairway Tree, he had at least 20 chances to kill monsters and receive the rewards.

The deal was a great one for Lin Huang. After all, he could only obtain ten billion points at the most each typical day.

Time flew by, and another four hours passed.

Just as Lin Huang expected, all of the monsters in the third batch were on imperial-level yellow gold-rank.

He was sure of his speculation earlier after seeing imperial-level yellow gold-rank monsters swarm out of the Virtual Eye one after another.

"Just like I expected, the monster's combat strength will increase by a rank every four hours. If that's the case, demigod-level monsters will definitely come out in the last four hours."

Hundreds of monsters would come out of the Virtual Eye each second, but none of them escaped the Divine Sun Tree's flames.

All the monsters began burning as soon as they stepped out of the Virtual Eye. They then turned into ashes within a few breaths. There was no exception.

With Lin Huang supplying endless energy, the Divine Sun Tree was not tired of killing at all because it could clearly sense its spiritual energy being replenished every time he killed. It was getting closer and closer to breaking through his combat strength.

The massacre soon passed for four hours, and the fourth batch of monsters finally came.

The batch of monsters experienced an increase in their combat strength. After the imperial-level yellow gold-ranks, imperial-level white gold-rank monsters now raced out.

However, such a boost in combat strength was nothing to the Divine Sun Tree at all. It shook its branches lightly and the imperial-level white gold-rank monsters would be ignited without exception and turn into ashes. Perhaps, their time of death was merely one to two seconds slower than the imperial-level yellow gold-rank monsters before.

At that point in time, half of the 24-hour protection period had passed and the Divine Sun Tree never let any of the monsters go at all.

However, Lin Huang had yet to relax. He was not worried about the first 20 hours. He was bothered about what would come out in the last four hours.

Time flew by and two to three hours passed again. Just when Lin Huang thought they were steadily dealing with this monster horde, a tremor came from the Divine Sun Tree.

"Is it… elevating to virtual god-level?!" Lin Huang merely sensed it when he noticed something off and he knew what was happening. The Divine Sun Tree had killed so many monsters that it had accumulated enough spiritual energy to elevate to virtual god-level. That was beyond Lin Huang's expectations.

However, Lin Huang was delighted to see that.

After recalling the Divine Sun Tree, Lin Huang glanced through the other eight God Figurine's Combat Souls apart from the Enchanted Fairy. He had his eyes fixed on the Death Butterfly, so he summoned it.

The little blue butterfly that was smaller than half a palm flew slowly into the sky. It looked so harmless and even looked kind of cute.

However, such a cute thing turned the imperial-level white gold-rank monsters into skeletons with merely a light flap of its wings. The skeletons then turned into ashes and disappeared.

It seemed like everywhere it flew through became hell.

Even Lin Huang was shocked and terrified every time he watched the Death Butterfly attack.

It would take a life away each time it attacked, and death would always be the result. It was even more overbearing and ridiculous than the Divine Sun Tree's flames.

At least, the Divine Sun Tree's flames would take some time to kill the opponents, but the Death Butterfly killed without anyone even seeing it advance. Every living thing would turn into skeletons and ashes.

Seeing Death Butterfly attacking, Lin Huang recalled what the stone tablet had said before. The Death Butterfly had a weaker combat ability compared to the other True Spirits that mastered the Death Rule. Lin Huang could not help but feel curious about how powerful the other True Spirits that mastered the Death Rule were.

Over an hour soon passed after he summoned the Death Butterfly. The fifth batch of monsters finally approached.

As Lin Huang expected, this batch of monsters all had imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength.

However, none of the monsters could do anything when the Death Butterfly was around.

All the imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters turned into skeletons as soon as they stepped out of the Virtual Eye. They turned into ashes completely less than a second later. The entire process was no slower than killing the batch of imperial-level white gold-rank monsters earlier.

Lin Huang waited for the four hours to pass slowly. The wait was agonizing. He had finally come to the last four hours of the 24-hour protection period.

He slowed his breathing down while looking at the changing Virtual Eye in the sky without blinking.

Approximately half a minute passed. The monsters that were coming out of the Virtual Eye were all on imperial-level purple gold-rank just like before. None of them were on demigod-level.

Lin Huang glanced down to check the time. After confirming that the time was right, he looked even more puzzled now.

The time passed by on the 80th checkpoint of the Stairway Tree.

Lin Huang waited for almost an hour. The monsters that were coming out of the Virtual Eye had imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength. It remained the same as it had been four hours before.

"So, I guessed it wrongly?" Lin Huang mumbled to himself softly.

Just as he said that, a powerful aura extended out of the Virtual Eye. He quickly lifted his head to look.

"This aura… It's clearly a demigod-level monster!"

A gigantic monster stretched one of its pitch-black claws out of the Virtual Eye. The claw was completely covered in a layer of black scales. The nail on the claw was 20 to 30 meters long.

The Death Butterfly was going to attack it before it could get out of the Virtual Eye. However, Lin Huang stopped it from doing so.

"There's no rush. We'll wait for it to come out. It might retreat its claw immediately if you attack now."

A pitch-black claw with black scales stretched out of the Virtual Eye. Subsequently, a giant head poked through.

It was a massive dragon head that looked like it was made of black metal casting. It seemed cold and ferocious.

It was a dragonkin!

It had six screw-like horns on its head while its four eyes lit up like golden lightbulbs. Before it crawled out of the Virtual Eye completely, its four eyes were locked onto Lin Huang. It snorted in disdain after realizing that Lin Huang's combat strength was only immortal-level rank-9.

The Death Butterfly landed on Lin Huang's shoulder slowly, glaring fatally at the dragonkin. It looked like it was staring its prey down.

After more than two hours of killing, it realized that the spiritual energy in its body had been filling up. Meanwhile, this demigod-level dragonkin before them looked like it had an even more powerful spiritual energy than those imperial-level monsters that it had destroyed. In other words, the dragonkin looked delicious to the Death Butterfly.

Unfortunately, the dragonkin did not notice that it was practically being drooled over. After announcing its arrival with a roar, its entire body came out of the Virtual Eye slowly.

From the looks of it, Lin Huang figured this monster was at least up to 10,000 meters long.

It opened its jaws wide after getting out. Then, it released a roar that quaked the world as though it was announcing its arrival.

The Death Butterfly looked at Lin Huang, seeming to ask whether it could attack yet.

Lin Huang nodded tersely at it.

In the next second, the blue Death Butterfly flapped its wings. An invisible wave seemed to ripple in the sky.

The dragonkin's roar was cut short all of a sudden. Its four big, golden lightbulb eyes dimmed while its body that seemed to be formed of metal casting was rotting at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye. Merely three to four seconds later, its flesh vanished. Only a massive black skeletal frame remained. However, the frame lasted less than five seconds before turning into ashes and disappearing with the wind.

The demigod-level dragonkin did not even have the chance to attack and was killed without even realizing what hit it. Lin Huang could only witness how terrifying the Death Butterfly was.

After the demigod-level dragonkin came out, the Virtual Eye became normal again.

Imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters started coming out of it again. The monster horde came one after another like a flood.

"So, imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters are appearing again. Judging from the current pattern, the occasional demigod-level monsters will come out in the last four hours. I'm just not sure if an hour will be the right interval."

Lin Huang was rather relieved to see that the monsters that were coming out were imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters. He was a little worried that many demigod-level monsters would appear.

After all, demigod-level monsters were different from imperial-level monsters. When encountered some with a unique ability, his God Figurine's Combat Souls might not be able to kill them in one hit. Moreover, they had a higher chance of breaking Enchanted Fairy's defense with their Divine Power at full force. As soon as the defense was broke, a demigod-level attack alone could cause a major scale of death if it landed in the foothold. As soon as the number of deaths surpassed the mission limit, he would fail the stage. That was what Lin Huang was most unwilling to see happening.

However, Lin Huang's concern was unnecessary since no more demigod-level monsters emerged.

Time flew by, and another half an hour passed. A powerful aura came out of the Virtual Eye again.

Lin Huang lifted his head and looked at the Virtual Eye's direction in the sky. He frowned slightly. "This aura…"

He was wondering whether a demigod-level monster would come out every hour in the last four hours since the first one came out an hour later. However, that was not the apparent pattern at all because only half an hour had passed and a demigod-level monster's aura was coming out of the Virtual Eye again.

What surprised Lin Huang even more was that the aura this time seemed to be coming from more than one demigod-level monster.

A moment later, a dark-purple head came out of the Virtual Eye. The dark-purple body came out of the Virtual Eye completely before Lin Huang could take a good look at it.

Lin Huang looked closely to see a giant indigo centipede. It was thousands of meters long with three pairs of barely-there wings on its back.

Two indigo feelers at the top of its head moved in the air as it seemed to be sniffing out for aura. Brutality exuded from its three pairs of ruby-like bloody eyes on both sides of its head. Its mouth that looked like a scimitar below was twitching slightly, giving out chilling insecurity.

After the centipede came out, a gigantic spider crawled out of the Virtual Eye slowly.

The spider was bigger than any arachnid that Lin Huang had ever seen in his life. It was completely grayish-brown and had legs that were thousands of meters long. Its entire body seemed like a moving mountain supported by eight pillars.

Its head was filled with dense black eyes of all sizes. There were at least 30 to 40 of them. People with trypophobia would have goosebumps if they saw this creature.

The two monsters' aurae were clearly demigod-level.

Lin Huang could not help but scowl when two of them came at once. It was not that he could not handle two, but the pattern was unfathomable.

The first time a demigod-level monster came out was an hour since the new batch of the monster horde. Now, there were two demigod-level monsters half an hour later. The interval and quantity were unpredictable now.

Just when the two monsters locked their eyes on Lin Huang and the Enchanted Fairy as soon as they appeared, the blue Death Butterfly on Lin Huang's shoulder flapped its wings all of a sudden.

In the next second, the two demigod-level monsters' bodies began to disintegrate while they stared at it in shock. They looked like corpses being dissolved by all sorts of microorganisms with a fast-forward button.

In less than ten seconds, the two demigod-level monsters turned into ashes. The enormous bodies left ashes all over the ground.

After the second batch of demigod-level monsters came, the third wave rushed forward merely ten minutes later. There were three of them this time.

However, the fourth wave came merely a minute after the Death Butterfly killed the third batch of demigod-level monsters. Then, there were five monsters.

Seeing the batch of monsters coming, Lin Huang could not help but frown again. If the intervals shortened and the number of monsters was growing like this, there was a possibility that he would really fail this time.

Fortunately, Lin Huang's concern did not happen. The pattern finally stabilized whereby five demigod-level monsters emerged from the Virtual Eye every one minute.

The pattern persevered and the last four hours ended.

Lin Huang was finally relieved the moment when the Virtual Eye closed entirely.

Before he recalled his two God Figurine's Combat Souls, two notifications popped out from his Emperor's Heart Ring consecutively.

"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking through the 80th checkpoint of the Stairway Tree!"

"Do you agree to go to the last checkpoint on the Stairway Tree?"

"The last checkpoint?" Lin Huang was stunned for a second but soon made up his mind almost without thinking. "I agree! Take me there!"

Lin Huang had no idea exactly how many checkpoints there were on the Stairway Tree before reading the notification about the last checkpoint challenge that the Stairway Tree system sent.

After all, throughout the centuries, the highest checkpoint on the Stairway Tree anyone had ever arrived on was the 72nd checkpoint.

However, now he knew that there were only a total of 81 checkpoints on the Stairway Tree and he had arrived at the last one now.

Although it had been two days since he last slept, Lin Huang accepted the assessment without hesitation.

Upon agreeing to the assessment, both of Lin Huang's God Figurine's Combat Souls and Bloody in his sleeve retreated into his body. Then, he shifted and appeared in the ruins.

He looked around to see building remnants everywhere. The land that he was standing on seemed to have been a bustling city back then. However, it was now a ruin where traces of war were left behind.

After taking a simple observation of his surroundings, Lin Huang summoned Bloody and Lancelot immediately.

"Lancelot, use your Territory skill to check if there're any living things around. Bloody, release your Leech Pods after confirming with Lancelot and construct a preliminary map."

Lancelot checked through the area with his Territory skill merely a moment later. "There's no living thing within my territory range. Not only are there no humans, but there aren't even any monsters around."

Just when Bloody was going to release its Leech Pods after hearing that, a crack appeared in the sky all of a sudden.

The human and the two imperial monsters lifted their heads to gaze up immediately.

"Is the Virtual Eye opening again? Is it the same trick as before?" Lin Huang was rather surprised.

However, a second, a third, and a fourth crack appeared in the sky just when he said that.

There were cracks almost everywhere in the sky. He was astounded to see at least hundreds of them. Furthermore, the cracks were expanding at an alarming rate that could be seen with the naked eye.

This reminded Lin Huang of the story when the gravel world was attacked 800 years ago. It was said that 3,000 Virtual Eyes opened all over the world when the gravel world was attacked back then.

Although that was way more than the number of Virtual Eyes he was looking at right now, the density of it then definitely could not compare with what was in front of his eyes.

"Alright then. I admit that I was wrong. This is a new set of tricks." Lin Huang felt like he had just received a resounding slap on his face having thought that this checkpoint was the same as the previous 80.

In the air, the cracks were expanding into the Virtual Eyes one after another at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye. They looked like hundreds of pupils of all colors and forms in the sky, staring at Lin Huang who was as tiny as an ant.

Lin Huang dared not be reckless this time. He recalled Lancelot and got Bloody to hide in his sleeve. He then summoned all ten of his God Figurine's Combat Souls, including the Destructive Divine Mammoth, the Ninetails Lynx, the Nightmare Tapir and the Divine Sun Tree that had elevated to virtual god-level.

A mission notification popped up on his Emperor's Heart Ring just when he summoned his God Figurine's Combat Souls.

"The 81st trial of the Stairway Tree has officially begun!

"Trial Mission: Survive.

"Mission Requirement: Survive the 24-hour monster horde.

"Remarks: The mission will be deemed to have failed if you die within the 24-hour monster horde!"

At the same time when Lin Huang finished reading the notification, a deep voice shook the entire sky. "The trial has begun!"

Gigantic bug monsters began flying out of the Virtual Eyes that looked like pupils in the air. The bugs looked like airships.

The bug monsters were over 10,000 meters in length but they came in all forms.

Some of them looked like enormous whales that had been enlarged by a thousand times with thick bio-armors covering them. Others seemed like deep-sea jellyfish that had been enlarged by 10,000 times with countless tentacles that looked like strands of hair, making it chilling to look at. Some had turtle-like shells that looked indestructible.

Those gigantic monsters exuded terrifying perfect-stage demigod-level aura, and there were over 300 of them in his field of vision.

Nonetheless, he found it weird that those huge monsters did not attack him directly. They just hovered in place after getting out of the Virtual Eyes and did not come any closer.

Just when Lin Huang thought it was strange, a sea of bug monsters streamed out of the gigantic monsters one after another. There were so many of them that they covered the entire sky.

"Sh*t! Are those Bug Tribe battleships?!" Lin Huang reacted right away and ordered immediately, "Fight!"

All of his ten God Figurine's Combat Souls joined the battlefield as soon as he issued the command.

The Divine Sun Tree went through a major change after elevating to virtual god-level combat strength. Initially, it was merely a little sapling that was approximately a meter tall. Now, it had transformed into a ten-meter-tall tree with lush leaves.

It stretched his branches one after another. Everywhere the branches passed would turn into a sea of fire. The hundreds of gigantic bug monsters that resembled airships were burned and turned into ashes immediately.

The Destructive Divine Mammoth also had a change in its form after elevating to virtual god-level. Its black armor was thicker now while there was even armor growing on its trunk. At ten meters tall, it lost all of its cuteness it had before this.

It charged into the monsters and clashed with them all the way. Wherever its metal legs passed, it crushed all of the monsters into mush.

Since the Ninetails Lynx elevated to virtual god-level, it grew from a little white cat which was the size of a palm to a little white cheetah with slender limbs and a body just slightly longer than a meter.

It was fearless as it stood among the monsters. All of the monsters were sliced into pieces wherever it sprinted.

The Nightmare Tapir that had elevated to god-level, on the other hand, did not experience many changes. Only the patterns on its body changed. It lifted his trunk and released soundless wave energy. The invisible wave spread out intensely at a speed that was 1,000 times faster than the speed of sound. All of the monsters were dragged into dreamland as the wave enveloped them. They fell into a deep sleep within a few seconds.

Those monsters that had yet to elevate to god-level were no less powerful.

All the monsters turned into ashes whenever the Death Butterfly flapped its wings.

Whenever the Withered Flower shook in the wind and spread its fragrance, the monsters grew old and turned into skeletons.

A gush of chillness spread out whenever the Enchanted Fairy waved her sleeve, and countless bug monsters transformed into ice sculptures.

The Creation Clock slowed down its second hand. Many of the monsters seemed like they had fallen into a swamp, whereby their movements were a hundred times slower now.

The Life Power in the monsters' bodies would stop working whenever the Shackle Serpent's eyes lit up, and they would fall from the sky.

The Undead Styx smothered the sea of monster carcasses with its body. Then, the monster carcasses stood up again with their eyes pitch-black.

The tens of thousands of terrifying monsters in the horde were blocked by the ten God Figurine's Combat Souls forcefully. The battle was one-sided, and almost none of the monsters survived for more than half a minute.

In the sky, the giant demigod-level Bug Tribe airships flew out of the Virtual Eyes that resembled pupils one after another.

Each of the giant airships had tens of thousands of Bug Tribe monsters which had imperial-level combat strength.

As the giant airships containing countless Bug Tribe monsters entered this world that looked like ruins, they leaped and charged toward Lin Huang as if they only had one target in their eyes.

Millions of monsters leaped from the sky almost every second. They were like a locust plague that blanketed the sky.

Nevertheless, the ten God Figurine's Combat Souls were extraordinarily courageous whereby they were almost suppressing the situation.

However, Lin Huang was not optimistic about breaking through this checkpoint since the battle was so intense as soon as it began.

One must know that the mission had begun for less than three minutes and there were already over a hundred million of monsters coming out of the Virtual Eyes. Moreover, all of them were on imperial-level and ranged from imperial-level black gold-rank to imperial-level purple gold-rank.

According to Lin Huang's speculation, this checkpoint should be the same as the one before whereby the longer the duration, the more difficult it would be. The monsters' combat strength would elevate later on and the frequency might increase.

Whether he could break through the checkpoint or not, Lin Huang thought he must seize the opportunity since he had a little faith. Just like the checkpoint before, he crushed 24 Double Reward Cards secretly which resulted in the reward adding up to 24 hours. He also crushed a Lucky Card.

Subsequently, a massive number of notifications about card pieces and occasional complete cards came through.

Monsters did not stop coming out of the Virtual Eyes, so the ten God Figurine's Combat Souls did not get to rest for even a second.

The Bug Tribe airships seemed to have a unique spatial technique installed in them. Even though the Bug Tribe airships were destroyed, the Bug Tribe fighters within them did not seem to be affected much. Instead, they shot out of the airships directly, saving their time of leaping out of the cabin door.

The Virtual Eyes had been sending Bug Tribe airships out at the same frequency, so a new batch of Bug Tribe airships would arrive almost every ten seconds.

Again, the ten God Figurine's Combat Souls did not get to rest for even a heartbeat.

Soon, four hours had passed. As Lin Huang expected, the frequency of the Virtual Eyes sending the Bug Tribe airships increased.

One airship would be sent out of a Virtual Eye approximately every 20 seconds. However, after the four-hour interval, the frequency shortened to ten seconds.

Furthermore, Lin Huang also realized that not only did the frequency multiply but even the combat strength of the monsters that were originating from the airships changed.

There were monsters on imperial-level black gold-rank to imperial-level purple gold-rank initially. However, there were no longer any imperial-level black gold-rank monsters this round. The lowest combat strength of bug beasts that participated in the battle was imperial-level crimson gold-rank. The number of monsters from each airship was pretty much the same as before, but the minimum combat strength had increased.

Nevertheless, such frequency and increase in combat strength did not affect the God Figurine's Combat Souls at all.

Most of the ten God Figurine's Combat Souls were attacking in a large range of area. However, they did not widen their attack range or increase their attack power. Only the frequency of the attacks multiplied.

The battle remained one-sided.

Although countless bug beasts were pouring like rain, they could not break through the Divine Sun Tree and the rest whose killing speed would destroy a large area.

However, the Death Butterfly experienced a tremor not long after the second wave of monsters came. The spiritual energy in its body had been filled, and it was elevating to virtual god-level.

Lin Huang recalled it back to his body without hesitation to allow it to complete its elevation.

Without the Death Butterfly's contribution, the remaining nine God Figurine's Combat Souls became slightly busier, but it did not affect their winning streak much.

Soon, another four hours passed. There was a change in the third wave of the monster horde.

The interval of the Bug Tribe airships being sent shortened again. From the initial ten seconds, it was cut down to five seconds now.

Moreover, the minimum combat strength of the Bug Tribe fighters coming out of the airships this time had increased again. It increased from imperial-level crimson gold-rank to imperial-level yellow gold-rank. Among the bug beasts that were rushing out of the giant airships, there were no longer any imperial-level black gold-ranks and imperial-level crimson gold-ranks to be seen. The lowest combat strength was imperial-level yellow gold-rank.

As soon as the third round of monster horde came, the Death Butterfly completed its elevation. Lin Huang summoned it again and sent it back to the battlefield.

The blue butterfly that was initially only the size of half a palm had minimal changes to its appearance. It remained the same size but its solid form had turned into a blue semitransparent spirit form, appearing as magical as an illusion. Its ethereal form felt otherworldly. In fact, it looked like a lousy Earth-made film effect which seemed fake.

However, the Death Butterfly experienced an obvious boost in its ability no matter what.

A great number of demigod-level Bug Tribe airships turned into ashes from a slight flap of its wings. The entire process took less than three seconds, it was a few times faster than the killing speed of the Divine Sun Tree.

The remaining nine God Figurine's Combat Souls were much more relaxed as soon as it joined the battle again.

As usual, the third round of Bug Tribe attack went on for four hours.

Subsequently, the same thing happened to the fourth and the fifth rounds of monsters.

When the fourth round came, the Enchanted Fairy followed the Death Butterfly's footsteps as she had accumulated enough spiritual energy to elevate to virtual god-level.

When the fifth round of monster horde came, the interval of the Bug Tribe airships coming out of the Virtual Eye shortened to a second.

Furthermore, the tens of thousands of monsters in each airship were on imperial-level purple gold-rank. There was not even a single imperial-level white gold-rank monster.

Soon after that, the fifth round came. The Enchanted Fairy successfully elevated to virtual god-level and was summoned again.

The Enchanted Fairy that had been upgraded had few changes to her body. She was still wearing a white dress, and her skin was as white as snow. She was beautiful as usual. However, her black hair was now a piercing icy blue.

Furthermore, her ability was even more terrifying now. The air would turn into ice with a single glance of hers.

Apart from that, the Undead Styx had accumulated enough spiritual energy to elevate to virtual god-level when the fifth monster horde came. Lin Huang recalled him back to his body.

As the Death Butterfly and the Enchanted Fairy's combat strengths elevated, the pressure that was ever-increasing from the Virtual Eyes did not cause any solid threat to Lin Huang. The battle still remained one-sided.

One must know that Lin Huang's God Figurine's Combat Souls were powerful existences made of Protoss's figurines as their base besides being visualized from True Spirits. Each of them far surpassed quadruple mutated mythical-level monsters. They could fight fairly with Virtual God rank-3 powerhouses given that they had imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength. Naturally, suppressing these imperial-level bug beasts was a piece of cake for them.

Now that some of his God Figurine's Combat Souls had elevated to virtual god-level, their abilities were advancing intensely. They did not even have to use 1% of their abilities when fighting those imperial-level bug beasts.

Another four hours flew by. The 24-hour period to pass the checkpoint was down to the last four hours.

The sixth round of monster horde came as expected.

Before the monster horde came, a low rumble echoed from the other side of the Virtual Eyes.

Lin Huang looked at the sky in puzzlement when he heard the sound. His jaw dropped when he saw the first giant that emerged!

"F*ck! How is this possible?!"

Immense things in irregular forms floated out of the Virtual Eyes in the sky. Each of them was at least 10,000 times bigger than the Bug Tribe airships earlier.

Some of the giant forms were slightly rounder, resembling potatoes. Some seemed like human molars or front teeth that had fallen off while some looked like peanuts. They had forms of all kinds.

However, the similarity they shared was that all of them had dense holes on their surfaces.

These holes had various shapes and sizes. Some were round, some were triangular, and some were even hexagonal. However, the shapes and sizes of the holes were the same for each giant. They were clearly not made by Mother Nature.

In reality, Lin Huang could tell what were those at a first glance. The strangely shaped matters were all Bug Tribe hives from different tribes.

"Are they relocating house? They moved the entire hive here!"

The 300-over hives of all forms covered the entire sky like hovering giant cities.

It was Lin Huang first time seeing such a majestic scene in his life.

If an ordinary person witnessed 300 beehives hanging above their heads, the first reaction would be to run.

However, it was a different story for Lin Huang. He gave a command before waiting for any of the monsters to fly out the hives, "There's no need to hold back. Do your best to attack the hives and see if you can destroy them or not."

The Ninetails Lynx was the first to attack as soon as he spoke. Its agile body turned into a white beam and shot through the sky. It pulverized tens of hives and returned where it was without anyone even seeing it. Then, it shook its head at Lin Huang.

After a while, rumbles that sounded like mellow thunder came from the sky consecutively.

Slices were made on the tens of hives consecutively. There were giant gullies that were hundreds of meters on the hives. However, the gullies were less than ten meters at the most and could no longer go any deeper, so they made no solid damage to the hives.

"The Ninetails Lynx has the most powerful attack ability among your ten God Figurine's Combat Souls. If this is what it can do, it proves that the materials that are used to make these hives are pretty tough. Using other physical attacks shouldn't have much effect on them." Bloody that had been hiding and observing the situation in Lin Huang's sleeve provided him such an analysis immediately. "Get the Nightmare Tapir to try using his spiritual attack then."

The Destructive Divine Mammoth and the rest attacked when Bloody was done speaking. However, just like Bloody speculated, physical attacks did almost nothing to the hives.

Even the Divine Sun Tree and the Enchanted Fairy's elemental attacks could not penetrate the hives. The most they could go was a few meters into the holes.

The Nightmare Tapir attacked as well. Even though he had elevated to virtual god-level, he could only drill some ten meters in after penetrating into the hives with his psychic energy. He was blocked by powerful psychic energy and could no longer go any further.

"I tried, but I was blocked by a powerful psychic energy. The most I can go is 13 meters and I can't go any further," the Nightmare Tapir spoke to Lin Huang and Bloody through voice transmission.

"A powerful psychic energy? Could there be virtual god-level monsters guarding the inside of these hives?!" Lin Huang was stunned to hear that.

The stone tablet's voice came slowly at the moment. "Stop overthinking. The hives do not only have resistance against physical attack, but they're also invincible when it comes to resisting spiritual energy because each hive is being protected by the Bug Tribe's will. Even a true god-level or even heavenly god-level powerhouse can't stick spiritual energy into the hives to try and damage it at all. The Nightmare Tapir could penetrate more than ten meters because there's only an oxidized protective shell on the surface of the hives. The shell isn't even the hive's real defense. It's not even included in the protection range of the Bug Tribe's will."

Lin Huang came to a realization after hearing the stone tablet's explanation. "If what you said is true, then attacking the hives must be a stupid thing to do, isn't it?"

"You said that yourself." The stone tablet smiled and explained further, "The standards of the Bug Tribe's construction are much higher than the standards you humans have when building your skyscrapers."

"Under usual circumstances, the hives with Virtual Gods inside are built with core construction material which is the same material as a true god relic. Only a powerhouse with the combat strength of at least heavenly god-level can destroy them completely."

"Even in hives with only a demigod inside, the core material used for the construction would be at least a god relic. They're basically indestructible if the opponent isn't on a minimum of true god-level."

"I think there's no need for you to waste your efforts attacking the hives at all. Just wait for the bugs to come out."

"The hives are their base camp, so their queens will basically be in there. If I don't destroy the hives, the queens in those hives will produce more bugs to join the battle. It would mean that I'd have to clear the bugs that are created in the hives over and over again." Lin Huang told the tablet the reason he had gotten his God Figurine's Combat Souls to attack the hives.

"Why don't you just seize the opportunity to kill more bugs since there're only four hours left? No matter how many bugs these hives are producing, to you, it's merely four hours of battling." The stone tablet went completely silent right after saying that.

Lin Huang realized that he was overthinking it. He kind of forgot that the 20-odd hours of battle was just a trial. He subconsciously treated this ruins as a place in the gravel world. His mind was so occupied on clearing the hives forever to prevent the bug beasts from coming out.

He recalled that it was just a trial upon hearing the stone tablet's reminder. He would be teleported out of this place as soon as the time was up. No matter whether this place was real or fake, whatever happened after this was none of his business.

Lin Huang shook his head to push the thoughts out of his head as he lifted his head to look at the sky again.

In the sky, there was an insane amount of bugs in countless forms standing at the surface of the giant hives.

Buzz…

…

A low buzzing from more than 300 sources came almost at the same time. The noise seemed to be coming from deep in the hives. They sounded like a signal that had been lowered. Each hive would have a slightly difference in key, but they did not conflict with each other and even harmonized perfectly.

The long and low buzzes echoed through the entire place.

At the same time, the countless bug monsters seemed to have received their leader's order. They leaped out of the hives where they were queuing and charged at Lin Huang.

Bug beasts of all forms were rushing out of the holes on the surface of the hives. All of them had a combat strength of imperial-level purple gold-rank, and there were over 300 hives.

Among the over 300 types of bugs, the first thing that Lin Huang noticed was a batch of giant beetles.

These giant beetles seemed like they had been enlarged up to a hundred times. They looked like heavy armored vehicles with many legs, and one could tell that their defensive ability was terrifying by a glance alone.

In reality, Lin Huang had seen such a beetle in the monster guide before. It was a monster called the Gigantic Armored Beetle. Its defensive ability was so powerful that it could be ranked top ten among all the monsters recorded in the monster guide.

If their vitals were not attacked, the effort of killing such a bug monster might be futile even for an ordinary demigod. To kill them in one blow, only a demigod saber cultivator or sword cultivator who had compelling attack ability with a god relic fuelled with Divine Power might be able to do it.

The second type of monster that attracted Lin Huang's attention was a colorful flying bug that resembled a long-legged spider with butterfly wings. Not only were the two pairs of wings colorful, but so were their body and the hair on its legs that were as tough as steel nails. It looked like a painter had accidentally spilled ten types of colors onto them. What surprised Lin Huang even more was that the colors on their bodies morphed, so it looked like it had a disco ball shining on it.

"I advise you not to let those colorful bug monsters get close to you." The stone tablet's voice came all of a sudden.

"Because they're poisonous?" Lin Huang guessed why the stone tablet said so.

"This bug is called Ten Colors, and it's a poisonous bug monster. They have up to 1,000 different toxins in their bodies which they're producing and releasing at all times. Some of the toxins can be spread through the air while some can even penetrate through the pores straight into one's body. You can never see it coming," the stone tablet explained, "I suppose you saw that their bodies are always changing colors. The changing of colors is caused by the changing of toxin ratio in their body as they produce and release toxins."

The third type of monster Lin Huang noticed was a bug beast with four wings that could not be found in the monster guide. It had four oval semi-transparent wings that it flapped thousands of times per second. It would accelerate every time it flapped its wings, lending a great boost in its speed.

Although Lin Huang could fight fairly with imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters now, he could only catch the flapping shadow of the bug beast's wings with his eyes.

Although the speed of the bug monsters was incomparable with Kylie who was on imperial-level purple gold-rank, they could surpass most of the flying monsters in the monster guide.

…

Among the 300-odd types of bugs on the battlefield, apart from the minority of them that were described in the monster guide, most of them did not have any record.

Lin Huang looked far away and realized that he could not recognize over 90% of the bug monsters. A minority of them even had a structure that was beyond his understanding, which made him think they were ridiculous after observing them.

For instance, there was a bug beast that was called the Ugly Thing. It had its ass on its mouth, and seemed to use the same part to eat and excrete. There was another bug beast that had no face on its head, but only had a mouth on top of its head and it lived on other bug monsters' bodies as a parasite.

Neither did Lin Huang have any idea what were the names of most of the bug monsters there, nor did he know what kind of ability they possessed.

However, none of those were important to him.

His nine God Figurine's Combat Souls fought at full force without hesitation. Under the Creation Clock's slowing down of time and the Shackle Serpent's sealing, the massive number of bug monsters became sitting ducks.

It had been a few minutes since the battle started, but the Undead Styx had completed his elevation to virtual god-level. Lin Huang summoned him again to join the battlefield.

Although the Divine Sun Tree and the Death Butterfly did not leave behind any carcasses, the Nightmare Tapir, the Enchanted Fairy, and the rest left carcasses behind, which then became the Undead Styx's undead puppets.

Seeing the Undead Styx's undead army growing to over a hundred million, Lin Huang thought it was wasted effort instead of feeling happy.

He had summoned the Undead Styx to try turning the monsters on the Stairway Tree into undead puppets to see if he could bring them back to reality. Sadly, it was proven to be impossible. The monster carcasses on the Stairway Tree would disintegrate as soon as they left.

However, although he could not bring them back, he could use them there directly.

The Undead Styx controlled the undead monster horde to collide with the monsters that were advancing from the hives fearlessly. Even if they were killed in the battle, the Undead Styx would revive soon them. Moreover, he was turning more carcasses into his puppets, growing his undead army.

Lin Huang was relieved to see the first round of hive attack being suppressed by his ten God Figurine's Combat Souls perfectly.

He was concerned even though he was confident in his God Figurine's Combat Souls as he figured that the batch of the monster horde was just too big.

However, he was relieved to see the performance of his God Figurine's Combat Souls.

The hundreds of hives released monster hordes one after another. Countless bug monsters came swarming like waves but they were suppressed by the God Figurine's Combat Souls again and again.

Time flew by, and three hours passed.

The hives went through a tremor almost at the same time, emitting a strange buzzing again.

This time, it did not sound low. It sounded more like the finish of a ringing bell.

Almost at the same time the sound came, all of the hives stopped sending bug monsters out.

Lin Huang lifted his head to look at the sky. In reality, he figured that the last hour might not be easy.

As expected, the hives experienced some changes. The strange buzzing noise lasted for three minutes and stopped completely.

As the noise stopped, the hundreds of hives transformed almost at the same time.

Lin Huang was shocked when he saw a hive that looked like a potato explode from its core. It looked like someone had sliced the potato into half and pulled the two halves of hive open slowly, exposing its center. It was like a potato that was sliced and pulled apart, then stuck with invisible tape.

The other hives were also changing. Some of them were sliced into half directly while some had a giant hollow cylinder in the middle.

The transformation lasted for less than a minute before being completed.

At that moment, Lin Huang sensed the aura that was coming out of the hives. He could not help but appear rather grave now.

"Are they only on demigod-level? Why do I feel like something's off?"

The bug beasts' aura in the hives were indeed only on demigod-level but Lin Huang thought something was off.

Buzzing noise came again as soon as the over 300 hives had done with their transformation.

"Buzz…"

…

The over 300 hives released noises of different frequency as if they were announcing the battle again.

This time, the buzzing only went on for approximately ten seconds and stopped.

Subsequently, Lin Huang saw bug beasts rushing out the cracks or holes in the middle of the hives.

Lin Huang had only confirmed that the round of bug beasts only had a combat strength of demigod-level when he saw the bug beasts officially. However, he soon saw a shocking scene.

In the sky, the over 300 monster hordes seemed to be commanded by something whereby they gathered and formed gigantic, ferocious beasts after rushing out of the hives in sequence.

The ferocious beasts were at least 10,000 meters long, their aura was many times more powerful than the individual bug beasts.

"Is this… a battle formation?!" Lin Huang finally knew why he thought something was off when he saw that.

So the demigod-level bug beasts had formed their battle formations in the hives earlier. That was why the 10,000 bug beasts gave out a strange vibe.

"To be exact, it's a bug formation. Of course, battle formation is correct too since bug formation is also a type of battle formation," the stone tablet corrected him, "A bug formation made of 10,000 bug beasts have an overall ability that can fight fair with Virtual God rank-3. In other words, you're fighting over 300 Virtual God rank-3 monsters now."

"Are these bug formations really that powerful?" Lin Huang could not help but frown.

"You'll see soon."

As soon as the stone tablet was done speaking, the gigantic beasts formed of the bug formations had collided with Ninetails Lynx and the rest.

Ninetails Lynx turned into a white silhouette that was blinking as it mauled at a couple of bug formation beasts.

Ninetails Lynx was too quick, they did not have time to react with effective defense or dodging the attack. They were hit directly.

Theoretically, Ninetails Lynx who was now on Virtual God rank-1 should have an ability that was nothing weaker than Virtual God rank-5. However, its attacks that landed on the bug formation beasts did not kill them directly. Even worse, none of the bug beasts in the bug formations was killed. Lin Huang found that puzzling.

"What's happening? The bug formation didn't disintegrate after being attacked by Ninetails Lynx head-on? Ninetails Lynx's maul alone should be able to kill a Virtual God rank-3 powerhouse in one hit!"

"The bug formation can transfer the damage. It's not that the bug formation beasts aren't hurt at all, they shared the damages with the 10,000 bug beasts that formed the bug formations, which weaken Ninetails Lynx's attack effect."

"The bug formation beasts didn't disintegrate not because they're more powerful than Virtual God rank-3 powerhouse. In reality, these giant beasts are made of Divine Power. The Divine Power would be drained as soon as they attacked. The 10,000 demigod-level bug beasts provide rather sufficient Divine Power to fuel the formations."

What the stone tablet said calmed Lin Huang a little.

"In other words, I'll have to attack them a few more times if I can't kill them in one hit. I'll get rid off these bug formation beasts by draining the Divine Power in their bodies."

"That will work."

Other collisions on the battlefield went on as Lin Huang chatted with the stone tablet.

Destructive Divine Mammoth stomped his gigantic feet on the bug formation beasts' heads. However, the bug formation beasts were not crushed at all.

Theoretically, Destructive Divine Mammoth should have an ability similar to Ninetails Lynx. His stomp of feet should be able to kill a bunch of demigod-level bug beasts. However, due to the damage transfer and sea of Divine Power maintaining the bug formation, the bug formation beasts did not suffer any solid damages.

The same happened to Death Butterfly. It could usually kill a bunch of demigod-level bug beasts with a single flap of wings. None of the demigod-level bug beasts could survive its attack. However, the many bug beasts that were formed into bug formations were doing good after the attack.

The God's Figurine's Combat Souls that had elevated to virtual god-level fell into an awkward position since they failed to kill those bug beasts.

Undead Styx must be the most awkward one. His undead army only had imperial-level combat strength. They had no ability to defend the bug formation beasts at all.

Each time the bug formation beasts attacked, a bunch from the undead army would be crushed.

Even though Undead Styx managed to revive them repetitively, all that it did was to put the bug formation beasts' approach to a halt for merely a moment. They could not stop the bug formation beasts at all.

The three God's Figurine's Combat Souls that had yet to elevate to virtual god-level were even more awkward.

Withered Flower retreated from the battlefield voluntarily after swallowing a bug formation beast. It seemed to be digesting the food that had just gone into its stomach.

Creation Clock and Shackle Serpent retreated from the battlefield directly.

Their ability could only work on living things that had no Divine Power in them.

For instance, Creation Clock could only control the time flow to affect a person. However, it could not do anything to demigods with Divine Power in their bodies.

The same applied to Shackle Serpent, its sealing ability could only work on living things that had no Divine Power in their bodies.

Moreover, both of them were not good at close combat. Lin Huang thought about it and figured it was unnecessary for them to stay on the battlefield any longer.

The seven virtual god-level God's Figurine's Combat Souls felt helpless to be taking on the battle on their own. They were fighting among the over 300 bug formation beasts.

The busiest one was Ninetails Lynx that had the highest speed. It was rescuing its comrades almost all of the time.

There were just too many bug formation beasts, and they were hard to kill.

Destructive Divine Mammoth and the rest had to handle over 40 bug formation beasts each to make sure that those bug formation beasts would not break their defense.

However, there were bug formation beasts breaking the defense and headed where Lin Huang was occasionally when the God's Figurine's Combat Souls were stuck.

Ninetails Lynx would have to stop what it was doing to block those bug formation beasts that had broken the defense whenever it happened. It would give them big slaps on their faces, smashing them back to where they were before.

Although Ninetails Lynx and the rest knew very well that Lin Huang could solve it himself even if the bug formation beasts got to him, they were determined to stop the bug formation beasts from breaking the defense.

The battle was the toughest one the bunch of God's Figurine's Combat Souls had ever encountered. They had always been suppressing the battles but they could not kill the opponents they encountered in one hit this time. Moreover, there were more opponents than the comrades they had on their side.

The stagnant situation went on for over ten minutes and Ninetails Lynx finally broke the formation with its mauling.

Finally, the very first bug formation beast disintegrated due to the draining of Divine Power from Ninetails Lynx's mauling…

The 300 over bug formation beasts were made of up to 10,000 demigod-level bug monsters each that contained powerful Divine Power.

The battle lasted for over ten minutes and finally, the Divine Power of one of the formations was drained as a result of the Ninetails Lynx's mauling.

The bug formation disintegrated as soon as their Divine Power was drained. The formation that was made of up to 10,000 bug monsters disintegrated immediately.

Before the Ninetails Lynx could attack, the Divine Sun Tree swung its few branches into the sky, sweeping through the direction where the bug formation disintegrated.

In the next second, the bug monsters that lost their formation protection were lit up by golden flames, and they became 10,000 fireballs in the sky. The fireballs merely burned for less than ten seconds before turning into ashes completely.

"What a waste!" Lin Huang did not expect the Divine Sun Tree to attack so quickly. He initially wanted to get the Nightmare Tapir to attack so that he could keep the bug monsters' carcasses for the Undead Styx to transform into puppets.

A sea of spiritual energy rushed into Lin Huang's body and it was filtered by the Divine Fire since the 10,000 demigod-level bug monsters were killed. Under Lin Huang's control, the wave of spiritual energy was inserted into the Creation Clock.

Without Lin Huang's control, the spiritual energy would usually go into the few God Figurine's Combat Souls with the lowest combat strength and it would be distributed evenly. However, the spiritual energy in the Creation Clock's body was filled according to Lin Huang's control. It was on the brink of breaking through to virtual god-level.

Sensing the Creation Clock breaking through soon, Lin Huang recalled it back to his body immediately.

The breaking of the first bug formation gave the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the rest confidence in the battle.

Initially, even Lin Huang was not sure how long would these bug formation beasts last. He was torn watching his seven God Figurine's Combat Souls in the battle fail to kill the opponents. Furthermore, there were so many opponents.

However, the morale of the seven God Figurine's Combat Souls was boosted since the first bug formation broke. They were in high spirits now.

The Destructive Divine Mammoth stomped its feet one after another at an even higher frequency than before.

Approximately less than two minutes since the first bug formation broke, the second one finally split. It was the Destructive Divine Mammoth that crushed it with its feet this time.

It stomped its gigantic pillar-like feet from the sky, killing 10,000 saber-wings bug monsters completely.

The saber-wings bug monsters that had Divine Power in their bodies were drained immediately after they lost the protection from the disintegrated formation. Then, they were soon turned into ashes by the merciless Death Butterfly.

Clearly, the God Figurine's Combat Souls who been tolerating their failure to break the formations were releasing their rage on the bug monsters. They were using the first-mover's advantage.

"You guys are attacking too fast!" Lin Huang was confounded.

After this round of harvesting, another sea of spiritual energy rushed into Lin Huang's body. He gave it to the Shackle Serpent this time.

Lin Huang recalled it back to his body since the spiritual energy it needed to elevate to virtual god-level was almost full now.

After the second bug formation beast 'died', the Destructive Divine Mammoth crushed the third one with its trunk in less than a minute.

The 10,000 bug monsters that had lost their formation were crushed into a pile of mush as a consequence of the Destructive Divine Mammoth's vicious stomping. The other God Figurine's Combat Souls did not even have a chance of attacking.

Another wave of spiritual energy rushed into Lin Huang's body, and he gave it to the last God Figurine's Combat Soul, which was the Withered Flower. Lin Huang recalled it back into his body since it was on the brink of elevating to virtual god-level.

Although he could not obtain any Stairway Tree points, he was very pleased with the rewards he obtained from this checkpoint.

Excluding the falling of the cards, the battle alone elevated all of his God Figurine's Combat Souls although three of them had yet to complete their elevation. Nonetheless, the result surpassed his expectations.

He was considering purchasing many soul crystals after this checkpoint ended to push all of his God Figurine's Combat Souls to virtual god-level as quickly as he could. Before the checkpoint even ended, the plan was completed in advance.

As the three bug formations were 'killed' consecutively, more and more of them disintegrated after losing their Divine Power.

In less than five minutes, at least 100 out of the 300-odd bug formation beasts were killed. They were destroyed by the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the other six God Figurine's Combat Souls.

Another sea of spiritual energy rushed into Lin Huang's body, which he transferred into the Ninetails Lynx's body. The Ninetails Lynx's combat strength skyrocketed from Virtual God rank-1 to Virtual God rank-3.

Since it was not an elevation as major as imperial-level purple gold-rank to virtual god-level, the elevation was natural to the Ninetails Lynx because there were no physical changes at all. It was smooth and was completed within merely seconds.

As the Ninetails Lynx completed its elevation, it mangled the remaining 200 over bug formation beasts to death in less than a minute.

The ability of the millions of demigod-level bug monsters that had lost their protection plummeted since their Divine Power was drained. Within less than five minutes, the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the rest killed all of them.

Lin Huang gave the sea of spiritual energy to the Destructive Divine Mammoth and Nightmare Tapir, elevating the both of them to Virtual God rank-3. As for the remaining spiritual energy, Lin Huang gave them to the Undead Styx, the Shackle Serpent, and the Creation Clock. It was sufficient to get them to Virtual God rank-2.

In less than half an hour, the bug formations coming out of the hives were crushed by the seven God Figurine's Combat Souls. It was clearly beyond the expectations of the person who designed the checkpoint.

Despite there being millions of demigod-level bug monsters, Lin Huang eliminated all of them within less than half an hour.

The mission of the checkpoint was set for the player to only survive in the monster horde. The designer never thought that anyone would possibly clear the monster horde to the point that there was not even a single monster left.

Lin Huang, on the other hand, had no idea what the checkpoint designer was thinking. He was doubtful since nothing was happening to the hundreds of hives after waiting for one to two minutes.

The entire trial space fell into silence for a moment before a man's voice echoed all of a sudden, "You've passed the trial. Please be patient and wait for the half-hour to pass. The trial result will only be revealed after the 24-hour trial period has come to an end."

"So, is this the end of the trial? Don't I have another half an hour?" Lin Huang could not help but ask. He was not sure if the person could hear him or not.

The man only spoke after a moment of silence, "This trial is fixed for 24 hours. You have an extra half hour before you pass it in advance."

"I'll be bored having to wait for half an hour. Can you extend the trial?" Lin Huang asked in anticipation. He had won sweet rewards from the monster hordes and did not want to waste the last half hour of killing monsters.

Lin Huang seemed like an eager genius at school. 'There are too few questions in the exam paper. Can I have a few more? 150% is insufficient to show my ability. Can you add more questions to the paper so that I can achieve 250%?'

"M-More of the trial?!" Clearly, the man did not expect Lin Huang to come up with such an absurd request. He only spoke again after a moment of silence, sounding rather odd now, "If that's what you want, I'll fulfill your wish by giving you another round of trial. I hope that you won't regret it."

The scene before Lin Huang changed dramatically as soon as the voice came from the sky. The ruins beneath his feet disappeared completely, and so did the Virtual Eyes and hives above his head.

They were replaced by vast starry space.

Lin Huang was hovering in the air without having anything to hold onto. To his utmost relief, the seven God Figurine's Combat Souls were still there with him.

He was amazed to be in space for the first time.

He had never left Earth before he traveled there. Apart from seeing how outer space looked like in films, he had never had any outer space experience at all. In reality, apart from professional astronauts, nobody else on Earth had the qualifications to explore space.

After a fleeting moment of amazement, Lin Huang soon snapped back to his senses and recalled that he was still in a trial.

"So, what's this additional trial going to be?" Lin Huang looked around skeptically.

Apart from a few planets of various sizes not far away and some stars that had different levels of brightness in the distance, there was nothing else around. The entire space was quiet and peaceful.

Although that was the case, Lin Huang knew something was up.

Just when he was going to ask the voice a question, a nearby¹ planet was orbiting slowly towards his direction.

Since there were no stars around and the distance of the planet was not that far away, all Lin Huang could see was a giant silhouette ball coming his way.

When the gigantic planet got closer, Lin Huang saw what it really looked like. He was in shock at that very moment.

He could not estimate the size of the 'planet' since there was no standard reference around. However, he felt it was definitely bigger than Earth.

However, the 'planet' was actually a gigantic hive.

Lin Huang could even see the dense holes which looked like brood boxes that filled the entire surface of the hive clearly. It was a little hard for him to imagine exactly how many bug monsters could such an enormous hive contain.

There were two smaller hives like satellites that hovered on both sides of the giant hives. Lin Huang estimated they were similar to the size of the moon.

"I've never thought that I'll see a galactic hive in such a trial." The stone tablet's voice came gently.

"A galactic hive?" It was Lin Huang's first time hearing that name.

"A galactic hive is a giant hive that travels in the galaxy," the stone tablet explained, "Just like the one right in front of you.

"Apart from its gigantic size and the ability to travel in a galaxy, how is it different from an ordinary hive?" Lin Huang asked.

"Most ordinary hives are built by bugs that have been given birth to and are led by a queen. Therefore, each hive is made of one type of bug monster. Even though they have different responsibilities in the hive whereby they even have different physical structures, they're the same type of monster by nature.

"However, it's a different case for galactic hives. The galactic hive is made of at least five types of bug monsters to carry out a detailed streamline to form a complete ecological system. This is also why the galactic hive can travel in space for thousands or even up to 10,000 years without any supplies.

"Each galactic hive is a mobile gigantic battle fortress. They even have military divisions specializing in setting battle strategies. They also have Bug Tribe generals who are experts in leadership, whereby even fighters of different tribes will work together instead of killing each other."

"Different tribes living in the same hive? Won't they fight?" Lin Huang asked, feeling puzzled. "Moreover, the tribe leaders such as the mothers and queens are usually extremely territorial. How could they allow leaders of other tribes to stay in the same hive?"

"Fights are inevitable. It's allowed as long as they don't cross the line. After all, most Bug Tribe members are rough, and they need to vent when there're no battles for them to fight."

"As for the territorial nature you mentioned, all tribe leaders definitely have that, but these Bug Tribe leaders are smarter than you think. Not only is their intelligence higher than an ordinary person's, but it's even slightly higher. They know very well that working together brings great benefits. They also know the importance of collaboration, so naturally, they put their territorial nature aside. Moreover, the galactic hive is massive. Compared to before, their territory didn't shrink. Instead, it's bigger now. It's just that other tribes are closer to them. That's all."

"What about the smaller hives on both sides? Are those galactic hives too?" Lin Huang had his eyes trained on the size of the mini hive of the moon now.

"Those are the affiliate hives. Galactic hives grow from going into battles of all kinds, and they fight each other sometimes. The tribes whose abilities are recognized can join the main hive and own a place there. Those that aren't recognized will be enslaved. The tribes that are enslaved can't be added to the main hive. They can only stay in the affiliate hives.

"In every battle, the tribes in the affiliate hives will be the leading soldiers sent to test their opponents' abilities. In other words, they are cannon fodders."

"They have social classes too?!" Lin Huang could not believe it.

"Of course, the Bug Tribe has very clear ranks and each rank is extremely solid. Their identities are made permanent almost as soon as they were born. Some are born mothers, some are born queens, some are fighters while some are born to be merely handymen."

"They're even crueler than humans!" Lin Huang could not help but exclaim, "At least, humans can learn from reading and personal development to remedy the deficiencies they are born with in order to improve their personal situations and destinies. However, the physical structures and intelligence of different social classes that the Bug Tribe monsters are born with are hard to change from their hard work that comes later."

The stone tablet smiled and stopped dwelling on the topic of social class with Lin Huang. He proceeded to speak, "The galactic hive is the ultimate mode of a hive. For such a hive, even the lowest level has at least virtual god-level powerhouses guarding it. Moreover, under normal circumstances, the bigger its size, the more tribes there are. The more affiliate hives they own, the more powerful the hive's overall ability is."

"Judging by the size of the galactic hive before you, it's just a mediocre level-one. The most powerful bug monster that's guarding it inside shouldn't exceed Virtual God rank-9."

Lin Huang and the stone tablet's consciousness seemed like they were discussing many things, but in reality, the conversation only took a second or two.

Just when he was done talking with the stone tablet, the giant hive before Lin Huang stopped near him. The two moon-sized affiliate hives moved forward slowly, blocking the space between Lin Huang and the giant hive.

As Lin Huang watched them calmly, a sea of monster armies rushed out of the two affiliate hives at an alarming speed.

¹Author's Note: The distance here is calculated by the relative distance between each planet in space. For instance, the distance between the Earth and the moon is 384,400 kilometers on average.

Lin Huang saw monster armies being released by the two affiliate hives. All of them had a combat strength of imperial-level, and there were at least a million of them.

"The standard of these cannon fodder is pretty high," Lin Huang hollered while watching the scene.

The stone tablet had just told him that the affiliate hives were cannon fodder for the galactic hives. Every time when there was a battle, they would be the first batch of soldiers to fight, testing the enemy's abilities.

However, the testing soldiers already had similar standards as the second last monster horde on the 81st checkpoint. They were just fewer in quantity. Even Lin Huang had to admit that this galactic hive had a pretty terrifying ability as a whole.

The two Bug Tribe armies that were sent from the affiliate hives had completely different bug monsters.

One had mossy green heavy armor on their bodies, and they looked similar to stag beetles, but they were actually giant beetles that had been enlarged hundreds of times.

The other was a rather mediocre size with a body that was less than two meters long. They had two pairs of translucent wings on their back and a slender body which looked a little like a hornet's.

As the armies gathered, the heavy-armored bug monsters were the first to attack.

Up to a million heavy-armored bug monsters flapped their gigantic wings madly as they flew to Lin Huang ferociously.

Meanwhile, the batch of four-winged bug monsters stayed where they were.

On Lin Huang's side, the Divine Sun Tree showed no mercy as it attacked the heavy-armored bug monsters as soon as they moved.

Up to a hundred branches shot out like long whips, stretching tens of thousands meters away. A whole slew of heavy-armored bug monsters was lit in golden flames wherever the branches passed by, and they turned into ashes later on.

The Divine Sun Tree attacked so quickly that it rendered Lin Huang speechless.

Before he became familiar with the Divine Sun Tree, he had always thought that plant monsters would have a relatively calmer character. However, the Divine Sun Tree was clearly an exception. It was practically the hottest-tempered one among Lin Huang's ten God Figurine's Combat Souls. In each battle, it would always fight for the opportunity to attack first, including this fight.

The Enchanted Fairy and the Death Butterfly did not allow it to have all of the fun as soon as the Divine Sun Tree attacked.

White frost and invisible death waves spread and rippled all over.

As soon as the three Virtual God rank-3 God Figurine's Combat Souls attacked, half of the heavy-armored bug monsters were killed. They had no ability to defend themselves at all.

Clearly, the Bug Tribe's test run failed badly. The vast difference in abilities did not give the heavy-armored bug monsters an opportunity to show their upper hand in their powerful defense before they were killed directly.

Within less than ten seconds, up to a million heavy-armored bug monsters were destroyed. It was so quick that even the galactic hive did not manage to react.

After getting rid of their first round of targets, the Divine Sun Tree had its eyes on the other bunch of Bug Tribe army not far away.

It initiated the attack before even waiting for the hive to react. Up to a hundred branches penetrated the sky, piercing the Bug Tribe army's camp directly.

Tens of thousands of four-winged bug monsters were lit by golden flames immediately, and they soon turned into ashes.

Perhaps even they did not expect that they would be hurt so badly before their army managed to get out.

The bugs fell into chaos. Massive numbers of four-winged bug monsters flapped their wings in the attempt to flee from the fire.

A low buzz was emitted from the affiliate hive all of a sudden. It rippled like water, spreading through the Bug Tribe army. Up to a million four-winged bug monsters seemed to have been injected with tranquilizers as they calmed down immediately and began retreating to the hive in sequence.

However, the Enchanted Fairy and the Death Butterfly seemed to be reluctant to let the monster horde return. They joined the battle and attacked the bugs one after another.

The Enchanted Fairy waved her white sleeves, forming white frost that turned into a towering ice wall before the hive, blocking the four-winged bugs. A bone-piercing chill spread from the ice wall, transforming all of the bug monsters that were close to the ice wall into ice sculptures.

On the other side, the Death Butterfly flapped its wings, turning a whole bunch of four-winged bug monsters into ashes immediately.

Seeing that it had assistants, the Divine Sun Tree was even more thrilled to dance with its hundred branches now. It turned into a golden sea of fire wherever the branches passed.

Just like before, the four-winged army was all annihilated by the collaboration of the three God Figurine's Combat Souls within ten seconds.

Perhaps they had a slightly weaker defense, resulting in this army being killed slightly faster than the heavy-armored bug monsters before.

The two troops of cannon fodder became ashes, making the galactic hive fall into a moment of silence.

Approximately five to six seconds later, a low buzz came from the main hive. A sea of bug monsters rushed out of the two affiliate hives again.

This round of monster horde was not considered numerous compared to before. There were only 30,000 to 40,000 of them, but all of them had demigod-level combat strength.

As the three troops of demigod-level bug monsters swarmed out, they formed three massive bug formations.

The gigantic bug monsters that formed one of the bug formations had a slender and red body. Its two front legs were sabers that looked like a scimitar while its six rear legs were long and powerful. One could tell that it was a monster that had an explosive attack from its appearances.

Another gigantic bug beast was an enlarged spider. It had a black shell all over its body and four pairs of sharp saber-like legs. Its stomach was swollen like a pregnant mammal. However, what differentiated it from the previous one was that it had tens of black holes at the end of its abdomen.

There was also a colossal monster with a human female body. However, apart from its body that appeared human, the rest of it was different. Its head was oval-shaped like a football while its skin was a light blue color with many black spots. Its skin seemed to be striped across a bug's abdomen. Moreover, it did not have human fingers or toes at the end of its limbs. Instead, there were just two black scissor-like insect legs.

Apart from the second beast that Lin Huang had seen in the monster guide, he had never seen the other two out of the three gigantic beasts in the bug formations.

"If I'm not mistaken, this giant spider has a controlling ability to stop the opponents from moving." Lin Huang had learned about the monster from the monster guide, so he roughly guessed the ability of the second monster which was the spider, "Judging by its body, the first one should be responsible for attacking. I can't figure out the third one though."

The stone tablet said nothing this time. Nobody knew whether its silence was due to its laziness or some other reason.

The Divine Sun Tree attacked as soon as the bug formation beasts appeared.

Up to a hundred of its branches covered the three giant bug formation beasts entirely within the range of its attack while its golden flames lit up all three formations.

However, the three giant bug formation beasts did not die just yet. They worked together to attack before the other two God Figurine's Combat Souls struck.

The football head of the blue humanoid bug lit up in a red glow. Blue bubbles that were translucent appeared on the three giant bug formation beasts' bodies automatically, blocking the Divine Sun Tree's flames.

Until then, Lin Huang finally realized what the giant bug formation beasts' ability was.

"So, this is a support system!" He understood the team setting now. "One controls, one supports, and one ADCs. Did they decide to give up on their tanks after realizing from the first test run that physical defense doesn't work?"

The hive's decision to change the battle strategy made Lin Huang realize that the stone tablet was right about it. The Bug Tribe was more intelligent than he thought.

The Divine Sun Tree's flame was being blocked by the blue humanoid bug's maximum defense.

The spider beast attacked almost at the same time. Tens of white threads shot out at the end of its abdomen, becoming intersected webs in the air and charging at the three God Figurine's Combat Souls like a trap.

The Divine Sun Tree stretched its branches out again, penetrating the spider webs directly. Golden flames spread on the web rapidly, burning it into ashes.

Meanwhile, the Death Butterfly flapped its wings before the giant bug formation beasts attacked again.

An invisible death wave spread through the three giant bug formation beasts like a ripple. The blue, translucent bubbles that were covering the three of them began to crack.

The Enchanted Fairy also seized the opportunity to attack as she charged with her palm. A bone-piercing chill swept through the three giant bug formation beasts like an ocean wave. A layer of frost appeared on the blue, translucent bubbles, turning them all white now.

Just when the blue bubbles were almost covered entirely by the white frost, the defense bubbles that were defending their bodies popped.

The blue humanoid bug's formation collapsed directly as a consequence of the drained Divine Power. Then, the Divine Sun Tree attacked before anyone else could move again.

It stretched its few branches out, burning tens of thousands of bug monsters that had lost the protection of the formation.

The giant bug formation beasts would not be broken so easily if they were to defend themselves at full force. They might even be able to bear the brunt of the three God Figurine's Combat Souls' attack for a few minutes.

However, the blue humanoid bug's defense bubble was a technique that drained its Divine Power tremendously. Although it had superb defensive abilities, it was extremely taxing on its Divine Power. Moreover, it used the skill to cover three giant bug formation beasts. As a result, it was taking on three attacks every time, which drained its Divine Power even more.

That caused its Divine Power to be completely sapped after the Divine Sun Tree and the rest continued their onslaught. It could no longer maintain the bug formation.

The mistake caused it to be disqualified in the very beginning.

Losing their powerful support, the remaining two giant bug formation beasts were at a loss.

Without the blue humanoid bug's defense, each assault from the Divine Sun Tree and the rest would drain a massive amount of Divine Power from the two giant bug formation beasts.

That would spell the end of their battle techniques. The spider beast that was supposed to put their opponents under control would have its spider web burned entirely by the Divine Sun Tree whenever it spat its threads out.

On the other side, the red saber-legged monster that was responsible for attacking would be blocked by the Enchanted Fairy's ice wall whenever it wanted to fight. No matter which direction it was moving in, it would be blocked by an ice wall before it could attack, putting all of its attacks to a halt.

It did not even manage to touch a strand of hair on the three God Figurine's Combat Souls at all. Naturally, it was impossible for it to know that the three of them had true god-level physiques, so they would not be harmed at all even if they were to stand there and allow it to cut them.

The cat-and-mouse game lasted for approximately five to six minutes before the Divine Power in the two giant bug formation beasts' bodies were finally drained completely.

The three God Figurine's Combat Souls struck almost concurrently in the next second the bug formations collapsed. They slaughtered up to 10,000 demigod-level bug monsters.

After the second test run ended, the galactic hive fell into silence again.

Approximately some ten minutes later, the two affiliate hives seemed to have received an order to retreat. They moved slowly to both sides of the galactic hive.

As the two affiliate hives moved away, three bug monsters flew out of the three holes in the main hive.

Lin Huang's expression looked rather grim as soon as the three bug monsters appeared.

He could clearly sense that these three bug monsters had a combat strength of virtual god-level. Besides that, their aura was no weaker than the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the rest. If he was not mistaken, they should be on Virtual God rank-3.

One of them was etched in Lin Huang's mind despite him only taking a glance at it. The monster had tentacles all over its lower body, making it seem like an octopus. However, its upper body resembled a spherical, transparent glass vessel. There was a blob of tissue that looked like a human brain within the vessel.

The second monster was a black bug monster. Its body looked like it was constructed of liquid metal as something flowed all over it slowly like spring water. It gave one the feeling that it was going to collapse into a pile of fluid anytime.

The third monster was a humanoid bug monster. Although it had four lower limbs, apart from its head, its upper body resembled a human man with eight packs and muscles bulging all over. It even had human palms with a black spear in each hand.

Lin Huang had never seen the third bug monster in the monster guide before. However, he could roughly figure out that the monster that looked humanoid with spears in its hands should be the ADC of the battle. However, he could not figure the other two out.

Nevertheless, it was the very first official battle and the galactic hive had chosen three Virtual God rank-3 powerhouses to fight Lin Huang, which proved how highly it thought of Lin Huang.

The three God Figurine's Combat Souls seemed to have sensed how powerful the three opponents before them were as their aura rose to meet their rivals.

The Divine Sun Tree that had the hottest temper attacked first. It charged hundreds of its branches at the three bug monsters.

Before the golden flames could ignite, the tentacle bug monster attacked. It stretched three tentacles from where it was, forming three translucent shield walls from thin air and blocking the Divine Sun Tree's branches from extending further.

Golden sparks lit up when the branches collided with the walls of the shield. However, the three translucent shield walls stood there without shaking, and they blocked the Divine Sun Tree's attack just like that.

"Is that a telekinetic technique? It doesn't look like it though," Lin Huang could not help but mumble softly to himself upon seeing that.

"That's a divine skill. It's a special skill that's driven by Divine Telekinesis." The stone tablet's voice came all of a sudden. "In reality, it's a little similar to Witchcraft but it's a completely different cultivation system.

"There are many types and genres of divine skills, including divine word, divine pattern, divine tone… and the normal elemental genre. The divine pattern genre is the most similar to Witchcraft, but the biggest difference is that Divine Telekinesis is the core energy to drive the divine skill. Furthermore, no matter what divine skill type and the genre it is, possessing Divine Telekinesis is the fundamental condition of using divine skills because its nature is related to one's soul."

"So, what's the genre that the tentacle monster masters?" Lin Huang asked rather doubtfully. He did not see the monster writing any words, drawing any patterns, or releasing any sound. This monster did not even have a mouth.

"It masters the divine tone genre. Most human ears don't recognize most of the divine tone frequency, and neither does it have to be released through a mouth," the stone tablet explained, "It relies on its tentacles' rapid vibration and friction to release a specific divine tone frequency."

"So, I'll defeat it as soon as I slice its tentacles off?" Lin Huang arrived at that conclusion right away.

The stone tablet was dumbfounded.

"This assistant that possess divine skill is a nuisance. I must get rid of it first!"

The black metal bug monster attacked even before Lin Huang was done speaking.

As its body began shaking all of a sudden, tens of thousands of black metal chains formed. They were stretching towards all directions ferociously like black snakes that were alive. They covered the entire sky a moment later and charged toward the three God Figurine's Combat Souls.

When Lin Huang saw that, a gleam of determination flashed in his eyes. "This is a nuisance too! It must be gotten rid of too!"

Tens of thousands of black metal chains were cast out of the metal bug's body. They were coming at the three God Figurine's Combat Souls like a web.

As they were about to be drowned by the sea of chains, the Enchanted Fairy acted before the chains got even closer. She charged her palm, spreading white frost out and freezing the black chains into ice sculptures one after another.

The frozen chains seemed to have lost their mobility whereby they could no longer go any closer.

A black beam of light shot over just when the Enchanted Fairy attacked. It appeared before her in the blink of an eye, targeting the space between her brows.

It was the muscular bug beast that was responsible for attacking who struck this time. It initially held two spears in both hands, but it only had the one in its left hand now.

It tossed the other one less than a meter before the Enchanted Fairy immediately.

The Enchanted Fairy stretched her arm out before her body and pointed a crystal-clear finger into the air.

A translucent ice mirror formed before her.

In the next second, the black spear that was shooting out collided into the mirror.

The black battle spear that was charging a hundred times faster than the speed of sound came to a halt immediately. Time seemed to have stopped the second it collided into the wall.

It was an attack that could kill a virtual god-level powerhouse, but it was blocked by an ice mirror that was the size of four palms. In addition to that, the black spear shot backward after a pause following the collision with the mirror. It turned into a black glow and shot towards the muscular bug beast at an alarming speed faster than before.

Clearly, the muscular bug beast did not expect that to happen. The spear pierced through its body since it did not manage to dodge it in time. It had a hole the size of a bowl on the right of its chest now.

Such a wound entry was nothing to the muscular bug beast at all, but it did drain its Divine Power intensely.

However, the muscular bug beast did not expect a little blue worm to begin growing on the wound on its right chest. The worm was just about a millimeter long whereby one could not really see it with their naked eyes, but it began growing rapidly.

While the worm was growing, the muscular bug beast's wound that was supposed to heal quickly began rotting. The decay seemed to be contagious as it spread about continuously.

Within the blink of an eye, the right side of its upper body was rotten. Its flesh was decayed like a zombie's, and black, sticky blood was flowing out. Some parts were rotten so deep that its bones were exposed. However, what surprised the muscular bug beast was that it did not feel any pain at all. The rotten parts of its body had lost all senses.

The muscular bug beast only realized something was not right upon seeing that its right arm had started rotting.

It looked down at its right chest, but the worm had grown to the size of an adult fist. It stretched its arm out to grab the worm but he grabbed thin air instead.

The worm did not materialize. It was more like an illusory projection.

Sensing that its host had the intention to capture it, the worm drilled deeper into the muscular bug beast's chest.

A moment later, the muscular bug beast felt something drilled into its heart. Before it could react, all of its body parts where the blood was flowing began rotting rapidly.

"My heart…" The muscular bug beast realized where the problem was immediately.

It pierced the spear into its chest and ripped it open hard. It reached its hand in and grabbed its heart, then pulled it out by force.

A massive maroon heart was exposed in the air. Just when the muscular bug beast was going to crush it, a blue wing emerged from the heart. Then, a second wing, and a third wing…

A moment later, a blue butterfly fluttered out of the heart as if it was just its host.

Just when the muscular bug beast was going to do something, it saw the blue butterfly flashing a humanly smile of disdain.

In the next second, the muscular bug beast's entire body began rotting even faster. It turned into a pile of bones within almost less than a second, having lost its vitals completely.

At the moment, the blue butterfly turned into blue stars which then floated towards the Death Butterfly.

Within less than ten seconds, the Death Butterfly killed the wounded muscular bug beast like a piece of cake.

This skill that belonged to the Death Butterfly could be used on monsters with fresh wounds on their bodies. In reality, Lin Huang knew that it had such a skill since the beginning, but it was his first time seeing it use it. The effect was undoubtedly powerful.

On the Bug Tribe trio's end, the main attack unit was killed, so the team's deployment was plunged into chaos. The threat level of the remaining two bug monsters was plummeting.

However, the tentacle monster's defense technique imbued with divine skill caused some trouble for the three God Figurine's Combat Souls.

Nevertheless, the situation went on for less than a minute. The Enchanted Fairy seized the opportunity to freeze the monster's tentacles and sealed its divine skill techniques.

Meanwhile, the Divine Sun Tree used a branch to penetrate its head which was a spherical vessel and lit up the tissue that resembled a brain in it. The monster was killed instantly.

The last black metal bug beast was rather difficult to deal with. Due to its body that could be liquified, it was immune to many attacks. The Divine Sun Tree burned it continuously and drained the Divine Power in its body. Then, the Death Butterfly turned it into ashes with a flap of its wings.

The three God Figurine's Combat Souls almost used up all of their techniques getting rid of the three opponents in this battle.

"This is only the first official attack!" Lin Huang just realized that he was seeking death to have asked for an additional trial.

His intention was just to kill more bug monsters to accumulate more spiritual energy for his God Figurine's Combat Souls.

However, the opponent was clearly not sending easy targets his way. Instead, they were going for a clever kill whereby the first official attack was by Virtual God rank-3 bug monsters. Moreover, there were only three of them.

The galactic hive fell into a moment a silence again since the first official battle ended.

Some ten seconds later, bug monsters of various forms flew out of the hive.

There were seven of them, and each of them had an aura much higher than the three Virtual God rank-3 bug monsters earlier.

"Seven Virtual God rank-6 bug monsters…" The stone tablet's voice came slowly. "I don't think you'll be killed this round, but judging from the scenario, you'll definitely die in the next round."

"Can you be more enthusiastic and not kill my confidence?" Although Lin Huang knew the stone tablet was merely telling the truth, he thought it was rather hurtful.

"Oh wow, you'll be killed soon!" The stone tablet's irritating voice enthused again. "How was it? Was it enthusiastic enough for you? Did I boost your confidence?"

Lin Huang was annoyed to point of speechlessness.

There were only seven bug monsters in the second round of battle. Each of them had a combat strength of Virtual God rank-6.

Compared to the three Virtual God rank-3 bug monsters earlier, this team of bug monsters had a substantial improvement in their deployment of members.

Out of the seven bug monsters, there were two assistants, two controllers, and three responsible for attacking.

Three of the God Figurine's Combat Souls, namely the Divine Sun Tree, the Enchanted Fairy, and the Death Butterfly, were on Virtual God rank-1, but their abilities were enough to suppress Virtual God rank-5, which was slightly weaker than this batch of bug monsters. With their powerful bodies, the three God Figurine's Combat Souls could stall the three bug monsters responsible for attacking by force.

The Virtual God rank-2 Undead Styx was caught in a fight with a control bug monster. Although he had the upper hand, he did not seem like he could destroy it within a short period.

Meanwhile, the Ninetails Lynx, the Destructive Divine Mammoth, and the Nightmare Tapir that possessed Virtual God rank-3 combat strength had the abilities to suppress Virtual God rank-7 powerhouses. They killed three bug monsters within three minutes one after another.

The seven Bug Tribe team members from the hive collapsed right away. Together with the Ninetails Lynx and the rest joining the battle, the remaining four bug monsters were soon cleared.

This round of battle only lasted for less than seven minutes. A sea of spiritual energy flushed into Lin Huang's body.

He then sorted out the spiritual energy together with those that he had obtained from killing the three Virtual God rank-3 bug monsters earlier. The Ninetails Lynx, the Destructive Divine Mammoth, and the Nightmare Tapir elevated to Virtual God rank-4. Meanwhile, the Divine Sun Tree, the Enchanted Fairy, and the Death Butterfly elevated from Virtual God rank-1 to Virtual God rank-3. The Undead Styx also advanced from Virtual God rank-2 to Virtual God rank-3. The remaining spiritual energy was given to the Withered Flower, the Shackle Serpent, and the Creation Clock who had yet to complete their elevation to virtual god-level. Fortunately for them, the spiritual energy was sufficient to elevate them to Virtual God rank-3.

Lin Huang was satisfied with this round of elevation.

The hive fell into silence again as the second round of battle ended.

A moment later, there was a low buzzing coming out of the three hives at the same time.

This time, five bug monsters were flying out of the main hive while there a bug monster flew out of each of the two affiliate hives.

The seven bug monsters had a combat strength that surpassed that of the second round.

Lin Huang could faintly sense that almost each of them had a combat strength no lower than the God Bless' Master God's clone.

"Virtual God rank-9?!"

"I've told you since the beginning that you'll die. Now, it seems like you're going to be so dead." The stone tablet's teasing voice came again. "Those aren't seven ordinary Virtual God rank-9 bug monsters. They have their own responsibilities specially delegated."

"Do you see that bug monster with a spiral shell? It's a control bug. Among all the control bugs, it belongs to the highest-ranked one. It can release an unnoticeable sonic wave that can hypnotize its target from far away. As long as one's soul isn't strong enough, one can basically be hypnotized. A physical defense such as a god relic armor is futile toward its attack, and only a spiritual defense relic would work."

"Do you see that worm with charcoal gray armor over there? It's a Dragnet Worm which is an expert at spitting threads to capture its enemies. The thread it spits from its mouth is immune to most elemental attack techniques. Moreover, it's extremely sticky, so it's a tough one to handle."

"And the Multi-eyed Worm over there is a master at illusions. Each of its eyes is hidden by a type of illusion. When you see its eyes turn red, that means it has activated its illusions. Sometimes, it even uses complex illusions when it encounters powerful enemies. You can't predict what you're going to see in the illusions. It's also a top-ranked control bug."

"How about the bug monsters that are hovering in the air like an egg?" Lin Huang could not help but point at a bug monster.

The bug monster that Lin Huang was gesturing at did indeed look like an egg with tentacles. It did not even have any features including eyes or a mouth.

"That's a Superbrain Worm. Judging from its physical structure, it shouldn't be hard for you to guess that such a bug monster has great brain capacity and high intelligence. It's an expert at divine skills. The first thing you should do is to get rid of it if you'd like to win this battle because it's not only powerful support, but it should also be the core of the whole battle. It should be the one that comes up with all of the battle strategies in this battle."

"Sounds formidable, but it doesn't have any features, so what does it depend on to sense whatever that's happening around it? Its tentacles?" Lin Huang asked rather curiously.

"The Superbrain Worm is born with powerful telekinetic power and territorial sensing ability. Even without eyes and ears, its sensing ability is just as strong as other living things."

Lin Huang glanced at the remaining three monsters. He speculated looking at their body size and physical structure, "So, I guess the remaining three of them are the monsters responsible for attacking?"

"That's right. That green six-winged bug monster has an explosive ability as well as the ability to fly. Its wings are its weapons too. They can be used to cut and maim.

"The monster that looks similar to a toad is skillful in the long-distance attack. It can spit Divine Power arrows from a distance. It has a terrifying attack speed and ability. Plus, it can even shoot the arrows continuously like a gun. Almost every attack from it can harm a Virtual God rank-9 powerhouse.

"And that six-armed bug monster with sword legs is one of the most powerful sword cultivator bug monsters among the Bug Tribe. Although it doesn't master the true meaning of Sword Dao, it's probably not far from it. It might have an even higher rank in Sword Dao than you do. This bug monster has top-notch standards among virtual god-level bug monsters no matter whether its attack, defense or speed. It's almost invincible when it fights one-on-one with a powerhouse of the same combat strength.

"These seven bug monsters are almost a top-notch team below true god-level to be deployed," the stone tablet commented in the end after describing the bug monsters one after another.

"They're only on virtual god-level no matter how powerful they are. Their attack abilities alone can't break the God Figurine's Combat Souls' defense at all." Lin Huang looked down on his enemy, judging from their battle strategy.

"Don't you forget that they have spiritual-type attack techniques," the stone tablet reminded again.

"I know." Lin Huang looked rather serious now.

Although he looked down on his enemy's battle strategy, he chose to be careful when it came to battle techniques.

He recalled four of his God Figurine's Combat Souls, namely the Divine Sun Tree, the Enchanted Fairy, the Death Butterfly, and the Undead Styx. Although they had elevated to Virtual God rank-3, their abilities were too far below Virtual God rank-9 powerhouses. They would drag the entire team down as soon as they were hypnotized or deceived by the enemy.

On the other hand, the Ninetails Lynx, the Destructive Divine Mammoth, and the Nightmare Tapir had a combat strength of Virtual God rank-4. Their abilities were sufficient to suppress Virtual God rank-8 powerhouses, so they should be able to fight them within a short period of time. With their current abilities, they only needed a Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card to suppress Virtual God rank-9 powerhouses, so they would not use up too many cards.

Lin Huang did not plan to get the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the rest beaten up. He crushed three Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Cards which went into the three God Figurine's Combat Souls' bodies respectively, elevating their combat strength to Virtual God rank-5.

As the three God Figurine's Combat Souls' aurae rose, the seven Virtual God rank-9 bug monsters launched their attack.

The control bug with a spiral shell on its back attacked first. Circles of invisible sonic waves spread towards the Destructive Dine Mammoth and the other two God Figurine's Combat Souls were. It even reached Lin Huang.

Fortunately, he summoned the bruised corpse at the same time that he recalled the four God Figurine's Combat Souls to protect himself, so he was not affected by the control bug's attack.

As for the three God Figurine's Combat Souls, although their combat strength was only Virtual God rank-5, the spiritual energy in their bodies were filtered with Divine Fire which caused them to be extremely pure. They managed to take on the round the hypnotization by force.

Almost at the same time when the control bug attacked, the Multi-eyed Worm attacked with its illusion skill together with the Superbrain Bug's divine skill.

The Superbrain Bug did not use the divine skill to attack this time. Instead, it was using a technique to mess up its opponent's sensing ability. It attacked together with the Multi-eyed Worm's illusion to enhance the probability of their opponent of getting hit by the illusion.

As expected, their collaboration worked exceptionally well.

Apart from the Ninetails Lynx who managed to dodge the attack by hiding in its alternate dimension in time, the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the Nightmare Tapir were struck.

Both of the God Figurine's Combat Souls stood frozen, shocking Lin Huang.

"Even the Nightmare Tapir is hit?!"

The 3-vs-7 battle turned into a 1-vs-7 battle right away.

Although the Ninetails Lynx was rather anxious upon realizing that both of its comrades were hit, it was not worried. It knew very well that physical attacks could do little damage to the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the Nightmare Tapir.

Watching the three attack bug monsters strike the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the Nightmare Tapir without hesitation, the Ninetails Lynx was traipsing quietly in its alternate dimension. Its eyes were locked on the Superbrain Worm.

When the battle began, Lin Huang commanded the three God Figurine's Combat Souls through voice transmission to get rid of the Superbrain Worm first.

The Ninetails Lynx walked above the Superbrain Worm's head. It then barreled out of its alternate dimension all of a sudden while charging its claws at the Superbrain Worm's egg-like head.

However, the Ninetails Lynx's attack was blocked by a layer of invisible bubble above the Superbrain Worm's head. A couple of pitch-black slices struck the bubble, creating ripples as if a pebble had been thrown into the water.

The Superbrain Worm came prepared. Nobody knew when it had set a layer of defense with divine skill up secretly.

While the Ninetails Lynx failed the attempt, the Dragnet Worm in black armor attacked. It opened its mouth that was filled with fangs, and tens of thousands of white thread shot out of its mouth wildly.

The threads that were thinner than a strand of hair would connect with the threads around them to become thicker and tougher. They could be separated following the Dragnet Worm's demand to connect with other threads in order to form a web.

The white threads coming out of its mouth soon formed a web that flew after the Ninetails Lynx.

Although the Ninetails Lynx was rather surprised by its failed attempt, it reacted quickly and disappeared after giving the Dragnet Worm a vicious glare, returning to its alternate dimension again.

The Dragnet Worm's web caught thin air.

Meanwhile, the three attack bug monsters' attack targeted the Nightmare Tapir.

They chose to attack the Nightmare Tapir which defense ability was clearly lower. After all, one could tell it was impossible to kill the Destructive Divine Mammoth within a short period of time since it had a high defense ability judging from its size.

Although the Nightmare Tapir looked ferocious too, its body size was obviously smaller and looked more like an easy target. It made sense for them to pick him as the first target.

However, something strange soon happened. The three bug monsters' attack passed through the Nightmare Tapir's body. His body faded slowly later on.

Even Lin Huang was surprised to see that. He knew very well that the Nightmare Tapir was definitely not killed by the three bug monsters in one hit because they could not break God Figurine's Combat Soul's powerful body just like that. What he had no idea was that when exactly did the Nightmare Tapir created the illusion that even he did not notice at all.

Just when the Nightmare Tapir's body faded, the Destructive Divine Mammoth's body began disintegrating too.

What surprised Lin Huang even more was that chaos erupted on the enemy's side.

Out of the blue, the Dragnet Worm's web got tangled on the Superbrain Worm while a couple of the Multi-eyed Worm's eyes lit up in a red glow, targeting at the Superbrain Worm.

Meanwhile, the Destructive Divine Mammoth's gigantic feet and the Ninetails Lynx's sharp claws appeared above the Superbrain Worm.

Taken unaware, the Superbrain Worm was killed by the two God Figurine's Combat Souls' combined attack.

Just when a great deal of spiritual energy rushed into Lin Huang's body, the control bug that snapped out of the Nightmare Tapir's illusion went into a frenzy.

The spiral shell on its back released an ear-piercing high-frequency. Its ability clearly ignored the rule of not having a medium to spread the sound in the air whereby the noise filled the entire battlefield.

The noise pierced deep into the remaining five bug monsters' brains and broke the illusion the Nightmare Tapir built, waking all of them up. However, doing so made it weak.

The Ninetails Lynx seized the opportunity of its weakness and attacked. It mauled the control bug with its sharp claws and destroyed it.

The Destructive Divine Mammoth did not slack off either. It stomped its gigantic feet on the control bug too.

The Dragnet Worm and the Multi-eyed Worm wanted to help, but the Nightmare Tapir swung its trunk at that moment and released a loud hum, slowing the six bug monsters down.

The control bug was pulled into dreamland as a result of the Nightmare Tapir's hum due to its weak condition from earlier. It lost its ability to defend itself.

The Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth's attack came simultaneously and killed the control bug in one hit.

It was too late when the Multi-eyed Worm struggled its way out of dreamland. Not only was the control bug killed on the spot, but the remaining four bug monsters were also dragged into the Nightmare Tapir's dreamland again.

Within less than a minute, the Nightmare Tapir's outstanding strategy turned the tables around completely.

Naturally, it was not the Nightmare Tapir who had come out with the strategy itself. It was Bloody that had taught it. They killed two of the bug monsters which were the biggest threats without them even seeing it coming.

The Ninetails Lynx's 1-vs-7 battle became 3-vs-1 now.

The four bug monsters that were dragged into dreamland completely lost their abilities to fight. They were struggling in the dreamland. As the only fighter left, the Multi-eyed Worm remained conscious.

A tragic sense of loss flashed through the Multi-eyed Worm's eyes. It could not understand how they got from having the upper hand to being in such a terrible position within a minute.

Lin Huang was finally relieved when the battle came to this point.

The results of the battle had basically been set.

The stone tablet seemed to have sensed what Lin Huang was thinking as its voice came slowly all of a sudden again. "It's too early to get excited. This battle isn't as simple as you think. The real battle has just begun!"

"What do you mean?!" The stone tablet's words shocked Lin Huang.

"You'll find out soon."

As soon as the stone tablet was done speaking, the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth were going to suppress the Multi-eyed Worm.

Two of the Multi-eyed Worm's eyes exploded, sending blood spurting everywhere.

Lin Huang was confused to witness that because the Multi-eyed Worm was harmed before the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth even surged forward.

However, the confusion on his face turned into shock in the next second.

The control bug and the Superbrain Worm that was initially dead disappeared into thin air. They were replaced by a perfectly fine control bug and a Superbrain Worm as if the scene in which both of them were killed was just an illusion.

Lin Huang looked into his body. The great spiritual energy that he had obtained when the two bug monsters died was still there. He then checked the card pieces record on Xiao Hei's side, the card pieces that fell out when the two bug monsters were killed were still there. That was enough to prove that the two bug monsters earlier were indeed killed. It was not an illusion.

"The death of the two bug monsters wasn't an illusion. So, does that Multi-Eyed Worm have a resurrection ability?!" Lin Huang came up with such a conclusion while looking dumbfounded.

"Although your speculation isn't exactly accurate, it's not far from the truth," said the stone tablet while smiling.

"This Multi-Eyed Worm is a quadruple mythical-level monster. It'll transform to a Hundred-eyed Worm as soon as it elevates to true god-level. It'll then master the Illusory Rule. Some of the rule's abilities give it the power to turn something real into an illusion. Just like what happened earlier, in reality, the control bug and the Superbrain Worm were killed, but it distorted the reality into an illusion. It made it into something that has never happened before. That's how the control bug and the Superbrain Worm were 'resurrected'."

"But it's not on true god-level now, so how did it do that?"

"This Multi-eyed Worm used its eyes as the price and used its blood as the link to perform that with the Superbrain Worm's divine skill. Since the Multi-eyed Worm, the Superbrain Worm, and the control bug have a combat strength of Virtual God rank-9 as well as being born with powerful spiritual energy, they have those to fuel its abilities. It enabled them to activate the god rule power that it can only execute when it gets to true god-level which allows it to distort reality."

"I've told you since the beginning that this round of team deployed from the hive is the most top-notch one under true god-level. I wasn't just talking about how powerful each of their ability is. It's more like their team members are pretty invincible."

"If one eye could resurrect one monster, judging from the number of eyes the Multi-eyed Worm has, wouldn't it mean we'd have to kill them more than 40 times to put this battle to an end?" Lin Huang asked again.

He was wondering if he could complete this round of additional trial within the next ten minutes.

Although he knew that this round of additional trial would not affect his result on the Stairway Tree, he hoped to complete the trial as extensively as he could.

"Not exactly. This is a rule power that exceeds its ability range after all. The price it has to pay is high for it to do this by force. I think three to five times is the most number of times it can perform this. Moreover, the more monsters it resurrects each time, the lesser it can use this ability." The stone tablet offered its speculation.

"It's great to hear that." Lin Huang was slightly relieved now upon knowing that the Multi-eyed Worm's specific ability could only be used a limited number of times.

On the battlefield not far away, the control bug and the Superbrain Worm were resurrected. They did not seem to find it odd. Instead, they charged into the battle again.

The three God Figurine's Combat Souls, on the other hand, was at a blur.

The Superbrain Worm performed its divine skill as soon as it was resurrected. It woke the four bug monsters that the Nightmare Tapir had dragged into dreamland by force up.

The tables turned once more, and it was a 3-vs-7 battle again.

"They'll be resurrected over and over again. No matter how many times they do that, you guys must watch that the Superbrain Worm. Try your best to kill it as soon as you can! It's the core of the entire team. It's even more dangerous than the Multi-eyed Worm that masters the rule power." Lin Huang put his consciousness into the three God Figurine's Combat Souls' heads directly. "The Multi-eyed Worm and the control bug are your second targets. Ignore the remaining four for the time being."

In reality, it was not Lin Huang who said that. It was Bloody that got him to pass the message after they discussed among themselves.

Bloody did not use voice transmission directly because it might be blocked. It then got Lin Huang to pass the message to the three God Figurine's Combat Soul using his consciousness directly.

The Nightmare Tapir went into a frenzy when its dreamland was meddled with. Its eyes turned pitch black in the next second.

However, it did not use its range attack this time. Instead, it stared at the Superbrain Worm that had interfered with his dreamland earlier.

The Superbrain Worm looked at the Nightmare Tapir's eyes unintentionally, unable to look away.

It knew something was wrong as soon as it saw the color of the Nightmare Tapir's pupils. However, it could not help but fall deeper. The entire thing took less than a second.

The Multi-eyed Worm and the control bug next to it attempted to wake it up. Meanwhile, the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth attacked without hesitation, suppressing the Superbrain Worm that had its guard down.

At the same time that the Superbrain Worm's body turned into a pile of mush, a sea of spiritual energy rushed into Lin Huang's body. Notifications about card pieces came from Xiao Hei again.

Clearly, the killing took place in real life.

After getting rid of the Superbrain Worm, the Nightmare Tapir turned its head to look at the Multi-eyed Worm. It had his black pupils transfixed on the Multi-eyed Worm.

Meanwhile, the remaining bug monsters were coming at the Nightmare Tapir. However, the Destructive Divine Mammoth blocked them with its body directly.

The few bug monsters' attacks collided into the Destructive Divine Mammoth's body. The clanking of metal rang out as sparks even flew from some of the collisions, but none of them harmed him at all.

The Destructive Divine Mammoth did not bother to be stuck with them. It whipped its long trunk at the few bug monsters but did not go after them. The order it had received was to watch out for the three bug monsters before it.

Although the Multi-eyed Worm had a powerful soul, it only managed to hold on for less than three seconds before being dragged into the Nightmare Tapir's dreamland.

Just when it fell into sleeping mode and had its guard down, the Ninetails Lynx took the lead to an attack. It turned into a white silhouette and flashed through the Multi-eyed Worm's body, slicing its body into a couple of pieces.

At the same time, the Ninetails Lynx was done with the shredding, the Destructive Divine Mammoth stomped its iron feet, turning the Multi-eyed Worm into mush.

Although the Multi-eyed Worm which possessed the rule power was dead, Lin Huang's instinct told him that it was not the end of the battle.

As expected, the Multi-eyed Worm and the Superbrain Worm's carcasses vanished automatically as soon as the thought popped into his head. They were replaced by two perfect living things.

"As expected, it's futile killing that the Multi-eyed Worm." Although what happened was expected, Lin Huang felt rather helpless upon seeing the two bug monsters 'resurrected' perfectly.

The battle became a 3-vs-7 one again as soon as the Multi-eyed Worm and the Superbrain Worm resurrected. It was like a cycle that could not be broken.

However, the three God Figurine's Combat Souls were still in high spirits. They did not lose their faith just yet because the few bug monsters resurrected again and again. Lin Huang had already told them secretly that the number of the resurrections was limited to three to five times at the most.

The seven bug monsters began learning their lesson from the battle that they had lost twice.

They mainly targeted the Nightmare Tapir now because its dreamland was just too powerful. Even the Superbrain Worm, a monster with a compelling soul, was hit when it had its guards down. They had to be wary of the Nightmare Tapir's technique now.

To defend themselves from the Nightmare Tapir's attack, the Superbrain Worm performed a few divine skill techniques as soon as it was resurrected. It covered all of the bug monsters including itself.

Lin Huang was watching the battle aside. He faintly guessed that this should not be a defense technique, but was most probably divine skill techniques targeting the Nightmare Tapir.

As expected, a layer of white glow appeared on the seven bug monsters' bodies as if a fog was lingering around them while the Nightmare Tapir's pupils turned black. They were not dragged into the Nightmare Tapir's dreamland, and their movements were not affected at all. Instead, they attacked the Nightmare Tapir directly.

The Superbrain Worm, the control bug, and the Multi-eyed Worm performed a spiritual attack on the Nightmare Tapir at the same time. They ignored the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth completely.

The Ninetails Lynx went after the three bug monsters in the attempt to stop them from attacking the Nightmare Tapir. However, it was blocked by the Dragnet Worm's white thread web that it spat continuously.

It mauled with its sharp claws continuously, hewing the web again and again. Unfortunately, it was slower than the rate of the Dragnet Worm spitting webs.

Since there was no need to catch the Ninetails Lynx's trajectory, all it needed to do was to protect the Superbrain Worm and the other two bug monsters. It dominated the battle against the Ninetails Lynx.

The Ninetails Lynx began its long-distance attack since it failed to break through. Sharp air blades appeared with its mauling, but they were blocked by the threads the Dragnet Worm was spitting out.

On the other side, the Destructive Divine Mammoth was stuck with two bug monsters. One was attacking him from far away while another was attacking him at close range.

The six-winged bug monster that was entirely green attacked the Destructive Divine Mammoth by relying on its upper hand in speed. The continuous attack that felt like a housefly buzzing around annoyed the Destructive Divine Mammoth to no end.

The other bug monster that looked like a toad attacked from a distance whereby it would shoot saliva-like arrows. Although its attack could not harm the Destructive Divine Mammoth, the impact of it surprised it. Moreover, the timing of each of its attack was perfect which made the Destructive Divine Mammoth retreat and fail to help the Nightmare Tapir.

Meanwhile, the last six-armed sword-legged sword cultivator bug monster did not participate in the battle. Instead, it fixed its eyes on the Nightmare Tapir far away from the battle.

Its six sword arms were integrating at a speed that could be seen with naked eyes. They became a bloody-red single arm. The single arm was also a sword arm, it was red as if it was soaked in blood.

As a sword cultivator himself, Lin Huang sensed the change in the bug monster's aura. He could not help but have a grim expression now.

"That sword looks powerful. It's almost on the brink of level-6 Sword Dao! Furthermore, this sword feels like it can attack one's soul directly." Lin Huang's pupils shrunk when he noticed that.

That sword really might be able to kill God Figurine's Combat Souls!

Without much hesitation, Lin Huang sent a sea of spiritual energy into the Nightmare Tapir's body.

The Sword Dao in the sword cultivator bug monster was rising. On the other side, the Nightmare Tapir's combat strength experienced a continuous breakthrough from the sea of spiritual energy that Lin Huang sent.

Within a short few seconds, it elevated from Virtual God rank-5 to Virtual God rank-6 and then proceeded to Virtual God rank-7.

The Nightmare Tapir swung its trunk and released a raging roar.

The loud noise spread like ripples on water. The three bug monsters spat a mouthful of blood out while their spiritual aurae plummeted.

The Nightmare Tapir attacked the Superbrain Worm and the other two bug monsters as soon as its spiritual energy rose by two ranks. When it was on Virtual God rank-5, its spirit was already no less than the Superbrain Worm and the rest. However, it was suppressed by the trio's combined attack. Its spirit surpassed the three bug monsters since its combat strength had been upgraded by two ranks. Naturally, it would not let go of the opportunity to fight back. It released a sea of spiritual energy out like a tsunami, suppressing the three bug monsters by force.

The sword cultivator bug monster sensed the Nightmare Tapir's combat strength elevation from far away. It saw the Superbrain Worm and the two other bug monsters being hurt, but it did not panic at all because it was confident in its sword.

Just when its sword was fully charged and it was about to swing it, the Nightmare Tapir turned its head all of a sudden and stared at it with its black pupils.

The sword cultivator bug monster charged with its sword without hesitation. A crimson sword glow lit up like a bloody river flowing in the air.

In the next second, the Superbrain Worm and the other two bug monsters were drowned in the river and crushed into mush.

The sword cultivator bug monster stood where it was without moving in its previous stance. It resembled a sculpture now.

"That sword strike was really powerful! It was almost at the brink of level-6 Sword Dao. Unfortunately, it encountered the Nightmare Tapir," Lin Huang could not help but exclaim.

No matter how powerful the sword cultivator bug monster's ability was, its spirit was still too weak. It was far below the Superbrain Worm and the rest, so it was hypnotized when it encountered the Nightmare Tapir who could suppress the Superbrain Worm and the rest. It did not even realize that it was hypnotized the second the Nightmare Tapir turned around.

When it was hypnotized, it saw the three bug monsters as the Nightmare Tapir. That was how Lin Huang witnessed it decimating the three bug monsters.

After getting rid of the Superbrain Worm and the other two, he hypnotized the sword cultivator bug monster again and released a long roar with its head thrown back before the three dead bug monsters could be resurrected.

A sound wave spread thousands of times faster than the speed of sound. It spread through the Dragnet Worm and the other two bug monsters' bodies. Without the ability to fight back, they turned into hypnotized puppets.

Just when the Nightmare Tapir was done with that, the Superbrain Worm and the other two bug monsters' carcasses had disintegrated completely and recovered.

Lin Huang, who was watching the battle from far away, could not help but smirk when he saw the three beasts being 'resurrected' again. He revealed a teasing smirk.

"It was 3-vs-7 before, but it's finally 7-vs-3 now."

The Superbrain Worm, the control bug and the Multi-eyed Worm noticed that the other four bug monsters were hypnotized as soon as they were resurrected.

The Superbrain Worm sent its thought to the other two bug monsters' heads. In the next second, the three bug monsters released a spiritual wave at the four bug monsters that were being hypnotized at the same time in an attempt to wake them up.

Under the Superbrain Worm's lead, the spiritual wave spread out like an ocean wave. It pierced through the four hypnotized bug monsters' bodies.

However, the four bug monsters stood where they were without giving any response.

Clearly, the round of attempt was futile.

The Nightmare Tapir's spiritual energy had surpassed so much compared to the Superbrain Worm and the rest since it elevated two ranks up. Its hypnotization could not be shaken even though the Superbrain Worm and the rest worked together on the attack.

the Nightmare Tapir did not give them a second chance to their attempt, whereby he controlled the four bug monsters to attack the Superbrain Worm and the rest.

the Dragnet Worm and the rest of the three bug monsters that were hypnotized looked at the Superbrain Worm and the rest as if they were in a frenzy just like how they saw the Ninetails Lynx and other God Figurine's Combat Souls before. They could not wait to tear them into pieces.

The Dragnet Worm spat threads out one after another and constructed a web in the air. It went after the Superbrain Worm and the rest again and again. Although it did not manage to capture them, it brought great trouble to the three of them.

The bug monsters that looked like a toad spat arrows out like a machine gun, forcing them to dodge its attacks without even stopping for a second.

While the both of them were attacking at close range, six-winged bug monsters and sword cultivator bug monsters were chasing after them.

The Superbrain Worm and the rest looked extremely clumsy while they were attacked by the four bug monsters.

Compared to the God Figurine's Combat Souls who had powerful bodies which were immune to those bug monsters' physical attacks, the Superbrain Worm and the rest only had mediocre bodies among Virtual God rank-9 powerhouses. They could not handle the attacks forcefully. All they could do was to dodge clumsily and retreat.

Before the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the Ninetails Lynx joined the battle, the Superbrain Worm and the rest had already been suppressed and fell into defeat.

However, the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the Ninetails Lynx did not want to play the cat-and-mouse game. They soon joined the battle.

The Destructive Divine Mammoth performed its usual brutal suppression whereby it stomped its gigantic feet in the air one after another.

Hovering in the air, the Ninetails Lynx appeared without anyone seeing it coming it the battlefield like a specter.

Not long after the two God Figurine's Combat Souls joined the battle, the Ninetails Lynx caught the Multi-eyed Worm's weakness and mauled it, tearing the air.

Pitch-black slices scratched the Multi-eyed Worm's body, slicing it into half.

As soon as the Multi-eyed Worm was killed, the other two bug monsters fell into an even more difficult situation.

Within a minute, the Superbrain Worm and the control bug were crushed into mush by the Destructive Divine Mammoth one after another.

In less than ten seconds after the three bug monsters were dead, their carcasses vanished and they were 'resurrected' again.

The Superbrain Worm changed its strategy when it was resurrected.

It performed its divine skill immediately, and a white rune halo appeared before it. It combined the control bug and the Multi-eyed Worm's spiritual energy into it.

As soon as the white rune halo lit up, the white glow that shot out of it was targeted at Lin Huang who was outside the battlefield.

Even Lin Huang figured its attack was aimed at him this time.

The white glow was alarmingly fast. Lin Huang did not plan to dodge since he knew that it was too late for him to do that. Instead, he had his eyes on the Ninetails Lynx that was not far away.

The Ninetails Lynx vanished from where it was and appeared on Lin Huang's shoulder. Lin Huang then vanished from where he was.

Almost at the same second, the white glow drowned the spot where Lin Huang had been standing earlier.

The Ninetails Lynx joined the battle again after leaving Lin Huang in the alternate dimension.

The Superbrain Worm's attack that was aiming for Lin Huang enraged the three God Figurine's Combat Souls.

In less than a minute, the Superbrain Worm and the other two bug monsters were killed once again. The Destructive Divine Mammoth seemed to be still in rage after killing the three bug monsters. It stomped its iron feet on the carcasses and turned them into three piles of mush.

A moment later, the carcasses disappeared again. the Superbrain Worm and the rest were resurrected again.

"This is the fourth time they've resurrected. They should have hit the limit anytime soon." Lin Huang had been keeping track of the number of times they resurrected.

This time, the Superbrain Worm was still determined. It had its target on Lin Huang again.

It moved its tentacles slightly and its divine skill was activated. Golden arrows shot out like a meteor shower.

The Ninetails Lynx saw that and glared at the Superbrain Worm in disdain before dragging Lin Huang into its alternate dimension again.

However, the golden arrows went into the alternate dimension as soon as the human and monster entered it. That was out of Lin Huang and the Ninetails Lynx's expectations.

The Ninetails Lynx brought Lin Huang out of the alternate dimension immediately. The up to a hundred arrows pierced out of the dimension too, they were locking on Lin Huang.

the Ninetails Lynx decided to stop dodging. It turned into a white glow and charged. The white glow sparkled hundreds of times in the air within a split second. The golden arrows exploded almost at the same time. Golden sparkes lit the air like fireworks, illuminating the sky.

After the Ninetails Lynx was done solving the crisis, the Superbrain Worm was the only bug monster that lived among the three.

In a flash, the Ninetails Lynx appeared above the Superbrain Worm's head. It mauled its egg-like head.

The Superbrain Worm's plan failed again, and the three bug monsters were killed on the spot again.

A couple of seconds later, the three bug monsters resurrected again. It was the fifth time the Multi-eyed Worm activated the skill. 13 of its eyes had exploded, and that was almost half of the eyes it possessed.

However, the Ninetails Lynx attacked the Superbrain Worm before it could do anything.

Black slices appeared in the air as a result of its mauling that came without hesitation. They were going after the Superbrain Worm.

To its dismay, it could not do anything as soon as they killed it.

The Superbrain Worm did not expect the Ninetails Lynx to not give it any opportunity to attack this time. It thought it could try other ways to kill Lin Huang, but it seemed impossible now.

It wanted to get the other two bug monsters to attack Lin Huang, but the Nightmare Tapir had already controlled the Dragnet Worm and the other three bug monsters to attack the Multi-eyed Worm and the control bug.

The Destructive Divine Mammoth joined the battle almost at the same time.

Since then, the Superbrain Worm did not get any opportunity to attack Lin Huang at all.

The round of battle went on for less than three minutes. The control bug, the Multi-eyed Worm, and the Superbrain Worm were destroyed one after another.

Lin Huang and the rest waited for over ten seconds, but the three bug monsters' carcasses did not vanish. They were sure that it was the limit to the Multi-eyed Worm's skill.

After getting rid of the three most troublesome bug monsters, the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the Ninetails Lynx soon killed the four bug monsters that were hypnotized.

By then, the battle had finally ended. Lin Huang thought it should be the end of the additional trial.

However, an inconspicuous charcoal gray bug monster came out of the main hive all of a sudden after some ten seconds of silence. The bug monster popped its head out of the hive and looked at Lin Huang.

Lin Huang felt he was being dragged into another dimension the moment they locked eyes. An eye that he could not see was watching him in the dark. He could sense the eye above his head, but he could not move at all as if he was imprisoned by the dimension.

However, a loud voice came out of nowhere at the moment, shaking the entire place.

Lin Huang felt he was falling at an alarming speed. Soon, he realized he was back where he was when he snapped back to reality.

"The trial has ended! We'll send you the results later." The male voice from before echoed abruptly.

Lin Huang looked at the time on his Emperor's Heart Ring with his head down. It was still 44 seconds before the 24-hour trial period should have ended.

"Didn't you say I had to fulfil the 24 hours?"

One should usually stay on the 81st checkpoint for full 24 hours, but Lin Huang was kicked out of the trial space 44 seconds earlier before the trial ended officially.

He speculated that it was most probably related to that bug monster that had crawled out of the hive in the end.

Lin Huang realized he was on the top of the Stairway Tree when he was kicked out of the trial space. Although he was on the top of the tree, it was as large as a massive plaza to him.

He scanned through the plaza and soon saw a golden chest in the middle of the plaza not far away, so he walked toward it. He did not open it immediately when he arrived before the chest. Instead, he only observed it.

The chest did not look huge. It was just a similar size to a shoe box. It was completely golden with special sigils carved on it.

Lin Huang took a picture with his Emperor's Heart Ring to take a record of the sigils. He then reached his hand to the chest.

Full of curiosity, he opened the chest.

There was no special effect such as a golden glow throughout the process of opening the chest. There was no strange background music either. It was just like an ordinary box that was not locked, whereby he opened it like a piece of cake.

There was no treasure that he was expecting to find in the chest. There was only a golden card that looked like a greeting card lying at the bottom of the chest quietly. There was nothing else apart from that.

Lin Huang raised his brow when he saw the card. He stretched his arm out to grab the card at the bottom. He took the effort to see if there was anything covered under the card. However, he found out that he was overthinking it.

Full of doubts, Lin Huang unfolded the card in his hand.

There was only a single sentence written in black on it.

"Lin Huang, congratulations for passing the Club's trial. Would you like to be a part of the Club?"

Lin Huang was stunned to see his real name written on the card instead of Lin Xie. Clearly, his fake identity was not a secret to the Stairway Tree system.

Lin Huang put aside the matter about his identity being exposed and asked, "What's the Club?"

The sentence on the card disappeared the second he asked that. Another sentence was appearing.

"The Club is a special, secret organization founded to explore the unknown and go for the extreme. There are two conditions for picking Club members. Firstly, the member has to be human. Secondly, the member has to be a ridiculous genius."

"So, was it you guys who set the checkpoints on the Stairway Tree? And one would only be eligible to join the Club after passing all checkpoints?" Lin Huang could not help but enquire further.

"Yes."

The words on the card changed again.

"So, how many members are there at the moment?" Lin Huang was curious. After all, he had gone through the difficulties on the Stairway Tree and was the only one in the gravel world that he was currently in who had broken through all the checkpoints throughout the hundreds of years.

"Not many. We only have 359 members at the moment."

"Only over 300 members in the entire great world?!" Lin Huang did not expect the number to be so low. Although he knew very well how hard it was to break through the Stairway Tree checkpoints, one must know that the great world connected to up to ten thousands of complete mini worlds. As for gravel worlds, there were millions or even tens of millions of them.

"No, it's in the entire universe."

The answer on the card shocked Lin Huang.

He had no idea how large was the universe exactly. He only knew that the great world was a part of the universe. "Are there only over 300 members in the entire universe?!"

Lin Huang only snapped back to his senses a long time later. He asked immediately, "So what are the benefits of joining this Club?"

"1. You can trade with other members and exchange resources.

"2. You can participate in the gatherings, exchanging things you've learned from cultivation.

"3. You can get the members to help you whenever you encounter some troubles."

Lin Huang jolted when he heard the third benefit and asked immediately, "What's the highest combat strength a member has in the Club?"

"That's confidential!"

"If I agree to join, what's my standard of ability in the Club?" Lin Huang proceeded to ask in a testing manner. He was playing with his words, asking about his ability instead of his combat strength.

"The weakest. Nobody is below you."

Lin Huang was shocked for a moment. "What do I need to do if I join it?"

"You don't need to do anything. All members are definitely free to do anything they want. You never have to log into the Club even if you join it. However, your name will be erased if you don't log in for a hundred years."

"What if I don't join it? What will happen to me?" Lin Huang asked again.

"Your memory about the Club will be erased."

"Are there no consequences?"

"No."

"Alright, I get it now." Lin Huang nodded and finally made up his mind after thinking to himself for a while. "I agree to join!"

A sentence that was written in black appeared on the card again.

"Lin Huang, congratulations for being an official Club member!" There was a 'x' inscribed at the right corner.

At that very moment, the greeting card he was holding in his hand turned into a golden glow just like stardust. It disappeared after penetrating his palm.

Just when he wanted to look into his body to see what had happened, a special message was imprinted in his head automatically. He understood all sorts of information about the Club now.

As he was digesting the information in his head, an announcement came into his ears before he was done reading. "Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for breaking through the 81st checkpoint on the Stairway Tree! He has broken the Stairway Tree's record and become the first person who has broken through all the checkpoints!"

The announcement was blasted on all the checkpoints on the Stairway Tree at the same time. All the online Genius Union members heard it loud and clear.

As the announcement came, three notifications popped onto everyone's Emperor's Heart Ring once after another.

Lin Huang's feat of breaking through the entire Stairway Tree struck discussions among many Genius Union members.

Every checkpoint on the Stairway Tree became crowded as almost everyone was talking about Lin Xie's achievement.

"Holy moly! He broke through the entire Stairway Tree!"

"Before today, I've always naively thought that nobody in this world would break through the entire Stairway Tree. Never have I thought I'd get a tight slap in the face so hard that you can hear the slapping sound…"

"I thought I was dreaming just now. I was just wondering why would I dream about Lin Xie considering that I'm a man. It turns out that I'm not dreaming!"

"I think I saw someone opening a bet this morning that the odds are 1:10,000 on Lin Xie breaking through the entire Stairway Tree. I'm wondering if the maker is still alive."

"Hey, commenter above, I'm the maker, and I'm still breathing. Indeed, I opened a 1:10,000 wager, but fortunately, nobody bet on that. Otherwise, I might have to pawn myself to pay the debts."

"Eh, are you sure you want to pawn yourself? You're not some hot chick with big boobs. Look at my disgusted face ﾍ(;´Д｀ﾍ)"

"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for breaking through the 79th checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!

"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for breaking through the 80th checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!

"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for breaking through the 81st checkpoint and breaking the Stairway Tree record!

"Congratulations to the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Xie, for breaking the Stairway Tree record. You're rewarded with a Godhead (Virtual God rank-9)!

"Congratulations Lin Xie for breaking through all checkpoints on the Stairway Tree. You're rewarded with a soul marrow (first-rank True God-level)!

"Congratulations Lin Xie for breaking through all checkpoints on the Stairway Tree. You're rewarded with a World Tree Seed!"

…

"Congratulations, Lin Xie, for breaking through all checkpoints on the Stairway Tree. You've won a treasure draw! Would you like to draw your prize now?"

Lin Huang was stunned to see the last reward and could not help but chuckle. "A treasure draw, eh? Did it learn that from Xiao Hei?"

However, he was very experienced at drawing prizes. He crushed a Lucky Card and only pressed the 'yes' button after waiting for the card to integrate into his body entirely.

A three-dimensional question mark popped up on Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring after he pushed the button.

The question mark began spinning quickly. It was so quick that Lin Huang could not catch it as various items were being swapped.

A red 'stop' button appeared before his eyes abruptly.

He stared at the projection for a long time. He only pressed the 'stop' button after confirming that he could not tell what item was being swapped before him.

The question mark turned into an item that looked like a giant hive the moment he pressed the button.

'What's that?' Just when doubt popped into Lin Huang's mind, a notification popped up on his Emperor's Heart Ring again.

"Congratulations for drawing a galactic hive, Lin Xie!"

"What?!" Lin Huang was stunned to see the notification. He had no idea that he could draw a galactic hive.

However, the item looked more like a blown-up bee hive. Its diameter was around a meter, and it was totally different from the galactic hive that he had seen before.

Just when Lin Huang was thinking of putting it away, the beehive-like galactic hive turned into a black glow and penetrated his body directly.

He gazed into his body immediately. As expected, the hive began growing rapidly after penetrating his body. Although it was not as big as the main hive that was comparable to Earth that he saw the last time, it was no smaller than the two moon-sized affiliate hives.

"I guess I can even kill people just by summoning this thing since it's so humongous!" He then looked at the other rewards after snapping back to reality.

Godheads were nothing new to him. He could refine it to elevate his combat strength.

It was Lin Huang's first time hearing about the soul marrow and the World Tree Seed. Although he went over vast knowledge back in the Hunter College, he had no idea what those two items were.

He took out the soul marrow which was a blue crystal that looked a little like a cerulean precious stone. However, it contained liquid and resembled a starry night that was flowing slowly inside.

Lin Huang could feel that this item contained endless spiritual energy.

"Stone tablet, what's this soul marrow?" Asking whenever he had question had always been a good habit of his.

"This thing is similar to a soul jewel but is different. Soul jewels can only be consolidated after a spirit-type powerhouse is dead. However, the soul marrow is created slowly by the remnant of spiritual energy from a specific environment after the powerhouse has died.

"If you must tell them apart, a soul jewel's energy is more overbearing and the density of spiritual energy is higher. Meanwhile, the soul marrow is milder and has powerful healing effect when one's soul is damaged," explained the stone tablet after thinking about it.

"That means Sister Mo Mo can use it." Lin Huang thought about Wu Mo as soon as he was done listening to the explanation.

After putting the soul marrow away, he took the World Tree Seed out. It was an inconspicuous gray seed the size of his little finger. There was a layer of tiny scaly patterns covering it, and it looked like an ordinary seed.

"This is… a World Tree Seed?!" The stone tablet's voice sounded a little shocked.

"Do you know about the World Tree Seed?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"Of course I do. Every human being in the great world knows this." The stone tablet felt its explanation was not quite descriptive enough, so it added, "Every living thing besides humans know this."

"It sounds like a very valuable treasure." Lin Huang's eyes lit up when he heard that.

"The World Tree Seed, obviously, is the seed of the World Tree. In reality, the World Tree isn't considered a plant, but a unique living thing created by time and space. It's similar to a heavenly god-level powerhouse's sequence chain. However, it's naturally made instead of having been refined. The main function of the World Tree is to consolidate the World Fruit. Each fruit is the equivalent of an ownerless gravel world."

"The fruit is a gravel world?!" Lin Huang thought it was ridiculous. "So, what's the function of those gravel worlds?"

"When one arrives on virtual god-level and builds their God Territory successfully, one can integrate their God Territory with the gravel world to strengthen their God Territory. The more gravel worlds are integrated, the more powerful the God Territory becomes. Especially after god order-level and god sequence-level, the more gravel worlds are integrated, the more powerful one's God Territory's rule power and sequence power would be."

"So, the World Tree is like a hen that lays eggs," Lin Huang concluded, "The god-level powerhouses needed to eat the eggs it laid for nutrition."

"Yes. Integrating the World Tree would be equivalent to owning a hen that lays eggs, whereby you don't have to spend money to buy eggs," the stone tablet explained using the same metaphor, "So, you'll only need to feed your hen and get it to lay eggs continuously."

"But in order for it to bear fruit that's like gravel worlds, I'll need a sea of resources to cultivate the World Tree. Am I right?" Lin Huang soon realized the key problem.

"Yes, that's the biggest disadvantage of the World Tree. It needs endless resources to be cultivated," the stone tablet admitted that while smiling.

"But it doesn't bring any disadvantages for you to cultivate it. All you need to do is to toss the seed in for integration when you build your God Territory. You won't need to feed it resources intentionally after that since it doesn't die or take your resources away on its own. It'll grow when you feed it resources. Otherwise, its growth will stagnate if you don't feed it. You can feed it resources when you really need to. As long as there're enough resources, it can grow a World Fruit within a few days."

"Is it that magical?" Lin Huang was a little motivated upon hearing that.

"The World Tree isn't a plan, but a cosmic wonder that's created by time and space. Don't treat it as an ordinary plant. Of course, it depends on you whether to integrate it or not. You can also sell it if it's trouble to you. Then, you should be able to get a good price for it."

"I'll think about it." Lin Huang did not make up his mind right away since he was still far away from elevating to virtual god-level.

It would take way too much resources to cultivate this thing, but it would bring many benefits if the cultivation was successful. Overall, there were pros and cons.

After checking the rewards he obtained from the Stairway Tree, Lin Huang searched the entire plaza on top of the tree thoroughly. He only logged out after confirming there was nothing else there.

Just when he logged out, a couple of messages popped up on his Emperor's Heart Ring consecutively.

In just a glance, Lin Huang saw that they were sent by people he knew. Apart from Jian Fei and the rest from the Heaven Alliance, the siblings Yi Zheng and Yi Yeyu had sent him messages too. Clearly, all of them saw the notifications sent by Stairway Tree system.

The messages were basically congratulating him for breaking through the Stairway Tree. He sent a short reply to those messages.

The sense of exhaustion only kicked in when he was done replying. It had been over 60 hours since he last slept. Because he had to kill the monsters to break the checkpoints, he was in a tensed mode all the time. Finally, he could relax now.

Lin Huang did not fight the exhaustion that overcame him. Instead, he allowed himself to fall asleep.

In his deep slumber, he had no idea that the entire Genius Union was stirred because of his feat of defeating the entire Stairway Tree.

Not only did the number of online members on the Stairway Tree break the past record, but there were also countless topics created on the Stairway Tree forum. Almost all the topics on the first ten pages on the forum were about Lin Xie's breakthrough.

Even the forums including the Union Government, the Hunter Association, and the black markets were talking about Lin Xie.

The headlines on the media for the next day were changed as soon as they gotten the news. Lin Xie's name was the No. 1 topic on the social media sites that cultivators frequented.

Lin Huang only woke up past six next morning. After washing up, he realized Mr. Fu had called him last night. After checking the time, he did not call back because he thought it was too early.

He headed out for breakfast and went straight to the Emperor Palace. He only took the time to look at the news on the sites.

As soon as he launched the news page on his Emperor's Heart Ring, he saw the photo of him disguising as Lin Xie on the headlines. The title was 'The No. 1 Genius of the New Era — Lin Xie!'.

When he noticed that the number of clicks had surpassed 300 million, he realized he was famous again.

Had it been before, there would have been a aggresive debate about whether someone could be named the No. 1 genius.

However, now that the title was used on Lin Huang, there was not much opposition on all the social media sites and forums.

From Divisions 1 to 12, most people knew about the Genius Union as long as they came from cultivation clans or major organizations. They knew what kind of organization the Genius Union was.

Apart from the three core zones, the eligibility of entering the Genius Union was less than 1% even for those cultivation clans and major organizations' core members in the nine safety zones. Most of the young talents who were somewhat popular in the safety zones had insufficient ability to join the Genius Union. Therefore, being a Genius Union member, even just a normal one, would prove a person's ability.

As for the sockpuppet named Lin Xie that Lin Huang had been using, he had been a celebrity before he had even joined the Genius Union. Many people doubted him in the beginning due to his low combat strength. However, most people in the Genius Union were confident in his ability since he dismissed many doubts along the way. Those who loathed him had to admit that he had ridiculously powerful abilities since he broke through the 72nd checkpoint.

Some of the young talents in the safety zones who were not in the Genius Union were friends with the Genius Union members. Naturally, they would not dispute about Lin Xie since they basically heard the news about him from the Genius Union members.

Most of those who opposed him did not know much about him. In fact, some had never heard of the Genius Union. Those who claimed to have broken through a hundred checkpoints deleted their posts and went silent after seeing the content of the assessment.

The cultivators who did not know much about the Genius Union found out about it through the content of the Stairway Tree checkpoints on the Internet.

Many people began discussing and wondering how many checkpoints they could pass if they were to enter the Stairway Tree.

"I'm on immortal-level rank-9, but I think the most I can break through on the Stairway Tree would be over 30 checkpoints. I must admit that those who managed to break through the 63rd checkpoint are the real bosses (ó﹏ò｡)"

"I'm on immortal-level rank-7, but I don't think I can even pass the 29th checkpoint. That checkpoint is so difficult that I'm trembling ༼༎ຶᴗ༎ຶ༽"

"I'm on immortal-level rank-6. I don't think I can even pass the 23rd checkpoint, but I heard some of them from the Genius Union who have the same combat strength as me managed to pass more than 50 checkpoints (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)"

"I'm on immortal-level rank-3. I don't think I can even pass through the worm stage on the 4th checkpoint. I'm sorry. I'm a loser o(╥﹏╥)o"

…

After looking at the Heart Network, Lin Huang looked at the other social media sites and forums. He realized that almost all the topics were about him. He only read the threads with the most clicks. By then, it was past nine in the morning.

It was 9.08 a.m. when he closed the black market forum page. Lin Huang looked at the time before tapping the communication page open and calling Mr. Fu.

The call only rang for less than three seconds before the video call got through.

Mr. Fu wore a black top that looked similar to a traditional Chinese shirt. There were pale blue patterns printed on it, and he looked a little like an underground boss.

"My dear disciple, I heard you've broken through the Stairway Tree, eh?" Mr. Fu asked while smiling.

"Yes, I did," Lin Huang confirmed as if he had done something insignificant.

He thought Mr. Fu would ask him what kind of benefits he had obtained from his feat. However, Mr. Fu did not ask anything related to that.

Instead, he proceeded to say while smiling, "You're worthy of being my disciple. You deserve the title as the The No. 1 Genius of the New Era!"

Although Lin Huang had thick skin, he could not help but feel bashful when he was given such a direct compliment.

"Your combined ability is comparable to demigods since you managed to break through the Stairway Tree. So, what do you plan to do next?" Mr. Fu asked again.

"I'm planning to go into closed-door cultivation to advance all the way to imperial-level! I'll spend some time clearing what I have on my plate later on and head to the great world! After that, I'll head back to the gravel world before disaster strikes!"

Mr. Fu fell into silence for a moment and only spoke again a long time later, "Stay in the great world if you can't find any solutions to end the disaster."

He only opened his mouth when he wanted to say 'don't come back seeking for death'. However, he did not say it out loud as he was afraid that would backfire.

"I'll find a solution," Lin Huang promised with determination.

"If you're confident, then go ahead and do it!" Mr. Fu nodded while smiling and subsequently added with all seriousness, "But if you can't, don't force it."

After hanging up the call with Mr. Fu, Lin Huang looked into his body again.

Among the ten God Figurine's Combat Souls, the Shackle Serpent, the Creation Clock, and the Withered Flower had completed their evolution whereby they elevated all the way to Virtual God rank-3.

Out of all the remaining seven God Figurine's Combat Souls, the Nightmare Tapir had the highest combat strength which was Virtual God rank-6 (it was on Virtual God rank-7 in the battle earlier because of the Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card). The ones with the second-highest combat strength were the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth that were both on Virtual God rank-4.

The Divine Sun Tree, the Enchanted Fairy, the Undead Styx, and the Death Butterfly were all on Virtual God rank-3.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang killed Virtual God rank-9 bug monsters a total of 23 times on the 81st checkpoint. He only used his spiritual energy once to elevate the Nightmare Tapir's combat strength from Virtual God rank-4 to the peak of Virtual God rank-6.

Lin Huang took the nine bug monsters' spiritual energy and gave them to the nine God Figurine's Combat Souls apart from the Nightmare Tapir.

Within a short few seconds, the combat strength of the nine God Figurine's Combat Souls skyrocketed all the way to Virtual God rank-6.

The spiritual energy from the bug monsters that were stored in Lin Huang's body was filtered by Divine Fire rapidly. It could be absorbed by the God Figurine's Combat Souls, and they did not even need to refine them like how they did for the soul crystals.

Moreover, the God Figurine's Combat Souls completed their transformation as soon as they reached virtual god-level. They did not need four hours of transformation whenever they were elevating their combat strength. They could absorb more spiritual energy like a piece of cake. They were like little pots that had been transformed into big buckets, whereby their capacity was upgraded tremendously.

Seeing that all ten God Figurine's Combat Souls in his body had elevated to Virtual God rank-6, Lin Huang penetrated the spiritual energy from the remaining 13 bug monsters into the God Figurine's Combat Souls' bodies to elevate their combat strength once again. The Nightmare Tapir, the Ninetails Lynx, and the Destructive Divine Mammoth had achieved Virtual God rank-8, while the Divine Sun Tree and the rest got to Virtual God rank-7.

After giving out all of the spiritual energy that was stored in his body, Lin Huang looked into the Sorcerer Goddess's blood. Wu Mo did not respond to him. She was clearly still sleeping.

Lin Huang took out the soul marrow and popped it into the Sorcerer Goddess's blood. Wu Mo's aura that was initially weak was now growing.

He waited for a while, but she remained sleeping as he sensed her aura stabilizing. He did not disturb her and soon snapped back to reality.

He looked into his body again and read Xiao Hei's notifications. Then, he began to calculate the rewards he had reaped from killing monsters on the Stairway Tree for the past few days.

Although he was not given any points on the 80th and 81st checkpoints, killing monsters gave him complete cards and card pieces. Moreover, Lin Huang used Lucky Cards and Double Reward Cards whenever he went through the checkpoints.

He looked at the complete cards he had obtained first. The truth proved that many complete cards fell from the checkpoints throughout the few days to the point that he could not see the end of the line when he opened the system notification.

"Congratulations, you've obtained complete Multi-eyed Worm Monster Card (Mythical-level) x2

"Congratulations, you've obtained complete Superbrain Worm Monster Card (Mythical-level) x2

"Congratulations, you've obtained complete Golden Bug Monster Card (Mythical-level) x2

"Congratulations, you've obtained complete Lady Black-stripe Monster Card (Pseudo-mythical-level) x318

"Congratulations, you've obtained complete Giant-bellied Spider Monster Card (Pseudo-mythical-level) x276

"Congratulations, you've obtained complete Scarlet-scimitar Bug Monster Card (Pseudo-mythical-level) x324"

…

"Congratulations, you've obtained complete Gigantic Heavy-armored Bug Monster Card (Legendary-level) x 26,512

"Congratulations, you've obtained complete Swift-winged Bug Monster Card (Legendary-level) x 28,356

"Congratulations, you've obtained complete Ten-Colors Bug Monster Card (Legendary-level) x 31,124"

…

"Congratulations, you've obtained Bug Tribe Airship (Mythical-level) x 12

"Congratulations, you've obtained Bug Tribe Bio-Battle Armor (Mythical-level) x 2"

…

Almost two hours later, Lin Huang finally read all of the records of the completed cards in the system.

There were six mythical-level cards and numerous pseudo-mythical-level cards. Altogether, there were over 30 types and up to 10,000 cards. There were also up to 1,000 types and over 30 million legendary-level cards.

Apart from that, there were all sorts of Item Cards.

There were 18 mythical-level items, over 1,000 pseudo-mythical-level items, and close to 100,000 legendary-level items.

Those were just complete cards.

Lin Huang knew very well that he might not have even gotten 1% of what he obtained if not for the Lucky Cards and Double Reward Cards he used.

He then looked at the card pieces that the system sorted out after going through the complete cards.

"You've obtained Control Bug card pieces (Mythical-level) x12

"You've obtained Six-winged Sword Bug card pieces (Mythical-level) x2"

…

"You've obtained Lady Black-stripe card pieces (Pseudo-mythical-level) x26,178

"You've obtained Giant-bellied Spider card pieces (Pseudo-mythical-level) x24,652"

…

"You've obtained Gigantic Heavy-armored Bug card pieces (Legendary-level) x5,302,898

"You've obtained Swift-winged Bug card pieces (Legendary-level) x5,809,614"

…

Due to the insufficient mythical-level and pseudo-mythical-level card pieces, he did lack enough to integrate them into Monster Cards. However, he had accumulated over 500,000 legendary-level complete Monster Cards from the card pieces alone.

Gawking at the sea of cards in his body, it was Lin Huang's first time being distracted by the insane amount of cards.

The dream of building an army was lovely, but the problem was that Lin Huang's summoning authority remained at 15 monsters at the moment.

Having ten million monsters aside, even if he had up to 100 million monsters, it was useless if he could not summon them.

"Xiao Hei, can't you release my summoning authority?"

"No. In reality, this authorization exists to protect you. Even though the system is just a medium, the contract between the host and imperial monsters are tied to your soul. If the authorization is released, it would be a great burden to the operating system. Another reason is that your soul will collapse as soon you release the authorization judging from the number of complete Monster Cards that you've accumulated."

Lin Huang had never thought that the summoning authorization served to protect him. He fell into a moment of silence after hearing that and asked again, "Is there any way to realize my plan of getting an army whereby I can summon tens of millions of bug monsters at the same time?"

"You'll need to find an item or living thing to replace you to bear the contract with all these bug monsters. I can transfer the authorization of these bug monster cards over. By then, you'll be able to control these bug monsters and create a real army as soon as you own the item or living thing that bears the contract."

"A bearer of the bug monsters' contract…" Something popped up in Lin Huang's head when he heard what Xiao Hei said. He proposed immediately, "Can I use the galactic hive?"

"Theoretically, it should be fine."

Lin Huang's eyes lit up when he heard Xiao Hei's response. "We'll try that then!"

Considering that the galactic hive was so massive, Lin Huang did not summon it to avoid unnecessary trouble. Instead, he looked into his body again.

The gigantic galactic hive hung in the air, appearing massive even in his body.

Lin Huang initially thought it would be difficult for him to claim ownership on it. In the end, the contract was formed automatically when he stretched his hand out to touch it. A flood of information began gushing into his head automatically.

This galactic hive was merely the lowest level-1 hive whereby it could only contain 100 billion bug monsters at the most. He could sort out the hive's internal areas as he wished since he was the owner. There were also templates that he could use.

People who did not know better would think that the bug hive was made of a massive metal combining silicon materials. Even Lin Huang thought so before this. However, he found out that it was far from the truth after getting the information transfer of the hive. The galactic hive was more like an intelligent spaceship whereby its operation was very similar to a starship. It was even simpler than that. Moreover, the galactic hive even possessed a consciousness of its own.

What surprised Lin Huang the most was that a human-like him could connect with the bugs' consciousness through the hive, exploring the Bug Tribe's internal secrets. Naturally, since the hive was on the lowest level, he only had the lowest level-1 authority among the bugs.

To avoid exposing himself, Lin Huang dared not explore further. He merely took a rough look at it and made the hive download the information. He then got his consciousness out of the hive immediately.

He contacted Xiao Hei as soon as he completed the contract with the hive. "I've already completed the contract with the hive. Try transferring 20 bug monsters in and see if I can control them."

"I'll try." Xiao Hei spoke again a moment later as soon as he was done speaking, "The transfer is complete. I've also given the 20 Monster Cards' user authorizations to the hive. There are ten different types of bug monsters with two of them each, and all of them are on imperial-level yellow gold-rank."

Lin Huang peered into the hive immediately and soon sensed the 20 bug monsters that Xiao Hei had sent in.

He tried giving his order through the hive, and the 20 bug monsters rushed out of the hive right away.

The result surprised Lin Huang a little because it had exceeded his summoning authority.

After the 20 bug monsters left the hive, Lin Huang tried giving them a new order again. As usual, the bug monsters did what he ordered without hesitation.

After testing that in his body for a while, Lin Huang snapped back to reality and tried summoning them in the real world.

The bug monsters appeared in the Emperor Palace in the next second. Lin Huang tried giving some other orders again. Once more, the bug monsters remained obedient and did what he ordered.

The bug monsters were extraordinarily tame when Lin Huang did not order them to do anything. It seemed like they treated Lin Huang as their queen because he owned the hive.

They would follow when Lin Huang gave his order verbally instead of giving his order through the hive.

He only recalled all of the 20 bug monsters after testing some experiments Bloody suggested for more than two hours and confirming that the bug monsters were loyal. He looked into his body again.

"The bug monsters seemed to be loyal from all sorts of tests. At the moment, using the hive as the contract medium seems to be very successful. Xiao Hei, you can transfer the authorization of the bug monsters over now."

"Sure!"

Lin Huang saw purple cards transform into purple streams flowing into the hive as soon as Xiao Hei gave its short response. They were like meteors shooting across the sky. He would see streams of orange and purple intersecting each other occasionally. Those were the pseudo-mythical-level Bug Tribe cards.

After all of the streams penetrated the galactic hive, Lin Huang looked into the hive again and saw dense bug monsters in it.

He got the hive to pick a template randomly and sorted out the bug monsters. A thousand types of bug monsters became organized in the hive. Lin Huang, who had slight OCD, was at ease to see that.

He tried summoning a hundred bug monsters in his body, and his attempt was successful. He then summoned to 1,000 bug monsters, 10,000 bug monsters… All of his attempts were successful when he eventually summoned 10 million of them.

Even when there were so many of them, each bug monster would carry out the order without hesitation as soon as the command was given. They did not slack at all.

After confirming that everything was going well in his body, Lin Huang snapped back to reality and carried out experiments in the real world.

He started by summoning a hundred bug monsters to a million bug monsters. Everything went well. Fortunately, the Emperor Palace had ample space whereby it could even contain a million bug monsters.

Lin Huang did not summon any more. It was not because he was worried that the Emperor Palace could not contain them, but he knew it was unnecessary.

He put the entire Bug Tribe army away into the hive and released a long sigh. "I've finally completed the preliminary construction of my Bug Tribe army!"

Lin Huang became an army-type Imperial Censor after building the Bug Tribe army. Although it was just the preliminary stage whereby he did not put any mythical-level cards in and the bug monster cards' were limited to imperial-level yellow gold-rank due to his combat strength, there were still more than 30 million of them. They were sufficient to create a monster horde.

Lin Huang was unsatisfied with the fact that the bug monsters only had the upper hand in terms of quantity. He connected with the hive again and got it to transfer all of the bug formations that he had downloaded earlier into the bug monsters' heads.

He scanned through the bug formations himself by approximation, but he was not exactly satisfied with the bug formations that the hive downloaded from its level-1 authorization. He shared the bug formations with Bloody.

"Can you improve these bug formations?" Lin Huang only asked after waiting for Bloody to sift through them.

"It shouldn't be too difficult. These were modified from battle formations anyway. They're just more suitable for a Bug Tribe's physical structure. If you provide me with the detailed Bug Tribe monsters' information, I don't even need these bug formations as a reference and I can come up with bug formations myself." Bloody did not doubt its ability at all.

"I'll give it to you after I've sorted them out. As for the bug formations that I shared, use them as a reference if you can. After all, those bug formations have still been in use throughout hundreds of millions of years. There must be something that's worth learning. Take those that are useful, and toss those that are terrible," said Lin Huang while smiling.

"I'll study them. There are differences between theories and reality after all. The stuff that I come up with might not be useful in real battles." Bloody nodded. In reality, it was not looking down on the Bug Tribe's bug formations, but it was just trying to show its ability off.

Lin Huang became busy after communicating with Bloody. He turned the Bug Tribe's Monster Cars around and began to memorize their information.

He spent a full day to finally memorize up to 1,000 Bug Tribe monsters' information and share them with Bloody.

After he was done sorting things out for a day, Lin Huang checked his Emperor's Heart Ring that he turned off for the whole day after delegating the remaining work to Bloody.

A missed call showed on his communication page. He tapped it open and realized it was from Jian Fei of the Heaven Alliance.

There was also a message, it was also sent by Jian Fei. There was only a short sentence, "Reply me when you see this."

Lin Huang did not look at other things and called Jian Fei's number right away.

Soon, Jian Fei picked up the video call and his chubby face appeared.

"Is there anything you need from me, Chief Jian?" Lin Huang asked directly upon seeing the video call connect.

"Deputy Chief Lin, have you elevated to imperial-level yet?" Jian Fei probed immediately.

"Not yet, but I'm doing the final preparations during these two days."

"That's great. Can you take a half-day to log into the Genius Union within these few days?" Jian Fei did not beat around the bush and requested right away. He knew that Lin Huang preferred to communicate straightforwardly.

"Since you broke through the Stairway Tree, many people in the Genius Union who didn't belong to any organization joined the Heaven Alliance. Some of the members from other organizations even withdrew from the organizations they joined initially and joined us instead. There are some good buds among them who we've already assessed. We hope that you can spend some time logging in before you elevate to imperial-level. Treat it as a welcome party for them. After all, those guys came for you, so I thought you could get together with them while you still log in."

"Sure!" Lin Huang agreed while nodding right away.

Although he suspected that Jian Fei was using his fame to recruit members, he wanted to see the Heaven Alliance grow. Chan Dou shared the same wish too.

"You guys can set the time, but it's best to do it within these three days because I'm almost done with my preparation to elevate to imperial-level."

"Sure, I'll inform you as soon as the arrangements are made." Jian Fei agreed right away. He then began to stutter, "There's s-something e-else… Many media representatives have been looking for me these past two days. They want to interview you."

Lin Huang glowered. In reality, he was unwilling to be interviewed by the media.

Most media would create topics and ask odd or sensitive questions. They would then exaggerate his words and stir things up just to attract attention. In reality, they did not care what kind of person he was exactly. They only cared about the attention they could get from his words and the number of clicks they could rack up.

Figuring that it might be the last thing he could do for the Heaven Alliance, Lin Huang nodded and agreed eventually. "I can accept being interviewed, but get Xu Qingya to do that. Let her be the one who interviews me for the second time, so those who missed the first interview can watch it when the second interview is released."

"Sure, I'll arrange the time with Xu Qingya and inform you by then."

Lin Huang shook his head while smiling after hanging up the call with Jian Fei.

In reality, Jian Fei was a benevolent person, but his intention of using one's fame was a tad bit too much. However, Lin Huang understood why he did that.

As the acting chief, Jian Fei was eager to prove himself since there was Chan Dou, the charming Fourth Prince, before him and Lin Huang who was a ridiculous genius. He wanted everyone in the Heaven Alliance to see that he had the ability to hold the position as the Chief of the Heaven Alliance.

In reality, Jian Fei had pretty impressive abilities. He had proven his ability since he managed to take the position of deputy chief when Chan Dou was still there. However, it was difficult for any star to shine no matter what when there was Chan Dou, who was like a brilliant moon, and Lin Huang, a scorching sun, shining over him. He could only admit that he showed up at the wrong timing.

Lin Huang understood Jian Fei's mindset. If he did not achieve anything during his appointment as the chief, the members would condemn him. It would harm the Heaven Alliance's growth in the long run.

Although he was not fond of Jian Fei using him, for the sake of the Heaven Alliance, Lin Huang chose to conform to his arrangement without much hesitation.

Jian Fei sent him a message in the afternoon. The interview and the Heaven Alliance welcome party were set on the same day which was the day after tomorrow. The interview would be in the morning while the welcome party would be in the afternoon.

Lin Huang was satisfied with the arrangement because he would not have to spend two days doing both things.

After lunch, he took out the bizarre seed and began activating it by inserting Divine Power into it. Since it was not convenient for him to refine Godheads now, he found something else to do.

However, this bizarre seed was just like the last one. No matter how much Divine Power he inserted, it showed no response.

The next morning, Lin Huang was reading the news on the Heart Network and the other forums after breakfast.

All of a sudden, he saw a thread about him on a black market forum. The entire forum was stirred because of this thread. The title of the thread was 'Exposing Lin Xie's Real Identity'.

Lin Huang could not help but frown when he saw the title. He clicked on it immediately and frowned even harder after he was done reading it.

The author of the thread was anonymous. The person revealed that Lin Xie was also Lin Huang and that he was the Emperor of Dynasty!

Although the author did not give any solid evidence throughout the entire thread, the author clearly knew the truth.

Since he did not give any evidence, almost all comments below the thread were ridicule, saying that the person who posted the thread was just stirring things up for publicity. Meanwhile, there were tens of thousands of comments below. Less than 1% of them believed the thread.

Most of them had the same opinion: We will believe you if you give us solid proof.

The first thing Lin Huang felt was doubt when he read the thread. Not many people knew about his identity, but the author who wrote the thread was clearly one of them. However, Lin Huang was not too sure who that was.

The first name that popped into his head was Jian Fei, but he dismissed the guess right away.

Although Jian Fei loved stirring things up for fame, exposing Lin Huang as the Emperor of Dynasty would bring negativity to the Heaven Alliance. It might even make the newbies think twice about joining the Heaven Alliance. After all, most people loathed the underground organization in the entire cultivation world. As the Emperor of Dynasty, Lin Huang was one of the top underground bosses.

Apart from Jian Fei, he could not think of anyone else.

However, Lin Huang did not dwell on the issue. Instead, he began thinking about how to deal with it.

The first solution was to ignore it completely and pretend that he did not see it. Since many people did not believe it, the topic would soon pass if he ignored it.

The other solution was to seize the opportunity to reveal his identity whereby he would integrate both of his identities.

Although it would not bring him any benefit to admit it on his own, if he did not do it now, he would be in trouble if someone found evidence of him having two identities in the future.

Soon, Lin Huang made up his mind after some pondering.

The next morning, Lin Huang disguised as Lin Xie and headed to a cafe less than two kilometers from Dynasty's headquarters after breakfast.

After thinking about it yesterday, he decided to change the interview location here.

He was meeting Xu Qingya at 9 a.m. but she arrived when it was only 8.30 a.m. She was dressed professionally as usual in a navy blue suit with a white shirt inside. She looked very cool.

Xu Qingya was a little surprised to see Lin Huang arrive earlier than she did.

"I didn't expect you to arrive so early, Mr. Lin. I thought I'd get here half an hour earlier and read the questions that I prepared yesterday again."

"I took a stroll here after breakfast since I've cleared my day. There's a welcome party at the Heaven Alliance this afternoon," Lin Huang replied with a smile, "Take a seat. The coffee here is pretty good."

Xu Qingya put her bag down and sat across Lin Huang.

She began the topic as if she was chatting with a friend after ordering a cup of coffee from the waiter. "Emperor City is so much safer than I imagined. In reality, I had the worst-case scenario in my head before coming yesterday, but I realized I was overthinking when I got here."

"Most people have the same idea as you do, thinking that footholds run by underground organizations would be chaotic. In reality, the cities where most top underground organizations have a rather systematic order on the surface. They know that they can only attract residents and business investments if they run the footholds under their jurisdiction properly. If the city looks filthy, nobody would be willing to live there and invest.

"Of course, it might be filthy in the dark while seeming clean on the surface. It's best that you stay indoors after dark in most of the footholds that are run by underground organizations. After all, people who choose to live in cities run by underground organizations aren't exactly the kindest."

The waiter served Xu Qingya her coffee just when Lin Huang was done saying that.

Lin Huang thought she would ask why he changed the interview venue at the last minute. Never had he thought that she would not ask about that. Instead, she asked about the normal residents which he mentioned earlier.

She took a small sip and spoke again, "Those normal residents who have no cultivation base and are living in the cities run by underground organizations that you mentioned earlier, Mr. Lin… What do they do for a living? Small businesses?"

"In reality, they're similar to residents in other footholds. After all, underground organizations have businesses in all footholds whereby they need normal workers to run the businesses. Of course, there are those who do small businesses of all sorts as you said."

"So, what's the difference between the foothold where the Union Government and the Hunter Association are in?" Xu Qingya proceeded to ask.

"The difference is that there are more people participating in illegal activities. Furthermore, the underground organizations in the footholds usually choose to turn a blind eye. As long as they don't stir things up and don't do any harm to the underground organizations, they can do whatever they want."

"This has to do with the structure of the population as well. Normal people who chose to live in such places either have criminal records with the Union Government or are really poor. These two kinds of people have a rather high possibility of committing crimes."

The duo chatted about the residents for a while. Xu Qingya looked at the time when it was almost 9 a.m. and said to Lin Huang all of a sudden, "I had a random thought when I was sorting the interview questions out yesterday and decided to ask you anyway. Are you willing to live stream the entire interview? Of course, you can say no if you're not comfortable with it. Just pretend that I've never said this before."

"Live stream?" Lin Huang raised his brow and nodded without much hesitation. "Sure."

"You sure are quick to agree to that. Don't you need to consider it?" Xu Qingya said while grinning, "The biggest issue of live streaming would be that what you say will be seen by the public. I can't edit it like I used to before."

"So be it. It's not like I've never been condemned before," Lin Huang responded.

"Do you need some time to get ready?" Xu Qingya asked again.

"No need. You can begin now."

"Then, I'll turn the camera on now." Xu Qingya turned into a professional host as soon as she started the live stream. She got right to the first question after giving a simple introduction about Lin Huang. "What are your thoughts about breaking through the entire Stairway Tree this time?"

"I don't have any thoughts about it. In reality, it was just a normal trial, but the checkpoints are slightly more difficult. There's nothing impressive about breaking through it," Lin Huang replied and thought his answer was not exactly complete since he was on a live stream. He added, "If there's really something that I need to tell you, it would be that I'm finally breaking through imperial-level soon."

Not many people were watching the live stream at that moment. There were only some of Xu Qingya's fans who were watching after noticing that she had gone live. There were only 20,000 to 30,000 online viewers.

Many people began commenting upon hearing Lin Huang's response to the first question. 'Lin Xie: No comment.'

Lin Huang and Xu Qingya saw the comments popping up, but they chose to ignore it.

Xu Qingya proceeded to ask the second question, "From what I know, apart from you, the highest checkpoint people in the Genius Union has gotten to at the moment is the 63rd checkpoint. Before you, the highest record on the Stairway Tree was the 72nd checkpoint. Do you think that the checkpoints after the 72nd were difficult?"

"They were alright…" Lin Huang thought his answer was rather perfunctory as soon as he said that so he added, "Indeed, the 80th and the 81st checkpoints had challenges of its own, especially the latter."

At the moment, there were over 200,000 viewers watching the live stream. Comments began popping up again. 'Lin Xie: It's alright!'

"The next question is something that many Genius Union members are very curious about," Xu Qingya asked the third question while smiling, "After you broke through the 81st checkpoint on Stairway Tree, did you make it to the top? Also, what exactly is at the top?"

"Indeed, I made it to the top of Stairway Tree," Lin Huang confirmed with a smirk, "But I choose to keep it a secret about what exactly is there at the top. If you guys want to know, try your best to get there and see it for yourself. I don't like spoilers, so I won't spoil it for you guys here."

There were over a million viewers watching the live stream when the third question was finished.

The same comments began popping up again. 'Spoiler, please!'

The dense comments popping up covered the entire projected screen. They could no longer see Xu Qingya and Lin Huang's faces.

Xu Qingya followed the questions that she had prepared yesterday and controlled the rhythm of the live interview perfectly. She knew her boundaries in all of the questions that she asked, and those were questions that the viewers were eager to know about.

Lin Huang could not get used to it in the beginning but became in sync with her gradually. He no longer gave the awkward answers that stifled the conversation like before.

The live stream of the duo went on for over an hour, and there were more than 100 million viewers watching the live stream now. Many cultivators who kept seeing Lin Xie's name on their screens logged in with curiosity. They wanted to know who exactly this Lin Xie was.

However, a disharmonious comment popped up when it was almost 10.30 a.m. as the live stream went on.

"Lin Xie's real identity is the Emperor of Dynasty — Lin Huang!"

In the next second, thousands of the same comments popped up and covered the entire screen.

Xu Qingya had a slight change of expression after seeing the comments on Lin Huang and her. She had been avoiding this topic since the beginning. Never had she thought that this would happen in the live stream.

"There are people who love stirring things up during live streams. Please turn off the comments. Out of sight, out of mind."

However, Lin Huang waved while smiling as soon as Xu Qingya said that. Although he did not expect this to happen in the middle of the live stream, he was not exactly surprised. "Since somebody brought it up, I'll seize the opportunity to explain it today."

Xu Qingya was stunned to hear his response. She never thought Lin Xie would reply to the topic. In reality, ignorance was the best solution to handle such a thing. The more you attended to it, more people would talk about it.

What happened next shocked Xu Qingya to the extent that her jaw dropped.

Lin Huang turned to the direction of the video camera and said in all seriousness, "In reality, my real name is Lin Huang, the very same Lin Huang who is the Emperor of Dynasty. Lin Xie is just my disguise."

The comments exposing his identity stopped flooding the screen as soon as Lin Huang admitted that.

Xu Qingya was completely shocked. The 100 million audience members who were watching the live stream were dumbfounded. None of them expected to see such a major revelation from watching the live stream!

"Wait, what? Did he admit it himself?"

"Lin Xie is Lin Huang, the Emperor of Dynasty?!"

"Was that an illusion?"

"I don't think it's April's Fool today, is it?"

…

"Mr. Lin, you…" Xu Qingya did not expect that at all. Although she was experienced, she had no idea how to go on with the live stream now.

Meanwhile, Lin Xie removed his disguise and transformed into Lin Huang slowly.

Xu Qingya was confused when she saw that unbelievably young face before her.

"I changed the interview venue to Emperor City last minute yesterday so that I could use this interview to reveal my real identity." Lin Huang turned to look at Xu Qingya. "I'm sorry that I didn't discuss this with you prior to that."

Xu Qingya adjusted her emotions quickly. "Mr. Lin, since we're talking about your identity, I won't avoid the topic. I believe the thing that the audiences who are watching the live stream are most eager to know would be the reason you disguised yourself to join the Genius Union. Could you explain that?"

"I didn't only start using the fake identity as Lin Xie when I joined the Genius Union. In reality, I've been using this identity from the first day I stepped into Division 3 and before becoming the Emperor of Dynasty. The main reason is that I got into some trouble when I was in Division 7. For my safety and my sister's, I got fake identities for her and myself. For the next few years, we could only use our fake identities to live an unbothered life."

"Can I ask what kind of trouble you are referring to?" Xu Qingya proceeded to ask.

"I offended a few underground organizations directly and indirectly. They include the Purple Crow, the Saints, Leib Lab, and God Bless that was a hot topic earlier.

"Many people should know about my history with the Purple Crow. I was forced to join their training camp and I escaped by faking my own death. Other than that, I've killed more than one of the Saint members. I unintentionally walked into one of Leib Lab's biological modification bases and killed their people.

"As for God Bless, I killed a human trafficker who trafficked underaged kids three years ago. I've only found out a few months before that the trafficker's mother was one of the four God Bless God's Messengers."

"So, you've almost offended all of the top underground organizations that have business in Division 7?" Xu Qingya was flabbergasted.

"You can say that." Lin Huang smiled while saying helplessly, "I don't know why I always encounter them no matter where I go. The underground organizations have come to me more than once, but fortunately, they're always the ones who died.

"Before I left Division 7, my combat strength had just broken through to holy fire-level. To be honest, I couldn't protect myself. However, the people from Leib Lab came knocking on my door. They even went to Hunter College in the White Capital. To me, there's nowhere in Division 7 that's safe, so I had to change my name and leave Division 7 far away. I didn't even dare to bring Xin Er with me because I was afraid that I wouldn't have the ability to protect her if I encountered danger. Therefore, I got her to assume another identity and she stayed at Hunter College to study.

"Meanwhile, I headed to Division 3 with my new identity alone. I came to know people from the Yao Clan a few days after I arrived in Division 3 and got invited to join the Genius Union later on. Most people from the Genius Union should know what happened to me after that."

Lin Huang shared his past casually. Although he sounded calm, Xu Qingya knew that what he experienced was much riskier than he described.

It was a little hard for her to imagine what kind of experience he had to have for underground organizations that killed mercilessly to come knocking at his door.

Most viewers who were watching the live stream respected Lin Huang for his past since they had no guts to fight underground organizations. However, not only did Lin Huang kill an underground organization member, but he also offended many underground organizations and they came knocking at his door many times. Nonetheless, he managed to survive and even became the No. 1 genius of the new era and the top underground boss.

"Does your sister know about underground organizations knocking at your door?" Xu Qingya could not help but ask.

"She does, but she pretends to be tough because she doesn't want me to worry."

"Did she advise you not to offend the underground organizations for your safety?" Xu Qingya asked again.

"No, she knows me well. Firstly, she knows she can't stop me. Secondly, she agrees with what I'm doing. There are things that you can't ignore once you've encountered them."

"You guys might not have ever seen what those underground organizations are capable of doing. I've witnessed it more than once.

"I've seen people from the Saints severing a head and chopping off their genitals, then shoving it into their mouth. They then used a metal rod to pierce through the headless bodies from their lower body all the way to their necks like they're roasted ducks.

"I've seen God Bless performing genetic modification on living people in their lab. They distorted the people's bodies, grow many eyes on their bodies, and sprout more heads and even fangs like monsters. They had scales and wings. They turned into monsters that had lost their minds and all they knew was to fight."

Lin Huang's description made many loath the underground organizations even more now.

Xu Qingya could not help but raise a doubt that she had, "Since you've seen so many evil doings of underground organizations, why did you agree to take the position as the Emperor of Dynasty, Mr. Lin?"

"No matter how powerful a person's ability is, it's limited. I've been thinking of building an organization of my own when I realized that and Dynasty happened to look for me.

"Of course, I actually had many concerns before agreeing to Dynasty being their Emperor because I personally have a bad impression on underground organizations. However, Tianfu convinced me that although Dynasty is an underground organization now, it doesn't have to be one in the future.

"I've also considered that it would be a good thing if we can turn an underground organization into a neutral organization and stop the wickedness.

"I've been working towards this direction with Tianfu and the rest ever since I was appointed. We want to turn Dynasty into a neutral organization. I've even executed many members who've committed multiple felonies. For someone who has committed crimes before, I won't let them go on missions on their own every time. There'll be a supervisor with them.

"We even abolished all of Dynasty's original regulations and announced a brand new set. You can take photos of the new regulations after this interview has ended. I don't mind making it public.

"I personally hope that everyone doesn't deny Dynasty for our past mistakes. Whether Dynasty will really become a neutral organization or not, we welcome everyone to monitor us since so many are watching. We believe that time will tell."

Lin Huang admitted his double identities and answered many people's doubts during the live stream with Xu Qingya.

Under normal circumstances, most people would be unwilling to accept that the No. 1 genius who reigned the entire era was an underground organization member since underground organizations always had a negative image to the outside world.

Whenever something bad happened in some footholds, everyone would basically assume that it was done by an underground organization. Moreover, the things that Saint and God Bless had done throughout the years which were exposed were ridiculously evil. Nobody should be blamed for hating them.

However, Lin Huang's honesty in the live stream won the hearts of many.

Firstly, he did not use double identities to hide something for his own gains. Instead, he was forced to do that to avoid being killed by his enemies. Secondly, his proactiveness of setting new regulations to give Dynasty a makeover with a lot of effort since he became the Emperor was worth respecting.

Of course, not everyone bought his reasons.

Some said Lin Huang was begging for sympathy while others insisted he set the new regulations just for show.

It was almost a 50/50 divide among those who supported him and those who did not. A stir was created on the Internet.

Moreover, since the live stream, all the forums and social media sites became battlefields for both parties All sorts of threads were posted to condemn each other, and it became a hot topic. It was even more popular than Lin Huang breaking the Stairway Tree record earlier.

Xu Qingya accepted Lin Huang's invitation to be a guest at Dynasty headquarters after the live stream ended.

Besides quickly snapping photos of the new regulations Lin Huang set, she even took numerous videos of the headquarters as well as interviewing Huang Tianfu and many other members.

After leaving Emperor City, she posted the video on her personal social media account after some editing. She wrote a caption before she posted: "I know that I might be condemned for posting this, but as a news journalist, I must convey what I've heard and felt to all of you objectively. This video wasn't rehearsed. I popped some of the questions without preparing ahead. I randomly picked people to interview, and there was no script to follow. That's all I'm going to say. I won't give any conclusions. You guys watch and judge."

In the video, Xu Qingya interviewed more than ten people randomly. Apart from Huang Tianfu, everyone else was normal members.

Xu Qingya almost asked all of the interviewees this question over and over again, "Why did you join an underground organization such as Dynasty?"

The few answers that were included in the video made many viewers fall into silence.

"I'm a sinner. Where else can I go for apart from an underground organization?"

…

"I killed a nobleman out of impulse and I've got a record with the union organization. If I turn myself in, the clan will kill me. The only thing I can do for the sake of living is to join an underground organization. The Union Government and the Hunter Association can't give me a second chance, but Dynasty can."

…

"I was a member of a union organization before. The department that I was in was responsible for assassinations. I've killed at least a hundred people before joining Dynasty.

"I still clearly remember that the youngest person that I killed was only five. She was a pretty little girl. The reason she was killed was that her father was a spy and he had some evidence that would harm our organization, so the organization ordered us to kill the entire family, sparing nobody's lives.

"Since then, I began questioning myself if what I did was right. I've always thought I did the right thing, that those that I killed deserved it. However, since that case, I began to realize that those that I killed had done nothing wrong at all. The upper echelon gave the order, maybe because he was a political enemy and might have also known some secrets that he shouldn't have.

"I escaped from the organization and joined Dynasty. Since then, I've never been assigned any missions forcing me to kill anyone. Personally, Dynasty is far more righteous than those so-called union organizations."

…

The last image of the video where the new regulations that Lin Huang had set after the interviews ended.

The emotions of many of the viewers were stirred for a long time after watching the video. Many of them knew that the union organizations were not completely righteous and might be filthy inside.

However, none of them were willing to look at the issue directly because if they were to deny the union organizations, it would mean that there were no benevolent organizations in this world.

Many of them fell into silence after watching the video.

A minority of them remained to condemn it, claiming that Xu Qingya accepted Dynasty's bribe to make up the story to clear their name.

However, there were many who supported her, saying that she was brave enough to tell the truth.

There were three categories of people on the Internet in the topic of Lin Huang and Dynasty. The first group of people were supporters. They chose to believe in Lin Huang and they thought he could change Dynasty.

The other group was the judgemental ones. They said Lin Huang and the people from Dynasty were acting and putting up a show to win sympathy, so they were not to be trusted.

The last ones were the silent fence-sitters who chose to stand in the middle and waited for time to tell the victor.

After the interview ended, Lin Huang did not check what was happening on the Internet.

He logged into the Genius Union when it was time he promised to be there.

The first thing he did after logging in was to edit his personal details. He changed his name from Lin Xie to Lin Huang and updated his age to 19.

Apart from that, Lin Huang got the Stairway Tree's system to scan his face again and changed his profile photo to look like himself.

He only got to the 46th checkpoint on the tree after he was done with that.

Considering that many newbies could not get to the 63rd checkpoint, Jian Fei and the rest discussed and eventually decided to set the welcome party at the Heaven Alliance foothold which was on the 46th checkpoint.

The 46th checkpoint was a human foothold, so there were many online members as well.

Many people noticed Lin Huang as soon as he appeared.

Most of the people from the Genius Union had seen his live stream in the morning and recognized him right away. The entire 46th checkpoint became crowded all of a sudden.

Lin Huang ignored the people gawking at him and walked straight to the Heaven Alliance. There were many newbies in the meeting room when he walked in. Everyone was shocked to see him.

Basically, everyone had seen the live stream in the morning. Naturally, they recognized him right away. However, never had they thought that he would log in without disguising himself, even changing his name and profile picture. Clearly, he was completely burying his fake identity as Lin Xie.

A few seconds after Lin Huang walked into the meeting room, the acting chief, Jian Fei, strolled in. He was stunned to see Lin Huang, but he regained his normal expression again immediately. He knew about Lin Xie's real identity much earlier and had seen Lin Huang's face before.

He told Lin Huang to sit down and they began chatting while waiting for the rest to come patiently.

It was two in the afternoon when Jian Fei and Lin Huang decided to have the welcome party.

However, all of the seats were not filled. There were only some 60 people in the meeting room that could accommodate 100 people.

Jian Fei, Gu Fei, and the other upper echelons did not look very comfortable.

Lin Huang figured what happened roughly and said to Jian Fei through voice transmission, "How many of them aren't here?"

"Over 30. I've invited 100 people to this meeting." Jian Fei did not hide the truth.

"Let's not wait. Let's start right away," Lin Huang spoke through voice transmission.

Jian Fei nodded and walked to the podium in the middle. He spoke after glancing at the people present, "I'd like to say something that has nothing to do with the welcome party first. I, Jian Fei, the acting chief of the Heaven Alliance, would like to officially announce that the newcomers who didn't make it to the welcome party will have their names removed from the list."

Even Lin Huang was a little surprised when Jian Fei said that. The rest of the upper echelons had disbelief written on their faces.

The 60-odd newcomers below the podium were discussing among themselves.

Jian Fei ignored the buzz down there and proceeded, "Firstly, we've already sent out the notice two days ago that the meeting is at 2 p.m. today. Those who can't make it at the last minute could've informed me, but now that they didn't show up when the welcome party has started or inform me in advance, it shows that they're irresponsible. The Heaven Alliance doesn't welcome people like that.

"Secondly, these people refused to come to the welcome party at the said time. It also shows that they have no sense of belonging to the Heaven Alliance. Since they've no sense of belonging to us, let's send them off happily to other organizations in order for them to find their sense of belonging

"These are the two things that I wanted to say. Next, let's start our welcome party officially!"

Jian Fei began his speech as the acting chief of the Heaven Alliance after he was done talking about removing the members from the list.

The speech included mostly about the history of the Heaven Alliance and some important incidents. He passed the podium to Deputy Chief Gu Fei after he was done with the speech.

Gu Fei's speech was very simple, and she was done within five minutes. She then passed the podium to Lin Huang.

The newcomers started clapping as soon as Lin Huang appeared. They hollered and cheered loudly.

"Hey, everyone. My name is Lin Huang. Perhaps you guys are more familiar with another name of mine, Lin Xie. However, to me, Lin Huang or Lin Xie is just a name. I'm the Deputy Chief of the Heaven Alliance, and I'm also the Emperor of Dynasty. I am me, and I won't change regardless of my title or identity."

The people cheered again after Lin Huang's self-introduction.

"That's all I'm going to say about myself. I'm not the star today. You guys are. As the Heaven Alliance new members, all of you are the hope of the Heaven Alliance's future…"

Lin Huang began his speech after he was done with his self-introduction.

"I welcome all of you here to be one of the Heaven Alliance members officially today. All Heaven Alliance members will forever be the Heaven Alliance partners no matter whether it is now or when you have left the Genius Union in the future…"

His speech was not very long either. He only took seven to eight minutes including the self-introduction at the beginning.

Just when Lin Huang was going to pass the podium to the acting chief of the Heaven Alliance, Jian Fei, after he was done with his speech, the meeting room door was kicked open all of a sudden.

A bunch of young men rushed in. Lin Huang glanced to see that there were over 20 of them.

The leader was a young man with long, dark-red hair who stared at Lin Huang ferociously.

"Lin Xie, I had always admired you. I even treated you as my role model. You've disappointed me. You fell so hard and become one of the underground organization members. I can't believe I've always treated you as my idol this past year. I must be blind now that I thought about it. I would've really be deceived and joined the Heaven Alliance if I didn't see the live stream this morning."

"Who is that?" Lin Huang asked Jian Fei through voice transmission, feeling ridiculous.

"He's the general of the Union Government's Immortals, Li Hongfei," Jian Fei replied through voice transmission in a disdainful tone.

"I thought people from the Union Government are prohibited from joining the Genius Union." Lin Huang was surprised to hear that.

"They prohibited that in the past, but they've abolished that rule after the New Year this year. Those who pass the assessment can join as they wish. Throughout the half-year, up to a hundred people joined the Genius Union successfully from all the military groups and the Agency EA from the Union Government."

After hearing Jian Fei's explanation, Lin Huang roughly figured that the Union Government must have taken the abyss disaster that would happen in the near future into consideration for them to be abolishing the rule.

"The people behind him are basically from the Union Government's Three Elite Troops," Jian Fei added.

"Li Hongfei, am I right?" Lin Huang glanced through the 23 intruders and had his eyes on Li Hongfei who eventually emerged as leader. "It's great that you guys aren't joining the Heaven Alliance. Your names have been removed."

Although Jian Fei had announced removing those who were absent from the list in the meeting earlier, he had yet to do that since the welcome party was still going on. Naturally, Li Hongfei and the rest had yet to receive the notice that they were removed.

The 23 of them were clearly stunned to hear what Lin Huang said.

"What makes you think that you can remove our names?! You're just a Deputy Chief. Only the real chief or the acting chief has the right to remove our names."

"Li Hongfei, it was I who removed your names, not Deputy Chief Lin." Jian Fei stood up at that second and told them the reason for removing their names again. "I've stated the reason that I did that to the 67 new members earlier. You lack of responsibility and have no sense of belonging to the Heaven Alliance. We don't need people like that."

"I get it now. So, the Heaven Alliance is on the same line with Dynasty now." Li Hongfei scoffed after hearing that. The remaining 22 of them glared at Jian Fei and the rest as if they were their enemies now.

"The Union Government's Three Elite Troops have such low recruitment standards. Are they now recruiting people who can't understand basic logic?" Gu Fei could not take it and finally spat out.

"Woman, stop your slandering nonsense." Li Hongfei and the rest of the people from the Three Elite Troops glared at Gu Fei.

"Did I get it wrong? According to your logic, we're being bribed by Dynasty just because we trust Lin Huang. There are up to 100 million people on the Heart Network who support Lin Huang. Are you saying that all of them were bribed by Dynasty?! You don't even have basic logic. How dare you say that I slandered you with your filthy mouth?!"

"You…" Li Hongfei was speechless at the moment.

"Li Hongfei, I've told you guys the reason your names are removed loudly and clearly. Moreover, we know Lin Huang better than you guys rather than from just rumors. He has joined the Heaven Alliance for almost a year and a half now. We've been watching everything he's done, the hardships he's experienced and the doubts that he went through throughout his journey. This is the reason why the Heaven Alliance is still standing by him because we know he's worthy of our trust," Jian Fei said.

"Only people who don't understand underground organizations would say sh*t like trusting Lin Huang. Do you guys know what kind of position the Emperor of Dynasty is?! He is one of the biggest underground organization leaders. He's almost equivalent to our Union Government chief! Do you guys believe that a person who has such an identity is a good person?! I think you guys should really feed your brains to Swine Beasts! It's just an act no matter how friendly and how trustworthy he is! You guys are being deceived!"

"Li Hongfei, let me ask you two questions," Lin Huang finally spoke again.

"There are at least millions of people in the Union Government in all the 12 safety zones including the staff. Can you say you're 100% sure that there's nobody who deserves to die at all? Can you say that none of them are corrupted, have taken bribes, abused their power, used people for their personal gains?! Do you dare to say that?!"

"I…" Li Hongfei was speechless at the moment. He knew very well that such a thing was being practiced by many.

"Let me ask you again. There are at least tens of millions of underground organization members in the 12 safety zones. Can you say you're 100% sure that there's none of them who don't deserve to die?"

Li Hongfei fell into silence again.

After a moment of silence, Li Hongfei lifted his head again and looked at Lin Huang defiantly. "I won't argue with you about silly things like that. I challenge you. Do you dare to accept it without summoning your monsters?!"

"Li Hongfei, it's not fair for you to challenge him like this. He's an Imperial Censor and you're skilled in close-range battle. Wouldn't you be tying his hands to challenge him if you challenged him to not use his summoning beasts?" Gu Fei could not resist mocking.

However, Lin Huang smiled when he heard that. "Why wouldn't I dare to accept that? All 23 of you can come at me at the same time."

"You can't summon your monsters!" Li Hongfei emphasized again.

"I don't have to," Lin Huang responded while smiling.

The newcomers discussed among themselves upon seeing that.

"This guy has such thick skin!"

"23 versus 1, and he asked Lin Huang not to summon his monsters? This guy is too much."

"But it's not a challenge if Deputy Chief Lin really summon his monsters."

Lin Huang shoved both his hands in his pockets and looked at Li Hongfei with a smirk. "Are you guys ready?"

"Go!" Li Hongfei shouted. The 23 of them moved almost at the same time.

However, Lin Huang removed his right hand from his pocket almost at the same time. In the next second, 23 silver glows shot out from his sleeve like lightning bolts.

Li Hongfei and the rest did not see the trajectory of the silver glows at all. Their heads exploded instantly and their bodies disintegrated rapidly.

In the next moment, the silver glows retreated back and vanished into Lin Huang's sleeve.

He shoved his right hand into his pocket again as if he had never moved before.

Everyone was stunned to see the 23 silhouettes disappear out of nowhere. Apart from a minority of them who managed to see the sparkling silver glows in the air faintly, most of them could not see anything at all.

After all, Lin Huang's ability was comparable with an imperial-level purple gold-rank's. It was too advanced from their abilities.

Until then, they realized that they had been underestimating Lin Huang. Everyone thought that Lin Huang managed to break through the Stairway Tree because he was an Imperial Censor who had powerful summoning beasts. Now, it seemed like his personal ability was so powerful that it was terrifying.

Many of them knew that half of the 23 people who just had been killed in one strike were on immortal-level rank-9. Li Hongfei did not only have immortal-level rank-9 combat strength, but he was also a supreme genius. His ability would rank top ten even if he were to be compared with the top Genius Union's alliances such as the Heaven Alliance and the Hong Alliance.

However, such a powerhouse was like an ant before Lin Huang as he was killed on the spot. He did not even manage to survive the first round.

Lin Huang could not help but speak upon seeing that the people were still stunned for a long time, "Clean it up. Let's proceed with the welcome party."

Lin Huang turned his head to look at Jian Fei after that. "Chief Jian, send Li Hongfei a message. He'll pay for the points that will be used to fix the meeting room door. Ask him to look for me if he has something to say about that. I welcome him to visit me both online and offline."

It was already past 8 p.m. when the welcome party ended.

Just when Lin Huang was ready to log out of the Genius Union, he saw a newcomer walking to him before speaking to him through voice transmission, "I'm Peng Qing from EA. 2. The chief wants me to pass you a message during this welcome party."

"Chief? You guys have elected a chief?" Lin Huang was not too sure if he was referring to Guan Zhong or Qian Rui.

"We just did two days ago. It's Master Guan Zhong." Peng Qing nodded and walked to Lin Huang.

"It's inconvenient to speak here. Let's go to the small meeting room," Lin Huang said and left with Peng Qing after bidding goodbye to Jian Fei.

Lin Huang asked after locking the door in the small meeting room, "What message did Guan Zhong ask you to pass?"

"Our tech department has found out who exposed your identity during the live stream this morning and on the forum."

Lin Huang did not ask who the culprit was immediately hearing that. Instead, he fell into silence for a moment before speaking again, "What does Guan Zhong want?"

"This isn't a business, but a collaboration. We don't need you to do anything. All we're hoping is that the Union Government and Dynasty can develop harmoniously in the future without treating each other like enemies." Peng Qing passed Guan Zhong's message.

"I've been saying that Dynasty will be a neutral organization from now on. Tell Guan Zhong that he doesn't have to worry about that." Lin Huang did not plan to overthrow the Union Government. Even if Dynasty became much more powerful than the Union Government one day, he never thought of replacing them before.

He walked out of a grade-D foothold in Division 7, so he was thoroughly familiar with the Union Government's management system throughout his journey here. Although the Union Government was imperfect, it was doing pretty well overall. Lin Huang did not think that Dynasty could do better. Furthermore, he had no interest of becoming the chief of the Union Government.

"The people who posted the comments and thread on the forum are from the same group of people. Am I right?" Lin Huang asked.

"Yes, they're from the Divine Alliance," Peng Qing finally revealed the answer.

"The Divine Alliance? The Divine Alliance of the Genius Union?!" Lin Huang was surprised. "Do you have solid evidence?"

"Our tech department got the positioning of the thread senders' addresses and found the monitor bird and the Surveillance Mosquito around during the time the thread was posted. We eventually found two suspects. Both of them are Divine Alliance members."

"How do people from the Divine Alliance know about my identity?" Lin Huang mumbled softly while frowning a little.

"A few days ago, we just found out that the Divine Alliance has a rather big issue," stated Peng Qing, ignoring Lin Huang.

"What issue?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"We got a portion of memory out of the brain of the Master God clone of God Bless, and there's something about the Divine Alliance in it." Peng Qing paused before continuing "Looking at that part of memory, there's an alien species behind the Divine Alliance. Moreover, the Master God clone came to some agreement with them, whereby they have a certain level of collaboration."

"According to the Master God clone's memory, God Bless would capture supreme geniuses occasionally throughout the hundreds of years to provide the existence behind the Divine Alliance. This included Chan Dou's being captured earlier which was for this purpose as well."

Lin Huang fell into deep thought as he listened to this point. He used the bruised corpse to read the four God's Messengers' minds. However, the Master God's clone was killed by Wu Mo and he died before they could read his memory. In the four God's Messengers' memories, indeed there was something about capturing Chan Dou and himself. Furthermore, according to the God Messengers' memories, they were capturing supreme geniuses for some sort of sacrifice. He had not thought much about it at that time as he thought it was to sacrifice to the Master God himself. However, now that he thought about it carefully, indeed, it was never clear who they were sacrificing in the God's Messengers' memories. If it were meant to be sacrificed to the Master God, the memory should have included that clearly.

To make sure that he did not remember it wrongly, Lin Huang sifted through the memories in his head again. He realized that that specific part of memory was really blurry, proving that even the four God's Messengers had no idea who Chan Dou and the rest were being sacrificed to.

"So, have you guys found out who exactly is behind the Divine Alliance?" Lin Huang asked Peng Qing immediately after realizing that this part of the information in his head was missing.

"No. The Chief said that the Master God clone's combat strength was too high, so it's very difficult to read his memory. At this point, we've only managed to retrieve a small part with everything we can. This portion of memory happens to be related to the Divine Alliance, so Master Chief asked me to inform you about it."

"Ask your chief if he needs me to help to retrieve the memory. If he does, I'll take the time to drop by the Union Government these two days." Lin Huang said that because the Undead Styx had elevated to Virtual God rank-7 now and had sufficient ability to capture the Master God clone's soul remnant to read his memory.

Unlike before, he could only use the bruise corpse's clone to hypnotize a person to retrieve one's memory. Moreover, the person had to be alive.

Peng Qing was stunned to hear that but he reacted quickly. "I'll check with the Chief when I log out later."

"Sure, is there anything else?" Lin Huang asked again.

"The Chief asked you not to alert the Divine Alliance just yet. We'll discuss what to do after we managed to retrieve more information. We're still not sure how many people in the Divine Alliance are involved or how powerful the person behind the Divine Alliance is and where he's hiding. If we don't execute a clean-cut first attack, it'll be very difficult for us to tackle them later on," Peng Qing shared Guan Zhong's message again.

"So, don't you guys plan to give me the two people's coordinates?" Lin Huang raised a brow.

"I'm sorry. We can't give it to you," Peng Qing replied, "In reality, the Chief didn't give it to me as well."

"I understand." Lin Huang nodded. "Is there anything else?"

Peng Qing thought about it and shook his head. "I've told you everything that the Chief wanted me to tell you."

"Sure, thanks for doing that." Lin Huang patted Peng Qing's shoulder.

Seeing that Peng Qing had logged out, Lin Huang looked at the Genius Union's organization leaderboard and clicked on the Divine Alliance page. He took screenshots of the Divine Alliance chief, deputy chief, and more than ten core members' personal details before logging out.

As soon as he logged out of the Stairway Tree, Lin Huang opened his communication page and sent the screenshots over with a message included. 'The screenshots are of the Genius Union's Divine Alliance chief, deputy chief, and other core members' personal details. Check their current locations for me.'

Huang Tianfu replied within three seconds, 'Got it!'

He peeped at Huang Tianfu's reply and turned the communication page off. His eyes traveled over the 16 screenshots he projected before him again.

"I won't show mercy since they are aliens!"

On the next day, Lin Huang received the coordinates Huang Tianfu sent in the afternoon. All 16 Divine Alliance members' coordinates were marked clearly.

Lin Huang looked at the first screenshot while smirking slightly. It was a tall, big hunk with muscles bulging all over. He had rather tanned skin while his face was crude and fierce. He had a buzzcut that made him look like a prisoner. His hair was so short that one could see his shiny scalp.

He wore a black shirt in the picture. If he wore a thick gold necklace on his neck and a gold watch on his wrist, he would totally look like an underground boss.

"Zhongli Yan," Lin Huang called out softly.

In reality, Lin Huang was familiar with the man's face and name.

Almost everyone in the Genius Union knew the chief of the Divine Alliance, Zhongli Yan. Moreover, this guy always ranked highly in the annual leaderboard. He was almost always in the top five, sometimes even ranking top three.

If the Divine Alliance had secrets, as the chief, Zhongli Yan would definitely know about it.

That was the reason why Lin Huang targeted him first.

Zhongli Yan was currently at No. 1A21 foothold, the Golden Light City in Division 1.

Lin Huang walked out of the Golden Light City dimensional portal around 1 p.m. and headed northwest.

The dimensional portal in the foothold was situated in the south of the Golden Light City while the Zhongli Clan was located on the northwestern side from the city center.

Lin Huang only spent some ten minutes to get to where the Zhongli Clan was.

He summoned the Nightmare Tapir when he arrived at the door. Then, he walked into the house with it.

Everyone including the security guard at the entrance, the gardener who was trimming the plants in the courtyard, and the cleaning lady who was cleaning the house seemed not to notice Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir at all.

Lin Huang walked past them one after another just like that. None of them lifted their heads to look where he was.

Using the Nightmare Tapir's detection, Lin Huang soon found Zhongli Yan's current location. He was working on something in the study room on the second floor of the loft.

Lin Huang passed through the courtyard directly and entered the loft. He ignored the two family members on the first floor of the loft and headed straight to the second floor.

The two people on the first floor did not seem to realize Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir's existence at all.

Lin Huang pushed the study room door open when he got to the second floor.

Zhongli Yan, who was sitting at the desk, glanced at the door, feeling strange. However, he was looking at the door behind Lin Huang. His vision penetrated Lin Huang's body directly to his surprise. Just when he was going to get up to close the door, Lin Huang closed the door casually.

Zhongli Yan was shocked to see the door closing by itself.

At that very moment, Lin Huang showed himself slowly.

"Hi, Chief Zhongli."

Lin Huang's sudden appearance shocked him. However, he soon calmed down. "Lin Huang! I think it's inappropriate for you to invade a private property!"

"You wouldn't dare to see me if I didn't trespass, right?" Lin Huang walked to Zhongli Yan with a grin. He sat on the desk and looked at Zhongli Yan in a condescending way.

"I'm very busy. I've no time to deal with your nonsense. Say what you want directly, but please leave after you're done and I'll pretend this never happened." Zhongli Yan still attempted to take control of the situation.

"Since you say that, I'll ask you directly then." Lin Huang smiled and subsequently asked, "You were the one who got someone to expose my identity on the Internet. Am I right?"

"That's right. That was my doing" Zhongli Yan admitted right away, "I exposed the truth and didn't spread any rumors, so what's wrong with that? I think the people who you've deceived have the right to know about you hiding your identity."

"Are you a reporter? I can't believe we're even talking about this." Lin Huang chuckled when he heard his demand. "Since we're on the topic of people having the right to know the truth, let's have a chat. I believe everyone should be surprised that the so-called the chief of the Divine Alliance isn't human at all."

Lin Huang stared at Zhongli Yan while grinning.

Clearly, Zhongli Yan did not expect his identity to be exposed. He only managed to calm down after a shift in expression. He denied stiffly, "That's such a cheap and low rumor."

"Is it?" Lin Huang asked while smiling.

"Everybody knows that only human beings can log into the Genius Union," Zhongli Yan argued, providing reasoning.

"Not exactly. There may be some aliens that can break through the Stairway Tree system," Lin Huang said while smiling, "But don't you worry, I've my way to determine whether you're a human or alien."

The Nightmare Tapir revealed itself slowly as soon as Lin Huang was done speaking.

"This pet of mine has hypnotization abilities. I'll be able to tell if you're a human or an alien as soon as you agree to be hypnotized by him."

"Lin Huang, this isn't the Heaven Alliance or Dynasty. I won't show mercy if you go on with your nonsense. Perhaps I'm no match for you, but the Zhongli Clan has two demigods!" Zhongli Yan knew very well that he might not be in the same league as Lin Huang, so he used the two old demigods in his family to threaten him.

"Seems like you're not going to conform." Lin Huang raised his brow. "Fortunately, I knew this would happen. Ah well, you'll have to conform today whether you want it or not."

The Nightmare Tapir's eyes turned pitch-black as soon as Lin Huang was done speaking.

Zhongli Yan's eyes became lost in the hypnotization too.

Lin Huang began the interrogation after hearing the Nightmare Tapir's voice transmission that the hypnotization was a success.

"What kind of species are you exactly?"

"Bug Tribe. I'm a Demonic Magic Bug." Zhongli Yan's voice became strange when he answered that question. It sounded like the buzzing when insects flapped their wings as though his voice was overlapping.

The Bug Tribe?!

Never had Lin Huang thought that Zhongli Yan was from the Bug Tribe. The various bug monsters in the gravel world were just distant relatives of the Bug Tribe branches. Although he had fought many types of Bug Tribes on the Stairway Tree, he had never seen a real one before.

He had always thought that this gravel world was not invaded by the Bug Tribe. However, it seemed like the Bug Tribe might have penetrated the world completely.

"How many members are there in this gravel world?" Lin Huang asked again.

"Not many. There are currently only 31 that survived."

Lin Huang was slightly relieved to hear that answer.

"How long have you guys invaded this gravel world?"

"It's been 763 years."

"So, only 31 survived throughout the over 700 years? Why is that?" Lin Huang was rather puzzled.

"The Queen Mother is severely injured, so we can only carry out the Ultimate Elite Breeding Program."

"The Ultimate Elite Breeding Program?!"

"We only pick other supreme genius species as breeding material and boost the quality to the max during each breeding season."

Lin Huang finally understood why these people took Chan Dou away. They wanted to use Chan Dou as breeding material and use his genes as the template to breed Bug Tribe's descendants.

"How come you guys can log into the Genius Union?" Lin Huang raised another doubt of his.

"All Ultimate Elites have two forms. One is the form as breeding material, another is the Bug Tribe form. All of our breeding materials are human supreme geniuses. They have almost the exact same genes as humans when they turned into human forms. They can cheat the Stairway Tree system like a piece of cake."

"Alright then." Lin Huang asked a few more questions subsequently and ended it after the Nightmare Tapir was done reading Zhongli Yan's mind.

The Nightmare Tapir retrieved tons of useful information from Zhongli Yan's mind.

The Zhongli Clan had no relation to the Bug Tribe at all. In reality, the real Zhongli Yan was dead. He was just the Bug Tribe's Ultimate Elite that the Queen Mother made out of Zhongli Yan as breeding material.

The benefit of using a supreme genius as breeding material was that these Bug Tribe's Ultimate Elites could mirror the original supreme genius's genes completely and carry on one's memory and inheritance perfectly to blend into the human foothold seamlessly. Moreover, these Ultimate Elites were born pseudo-quadruple mutated. Some of them were even born mythical-level quadruple mutated directly from breeding materials that were powerful when they were alive.

Throughout more than 700 years, although the Queen Mother only gave birth to 31 Bug Tribe descendants, two of them were mythical-level while the remaining 29 of them were pseudo-mythical-level. One could say that they were of the best quality.

Among them, the one that had the highest combat strength was virtual god-level while the lowest was immortal-level rank-9.

In the entire Divine Alliance, only Zhongli Yan and the other three deputy chiefs were Bug Tribe members while the rest were human.

The main responsibility of the four of them was to search for information in the Genius Union to find suitable target materials for the Queen Mother.

The information in Zhongli Yan's memory eliminated Lin Huang's initial 16 targets to only four now.

Since the Queen Mother would sense if Zhongli Yan was killed, Lin Huang did not destroy him to avoid alerting the enemy. Instead, he got the Nightmare Tapir to perform long-term hypnotization on him.

After leaving the Zhongli Clan, Lin Huang spent almost the entire afternoon traveling to three footholds consecutively to hypnotize and read all three of the deputy chiefs' minds.

Among the three deputy chiefs' memories, the information he got was basically the same as the information in Zhongli Yan's memory, which again proved the credibility of that information.

However, what rendered Lin Huang speechless was Zhongli Yan and the other three's cluelessness about where the Bug Tribe Queen Mother was currently hiding. Apart from the four of them, it had been close to a hundred years since they came in contact with other Bug Tribe comrades. All they knew was that the Queen Mother had two guards on virtual god-level, but they had no idea what their exact combat strength was.

Lin Huang did not even know how his identity ended up exposed. According to Zhongli Yan and the rest's memories, they had retrieved the information from a stranger's message despite not having any idea who the sender was exactly. They only knew that the person who had exposed that was their Bug Tribe comrade because the Emperor's Heart Ring's code through which the message was sent was only known to Bug Tribe comrades.

It was past 6 p.m. when Lin Huang returned to Emperor City. He looked for Bloody in the Emperor Palace.

Bloody had already completed the analysis and modification of the bug formations. It created over 1,000 sets of bug formations with battle formations as the foundation.

After sharing the bug formations with Lin Huang, Lin Huang transferred everything to the galactic hive which then conveyed the information into all the Bug Tribe members' heads.

When he was done with everything, Lin Huang began discussing the matter with Bloody. "At the moment, Zhongli Yan and the other four have no idea where the other 27 bugs' coordinates are at all, let alone the Queen Mother. Sadly, the investigation on my side has come to a dead end."

Bloody fell into a moment of silence and only spoke after digesting what Lin Huang had just told it, "Since we can't find them, why can't we just get them to come to you on their own?"

"Their collaboration with God Bless is over now, so they'll have to do it themselves if they encounter suitable breeding materials. Meanwhile, you're definitely the sort of breeding material that they want most eagerly."

"Do you mean that I should use myself as bait and lure them out?" Lin Huang understood what Bloody meant.

"You're in a safe zone because nobody is willing to invade Emperor City when there are two Virtual Gods guarding it. However, if you step out of the safe zone of Emperor City, you should be desired by many. After all, your combat strength is only immortal-level rank-9 on the surface while your ability is limited no matter how powerful you are. All you need to do is to use Zhongli Yan and the rest to spread the news of you being outside Emperor City. Hmm, according to my calculations, there'll be a 120% chance that the Bug Tribe will attack then!"

"Looking at the information Zhongli Yan and the rest have provided, they definitely won't let go of any chances to capture you as soon as the opportunity arises."

Lin Huang thought about it carefully after hearing what Bloody said. "Why not I pretend to hunt for imperial-level Life Base monsters at the Abyss Brink? Many people know that I'm going to break through imperial-level now, so I can use this reason to set things up."

"I think that's doable," Bloody agreed.

The duo soon confirmed all the details after some in-depth discussion.

The next morning, Lin Huang left Emperor City alone publicly after breakfast. He then walked around the black market at the foothold near the entrance of the Abyss Brink. He only left after buying some unnecessary toys and made sure that people saw him.

He even got Bloody to release Leech Pods and only told the Ninetails Lynx to send him in after seeing a large tour of a hundred people entering the Abyss Brink. He entered before the tour group did.

Naturally, he seemed very cool whereby he walked away right after peeping at the tour group. He leaped into the entrance of the Abyss Brink with his fluttering clothes.

The tour group went nuts when they saw his appearance.

It would be forgivable if it were someone that they did not know. However, it was impossible for them not to know about Lin Huang who had been the No. 1 searched person for the past few days.

"That guy who leaped in… Was he Lin Huang?!"

"It really was him! I thought I made a mistake!"

"He's going into the Abyss Brink. I guess he's going to break through to imperial-level."

…

Lin Huang headed straight to the second layer as soon as he arrived on the first layer of the Abyss Brink. The reason why he chose to enter from the first layer instead of going straight into the second layer was to let more people see him.

He summoned the Nightmare Tapir in an empty corner when he arrived at the third layer after passing through the first and second layer.

"Get Zhongli Yan and the rest to inform the Bug Tribe that I've arrived in the Abyss Brink. Lure everyone to capture me now."

In a tall building in a foothold of Division 3, a man in a white shirt peeped at a message on his Emperor's Heart Ring. He walked to a majestic ceiling-to-floor window after a moment a silence before dialing a number.

"Lin Xie, the Class-S wanted target has left the safe zone. His current coordinates are in the second or the third layer of the Abyss Brink. Arrange two imperial-level powerhouses to get him in the Abyss Brink. It would be best if they're both on imperial-level purple gold-rank. The target should have more than one imperial-level summoning beast."

A deep voice soon came from the other side of the communication device. "Understand. I'll make the arrangements right away!"

A lady's voice came behind the man after he hung up the phone. "You're quick. I've just read about Lin Xie's whereabouts on the Internet."

It was a lady in her early 20s with a lollipop in her mouth. She wore a denim jacket and a t-shirt with beige patterns together with a black leather skirt. Her drawl made her sound lazy.

The man turned around and answered meticulously, "The Divine Alliance sent a notice."

"I think you're underestimating Lin Xie. This kid might be scarier than we imagined. I think the first attempt might be a failure." She removed the lollipop in her mouth and used it to point at herself. "It's a woman's instinct."

"Well, excuse me. Just like me, you were born a male bug guardian. Your breeding material is simply a female human," the man corrected her.

"Congratulations, you've killed the Titan Alligator (demigod-level) and obtained pseudo-mythical-level Titan Alligator Monster Card pieces x2."

Lin Huang turned his head to look at the gigantic monster carcass not far away after peeping at Xiao Hei's notification that popped up.

The Titan Alligator that was up to 10,000 meters long was currently covered in a layer of black goo. A moment later, the goo disappeared from the surface of the carcass like it had penetrated its body entirely. The giant alligator's three pairs of eyes opened all of a sudden while the six pupils turned pitch black.

In the next second, the Titan Alligator's body melted and turned into a black stream of liquid, returning to the Undead Styx's body.

It was the 16th demigod-level monster that Lin Huang had killed. He had killed all the demigod-level monsters on the third layer of the Abyss Brink once again. Since he had the Ninetails Lynx to bring him around, the round of slaughtering only took one morning.

His reward throughout the morning was pretty handsome. Apart from the Undead Styx obtaining 16 demigod-level undead puppets with a Lucky Card and a Double Reward Card, Lin Huang got four complete Monster Cards, two demigod soul crystals, six demigod relics, 32 demigod souls, and 32 broken Godheads.

The four complete Monster Cards were two Soul-assimilating Beasts and two White-haired Swordfiends.

The two Soul-assimilating Beasts were both pseudo-mythical-level evil spirit type of monsters. They were immune to most physical attacks and were experts in spiritual attacks.

On the other hand, the two White-haired Swordfiends were also pseudo-mythical-level evil spirit type of monsters. They had powerful close-range combat ability whereby they were on par with Lancelot who shared the same combat strength. Compared to Lancelot as a whole, the two White-haired Swordfiends had fewer defense techniques. Their skill slots were filled with powerful battle skills although their battle style was limited to attacking with zero defense.

Lin Huang was pretty satisfied with the probability of four complete Cards coming out of the 16 demigod-level monsters.

After killing the 16 demigod-level monsters, Lin Huang was not interested in the remaining imperial-level monsters. He was too lazy to go on, so he stayed where he was, waiting for his attacker to come patiently.

…

When it was close to noon, two imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouses entered the third layer of the Abyss Brink. One of them was fat while another was skinny.

The fatty had jowls of flab on his greasy face. His tummy was like a ball that measured half a meter in diameter. He was only approximately 1.7 meters tall but weighed at least 300 pounds by the looks of it.

The other skinny guy had a yellowish, skinny face. The cheekbones on both sides of his face were sunken while his arms were so gaunt that there was only skin. They were only the length of a third of the fatty's arms. Although he was around 1.9 meters tall, he looked like he weighed less than 100 pounds.

"Skinny monkey, don't you think that they're overreacting? It's just an immortal-level rank-9. I can't believe they're asking the both of us to catch him. Hmph!" The round fatty harrumphed, underestimating their target.

"Don't be reckless. I heard that the target this time is the No. 1 genius of the era in this world. You definitely can't measure such a guy's ability with his combat strength." The skinny guy, on the other hand, was cautious.

"It's just an incomplete gravel world. So what if he's the No. 1 genius? His ability is definitely nothing compared to our Bug Tribe's monarch-level talents," the fatty scorned, "Even if he's a monarch-level talent, it's impossible for him to fight imperial-level purple gold-ranks with his immortal-level rank-9 combat strength."

"A monarch-level talent is comparable with a Protoss's mythical-level, and it's equivalent to a quadruple mutated monster. A human who has such quality is a top genius in most great worlds. Indeed, it's quite impossible that such a person would exist in a gravel world. However, the target that we're hunting this time is an Imperial Censor. I heard he has imperial-level imperial beasts with him. We'd best be careful," the skinny guy reminded.

"It's even easier since he's an Imperial Censor. Imperial Censors have poor abilities and they depend on their imperial beasts to fight. To handle such a guy, all we need is to capture him before he summons his imperial beasts. With his immortal-level rank-9 combat strength, I'm afraid he can't even capture our movement. If he has already summoned his imperial beasts, either of us would just need to put his imperial beasts under our control. Even if we're only able to control them for a second, it's a piece of cake to capture him. Moreover, he's just on immortal-level rank-9. How is it possible for his imperial beasts to be our match no matter how powerful they are?" Evidently, the fatty was overconfident in himself.

The skinny guy thought about it and agreed that he might be overthinking. "Alright, we're on the third level now. Let's get down to business."

The fatty nodded and closed his eyes standing where he was. He began performing complicated sigils with both his hands rapidly. Soon, a giant red eyeball which was approximately a meter in diameter appeared above his head slowly.

The eyeball looked half-real, half-fake as though it was a 3D projection. However, it was clearly not a human eye. It was more like a fly's compound eye. There were dense, mini eyes all over it. If someone who had trypophobia were to see it, the person would definitely have goosebumps immediately.

Circles of red light spread like ripples on the water around the gigantic eyeball.

The fatty opened his eyes all of a sudden approximately five to six minutes later. He spun his head to look in his two o'clock.

"I found him!"

In the next second, the eyeball on his head disintegrated rapidly. Meanwhile, he leaped and flew toward the direction he pinpointed.

The skinny guy went after him and followed him closely.

The duo flew 5,000 to 6,000 kilometers with the fatty leading ahead. After a while, the fatty said to the skinny guy through a voice transmission, "He's just over there before us!"

His heavy body descended quickly as soon as he said that. The skinny guy followed him and entered the valley close behind him.

The contrasting silhouettes flew at a low altitude with one in front and one behind. Soon, they arrived deep in the valley.

The duo saw a young man sat with his legs crossed in a lush, green field. Meanwhile, there was a monster that resembled a tiger with sharp fangs lying next to him. The odd thing was that the monster had a trunk that looked like an elephant's.

Meanwhile, the young man lifted his head to look at them at that second. He had a smile on his face as if he already knew that they would come to kill him. The duo faintly sensed that this young human was strangely looking at them. His gaze did not seem like it contained the anxiety and insecurity one would feel when he was getting killed. Instead, it looked a little like… disdain?

"Is this guy Lin Huang?" questioned the skinny guy as he frowned, feeling unsure.

"It's him!" The fatty nodded in determination.

"It seems like he knew we'd come!"

Just when the skinny guy said that through voice transmission, Lin Huang who was beneath them spoke, "You guys sure are slow. I've been waiting for you for the entire morning. So, is it just the two of you?" Lin Huang corrected himself all of a sudden just when he was done speaking, "Sorry, I made a mistake. I should've asked, is it just you two bugs?"

The duo had a dramatic change of expression when they heard his haughty response. Never had they thought that their identity would be exposed by Lin Huang.

They looked into each other's eyes and saw the terror reflected. However, they attacked Lin Huang at the same time without hesitation in the next second after locking eyes for a moment.

The skinny and the fat men had a completely different attack model.

The skinny guy pounced like a leopard, arriving before Lin Huang in a flash with his ten fingers turning into metal claws.

Meanwhile, the fatty's eyes turned blood red and he shot up to 1,000 telekinetic flying daggers from his sleeve. He was shooting them at Lin Huang like a storm.

One was responsible for close-range combat while the other was responsible for long-distance combat.

Such collaboration remedied both of their weaknesses to its peak.

However, the tiger monster with sharp teeth and a long trunk next to Lin Huang lifted its head slightly and glared at the duo. Both of them paused all of a sudden. They seemed to be locked by space whereby they froze, losing their ability to move.

The telekinetic flying daggers that shot out from the fatty's sleeve seemed to have lost their power and clattered onto the ground one after another.

A moment later, the duo fell and they lost their vitality.

Lin Huang waited for Bloody to sort out the memories after the Nightmare Tapir shared the information it had retrieved with Bloody.

A while later, Bloody nodded at Lin Huang after it was done sorting the memories out.

"They got an order from a bug guardian to capture you. There's no more useful information apart from that. They've no idea where the Queen Mother and the bug guardian are hiding."

"So, where would they have brought me if they managed to capture me?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"If they managed to do that, they would've contacted the bug guardian to confirm the location to pass you over," Bloody explained, "Unfortunately, the bug guardian seems to have figured that they might've failed their mission and even took the possibility of having their minds read into consideration. He didn't reveal more information."

"The Queen Mother should be able to sense their death, shouldn't she? What will the Bug Tribe do next after this mission has failed?" Lin Huang asked again.

"Looking at their memory, capturing you is a top priority. You're practically their No. 1 target in this gravel world. If I'm not mistaken, they'll send more powerful bug monsters for a second capture within 24 hours. We can't rule out the possibility that they might even send bug guardians."

"Let's wait patiently then." Lin Huang raised his brow. "I hope that they send bug guardians so that we don't have to wait for the third round."

…

In a tall building in a foothold of Division 3, a man in a white shirt frowned all of a sudden. A lady in a denim jacket appeared in the room almost at the same time.

"I guess you sensed it too, hmm?" The lady pulled the lollipop out of her mouth with a loud pop.

"That two useless dumba*ses!" the man in a white shirt could not help but yell furiously, "They couldn't even capture an immortal-level!"

"I've already reminded you that Lin Xie isn't as simple as you thought." The lady shoved the lollipop into her mouth again while crossing her arms before her chest before speaking again, "Based on the time they departed, they should've arrived at the third layer of the Abyss Brink at least half an hour ago. In other words, their time of death is right after they arrived at the third layer. I'm guessing they might've been killed by Lin Xie in one blow not long after finding him."

"Do you mean he's even more powerful than our Bug Tribe's monarch-level talents?!" It was clearly a rhetorical question. He did not believe that Lin Huang's ability surpassed a Bug Tribe's monarch-level's talents. "You must understand that this is just a gravel world."

"So, is it that impossible for a ridiculous genius to surpass our tribe's monarch-level talent in a gravel world?" the lady asked him back while smiling.

The lady spoke again upon seeing the man keeping silent, "Moreover, this is a human world. The tools that are available surpass most species. In this gravel world, items such as a God Crasher can easily help an immortal-level to kill imperial-levels."

The man in the white shirt was slightly relieved to hear that. If Lin Huang really used tools such as a God Crasher, it was indeed possible to kill imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouses in one hit.

"So, what do you plan to do next? Give up? Or are you sending demigods over?" With a grin, the lady stared at the man in the white shirt scarily.

"It's rare for him to have finally left Emperor City. If we give up now, I've no idea when we'll have the chance again. I'll do it myself this time since I don't trust anyone else with this," said the man in the white shirt and he took a jacket out from his storage space. He put it on and summoned a dimensional portal right away.

"Lin Xie has just been attacked for the first time. He'll definitely have his guard up now, it would be more difficult to capture him. Moreover, since he was attacked earlier, he'll most likely return to Emperor City after breaking through to imperial-level. He might even be on his way back to Emperor City now. I must seize every second. I've no time to let other people get to him."

He opened the door and stepped into the dimensional portal right after he was done speaking.

"What an impatient man…" The lady smiled lightly. As the dimensional portal disappeared, her body began to fade away and she vanished.

A couple of minutes later, a man in a dark blue suit appeared at the entrance of the third layer of the Abyss Brink.

The man closed his eyes lightly and opened them again a moment later. His gaze was locked in a particular direction.

He then disappeared from where he was in the next second.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang, who was thousands of kilometers away, sensed the person's existence immediately by scanning the area with his Divine Telekinesis. However, he did not panic at all. Instead, he smirked lightly.

Soon, a dark blue silhouette entered deep into the valley.

The dark blue silhouette stopped and hovered less than 20 meters above Lin Huang. He looked at Lin Huang in a condescending way.

The man in the dark blue suit demanded despite knowing the truth, "Are you, Lin Xie?"

"You're so quick to come." Lin Huang did not respond to the silly question the man asked. Instead, he took his time observing the man.

The man in the dark blue suit looked pretty handsome. He had the type of skin that most young girls would envy. However, Lin Huang knew very well that the real creature under the smooth skin was just a bug from another world.

"You knew I was coming?!" The man in the suit was taken aback.

"Of course. The senior comes after the junior has lost. Isn't that the common plot we see in novels?" Lin Huang teased.

The man in the suit was relieved to hear that.

Just when he thought Lin Huang had not seen through his real identity, Lin Huang spoke all of a sudden, "You must be one the Queen Mother's two bug guardians, am I right? Now, it seems like I can finally find out exactly where the Queen Mother is hiding."

The man's expression turned grim after merely a moment of shock. He knew what happened roughly. "You read their minds…"

"You're much smarter than I imagined." Lin Huang gave him a thumbs-up while grinning.

The man did not bother carrying on with his nonsense after knowing that his identity was exposed. He sped tens of meters ahead and arrived directly before Lin Huang. Then, he charged his claws at Lin Huang's neck…

Busby's goal was not to kill Lin Huang but to catch him alive.

As the Queen Mother's Bug Servant, he knew very well that to breed Ultimate Elites, the material had to be a living person.

Although the Queen Mother could breed Bug Tribe descendants through all kinds of dead bodies, compared to breeding with a living person, the memory and inheritance left behind would be limited. It was also quite impossible to breed Ultimate Elites via that method.

To Busby, Lin Huang was undoubtedly the best breeding material in the entire gravel world.

Although he was enraged that his identity had been exposed, he had never thought of killing Lin Huang. Since all he needed to do was to capture him alive and bring him to the Queen Mother for breeding, the secret would naturally die with him.

His attack seemed quick and ruthless, but it was meticulous. It was done just to capture Lin Huang.

The claws were coming at Lin Huang. From a couple of meters away, they locked onto him. He could not move at all as if the entire space was frozen solid.

One must know that although Lin Huang's current combat strength was only on immortal-level rank-10, his ability was comparable to an imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouse. Even though that was the case, he had no ability to fight back at all.

The distance between an imperial-level and a virtual god-level was like a massive moat that one could not simply cross.

After locking Lin Huang with his five fingers spread wide, Busby stretched his huge hand out and headed towards Lin Huang.

At that very moment, a yellow glow charged in the air and collided into Busby's huge hand.

The gigantic hand exploded from the one blow alone.

Busby's pupils shrunk as he recalled himself and retreated a few kilometers away. He looked at the monster close to Lin Huang with fear in his eyes.

The monster that looked like a tiger and had a trunk that looked like an elephant's was a species that he had never seen before.

What shocked Busby even more was that the monster's combat strength was the same as his, which was Virtual God rank-8.

"It's rare to hear an immortal-level Imperial Censor controlling a virtual god-level imperial monster and this brat is controlling a Virtual God rank-8 monster!" Busby studied Lin Huang. Clearly, he did not recognize the Nightmare Tapir as a God's Figurine's Combat Soul. He thought it was Lin Huang's summoning beast.

However, he finally understood why the two imperial-level purple gold-rank underlings that he had sent earlier were killed by Lin Huang in one blow after seeing the Nightmare Tapir. Having a Virtual God rank-8 summoning beast like that, imperial-level purple gold-ranks aside, even a Virtual God that was slightly weaker would be killed in one hit too.

After the first attack failed, Busby did not attack the second time right away. Instead, he began observing his opponent carefully.

"Looking at his size and physical structure, he should be great in close-range combat. Judging by his body, he should be fast in close-range combat as well as having explosive charging speed."

One must say that a person's first impression was usually very subjective and was not necessarily accurate. The Nightmare Tapir's size, including its slim body and sharp claws, clearly caused Busby to make a silly assumption.

Naturally, he was not the first person who made such a mistake.

It was normal for people to make that mistake, judging from the Nightmare Tapir's appearance that made it seem like it was born lousy in close-range combat.

Soon, Busby changed his battle plan after some analysis. "I won't have the upper hand if I fight such a quick close-range combat monster face-on. Even if I might win, I might be beaten and drained. My target is Lin Xie. It's unnecessary for me to kill that summoning beast."

A new set of battle strategy soon came out in his head as he thought about this point.

As soon as the new battle strategy was formed, Busby carried it out without hesitation at all.

He stretched both arms out at Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir from far away. In the next second, his two arms turned into inky black liquid. The liquid looked sticky like goo but had a faint, metallic glow. It was rumbling and boiling intensely.

Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir watched the strange phenomenon happening from far away. They saw the black liquid consolidating into two mini cannons before Busby at a speed that could be seen by the naked eye.

The two cannons were approximately two meters high like two mini towers. They pointed at Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir with thousands of barrels of all sizes stretching out. The only similarity the thousands of barrels had was their color; they were all black.

The Nightmare Tapir did not do anything to interrupt the process while Lin Huang was watching the transformation with great interest.

"This should be the Bug Tribe's ability. It's pretty interesting. I wonder how's the power like." Golden sparks lit from the two cannons as soon as Lin Huang was done mumbling.

Countless dazzling sparks lit up the entire sky all of a sudden.

Dense, black bullets of various sizes came raining down like a storm, coming for Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir.

The thousands of barrels in all sizes had different speeds and trajectories when they were shot out. They even had different levels of power too.

Each bullet came with different attributes. Some were so fast that it would reach a person within a breath. Some were helix-shaped with great penetrative ability. Some were as thin as a needle that could be hard to capture with the eyes while some exploded like a bomb with nuclear power.

Soon, Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir were drowned in the endless fire.

Busby remained shooting calmly. He was not worried that Lin Huang would die because although this round of attack was dense, it did not have powerful intensity. As long as the Nightmare Tapir gave Lin Huang Divine Power defense, they could block the attack easily. However, such a shield would be draining for the Nightmare Tapir.

Draining the Life Power from the Nightmare Tapir's body was the main goal of Busby's attack. Apart from that, he attacked to force the Nightmare Tapir to use other techniques than close-range combat techniques.

The firing went on for some ten minutes. The Nightmare Tapir and Lin Huang were covered in the smoke from the shots since the beginning.

Although Busby could not see what was exactly happening in the smoke, he sensed with his Territory skill that the Nightmare Tapir and Lin Huang had not moved from where they were.

Busby frowned slightly. He could not really understand exactly what was happening. He clearly sensed that his attack did not miss its aim from the sound of the bullet collision.

However, the Nightmare Tapir did nothing else apart from being in defense mode while standing where it was. That puzzled Busby.

"Why isn't this guy attacking me to interrupt my attack? It's protecting himself and Lin Xie at the same time. The draining of its Divine Power should be at least twice or more than mine. Although it will drain its Divine Power even more for a short period of time if it attacks, the draining is definitely less in the long run. Or maybe he's doing this on purpose so that I'd give up attacking. Then, he'll attack me with a deadly charge the second I give up."

All sorts of thoughts flashed past in Busby's head but he could not figure what the Nightmare Tapir was plotting against him.

However, a young voice chirped out of the smoke under the dense firing, "Your name is Busby, am I right? I was anticipating what you'd do next, but your attack model remains the same after ten minutes have passed. It's very disappointing…"

Lin Huang challenged Busby fearlessly because everything was happening in the Nightmare Tapir's dreamland. He was not there at all in reality and had only inserted a sliver of his consciousness to watch the battle.

Busby was enraged to hear the challenge. Never had he thought that an insignificant immortal-level person would ever dare to tease him like that.

"Lin Xie, I don't want to kill you, but please don't test my limit. You're not the only one on our wanted list, so killing our targets is pretty common."

"I didn't mean to challenge you. I was just telling you how I really feel," Lin Huang spoke up, "Also, if that's all your ability is about, you can get your partner to collect your body soon. Please tell them to come quick, because you'll die here in less than five minutes."

"Lin Xie, you're looking for death!" Busby was completely furious.

"I advise you to give your best if you're trying to kill me. I'm not joking." Lin Huang walked out of the smoke slowly while the Nightmare Tapir appeared on his left subsequently.

Busby saw the gravity on Lin Huang's face crystal clear as if he was telling the truth.

However, Lin Huang's words calmed him down. He could feel that Lin Huang was serious.

Without the smoke, he also saw the layer of transparent membrane covering Lin Huang's body which blocked all of the bullets that he fired. None of them got to him. Meanwhile, all the bullets that were aimed at the Nightmare Tapir hit it. However, it suffered no injuries at all.

Busby stopped his attack without hesitation upon seeing that mind-blowing scenario. The two mini cannons before him turned into black, metallic liquid again and soon disintegrated. Then, a giant cannon formed at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye.

The giant cannon was over 30 meters long. It was completely black and the diameter of the mouth was almost a meter wide.

As usual, the Nightmare Tapir did not interfere with the transformation.

Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir watched Busby making the giant cannon from far away.

As soon as the giant cannon was formed, a white glow which was the size of the tip of a needle lit up at the mouth of the cannon. It was growing steadily.

At first, it was so minuscule that it could hardly be seen like the tip of a needle. Then, it expanded to the size of a rice grain. It proceeded to grow to the size of a green bean, the tip of a finger, an apple, a football…

In less than a second, the tiny white glow grew to a giant sphere over a meter in diameter.

From a distance, Lin Huang sensed the great energy that the sphere contained. He was not surprised. Instead, he was excited.

"This is finally getting interesting…"

The white spherical glow seemed to explode before the mouth of the cannon all of a sudden. A white glow that looked like a waterfall shot out at a speed close to lightning and was targeted at the Nightmare Tapir.

It reminded Lin Huang of the kamehameha energy attack in an animation that he had seen back when he was on Earth.

The Nightmare Tapir vanished from where he was in a flash after realizing that the attack was aiming for him.

In the dreamland, he could use any skills that he had seen before. He was clearly using the Ninetails Lynx's teleportation skill at the moment.

Almost immediately after the Nightmare Tapir disappeared, it appeared hundreds of meters away again in the next second.

However, the white waterfall-like glow deviated and swept towards the Nightmare Tapir.

"It's futile to run. The white glow will follow you wherever you go until it hits you. Of course, you can hide and wait for it to fade in an alternative dimension, but that would take up to three to five days."

Busby charged forward as soon as he was done saying that. This time, he aimed for Lin Huang.

It only took him a second to arrive before him.

Just when he was going to catch him with his hand, the silhouette of a golden whip came in the air and smashed hard against Busby's chest.

Naturally, it was the Nightmare Tapir that attacked. Its trunk turned into a whip and lashed out at Busby who did not even see it coming.

Busby's body shot out like a cannonball, flying out of the cannon from the attack. However, to Lin Huang's shock, his body began to disintegrate and fade in the middle of the sky.

At the same time, a shadow was forming before Lin Huang at an alarming speed. It was Busby. The one that was shot out was not himself, but a substitute.

Before his body consolidated completely, Busby stretched his arm out and attempted to grab Lin Huang again.

Seeing that Busby was getting ahold of Lin Huang, the Nightmare Tapir showed itself again.

It mauled its sharp claws in the air, creating a couple of black crescent air slices. They shot through the sky and went after Busby.

Busby's body would have been sliced into a few pieces if he did not manage to dodge the attack.

However, a gleam of determination flashed through Busby's eyes. He ignored the Nightmare Tapir's attack without dodging at all. His five fingers that were going after Lin Huang deviated and he closed his claws to form a palm, aiming for the Nightmare Tapir.

He held almost nothing back in this attack whereby he charged with all of his Divine Power. The blow landed on the Nightmare Tapir's chest. Although the Nightmare Tapir had a powerful body so the attack did not harm it at all. Instead, the impact shot him thousands of meters away.

Just when Busby's palm landed on the Nightmare Tapir's body, the air slices that came from the Nightmare Tapir's sharp claws penetrated his body.

Busby's body disintegrated directly after the attack just like what happened with the substitute he used earlier.

Just when the substitute disintegrated, a silhouette appeared behind Lin Huang. It was Busby himself.

"I made it!" Busby stretched his hand out at Lin Huang in excitement.

At the moment, the Nightmare Tapir was a few kilometers away while he was being chased after by the white glow. He could not come rescue Lin Huang at all.

Busby spread his five fingers wide and pressed them behind Lin Huang's head. However, he had a dramatic change of expression on his face at that very moment when his hand penetrated Lin Huang's head directly.

"It's just an illusion!" Busby spun his head to look around after seeing that Lin Huang's body was fading away before him. Eventually, he set his eyes on the Nightmare Tapir a few kilometers away.

A young human man was standing over there.

"That brat!" Busby glared viciously at the Nightmare Tapir. He knew it was definitely not Lin Huang's technique. Otherwise, he would definitely have seen through it. Therefore, it was definitely the Nightmare Tapir's doing.

He had no idea that everything he was seeing at was just an illusion.

Lin Huang, who was outside of the dreamland, observed Busby who was hovering midair motionlessly. He said to the Nightmare Tapir while grinning, "This guy doesn't seem to have realized that he's not in the real world even until now."

In the Nightmare Tapir's dreamland, Busby carried out the strategy that he planned one after another. However, he failed to capture Lin Huang eventually.

He knew it was the Nightmare Tapir who prohibited him from doing that the moment he failed. Nonetheless, he had yet to realize that he was not in reality at the moment.

"He should be able to do it again and again since he managed to take Lin Xie away by using teleportation." Busby did not attack right away. Instead, he began thinking about his next strategy.

"In other words, I'll have to find ways to break that technique to be able to capture Lin Xie. I should either test him again and figure out exactly what kind of technique is he using, then find the solution to break it, or fight him head-on to kill that bastard that's interfering with me."

Busby frowned even deeper as he came up with that conclusion. He seemed to finally make up his mind a moment later.

He glared at the Nightmare Tapir was from a distance. His body that was hovering midair became distorted strangely.

The distortion went against the human body's musculoskeletal structure. Even Lin Huang thought it was extremely strange while watching on from far away. Busby looked like a zombie that was moving in all sorts of unusual manners with his last ounce of will, whereby his joints and body were extremely warped just like what TV shows depicted.

Soon, his body began to transform even more. Most of the bones in his body seemed to have softened while the skin on his flesh lost the support from his skeletal structure. He looked like an inflatable doll that was half-deflated.

Not long later, many odd, deformed bones grew beneath the skin. The bones supported the body and constructed a strange form that did not look like a human at all.

As Lin Huang was watching on in astonishment, a sharp bulge appeared on Busby's chest. In the next second, a bloody wound ripped open on his chest. Half a bug's leg that looked like a dark gray sword penetrated out of his chest.

In the next moment, the bug's leg tore Busby's entire chest and abdomen open like a paper cutter. A dark-gray bug beast finally crawled out of his body that was ripped open.

As the bug beast came out, Busby's original human body turned into a pile of mush and fell onto the ground.

"So, he's molting…" Although Lin Huang knew Busby's species had two forms, it was his first time seeing a Bug Tribe monster transforming from human to bug form. However, he could not help but wonder how a Bug Tribe monster would look like transforming into a human.

The changing Busby was covered in a layer of dark gray insect shell. He was approximately three meters long and had four strong and explosive rear legs supporting his entire body.

There were two pairs of semi-transparent wings on his back that seemed as thin as cicada's wings. They were sprouting from the second pair of front legs.

Among the three pairs of front legs, the lowest pair was made of swords, which was the one that he used to tear his body open. The middle pair was made of sharp spears that looked like canine teeth. They were so sharp that nobody dared to doubt their penetrative ability. The pair in front extended from his shoulders. They were two bio-guns with muzzles that were approximately a meter wide.

His head perched above his six front legs.

It was covered in a layer of dark blue shell and was sharp like a triangle. There was a huge mouth at the lowest part of his head which was filled with sharp teeth that looked like stainless steel needles. The apex of the triangle was a compound eye that was made of countless little eyes. It stretched to the left and right.

Apart from his compound eye and huge mouth, no other organ could be seen on his entire head.

If one were to judge him by human standards, one must say that this was tens of thousands of times uglier than his human form.

Having turned back to his original form, Busby seemed to have experienced a boost in his aura.

He looked at Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir that from far away. The two pairs of wings on his back were flapping intensely, emitting an ear-piercing buzz. At the same time, his four rear legs loaded with energy and faded while his body turned into a shadow.

Busby appeared before the Nightmare Tapir almost in the next second. He aimed his four front sword legs at it like a storm.

Busby began fighting the Nightmare Tapir before Lin Huang managed to catch his movement.

He went for the most direct plan in the end, which was to kill the Nightmare Tapir!

The reason he came up with this decision was that the attacks earlier had drained close to a third of the Divine Power in his body. He was not sure if the remaining Divine Power he had allowed him to figure out the Nightmare Tapir's secret of taking Lin Huang away. Although he was unwilling to fight the Nightmare Tapir who was obviously great at close-range combat, he bit the bullet anyway.

In reality, Busby's close-range combat ability was not weak. One could even say he was very strong at that.

He chose not to fight close range because he assumed that the Nightmare Tapir was an expert in that in the beginning, so he had no confidence to fight it head-on. Even if he could win, he was afraid he might have to pay a hefty price.

Meanwhile, his objective was just to capture Lin Huang in the beginning. It was unnecessary for him to fight the Nightmare Tapir head-on.

However, he would not be able to capture Lin Huang if he did not kill the Nightmare Tapir first, so he had no other choice.

In reality, the Nightmare Tapir was lousy in close-range combat.

However, the Nightmare Tapir could do anything in dreamland. He could copy all the skills that it had seen before.

Besides the skills of Lin Huang's remaining nine God Figurine's Combat Souls, it could copy 100% of the skills that all of Lin Huang's summoning beasts had as long as it had seen them before. It could even copy skills that it had picked up from other monsters that were unrelated to Lin Huang.

One could say that the Nightmare Tapir was invincible in the dreamland.

The bug and monster collided in the air again and again.

Busby's close-range combat ability was compelling indeed. His sword and spear skills had almost reached the peak of level-6. He was one step away from comprehending the True Meaning.

Each time his sword legs and spear legs attacked, they would be close to the peak performance of sword and spear skills. It was so perfect that there was nothing to pick on. The two gun legs on his shoulder were extremely agile and performed expert-level gunfighting technique from some odd angles occasionally, so nobody saw it coming.

Even though that was the case, the Nightmare Tapir was toying with Busby. It was using the close-range combat abilities it had copied from other monsters all the way.

The battle was intense although the Nightmare Tapir was just fooling around.

One could imagine the impact that was caused by the close-range combat of two Virtual God rank-8 powerhouses.

Not only did the ground and mountains collapse, but the oceans rumbled and even the sky was trembling from the impact of the collisions.

Lin Huang could not capture their movements at all. All he could see were the sparks that were flickering in the air as a result of the explosions that came from the Divine Power collisions from the duo.

Lin Huang asked the Nightmare Tapir outside the dreamland, "Roughly how long more do you need to retrieve his memory completely?"

"I need around another half an hour."

"Record this battle and share it with me later. I'll watch it in slo-mo, so I should be able to learn some great stuff!" Lin Huang smirked at the Nightmare Tapir mischievously.

Every time he saw a powerhouse using a sword, he could not help but study the person's swordsmanship. Even though the person who was using a sword was a Bug Tribe monster this time, he was very interested in the sword skill and Sword Dao.

In the dreamland, Busby attacked the Nightmare Tapir again and again.

The two silhouettes collided repetitively, lighting golden sparks in the sky continuously. The sparks almost drowned out the sun in the sky.

Although each of their collisions only took place for a split second, Busby gave his all and released his Divine Power in the short bursts of attack. Moreover, he would attack at least a hundred times within that short period of time with each charge.

The sparks caused by the duo's collisions were a hundred times brighter than the sun. One could not look at them directly. In reality, it was because sparks combined with the hundreds of collisions would explode during each strike.

Almost every blow, Busby's sword arms would swing at odd angles one after another. Meanwhile, his spear arms would pierce mercilessly without anyone even seeing them coming while he seized every moment to perform his gunfighting technique perfectly.

He collided with the Nightmare Tapir at least ten thousand times during the battle that took place for close to half an hour while he attacked him millions of times.

Intense energy waves spread out again and again as a result of the battle. The ground within thousands of kilometers turned into a mess while the areas within hundreds of kilometers collapsed and became a bottomless abyss.

However, no matter how fiercely Busby was attacking or what kind of attack techniques he used and how much he changed his attack frequency, the Nightmare Tapir caught up with his rhythm eventually and performed at ease.

The thousands of collisions and millions of attacks were blocked by the Nightmare Tapir. None of the attacks Busby performed managed to leave a single mark on the Nightmare Tapir's body.

At first, he thought the Nightmare Tapir would have similar standards with him regardless of how powerful his close-range combat ability was. However, throughout the half an hour of intense battling, he realized none of his attacks worked. He was in despair now.

He also finally realized that the Nightmare Tapir's close-range combat ability was much more terrifying than he imagined. It was not on the level that he imagined at all.

However, he had no idea that the Nightmare Tapir was not fighting Busby himself but just a projection in his dreamland. This projection had every human and monsters' skills and battle techniques that the Nightmare Tapir had seen before, including some techniques from Busby himself.

In the dreamland, learning others' abilities was a piece of cake for the Nightmare Tapir. It did not even need a second to learn them.

Busby felt like he was fighting tens of supreme powerhouses who had battle experience and abilities that were on par with him. One could figure out what his ultimate ending would be.

Now that the battle had come to this point, the ending was pretty clear.

Although Busby had his pride, he was not ignorant. He knew he had no chance of winning at all.

Because he did not have much Divine Power left, he did not plan to prolong this.

He peeped where Lin Huang was secretly. After hesitating for a second, he soon made up his mind to choose between escaping directly or trying to capture Lin Huang again.

He was not retreating, so he charged toward the Nightmare Tapir again and collided with it head-on.

He swung his sword arms continuously as he maintained the frequency of his spear arms attack as if it were a matter of life or death with the Nightmare Tapir.

However, the Nightmare Tapir sensed something was off as soon as it retaliated. He mauled and broke the momentum of Busby's attack, even ripping his body open.

At that very moment, Busby appeared quietly not far behind Lin Huang. He charged a sword arm out like a lightning bolt at Lin Huang.

This time, the Nightmare Tapir did not seem to have made it in time. The dark gray tentacle arrived before Lin Huang in the blink of an eye. In the next second, a strange thing happened again. The tentacle penetrated Lin Huang's body directly.

Busby's pupils shrunk while he thrust the tentacle out again, feeling immensely dissatisfied. He attempted to grab Lin Huang with it, but Lin Huang's body would turn into thin air wherever the tentacle passed by.

Since the capture failed completely, Busby did not hesitate at all. He retreated the tentacle directly and flung it toward another direction like a mad man.

However, two silhouettes blocked his way less than a second after he began running.

Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir appeared at the same time.

"You won't be able to run," Lin Hung told him the truth in a calm tone again.

Busby ignored them and accelerated the flapping of the two pairs of wings behind his back. With his four legs, he leaped and deviated toward another direction.

Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir appeared in the next second again, blocking his way abruptly.

Busby did not even sense any wave of motion from the teleportation at all.

He turned around to run again, beginning to wonder how the Nightmare Tapir and Lin Huang managed to move like that.

When the duo blocked his way for the third time, Busby seemed to realize something all of a sudden.

He did not run this time. Instead, he stared at the Nightmare Tapir. "I think I know what's happening.

"The way you move and the way Lin Xie disappeared didn't cause any motion waves at all. Therefore, I've always thought it was some special ability of yours. Now that I think about it, the reason there's no wave motion is that you guys didn't move at all.

"Lin Xie managed to vanish and you could block my way faster than I did because this entire area is your territory. I've stepped into the trap that you set since the beginning!"

"It seems like you're not entirely dumb." The Nightmare Tapir did not deny Busby's speculation.

"I've thought about it. My only shortcoming is that my spirit that's rather weak. Since I fell into your trap without even realizing it at all, it shows that you should be an expert in spiritual techniques. It could be abilities such as illusion or hypnotization.

"However, if your spiritual ability is so powerful to the extent that I was trapped without even realizing it, theoretically, you shouldn't be able to suppress my close-range combat ability.

"If I'm not mistaken, you might not be that skilled in close-range combat at all. This might not be what you look like. Perhaps you transformed into this to make me think that you're good at close-range combat."

"You got the first part right, but this is how I really look like," insisted the Nightmare Tapir rather helplessly. Its appearance indeed misled many.

"The reason why I failed to capture Lin Huang twice was that he's just a projection, am I right?" Busby turned his head to look at Lin Huang.

"You finally got it!" Lin Huang grinned while spreading his arms wide. He did not deny it. "I've only used a sliver of willpower in this projection to watch the battle."

"I never thought I would be blinded by my enemy like that," Busby said while sighing helplessly.

"I know what you're doing. Quit thinking about buying time in the attempt to break away." Lin Huang busted Busby's plan. "Your spirit is much weaker than the Nightmare Tapir, thus you won't be able to escape even if you know this is just an illusion."

Busby fell into silence after realizing that his plan had been busted. He began thinking of other strategies quickly.

However, Lin Huang's voice came then. "It's almost time now. Kill him."

Almost the same time when Lin Huang said that, Busby jolted and tried his very best to implode himself with the very last fizzle of Divine Power he had in his body. However, he realized he could no longer move all of a sudden. Black shackles began clamping down onto his body. The tenth of his Divine Power that was left in his body could not be used as if it was locked.

Meanwhile, the Nightmare Tapir appeared before Busby out of the blue.

He lifted a claw and pointed it at Busby's forehead lightly. Busby could not fight back at all. His body began to rot and fade from his head. It spread throughout his entire body in less than two to three seconds. Soon, he turned into dust completely.

"The Ninetails Lynx's Space God Rule, the Shackle Serpent's Sealing God Rule, and the Death Butterfly's Death God Rule… The effect of the combined abilities of the three God Rules is so terrifying!" Seeing the powerful Busby being killed without being able to fight back, Lin Huang was secretly in awe by the three forces.

"Congratulations, you've obtained a complete Bug Servant Monster Card (mythical-level) x1"

Lin Huang was surprised to see the notification that popped up from Xiao Hei.

The effect of his Lucky Card and Double Reward Card should have worn off a while ago. Never had he thought he would obtain a complete Monster Card which was a pleasant surprise.

Moreover, this bug guardian named Busby was on mythical-level!

Lin Huang was elated to have obtained a mythical-level Monster Card out of the blue.

He returned from dreamland to reality.

In reality, Busby's body that was hovering mid-air fell onto the ground. He was killed in the Nightmare Tapir's dreamland, but his death was projected to reality.

His human form that had lost its vitality completely began fading after falling onto the ground and it soon turned back to his original Bug Tribe monster form. It was also the final form of a Bug Tribe Ultimate Elite when they died.

Lin Huang did not let the carcass go to waste. After taking his Emperor's Heart Ring away, Lin Huang summoned the Undead Styx.

The Undead Styx then spent approximately five minutes to turn Busby's carcass into an undead puppet. Now, he owned a Virtual God rank-8 super fighter.

Lin Huang only turned his head to look at the Nightmare Tapir after recalling the Undead Styx back to his body. "How is it? Do you know where the Queen Mother is now?"

"In Loner City in Division 3." The Nightmare Tapir added after he said that, "But it's a little complicated."

"Share his memory with Bloody." Bloody slithered out of his left sleeve at that juncture.

In less than half a minute, Bloody retrieved Busby's memory from the Nightmare Tapir.

Bloody then spent two to three minutes sharing the useful information with Lin Huang.

He always got Bloody to sort the information out not because he was lazy, but Bloody could help him save time browsing through tons of information in his head.

One must know that even an ordinary person who lived until 70 to 80 years old would have their memory loaded throughout their life. Over 90% of the information in most people's memories were redundant. Browsing for useful information in the sea of information was a task that drained a lot of time and effort.

Moreover, the memory Lin Huang obtained were mostly from cultivators and old monsters that had lived for centuries or even up to 1,000 years. One could imagine how large a capacity his brain had. Retrieving useful information from cultivators' memories was undoubtedly much more difficult than doing so from ordinary people.

Therefore, it was necessary for Bloody to take up the task. With its jaw-dropping computing ability, the information sorting that would merely take a few minutes might save countless hours of Lin Huang's time.

Lin Huang frowned a little when he received Busby's memory from Bloody.

It was true that the Queen Mother and the other bug guardian was in Loner City in Division 3. However, only a bit of consciousness was left behind in the Queen Mother's body to maintain the physical operation and communication. Meanwhile, the Queen Mother's main consciousness was no longer in that body that was breaking down.

Even Busby, her Bug Servant, and the other bug guardian, Vivian, had no idea where the Queen Mother's main consciousness was hiding.

"It's futile even if I find her. Even if I destroy the Queen Mother's body, she's not considered really dead as long as her consciousness exists." Lin Huang thought he could get rid of the issue of the Bug Tribe's Queen Mother once and for all after luring the bug guardian out and reading his memory. He never thought such an unforeseen situation would arise.

"Let's put the Queen Mother's matter aside for now," Bloody suggested.

"If we head over to Loner City to kill her body and the other bug guardian, she'll hide her consciousness even deeper. As soon as the bit of consciousness she's connected in the body to her main consciousness notices something is off, she can destroy the brain cells in her body and the bit of consciousness completely. The entire process will take less than 0.01 seconds. Then. the Nightmare Tapir and the Undead Styx won't be able to retrieve any useful information from her remaining body to find out where her consciousness is hiding.

"We can see from Busby's memory that this Queen Mother's body is breaking down since earlier. Even if they obtain breeding materials for her, the number of Bug Tribe monsters she can breed is very limited. This is also the reason why she carried out the Ultimate Elite Breeding Program instead of breeding a Bug Tribe army to conquer the world.

"Now that the Queen Mother's main consciousness has left the body, her breeding ability will be a few times weaker even if she takes over other female bodies. The Bug Tribe's Queen Mother is born to breed. She has a quality that no other species can compare to.

"Judging from the current condition, this batch of Bug Tribe is unlikely to regain their normal breeding quality and they're a very minimal threat to the gravel world."

"Do you mean we should forget about her entirely?" Lin Huang tilted his head and asked Bloody.

"I mean we shouldn't waste more time and effort here since we can't find her main consciousness within a short period of time. Let's put it aside, not ignore it forever," Bloody explained, "There are priorities. The Bug Tribe's Queen Mother isn't something that we must solve for now. Compared to that, you actually have many more important things at hand to handle.

"Furthermore, I believe this Bug Tribe should be lower-key within a short period of time since one of their virtual god-level bug guardians has been killed. It's unlikely that they'll come to you."

Lin Huang fell into silence for a moment and nodded eventually. "Forget it. Let's do what you said."

The reason why he made such a decision in the end was that it would be pretty meaningless to head to Loner City to kill the Queen Mother. Her body was breaking down and even her main consciousness had escaped. She would not die even if her body was killed. Instead, they would just be alerting the enemy.

On the other hand, like Bloody said, he had too much on his plate at the moment. Going after the Queen Mother's main consciousness was something that would drain his time and effort. If he insisted on dwelling on this, it would mess up his initial plan.

Another reason Bloody pointed out was that killing the Queen Mother was not something that he had to do now. In terms of priorities, it was behind many other things.

Due to the three reasons, Lin Huang chose to accept Bloody's suggestion which was to put the Queen Mother matter aside.

Lin Huang had no idea that in Loner City of Division 3, the bug guardian, Vivian, sensed Busby's death as soon as he was killed.

The Queen Mother's consciousness that was in an unknown region sensed it at the same time. She contacted Vivian through her body.

"Busby is dead. This foothold is no longer safe. Arrange the migration within half an hour."

Vivian nodded immediately as soon as she heard the Queen Mother's voice transmission. She then asked, "Queen Mother, which backup foothold should we move to?"

"Foothold No. 7."

"No. 7? Don't we only have five backup footholds?" Vivian was surprised.

"You and Busby only know there are five."

Vivian was stunned to hear that and reacted subsequently. "I get it now, Queen Mother. You're afraid that someone will read Busby's mind."

"Busby has abilities close to Virtual God rank-9. The person who managed to kill him is not to be underestimated. In my current condition, we shouldn't offend such a person. We can only avoid him at the moment." The Queen Mother's weak voice came slowly again.

"Oh yeah, why did Busby leave the foothold this time? I guess you should know, don't you?"

"He went after Lin Xie, that No. 1 genius." Vivian thought it was odd after saying that out loud. "Lin Xie is only on immortal-level. I'm afraid Busby wasn't killed by Lin Xie. He might've encountered something else along the way."

"Lin Xie…" Queen Mother fell into silence upon hearing that name before speaking again, "Inform all the members to stop all missions that are related to Lin Xie!"

Lin Huang only spent half a day on the third layer of the Abyss Brink after his grand entrance and returned to Emperor City quietly.

He headed straight to the Emperor Palace as soon he stepped out of the dimensional portal.

He only said one line to Huang Tianfu and the other two, "I'm going into closed-door cultivation for a month!"

Lin Huang went into closed-door mode officially and began refining the Godhead in his body with all of his might.

Meanwhile, the news of Lin Huang hunting for Life Base monsters in the Abyss Brink had spread through the entire cultivation world.

His name became a hot topic among the people again.

"He went to the Abyss Brink at such a time. He's obviously going to break through to imperial-level."

"I'm very curious about the Life Base monster he chose."

"With Lin Huang's ability, I'm sure he wouldn't go for an ordinary triple mutated monster."

Soon, many cultivators began discussing about the Life Base monster Lin Huang would choose on the Internet.

They were talking about that not because of his identity as the Emperor of Dynasty, but because of his title as the No. 1 genius of the new era.

Everyone was curious about what kind of Life Base monster the legendary No. 1 genius would go for.

Some of them even posted long threads to analyze the matter.

The biggest similarity among those threads was that most of them thought that Lin Huang would not go for a triple mutated monster.

Some threads even listed the Life Base monsters that Lin Huang would possibly kill in the Abyss Brink.

The few monsters that were listed in the threads were pseudo-mythical-level monsters that were currently available in the Abyss Brink. The combat strength ranged from imperial-level black gold-rank to imperial-level purple gold-rank.

There was a thread that even included a few demigod-level monsters in the list, causing heated discussions.

After all, Mr. Fu was the only Virtual God who was known to the public in this gravel world. To most people in the cultivation world, demigods were the most compelling powerhouses in this world. Meanwhile, most people thought that demigod-level monsters could not be defeated. Even the No. 1 genius Lin Huang might not possess the ability to kill a demigod.

Naturally, there were a minority of Lin Huang's fans who thought he could do anything at all. To them, he could even kill a demigod-level monster to be his Life Base monster.

Lin Huang, who was in closed-door cultivation, turned off the Internet and his communication device. He immersed himself into his Godhead refinement.

He did not even look at the card details when the Warlord and the two Dark Crescent Snakes elevated to mythical-level. Instead, he allowed Xiao Hei's system to seal the three mythical-level Monster Cards due to his restricted authorization.

Time passed by day after day. The progress of the Godhead refinement was growing everyday.

The progress would see a 1% boost almost every day from the 70% level before he went into closed-door cultivation.

The closed-door cultivation went on for a whole 30 days. The Virtual God rank-9 Godhead finally disintegrated and turned into golden gravel.

This golden gravel evolved into a clump the size of a fist which seemed like a living thing. It floated among the ten Life Wheels like a cloud, beginning to absorb other gravel and growing as Lin Huang watched it in surprise.

He thought the golden gravel that were refined from the other Virtual God Godheads would be engulfed first before the gray gravel refined from the broken Godheads.

Although the gray gravel occupied more surface than the golden gravel, they simply could not fight back in the presence of the golden gravel. They were like sheep encountering a tiger, and were soon absorbed.

After the golden gravel absorbed the gray gravel, its size grew less than 1% of the size of the gray gravel. Even though that was the case, the golden gravel grew to the size of three fists now.

Lin Huang knew what to do next after seeing the golden gravel occupy the space after it was done absorbing the gray gravel. Just when he was going to activate the Divine Fire in his body after visualizing the Life Palace in his place, something strange happened.

A black glow detached from Lin Huang's storage space and penetrated his body directly.

He sensed that immediately and felt his body being invaded.

Lifting his head to gaze up, he noticed an object that looked like a meteorite falling toward the direction of the Godhead. He was shocked for a moment, but he realized what was happening in the next second.

"That's… is that a bizarre seed?!"

Yes, the bizarre seed that could not be activated went into Lin Huang's body automatically as if it had been summoned.

Lin Huang did not stop it even after knowing that it was the bizarre seed. Instead, he watched the bizarre seed falling like a meteorite in great interest. It collided with the Godhead that looked like a cloud.

The golden cloud began integrating the bizarre seed that came in rapidly. The cloud that was initially golden was dyed black as if it had been splashed with ink.

At the same time, the black cloud hovered to the Monster Paradise Life Palace that had been formed slowly, engulfing it.

Lin Huang was speechless to see that strange scene. He initially thought that he would have two Life Palaces if he maintained the Monster Paradise Life Palace. In the end, the bizarre seed took the opportunity away from him and engulfed the Monster Paradise Life Palace wholly. He could even sense clearly that the Monster Paradise Life Palace was being refined at a high speed.

In reality, Lin Huang could make the Life Palace a card to put this process to a halt. However, he chose to let it do whatever it was doing and waited for the engulfment to be completed patiently.

The Monster Paradise Life Palace was refined by the black cloud entirely within ten seconds. The black cloud then went back to surround the Life Wheels.

At the moment, the ten Life Furnaces (Life Lamps) in Lin Huang's body began spitting Divine Fire out even before he gave his order. At the same time, a sea of Divine Power began penetrating the black cloud with the Divine Fire.

The silhouette of a black palace appeared slowly as the Divine Fire was spat onto the black cloud. With the Divine Fire and the Divine Power, the details of the black palace formed automatically.

The process went on for ten hours before the gigantic black palace was finally formed. As there was no time to produce Divine Power during the process of building the Life Palace, the initially endless Divine Power in Lin Huang's body was drained for the very first time. It was all taken away by the black Life Palace.

Seeing that the Life Palace seemed to be able to take in more Life Power, Lin Huang used three Life Power Refill Cards consecutively.

A sea of Divine Power was pumped into the Life Palace once again.

Another 30 hours passed, and the Life Palace grew almost four times bigger than it was before. This new Life Palace seemed to have reached its limit of taking Life Power in, so it stopped absorbing Life Power.

Meanwhile, the Life Lamps in the ten Life Wheels finally stopped spitting Divine Fire. They seemed to have ground to a halt completely from exhaustion.

The ten Life Wheels then turned into golden glows and penetrated the Life Palace. They were like ten golden suns hovering on top of the Life Palace, resembling a giant hanging lamp.

The Life Palace began trembling after the Life Wheels penetrated. Up to 1,000 lamps were lit up automatically with black Divine Fire burning in them.

Lin Huang felt that the Divine Power in his body was recovering rapidly since the black Divine Fire was lit.

Although the recovery speed was not that much fasare than the Divine Power rotation before, it was at least ten times faster. Within ten seconds, the Divine Power in the ten Life Wheels in his body was replenished. New Divine Power began flooding Lin Huang's body and soul, resulting in a double body and soul transformation!

Lin Huang could clearly feel that his ability had increased by more than a level since he elevated to imperial-level.

His ability was only on par with ordinary imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouse when he was on immortal-level rank-10. However, he had the confidence to kill demigods now.

Naturally, he was not sure if he could fight virtual god-level powerhouses before he fought one officially.

After the transformation was completed, Lin Huang only sank in the changes in his body for a moment and looked into his body to check the Life Palace immediately.

Just when he laid his eyes on the Life Palace, a projected box popped up from Xiao Hei's side before he could check through his Life Palace thoroughly.

"Life Palace: Monster Paradise

"Territorial Range of the Life Palace: Radius of 100 kilometers from the Life Palace owner (potential to grow)

"Life Palace Ability 1: Within the territorial range of the Life Palace, the dead summoning beast's soul will return to the Life Palace with its body reconstructed and revived. Those that have broken souls will have their broken soul pieces recalled and recovered.

"Ability Restriction 1: Each summoning beast can only be revived ten times within 24 hours. Their soul will disintegrate when the revival surpasses ten times and they won't be able to return to the Life Palace (potential to grow)

"Ability Restriction 2: Each summoning beast can only have their soul recovered three times within 24 hours. Their soul will disintegrate if the recovery surpasses three times and they won't be able to return to the Life Palace (potential to grow)

"Derivative Ability: If the Life Palace owner dies within the coverage range, he can choose to use a summoning beast to substitute his death. The summoning beast that is chosen as the substitute won't be able to be summoned within 72 hours (potential to grow)"

"Remarks: The Life Palace owner's death can only be substituted three times within 24 hours. He can only be substituted once if his soul disintegrates (potential to grow)

…

"Life Palace Ability 2: Within the territorial range of the Life Palace, the Life Palace owner and his summoning beasts will experience a double boost in their strength, speed, and spirit. The opponent will experience a 10% increase in their strength, speed and spirt (potential to grow).

"Remarks: The Life Palace owner can turn off the boost and undermining effect as he wishes."

Lin Huang was stunned to see the projected box. He subsequently read it thoroughly

The first question he had after going through it was, "Xiao Hei, did you turn my Life Palace into a card directly? Why am I looking at the Life Palace information in card form?"

The reason why Lin Huang asked that was mainly that the Monster Paradise Life Palace earlier had been a card. He wanted to know if the Life Palace that he had just constructed was turned into a card due to the integration with the Monster Paradise as soon as he saw the card information. He wanted to know if that was the reason why he was seeing the card information directly.

Fortunately, Xiao Hei's answer was not what Lin Huang was thinking about.

"It's not been made into a card. It's just that a new 'check details' function has been added since the new authorization. You can read the items' information as long as they belong to you."

"I see."

The second thing Lin Huang did was to look at his personal card after his doubt was solved. In reality, his main purpose was to see what kind of changes were made to his summoning authority.

"Host: Lin Huang

"Gender: Male

"Age: 19

"Combat Strength: Imperial-level

"Title: Godslayer (Obtained God Rule: God-slaying Power)

"Integration Item: Origin God's Heart, Galactic Hive, One Page Sword Scripture

"Inheritance: Demigod's brain, Sorcerer Goddess…

"Secret Skills: Superhuman Strength, Seraphic Speed, Substitute, Golden Cicada…

"Life Palace: Monster Paradise

"Sword Dao (Level-6): Possesses Sword Heart, Sword Spirit

"Sword Skills: Moonlit Night, Silent Snow, Buddha Killer, Instantaneous Slash, Almighty Surgical Knife, Killer, Star Dome, Royal Sword…

"Gunfighting Technique: Thunderstorm, Sandstorm, Torrent…

"Movement Skills: Wandering God, Thunder Steps, Imperial Flight…

"Minor: The Twisted Fate Scripture, Seamless, Fatal Tactic, Undefeatable Warrior, Heaven's Wrath, Omniscient Nature…

"Monster Skills: Divine Telekinesis, Divine Regeneration, Holy Power, Elemental Immunity, Leech Pods, Absolute Control, Divine Purification Light, Revival, Immortal Warrior Body, Vampire Particles, Divine Strength, Divine Defense, Lightning Lord, Mirror, Doll forbidden skill, Punishment, Divine Witchcraft, Knight, Integration, Mechanical Building (God-level), Mechanical Recovery (God-level), Evil Blood Substitute, Divine Disguise.

"Summoning Authority: Activated (Pseudo-supreme God-level)

"Available Number of Summons: 30

"Remarks: I guess it's passable."

Lin Huang glanced through his personal card. Apart from the title and integration item columns that were added, nothing much had changed. Only many of the monster skill names were changed.

For instance, Purification Light was now Divine Purification Light, Warrior Body was now Immortal Warrior Body, Lightning Control was now Lightning Lord, Dark Mirror was now Mirror, Doll secret skill was now Doll forbidden skill.

In reality, those skills that still had the same names had undergone a major change.

The monster skills that Lin Huang extracted from the monsters were a reflection of the monsters' skills. Since the extracted skills were more powerful now, things on Lin Huang's side also changed. Meanwhile, the monsters that Lin Huang extracted the skills from had evolved into quadruple mutated mythical-level now, and their skills experienced a boost by more than a level. Naturally, the extracted skills would change as well as they were boosted.

What Lin Huang cared about the most was the summoning authority and the available number of summons.

The summoning authority was upgraded from mythical-level to pseudo-supreme god-level, and Lin Huang was elated about that. He initially thought that it was highly possible to elevate to mythical-level. However, if it only elevated to mythical-level, it would take a while for Bai, who was on pseudo-supreme low-level, to be summoned again. Fortunately, the summoning authority was boosted to pseudo-supreme god-level this time. None of his Monster Cards had summoning restrictions now.

Meanwhile, to his surprise, the available number of summons was doubled from 15 to 30. He thought it would only be boosted to 20. After all, the available number of summons increased from 10 to 15 when he was breaking through from holy fire-level to immortal-level.

Overall, Lin Huang was very satisfied with his personal card after looking through it because many changes had exceeded his expectations.

He then looked at the bunch of Monster Cards left in his body after putting his personal card away.

The cards that reached the summoning authorization went straight into the Monster Paradise Life Palace. Meanwhile, those that were below the authorization, namely the mythical-level and pseudo-supreme god-level Monster Cards, remained in his body.

As Lin Huang studied them, the orange Monster Cards turned into orange glows one after another and shot towards the Life Palace like a meteor shower. There was even a golden glow among them, which was Bai on pseudo-supreme god-level.

Within the span of a breath, all the Monster Cards penetrated Lin Huang's brand new Life Palace.

Lin Huang began looking at the unsealed cards after the new summoning authority was granted.

Apart from Bai who was on pseudo-supreme god-level, there were 28 mythical-level cards including Charcoal, Tyrant, Kylie, Grimace, Thunder, Bloody Robe, the Imp, the Fiend, the Witch, the Eclipse Boa, the Death Knight, the Fallen Knight, the Warlord, the Herculean King, Bing Wang, the Dark Crescent Snake x2, the Bug Tribe Queen Mother x4, the Multi-eyed Worm x2, Superbrain Worm x2, the Golden Bug x2, and the Bug Servant.

These cards that were initially sealed were now unsealed to Lin Huang. In addition to that, their combat strength had elevated to imperial-level purple gold-rank automatically.

Lin Huang did not doubt that mythical-level monsters on imperial-level purple gold-rank would have an ability of at least virtual god-level.

As soon as the summoning authority was granted, Lin Huang's overall ability experienced a significant boost without him even considering using his God Figurine's Combat Souls.

Before this, the summoning beasts Lin Huang had were just a couple of pseudo-mythical-level monsters such as Lancelot. Their combat strength was only on imperial-level yellow gold-rank whereby their abilities were on par with an imperial-level purple gold-rank at the most.

Meanwhile, mythical- and pseudo-mythical-levels were on a completely different standard. Furthermore, Charcoal and the rest experienced a two-rank boost in their combat strength, so they were on imperial-level purple gold-rank now. It made sense for them to have their abilities upgraded.

Lin Huang glanced at Bai, who was on pseudo-supreme low-level, and the other 28 mythical-level monsters such as Kylie. He had his eyes fixed on Lancelot and the rest who were on pseudo-mythical-level.

Materials were unnecessary for elevating pseudo-mythical-level Monster Cards to mythical-level. They could complete the elevation as long as there were enough Advance Cards.

Lin Huang did not hesitate to summon Lancelot, Killer, and the Evil Dominator. He then crushed 15 Advance Cards which penetrated three of them respectively.

The three of them soon turned into gigantic golden cocoons and began their elevation to mythical-level.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang could only put aside the tens of thousands of pseudo-mythical-level bug guardians, ant guardians, Lady Black-stripes, Giant-bellied Spiders, Scarlet-scimitar Bugs and the rest of the Bug Tribe Monster Cards. He did not have that many Advance Cards to elevate these pseudo-mythical-level bugs to mythical-level. Also, it was unnecessary.

Such monsters could win by sheer numbers as long as the Queen Mother was on mythical-level which gave the army their best ability. Moreover, this army already had four mythical-level Bug Tribe Queen Mothers and seven mythical-level monarch-level talents. They were considered a pretty solid deployment. He even had complete equipment including a Bug Tribe Airship, a Bug Tribe incubator, a Bug Tribe Genetic Optimizer, a Gene Extractor, and more to cultivate more Bug Tribe armies.

Lin Huang only shook Bloody out of his sleeve after applying Advance Cards on Lancelot and the rest.

"I've elevated to imperial-level. It's time to elevate you to mythical-level." Lin Huang looked at Bloody while grinning.

Including the Bug Tribe Monster Cards, Lin Huang had more than tens of millions of legendary-level Monster Cards in hand. Among them, Lin Huang thought he would not waste his Advance Cards on elevating them, but Bloody was the only one who had to be upgraded.

In reality, if not for the fact that he needed Bloody to assist him, he would have elevated Bloody since the beginning since he already had the elevation materials much earlier.

This time, Bloody did not reject the offer.

It did not even say anything. All it did was smile and nod at Lin Huang.

Lin Huang took out the materials following the sequence for Bloody to integrate them slowly. He then crushed five Advance Cards which penetrated Bloody's body.

Soon, Bloody turned into a golden cocoon which stood by Lancelot and the rest.

As Lin Huang stared at the four cocoons to observe them, he counted the mythical-level Monster Cards that he owned. At that moment, he thought the 30 available summonings were still insufficient.

He shook his head while forcing a smile. He finally moved on from his summoning beasts and asked Xiao Hei, "Now that my summoning authority has gone up to pseudo-supreme god-level, I guess there should be a boost in my Function Cards application, shouldn't there?"

"Due to the upgrade in your authority, the Function Cards are completely categorized by grades now.

"Grade-1 Card: Only applicable on living things and non-living things below transcendent.

"Grade-2 Card: Only applicable on transcendent living things and non-living things below God.

"Grade-3 Card: Only applicable on living things and non-living things below virtual god-level and God.

"Grade-3 golden card: A special grade-3 card containing grade-3 card effects. It's also applicable on specific true god-level living things and non-living things (the star on the card is golden while the star on the other cards are white).

"Grade-3 golden card is currently the highest authority you have."

"Grade-3 and grade-3 golden card… My instinct is telling me that this is a trap," Lin Huang could not help but mumble softly after seeing the grades Xiao Hei was showing him.

"The system sorted out the card reward slots too. The probability of obtaining a grade-3 golden card among grade-3 cards is 1%."

"The card reward draw has grades now?!" Lin Huang widened his eyes in horror as that was bad news to him.

"Yes, you currently have 11,697 card draws. They belong to grade-2 rewards, so you can only draw from the grade-2 card slot."

"Are they any grade-3 and grade-3 golden cards in the grade-2 card slot?" Lin Huang demanded immediately.

"There are only 1% of grade-3 cards in the grade-2 card slot. There're no grade-3 golden cards."

"How about the grade-3 card slot? What's the probability like?"

"There're no grade-1 and grade-2 cards in the grade-3 card slot. You have a 97% chance of drawing grade-3 cards. You'll also have a 2% chance of drawing grade-3 golden cards and 1% for grade-4 cards."

"So, how do I activate the grade-3 card slot?!" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"The current grade-2 card reward draw that you have can be traded for a grade-3 card reward draw in the ratio of 100:1. You can draw the cards in the grade-3 card slot directly after you've done the trading."

Lin Huang's heart dropped when he heard the ratio. It would mean that 10,000 card rewards would decrease to become just 100 times.

"What a trap!" Lin Huang gasped.

"If you draw from the grade-2 card slot, although the probability of drawing a grade-3 card is only 1%, it doesn't mean that you'll definitely draw a grade-3 card from the 100 draws."

"It's another story if you activate the grade-3 card slot. The probability of drawing grade-3 cards doesn't exist. Moreover, there's a certain probability that you might draw grade-3 golden cards and grade-4 cards. Activating the grade-3 card slot is more worth it no matter what."

"What you say makes sense, but I keep feeling like I've been trapped." Lin Huang fell into deep thought while holding his chin. He asked, "So, will there be something like grade-4 and grade-5 card slots in the future?"

"You're so smart!"

Although Xiao Hei complimented him, Lin Huang was not happy at all.

He thought he had won more than 10,000 card draws and would enjoy that slowly in the future. To his aghast, he ended up with a slap in the face from the harsh reality of things.

Although drawing cards from the grade-3 card slot was clearly more worth it than drawing from the grade-2 card slot, Lin Huang did not do that right away.

He fell into silence for a moment and asked again, "Since I've elevated to imperial-level, I'll be given a grade-3 card draw for my cross-ranking kill. Am I right?"

"That's right, but there's a higher difficulty in drawing grade-3 cards now."

"You'll only be given a cross-ranking reward if you kill monsters on virtual god-level or above. You'll be given a grade-3 card draw reward for each virtual god-level monster you kill. The most cross-ranking rewards you can get from killing monsters of the same combat level would be ten times. That remains the same."

"What? I'll only be given a grade-3 card draw for killing virtual god-level monsters? So, it's the same no matter whether I kill a Virtual God rank-1 or a Virtual God rank-9 monster?!" Even Lin Huang's voice rose a pitch higher now.

"That's right. There's no difference whether you kill a Virtual God rank-1 or a Virtual God rank-9 monster. It'll only be calculated based on the combat level. The cross-ranking kill reward will follow the same in the future. You'll be given the same cross-ranking kill reward for killing monsters of the same level, no matter whether they are rank-1 or rank-9."

"What if I kill a True God?" Lin Huang probed again.

"At your current combat strength, you'll be awarded a grade-3 golden card draw opportunity if you kill a True God. There'll be a 90% probability that you'll obtain a grade-3 golden card and a 10% probably for a grade-4 card."

"Alright then." Initially, Lin Huang thought he would obtain more opportunities for drawing a card if he killed a True God. It turned out that the system boosted the quality of the draw instead.

Lin Huang thought about it and asked, "Will the card draw be multiplied if I use a Double Reward Card?"

"Since the Function Cards have been categorized into grades, a portion of them of which their function range isn't clear will be restricted by the grades. The Double Reward Cards you currently own have been categorized into grade-2 Function Cards, whereby they don't work on a grade-3 card draw reward. Only a grade-3 card Double Reward Card will work on a grade-3 card draw reward."

Lin Huang finally understood it after hearing what Xiao Hei said. The initial Double Reward Card, Advance Card, Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card, and such were not restricted in terms of application whereby all powerhouses could use them regardless of their combat strength.

However, since the system divided the Function Cards into grades, the functions of the cards would apply to different grades. It was equivalent to a person selling 100 square meters of land and building a 300 square meter house on the available land aside. Since the land was all sold out now, it was only natural that the house would be prohibited from being built.

Xiao Hei's system put those Function Cards with gray areas into grades whereby they would only work when applied on given grades.

"Alright then, excluding a grade-3 Double Reward Card, I only have 19 grade-3 card rewards on each combat strength. In other words, I'll only have 95 card draw rewards from the five ranks which range from imperial-level black gold-rank to imperial-level purple gold-rank."

"I must correct you about this. Your Life Palace is different from anyone else's Life Palace in this gravel world. Your imperial-levels won't be ranked from imperial-level black gold-rank to imperial-level purple gold-rank."

Lin Huang was shocked to hear what Xiao Hei said. He suddenly recalled that the combat strength on his personal card was indeed not 'imperial-level black gold-rank', but merely 'imperial-level'.

He tapped his personal card open again and checked through it. To his astonishment, he realized that the combat strength displayed on it was indeed 'imperial-level' only. He was dumbstruck.

"If I don't elevate from imperial-level black gold-rank to imperial-level purple gold-rank like how it usually goes, how am I elevating based on ranks?" Lin Huang had no idea how should he advance next.

"Think about the people in this gravel world. How do they elevate from imperial-level black gold-rank to imperial-level purple gold-rank?" said the stone tablet's voice slowly. It did not give Lin Huang a direct solution and asked him that instead.

"One would have to kill an imperial-level monster and take its Life Base for integration in order to elevate. To elevate from imperial-level black gold-rank to imperial-level crimson gold-rank, one would have to kill a monster on imperial-level crimson gold-rank or above to take its Life Base. The process is similar to elevating from immortal-level to imperial-level black gold-rank…" Lin Huang stopped all of a sudden as he muttered, "Do you mean… I'll integrate more Godheads into my Life Palace that has been formed to elevate it?!"

"It's a Life Palace anyway. The other elevation methods work no matter how different they are," the stone tablet informed while smiling.

"So, how many integrations will it take for me to elevate to virtual god-level?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"It depends on how many integrations your Life Palace can take and when will it be the limit to integrate Godheads. When there's no way to integrate any more Godheads, it would mean it's time for you to elevate to virtual god-level," the stone tablet's tone sounded like everything made sense.

"What you said seems flawless based on logic…" Lin Huang took the stone tablet's advice which was to integrate Godheads when he was elevating to imperial-level earlier. Eventually, he made it. He thought about it and decided to go with it anyway. "I don't care how many ranks there are. It's not too late to elevate to virtual god-level when I'm done feeding my Life Palace to the point that it can no longer integrate any more Godheads! Meanwhile, I'll call this Life Palace imperial-level grade-1 then. I'll add one more grade to it each time the integration goes through. Let's see how many grades it'll take for it to reach a full cycle."

Lin Huang did not notice that the information on his personal card changed automatically as soon as he said that. The original combat strength evolved from 'imperial-level' to 'imperial-level grade-1'.

"Judging by the process through which I elevated to imperial-level, a Virtual God rank-9 Godhead will be required as the main material for each grade of elevation as well as other ranks of Godheads and broken Godheads as subsidiary materials. I only have three Virtual God rank-9 Godheads as the main material now, but I don't have many subsidiary materials."

Lin Huang had obtained three Virtual God rank-9 Godheads as his reward when he was on Stairway Tree earlier. They could be used as the main material for the elevation of his combat strength. The problem was that he had used most of the other Godheads and broken Godheads for his previous upgrade to imperial-level. The remaining few were the ones he was now left with when his body could no longer take any more materials earlier. They were insufficient for him to elevate to imperial-level grade-2.

"It might be a little difficult to gather subsidiary materials to get to imperial-level grade-3 and grade-4, but it shouldn't be too hard to collect enough subsidiary materials to elevate to imperial-level grade-2."

After making sure that the elevation method was fine, Lin Huang did not hesitate anymore and took out a Virtual God rank-9 Godhead. He tossed it into his body and threw in the remaining few Godheads and broken Godheads in his storage space at the same time.

The Godheads and broken Godheads crashed into his Life Palace like a meteor shower. They were soon surrounded by the ten golden Life Wheels that resembled suns. Maroon Divine Fire was spat out of the Life Wheels one after another and drowned the Godheads completely.

Lin Huang felt the refinement progress right away. "The refinement speed almost doubled compared to before. Given the current efficiency of refinement alone without me activating it, it'll only take six to seven months to refine this Virtual God rank-9 Godhead fully. If I refine it by myself at all costs, I think I'll only need approximately a month to complete the refinement.

"What I need to do now is to find enough Godheads to elevate my Life Palace to grade-2 before this Virtual God rank-9 Godhead is refined completely!"

After shoving the Godheads into his body, Lin Huang merely peeped at the refinement progress and stopped looking at it. Instead, he asked Xiao Hei, "You told me that grade-3 cards only work on virtual god-level. So, does that mean a grade-3 Healing Card can be used to heal Mr. Fu's injury?"

"Yes. If it's a grade-3 Healing Card, almost all injuries can be healed for people below true god-level."

"Alright, I'd like to trade a grade-3 Healing Card."

"Are you sure you want to trade directly? If you trade a specific card directly, it'll take ten times more of your card rewards. Moreover, your card rewards are grade-2, so the ratio to trade in a grade-3 card would be 100:1. In other words, it'll take up to 1,000 card rewards for you to trade a grade-3 Healing Card."

"I know. Do it," Lin Huang confirmed. He knew about the specific card trading condition since the beginning. After all, he had done that more than once.

"Alright then. You currently have 11,728 card draw rewards (grade-2). You'll only have 10,728 card rewards left after this grade-3 card trade which will drain 1,000 card draws."

"Congratulations, you've obtained a specific card, the Healing Card (grade-3) x1"

"Can I trade the grade-2 and grade-3 card draw rewards as I wish? Can I trade them back if I trade them now and regret it a few days later? Are there any restrictions?" Lin Huang thought about it and raised a few questions.

"You can trade three times freely with no condition. However, trading will be prohibited completely if you do that more than three times."

"I get it now. Trade in the remaining grade-2 card draw rewards which are 100 to 10,000 times of the grade-3 card draw rewards then. Put the remaining 728 times aside." Lin Huang fell into a moment of silence before ordering Xiao Hei.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Xiao Hei reconfirmed with Lin Huang again. After all, he was only allowed to do that three times and would lose a chance if he did it now.

"I confirm!" Lin Huang nodded right away without hesitation. A grade-2 card draw reward was nothing much to him as the remaining 700 or so times would be completely sufficient. If that was insufficient, he would trade them back with grade-3 card draw rewards.

"Consuming card draw rewards (grade-2) x 10,000 for card draw reward (grade-3)…

"Congratulations, you've obtained card draw rewards (grade-3) x100

"Below are the available card draw rewards you have:

"Card draw rewards (grade-2) x 728

"Card draw rewards (grade-3) x 100"

Lin Huang stared at the box that popped up and asked all of a sudden, "Are there any cards among the grade-3 cards that can revive a person?"

"There's a Revival Card, but it can only be used to revive level-1 lives. It won't work on level-2 lives above holy fire-level. If you'd like to revive a level-2 life, you'd need at least a grade-4 card."

"The Revival Card is a Special Card that involves the rule power. Such a card will be restricted by the world rule that you're currently in, which causes this grade-3 card to only have a grade-1 effect."

"I know. I only need it to revive a level-1 life." Lin Huang nodded and paused subsequently before asking again, "Will the person I revive have any after-effects due to the card?"

"No, this card revives the deceased with the rule power. The deceased's body and soul will be recovered and regain exactly the same condition one had before death. There won't be any strangeness and after-effects."

"That's great." Lin Huang was finally relieved. "Trade me a Revival Card then."

"Trading a specific Revival Card will consume ten times of your grade-3 card draws. Are you sure you want to do that?"

"I confirm it!"

"Consuming card draw rewards (grade-3) x 10 for a specific card!

"Congratulations, you've obtained a specific card, the Revival Card (grade-3) x1"

Lin Huang summoned the card immediately after the trade was successful.

The front of the card was a moving image. The image depicted a burial place during midnight. All of a sudden, a tomb in the middle of the burial trembled and a man crawled out of it slowly.

The man had dirt stuck to his clothes, but he did not look like a dead person at all.

The man stared at his hands in disbelief after crawling out of the grave. He then placed his right hand on the left side of his chest. The card turned black while a flutter of heartbeats could be felt clearly in the dark.

Lin Huang smiled after finishing the little story. He then turned the card around.

"Revival Card

"Type of Card: Special Card

"Rarity: Grade-3

"Function: The card can revive a specific living thing once activated.

"Remark 1: This card cannot be recalled once it's been activated, so the user has to specify a target within three minutes. The card will disintegrate automatically if no target is specified in three minutes.

"Remark 2: The target has to be within ten meters from the user. The card cannot be used on a target that is out of range.

"Remark 3: The target has to be a part of the deceased flesh or soul. It can be the deceased's body, ashes, hair, blood, soul fragment, and so on.

"Remark 4: The target has to be a living thing. It cannot be a collective of consciousness. If it's a living thing with many individual consciousnesses, the card can only revive ten consciousness randomly. Use more cards to revive the other consciousnesses that are excluded from the ones that have been revived.

"Remark 5: This card can only be used on level-1 lives."

…

Lin Huang read the details at the back of the card thoroughly before nodding. He then recalled the card.

Naturally, he put this Revival Card aside for the fatty, Yin Hangyi.

Although Fatty was talkative, lazy and had many bad habits, he was a remarkable person who had great cooking skills. Most importantly, he treated Lin Huang as a friend.

Three years ago, Lin Huang had no friends when he just arrived in this world.

On a certain level, Fatty was actually the first friend Lin Huang had in this gravel world. Although he knew Li Lang much earlier, they only met once back then, so they were not considered friends at all.

Fatty's death had been on Lin Huang's mind for the past two years.

Although he would always say that it was Grandmistress Wei who killed Fatty and that he had avenged Fatty for killing the mastermind, he knew very well that he was indirectly the reason why his friend was killed.

If he did not kill Wei Shan and offend Grandmistress Wei, Grandmistress Wei would not have sent Lily to kill him. Then, Fatty would not have encountered Lily and he would not have been killed.

Now, the matter that had been bothering Lin Huang could finally be solved.

It was winter in the Peaceful Ocean when November was coming to an end.

The water in the Peaceful Ocean was different from normal water whereby it would not freeze easily even though the temperature dropped sub-zero. There would only be a thin layer of frost on the surface when it went below -30 degrees Celsius.

However, the deeper the ocean, the lower the freezing point of the sea water. Some investigators even found out that the lowest the temperature would go at the bottom of the Peaceful Ocean was -270 degrees Celsius.

At the moment, it was -20 degrees Celsius on the ocean. There was an ice fog covering the sea, making it seem like the entire Peaceful Ocean was draped in a white chiffon dress.

Even demigods usually dared not enter the Peaceful Ocean in such terrible weather.

One reason was that there would be a magnetic field interference in the ice fog which made one unable to set the coordinates and directions on their Emperor's Heart Ring.

The other reason was that the ice fog above the Peaceful Ocean would absorb energy. If one was lost in the ice fog for too long, even a demigod's Divine Power and Life Power would be entirely drained.

Another reason was that the deep sea's temperature would drop continuously during winter. Most sea monsters and fishes would stay close to the surface as much as they could. The low temperature caused many sea kings and other monsters to lurk right below the surface, which made it at least a hundred times more dangerous than usual.

However, a purple-gold silhouette tore through the layers of ice fog despite the terrible conditions. It flew less than 20 meters above the sea at an insanely fast speed.

If someone had powerful vision, he would be able to see that it was a purple majestic eagle with golden patterns on its body.

Meanwhile, there was a handsome young man sitting on the beast's back. He seemed to be only 20 years old.

Naturally, it was Lin Huang and Thunder who would travel above Peaceful Ocean at such a time.

It was Lin Huang's first time summoning Thunder since it elevated to mythical-level.

All sea monsters would avoid Thunder since it was a quadruple mutated mythical-level beast who had imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength.

Such a monster was the born nemesis of sea monsters, what more given its current powerful combat strength. Most sea monsters would flee as soon as they sensed its aura from far away.

They encountered two demigod-level sea kings challenging them. Nonetheless, Thunder did not bother to fight as its shriek alone penetrated the seawater and entered the sea kings' heads.

The sea kings felt like there were thousands of thunder strikes exploding at the same time, stunning them senseless.

The power named Thunderstrike was a new skill Thunder obtained since elevating to mythical-level. The main effect was a sonic attack and soul deterrence. In reality, it would not do any physical harm. They would pass out from its shriek alone if the opponent was weak. Even if the opponent were powerful, it could stun the opponent for a moment.

Thunder did not bother attacking the demigod-level sea kings that blocked its way. It only released a shriek and flew past the two shocked sea kings.

Thunder was long gone when the sea kings snapped back to their senses a few minutes later.

Naturally, Lin Huang's sudden appearance at the Peaceful Ocean was to look for Mr Fu.

However, he did not inform Mr. Fu about his visit in advance because he wanted to give him a surprise.

After getting out of the dimensional portal at the Peaceful Ocean port, Lin Huang flew on Thunder's back for more than an hour and finally found Mr. Fu's spaceship.

He was shocked to see what was happening as he stood up and looked at the spaceship.

Mr. Fu wore blue beach shorts and a yellow floral shirt while lying in the chair and fishing with his sunglasses on.

What shocked Lin Huang was that two female mermaids were serving him on both sides.

The two female mermaids had fishtails and beautiful, curvy torsos. They had stunning figures which were accentuated by two seashells covering their breasts.

One of them was massaging Mr. Fu's arm while the other was feeding him fruits.

Lin Huang patted Thunder carefully before it descended rapidly.

Sensing there was a monster coming toward his spaceship, Mr. Fu lifted his head to look at Thunder's direction.

Just when he was going to attack by brandishing the fishing rod, he sensed a familiar aura and stopped. He raised his brow when he got a closer look at the figure. "Lin Huang?!"

Meanwhile, Thunder had landed on the spaceship deck. Lin Huang hopped off Thunder's back.

"Sir." Lin Huang did not recall Thunder and walked to Mr. Fu directly.

Mr. Fu was stunned to see Lin Huang. A beautiful mermaid was feeding him cleaned sea grapes.

Mr. Fu blushed and waved the two beautiful mermaids away. "There's something that I need to do. You guys should leave."

The two mermaids nodded in obedience then leaped into the Peaceful Ocean from the deck. They bade farewell to Mr. Fu reluctantly before they left.

Mr. Fu only turned his head to look at Lin Huang after sending the two mermaids off.

"The mermaids…"

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Sir." Lin Huang had never planned to ask about Mr. Fu's life.

As half of the mermaids' bodies appeared human, some of the collectors would purchase them as their slaves for their obedient character. Some would even release their sexual desire on them.

At least, Mr. Fu had mermaids and not mermen.

"It's not what you think," Mr. Fu proceeded to explain while looking guilty, "I was grilling fish back then and attracted a mermaid tribe nearby. To eat my grilled fish, they would send two to three mermaids over every day to provide me with all kinds of services.

"Some would gather the ingredients for me and sometimes they would clean my ship. They've done the chores that I asked them to do these few days, so they began looking for other things to do on their own. They would give me massages when I fish and feed me fruits. We really didn't do anything else."

"Oh." Lin Huang's reaction was very calm. To Mr. Fu, his reaction was clearly perfunctory, so he emphasized, "I'm serious."

"I know." Lin Huang nodded.

Seeing Lin Huang remain calm, Mr. Fu opened his mouth and abruptly realized the change in his aura all of a sudden before he could say what he was about to. "Your aura… You've elevated to imperial-level?!"

Just when Mr. Fu said that, he sensed oddness in Lin Huang. He could not help but mumble softly, "Why does he feel like a virtual god-level?"

"I've elevated to imperial-level, but I didn't achieve it with the usual method," Lin Huang explained briefly. It was not because he refused to explain, but there was something more important to do.

"Let's not talk about me. I'm visiting you this time to solve the issue of your broken Godhead!"

"Do you really have a solution for my broken Godhead?!"

Mr. Fu's eyes lit up when he heard Lin Huang. He had been cultivating for many years, but he had yet to find a way to fix his Godhead. However, he had few doubts when he heard that all of a sudden. After all, he knew that Lin Huang was the Emperor of Dynasty who had an organization supporting him in the great world. He had ways that he could not imagine.

"Yes," Lin Huang confirmed while smiling.

"Is there anything that you need me to do?" Mr. Fu asked again instantly, "Is there anything that I should prepare?"

"There're no such concerns." Lin Huang pointed at the chair. "Go lie down and close your eyes. Recall your Divine Telekinesis and God Territory. It'll only take a moment."

Mr. Fu reclined on the chair right away then recalled his Divine Telekinesis and God Territory. He closed his eyes despite feeling a little anxious at the moment. For almost 800 years, he had almost forgotten how anxiety felt like. Now, the feeling came rushing all at once.

Lin Huang pointed at Mr. Fu's heart after he lay down and closed his eyes. At the same time, Lin Huang crushed a grade-3 Healing Card with his other hand.

The Healing Card turned into a golden glow that only Lin Huang could see and flowed into Mr. Fu's heart through Lin Huang's fingertips.

Almost the same time when the golden glow penetrated Mr. Fu's body, he could clearly sense that everything in his body was repairing itself rapidly.

The feeling was bizarre. He was eager to know what Lin Huang was doing exactly. However, he recalled that Lin Huang asked him to close his eyes as well as recall his Divine Telekinesis and God Territory, so he suppressed his urge to find out the truth. He did not want to interrupt Lin Huang's healing process with his impulsive curiosity.

Mr. Fu's body was repairing as a whole as soon as the effect of the Healing Card kicked in.

Not only was his body getting younger and his weak soul becoming strong now, but even the Godhead in his body and broken cultivation base were also healing rapidly.

Mr. Fu sensed his body going through a tremendous change every second.

It was healing to the point that even his combat strength that had dropped was increasing.

Virtual God rank-6!

Virtual God rank-7!

Virtual God rank-8!

His aura was growing continuously.

However, to Lin Huang, the biggest change in Mr. Fu was his body.

The old man, who was initially skinny, was getting younger at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye. Besides his skin and muscles recovering, even his height was growing.

Within a short few seconds, Mr. Fu turned from a skinny old man to a young man who only looked like he was in his early 20's.

Even Lin Huang had to admit that Mr. Fu's appearance was just as charming as his.

Seeing how Mr. Fu looked now, Lin Huang recalled the time when Mr. Fu visited him at his home. He disguised as exactly what he looked like now. "So, he was telling the truth. He really was 1.85 meters tall back then."

Meanwhile, Mr. Fu secretly glimpsed into his body. He realized that his body was changing swiftly.

He could not take his eyes off the changes in the Godhead.

The Godhead that he had was initially almost disintegrated whereby cracks were formed all over like a spiderweb. However, those tiny cracks were entirely repaired within a few seconds and the recovery was still on-going.

The cracks that looked like spiderwebs were recovering like time had been turned back. Even the big fissure that caused the Godhead to almost disintegrate was being mended continuously. In reality, the entire process only took less than 15 seconds. However, it was a long process for Mr. Fu.

He did not even bother to study the other changes that were going on in his body. All he was doing was guarding the Godhead's side to watch the giant fissure being filled. Eventually, it was fixed completely with not a single trace of damage to it at all.

When Mr. Fu snapped back from his observation of the Godhead, he realized that his Godhead was not the only thing that had been repaired.

His body, as well as his soul, had recovered to his peak during his younger self over 800 years ago. What surprised Mr. Fu the most was that his combat strength had recovered to peak-stage Virtual God rank-8, thus he was only one step away from reaching Virtual God rank-9.

Lin Huang only withdrew his finger that was pointing at Mr. Fu's heart when the transformation was almost over.

"You can open your eyes now."

Mr. Fu finally opened his eyes after hearing Lin Huang's voice.

The first thing he did when he opened his eyes was to turn on the camera on his Emperor's Heart Ring and project his own image.

"Check it out! I'm even more handsome when I was young!" Mr. Fu leaped from the chair upon seeing himself looking like his younger self again.

His head hung down and he stared at his hands. "I'm pumped with energy! It feels like I've traveled more than 800 years back."

"Has your Godhead recovered completely?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"It's recovered completely. There's not even a trace left behind!" Mr. Fu nodded in satisfaction. "What you did was insane!"

Mr. Fu did not ask Lin Huang what exactly he did. As a wise man, he knew there were secrets that one should not pry into.

"It's not just my Godhead. My soul, my body, and my combat strength have recovered to their peak. I can faintly sense that my combat strength is going to break through to Virtual God rank-9 soon."

"You've earned that. It's been over 800 years since your combat strength elevated after all," Lin Huang replied with a grin. Hearing Mr. Fu's description, the effect of the Healing Card seemed to be even better than he expected.

"Elevating my combat strength is an opportunity that's hard to come by. I wouldn't want to miss it for the world." Mr. Fu lifted his head to look at Lin Huang. "I thought I wanted to get you to stay for a few days for a decent conversation, but it seems like we'll do it next time because I'm going into closed-door cultivation."

"Sure, it's more important to elevate," Lin Huang agreed, "I happen to have something else to do for these few days, so I wouldn't be able to stay even if you asked me to. We'll have plenty of time to chat after you get out of your closed-door cultivation."

Lin Huang did not plan to stay any longer. He summoned dimensional portal and flapped his sleeve to recall Thunder back into a card.

Mr. Fu spoke through voice transmission all of a sudden after seeing Lin Huang opening the dimensional portal. "Thank you!"

Lin Huang paused and turned his head to reply through a voice transmission, "You're my teacher. There's no need to be so courteous."

Lin Huang paused after saying that and smirked at Mr. Fu. "The more powerful your ability is, the more powerful my support is. I'm the one who'll benefit in the end."

"You little rascal!" Mr. Fu shook his head while smiling.

Lin Huang waved at him after stepping into the dimensional portal. "Goodbye, Sir!"

With a nod, Mr. Fu smiled at Lin Huang. He watched the dimensional portal close slowly and eventually vanished with Lin Huang.

It was drizzling in Nanmu Town that was 1,300 kilometers away from Baqi City.

The weather was gloomy as if the sun had set when it was only noon.

Apart from Memorial Day, nobody would visit the cemetery in the eastern suburbs of the town, let alone on such a drizzling day in early winter when the chill seeped into one's bones and made them ache.

However, a silhouette stood before a tomb in the cemetery at that moment.

It was a handsome, young man who looked only 20. He wore a dark gray windbreaker and held a black umbrella. He only mumbled to himself after standing before the tomb for a long time, "Little Fatty, you should be well-rested since you've been sleeping for two years. It's time for you to get up and chase your dream of being a Food Hunter."

The young man moved his finger lightly as soon as he was done speaking. A silver metal egg appeared by his side all of a sudden.

The egg turned into a bald head that looked human. It was shiny under the sun.

Yes, that was the new look that the Warlord gave himself ever since he elevated — a bald robot man.

To be honest, Lin Huang could not understand the Warlord's standard of beauty at all.

In reality, he could totally get himself a wig, but he decided to go bald like an egg. Lin Huang gave his order after ignoring the Warlord's baldness.

"Warlord, get me the coffin under this tomb."

The Warlord opened his machinery space storage, and two tiny mechanical creatures that looked similar to armadillos rolled out of it. They drilled underground as soon as they appeared.

Soon, the tomb collapsed while the two mechanical creatures dragged a black coffin out.

"Do we open it?" asked the Warlord Lin Huang in his mechanical synthesized voice.

Lin Huang put the umbrella away and created a giant, black umbrella-shaped mirror above him and the coffin. He nodded at the Warlord after blocking the rainwater completely. "Open it."

A mechanical creature heard the order and shoved its sharp claws between the gaps on the lid of the coffin. It pulled hard and dragged the coffin open.

Lin Huang took a step forward and looked at the corpse at the bottom of the coffin.

Fatty's corpse was now a skeleton. One could not tell how his body had looked like when he had been alive.

Lin Huang stopped walking while a grin appeared on his face. He turned on the camera on his Emperor's Heart Ring with the playful intention of taking a couple of photos. "This should be the skinniest Fatty would ever be in his life. I should take pictures for memory."

Lin Huang took out the Revival Card slowly after taking those naughty photos. He crushed the card after aiming it at Fatty's corpse.

After the Revival Card disintegrated into countless pieces, they soon turned into golden streams of various sizes and penetrated Yin Hangyi's skeletons that were left behind.

Almost the second when the golden streams penetrated the bones, Lin Huang saw the lifeless skeleton begin growing flesh and organs at a remarkable speed.

Within a couple of seconds, Fatty's body had completely recovered. He looked exactly the same before he died two years ago. Even the flab on his body came back exactly the same.

A moment later, Lin Huang heard heartbeats from Fatty's chest.

Meanwhile, Fatty's vitals were waking up and getting stronger.

After some ten seconds, his vitals finally stabilized. Lin Huang felt that the effect of the Revival Card had faded completely.

However, Fatty, who was lying in the coffin, did not wake up. Just when Lin Huang wanted to find out what happened, he heard Fatty's snoring from the coffin.

"This guy…" Lin Huang was dumbfounded. "Get him out!"

The two mechanical creatures turned the coffin over mercilessly after hearing Lin Huang's order.

Fatty, who was in deep sleep, turned around and sat on the ground immediately after the fall. He looked around in annoyance.

"Who's that?! Can't you let me sleep?!"

Just when he said that, he saw Lin Huang who was standing not far away from him. He observed him while feeling odd for a moment before saying, "Hey, you look like my friend, but you're taller and stronger…"

Lin Huang took out a set of clothes from his storage space and tossed it at Fatty. "Put these on."

Fatty looked down and realized that the clothes on him were torn. Some of his private parts were exposed, so he covered them immediately.

"Who put these torn clothes on me?" Fatty said and suddenly realized that what he was wearing was familiar. "That's not right. I think this is mine. Why are they torn?"

He then glared at Lin Huang with his guard up. "What exactly did you do to me? I'm telling you that I like girls. Don't you dare come closer!"

"Think carefully. What else do you remember?" Lin Huang ignored Fatty's nonsense and asked directly.

"What do I remember?" Fatty was stunned for a moment. Images were playing back in his head one after another as he opened his mouth wider and wider in shock.

After a long time, Fatty looked at Lin Huang, appearing lost.

"I was dead?"

Lin Huang nodded at him.

"So, why am I…?" Fatty looked down at his hands. He wanted to use his Emperor's Heart Ring to project how he looked like, but he realized the ring on his finger could no longer be used.

Lin Huang turned his Emperor's Heart Ring camera on and projected Fatty's image.

Fatty was confused to see himself sitting on the ground with torn clothes and a perfectly fine body. However, soon, he noticed the coffin next to him and realized something.

"Did you revive me?"

Lin Huang nodded again.

"Are you Lin Huang's relative? Why do you look so much like him?" In Fatty's memory, Lin Huang was still a young man who was 1.7 meters tall. The difference with the current Lin Huang was significant.

"I'm Lin Huang." Lin Huang finally revealed his identity. "It's been more than two years since you died."

He told him what happened briefly since Fatty still looked puzzled.

The memories were coming back to Fatty. The images in his head finally matched what Lin Huang said as he recalled all the details that happened two years ago. Nostalgia flashed through his eyes when he thought of Zhang Mengmeng, but he soon hid his emotions.

Fatty seemed excited after accepting the truth that he was revived. "Since you managed to revive me, you must be a transcendent now. I'll rely on you from now onwards!"

"Can you put the clothes on first?" Lin Huang looked at Fatty who was in torn garments in disdain. He could almost see what was behind Fatty's shredded pants at his crotch.

Fatty recalled that he was still in torn clothes. He hid behind a tomb immediately and put the clothes on.

Clearly, Lin Huang's clothes were not Fatty's size. He could not button the pants and it was too long. The shirt and jacket were too tight, so his big belly was showing.

"Your clothes are too small," Fatty complained after putting the clothes on.

"You're too fat."

"Where are we going now?" Fatty asked again.

"We're going home!" Lin Huang passed him a black umbrella.

"Going home?" Fatty was stunned and hesitated. "Didn't you say that I was dead for two years? How do I explain myself if I go home?"

"Just say that you were hiding from your enemy and faked your death." Lin Huang thought about it and gave an answer.

"Then, how do I explain my body that hasn't changed at all throughout the two years?" Fatty asked again, feeling helpless.

A young man should go through a growth spurt when he was 16 to 17 years old. Just like Lin Huang, he grew over ten centimeters taller throughout the two years and was 1.83 meters tall now. He no longer looked like a teenager. He was clearly a grown man now.

However, Fatty looked exactly the same as he was two years back when he was resurrected with the Revival Card. Nothing about him changed at all. His family would definitely be skeptical about that.

Lin Huang thought about it for a while and explained, "Tell them that your body has stopped growing temporarily throughout the two years. It's the side effect of the elixir you took to fake your death, but the side effect has a time limit. It should only last for two to three years."

Fatty nodded when he heard that since he could not think of any explanation better than that.

"To outsiders, stop using your identity as Yin Hangyi. The news will spread quickly if anyone knows that you were resurrected. Then, trouble will never stop coming to you. There'll be many organizations watching you, so we can't rule out the possibility that underground organizations might carry violence out on you. By then, not only you but your family will be at risk too."

"I'll get you another identity. You'll live your life as Yin Hangyi's brother. Think of a name for yourself."

"Okay!" Yin Hangyi nodded immediately. He would not want to be the target of many organizations.

Lin Huang took a good look at Yin Hangyi again and thought what he wore would definitely attract attention.

He then summoned Grimace that had elevated to mythical-level and looked like a gentleman.

He had a black top hat on his head and there was a circle of diamonds mounted on the band of the hat. He wore half a golden mask on his face while his lips curled in a terrifying grin.

His black robe with golden patterns was elegant and exquisite. One could tell that it was expensive by the look of it. He held a black walking stick, the top of which was adorned with gold and silver. His white leather shoes were as pure as pearl.

He no longer looked like a ridiculous clown. Even his charisma he emanated made him seem like a noble gentleman who came from a well-known family that had descended for hundreds of years.

"Who is this?" Yin Hangyi was surprised to see Grimace appeared out of nowhere.

"He's my imperial beast."

Yin Hangyi took a careful look at Grimace after hearing Lin Huang's answer. He was even more surprised now. "Is he really not human?"

"No, he only looks like one." Lin Huang gave a perfunctory response and turned his head to look at Grimace. He changed the subject. "Grimace, give him a disguise. The main goal is to not let anyone recognize his face. Don't change his body size. Just tweak his clothing slightly so that it won't be as terribly fitting as it is now."

Grimace walked to Fatty and looked down at him for a moment. He then snapped his fingers. Instantly, Fatty looked like he had undergone plastic surgery. His face that looked immature was transformed into an uncle's face with rough skin.

He wore a blue robe and looked like a stand-up comedian.

Lin Huang almost laughed out loud when he saw him.

Meanwhile, Fatty looked lost. He thought Grimace made him ugly, so he touched his face immediately. "What's wrong? Is there anything wrong with the disguise?"

"His face is fine. Change his clothes," Lin Huang said to Grimace.

Grimace rolled his eyes at Lin Huang and snapped his fingers again unwillingly.

Fatty's attire finally looked normal now, but he looked like he was in a boy band with Lin Huang. Clearly, Grimace had done that on purpose.

Lin Huang was thinking of getting Grimace to change his attire again, but he thought about it carefully and got rid off the thought since he had no idea what kind of prank Grimace would pull again.

"Make yourself invisible and stay by my side. Don't pull any tricks."

Just when Lin Huang was done saying that, Grimace disappeared after snapping his fingers. Only Lin Huang could see that he was on his right. He was making silly faces at Fatty who was less than ten centimeters away from him.

"Where did he go? Is he really invisible now?" Fatty looked around, feeling that a transcendent's world was rather bizarre.

"You might obtain a similar ability when you become a transcendent in the future." Lin Huang pressed his hand on Fatty's shoulder and flew while grabbing him.

A moment later, the duo appeared at the only business district in Nanmu Town.

Fatty looked around and stared at Lin Huang in puzzlement. "Why are we here?"

"Take a shower and put on new clothes. Can you smell the stench on you? Also, you'll have to remove your disguise when you get home. I don't think you should appear before your grandmother wearing something that doesn't fit."

Fatty lifted his arm and sniffed his armpit. To his absolute disgust, he felt nauseous and almost vomited.

He just realized that apart from the time they were flying, Lin Huang had been keeping a distance of two meters away from him.

After taking a thorough shower at a bathhouse with individual showers, the duo went shopping and bought a few sets of clothes for Fatty.

Lin Huang got Grimace to remove Fatty's clothes after Fatty put the new ones on. They then headed to the Yin residence.

Since the family transferred Ke Lai Hotel to Lin Huang, he did nothing to it apart from setting the direction of the development in the beginning. However, under the operation of a professional management team, Ke Lai Hotel's profits surpassed ten times more than two years ago. Lin Huang held the Yin family's 50% of shares with the family recipe. The annual profit the family had been receiving was much higher than before, so they were amassing their wealth.

Tears welled up in Yin Hangyi's eyes when he saw the old house that he was familiar with.

Initially, he was worried about how the family had been holding up before going there. After all, his father and he had passed away while nobody could manage Ke Lai Hotel.

However, Fatty was relieved when he saw that the courtyard was as neat as two years ago through the fences.

He peeped at Lin Huang who was next to him secretly, figuring that this old friend must have helped his family.

The old security guard at the entrance began observing them with narrowed eyes when he noticed their appearance. He soon recognized Lin Huang.

Lin Huang experienced a major growth in his height, but in reality, he did not have much changes in his appearance. Many people had been visiting the family for the past two years, but there was nobody else who was as young as Lin Huang.

"Are you Mr. Lin? Please come in. Come in! I'll tell the butler and the old lady that you're here!"

"Very much appreciated, sir." Lin Huang nodded while smiling. He did not expect the man to remember him.

Lin Huang and Yin Hangyi waited at the pavilion in the courtyard for the guard to inform the family about their arrival.

Soon, the guard brought the butler over.

The butler wore a black tuxedo as usual. He did not seem to have changed at all compared to two years ago.

Fatty was slightly emotional when he saw the butler. He almost wanted to greet him, but Lin Huang, who was next to him, stopped him through voice transmission.

"Mr. Lin, it's been a while!" The butler clearly did not recognize Yin Hangyi. He was very friendly when he saw Lin Huang.

After all, he might have been dismissed by the family if Lin Huang had not taken over Ke Lai Hotel two years ago. If the family's financial situation were already unstable, feeding another person would be a burden, let alone a butler like him who required a high pay.

"It's been over two years. I can't believe you still recognize me!" Lin Huang exclaimed with a smile.

"You're the family's savior. How can we forget you?" the butler replied politely.

"Don't say that." Lin Huang waved his hand immediately. "Is the old lady home?"

"She's waiting in the living room on the second floor." The butler abruptly noticed Yin Hangyi's existence. "May I know who this is?"

"He's a friend." Lin Huang only gave a brief response and explained no more.

Seeing that Lin Huang was unwilling to say more, the butler did not ask further. "I'll bring you guys over."

Both of them followed behind the butler and headed to the house after passing the courtyard.

After entering the house, the butler led both of them to the second floor.

An old lady with silver hair was sitting on a couch in the living room of the second floor. There was a woman sitting on her left.

Lin Huang recognized the woman who was sitting next to the old lady. She was Yin Hangyi's aunt.

"Xiao Lin, it's been so long since you last visited me!" greeted the old lady delightedly as soon as she saw Lin Huang.

Lin Huang felt nothing, but Yin Hangyi almost burst in tears when he saw the old lady.

"It's my fault. I should've visited you more," Lin Huang said with a smile.

The old lady saw Yin Hangyi who was next to him after speaking to Lin Huang. She seemed to be afraid to isolate the new guest, so she asked immediately, "This is…"

"This guy next to me…" Lin Huang did not reveal the answer immediately. He was afraid that the old lady was not mentally prepared, so he simply said while smiling, "This is a surprise that I brought you today."

"A surprise? Are you guys performing a show for me?" the old lady asked bemusedly.

However, the old lady was actually skeptical. She peeped at the calendar secretly. It was the 26th of November. She thought about this date in her head quickly, but she did not recall anything special about the day. It was not a festival or anyone's birthday.

Though doubtful, the old lady did not ask why Lin Huang picked such a day to surprise her.

"It's a special performance," Lin Huang responded, "I think you'll like it."

"Let's begin then." The old lady could not figure out what Lin Huang was trying to do at all, but she chose to believe him.

Lin Huang signaled Grimace, who was invisible next to him, and they snapped their fingers together.

At the same time the fingers snapped, the disguise on Yin Hangyi's head was removed completely, revealing his original face.

As soon as Yin Hangyi's face was unveiled, the entire room fell into a dead silence.

The expression of the old lady, who was smiling, turned stiff before she subsequently became emotional.

The aunt sitting next to her was smiling along with her at the beginning. She had shock written all over her face when she saw Yin Hangyi's face.

Standing not far away, the butler was stunned. His mouth was opened for quite a while.

"Hangyi?!" The old lady's voice was shaking a little. "Is that really you?" She turned her head and looked at Lin Huang. She asked him, "Is this real?"

Lin Huang nodded lightly. "In reality, Yin Hangyi isn't dead. He had to fake his death back then to hide from his enemy, a Royal. He got me to put on a show with him."

"The Royal I offended came from a major organization in the core zone. I had to fake my death to prevent him from taking revenge on me. Fortunately, the clan the person came from offended someone they shouldn't and the whole clan was killed. Since then, I can finally stop disguising myself." Both of them came up with that story when they were buying clothes earlier.

"How about your appearance? Why do you look exactly the same as two years ago?" The aunt raised her doubt. She noticed that because the difference was terribly stark when Lin Huang stood next to Yin Hangyi. She still remembered clearly how Lin Huang looked like two years ago.

"The elixir that I injected had a special side effect whereby my body would remain how I was when I was injected. This side effect isn't permanent. It'll only last two to three years at the most," Yin Hangyi told her the lie that Lin Huang had come up with earlier.

The old lady finally calmed down and turned her head to look at Lin Huang. She stared at him seriously for a while before asking, "Xiao Lin, is he really Hangyi? Are you lying?"

"Grandma, I might joke about other stuff, but I'd definitely never joke about this," Lin Huang replied grimly.

The old lady nodded and turned her head to look at Yin Hangyi. She gave him a stern look before speaking, "If you really are Hangyi, I hope don't mind me asking something personal."

"Go ahead, Grandma." Yin Hangyi nodded, feeling a little helpless.

"Hangyi always wet his bed when he was younger. When was the last time he wet his bed? What were the time and date? I believe you'd remember this crystal-clear if you really are Hangyi. Moreover, it's pretty impossible for Hangyi to tell someone else this."

Yin Hangyi looked bothered as he said helplessly after peeping at Lin Huang, "It last happened when I was 11. It was summer, and the exact date should've been 18th June. I remember I drank too much water the day before, and I had a dream of me looking for the toilet the entire night. I found it eventually…"

"That's rather detailed." Lin Huang made fun of him.

"Another question." The old lady nodded. "Which of my dishes did you hate the most?"

"There are actually two answers to this question. One is onion rings and another is cold noodles because I really hate onion and coriander." Fatty shared the answer.

The old lady could not stop the tears from flowing when she heard the answer. "You really are Hangyi!"

"Grandma…" Yin Hangyi was holding back, but he could not help it when he saw the old lady crying. He could not stop weeping too.

He rushed to his grandma and hugged her. The grandmother and grandson sobbed while hugging, finally calming down a while later.

Lin Huang said nothing. Instead, he waited for the people to calm down before telling them to allow Yin Hangyi to disguise himself.

The old lady and the rest agreed to that immediately and they promised to keep Yin Hangyi's return a secret.

After handling Fatty and the family's matter, Lin Huang transferred Ke Lai Hotel's shares back to the family. He then bade farewell to the family and returned to Emperor City in Division 1.

The sky was turning dark when Lin Huang returned to the Emperor Palace after he settled the matter with Mr. Fu and Yin Hangyi.

He glanced at Dynasty's headquarters that was still well-lit. He hesitated before going in.

As the Emperor of Dynasty, he had actually entered the building merely a few times.

The security guards and front desk receptionist who worked overtime as well as the people in the lobby were stunned to see him walking into the building. They gawked at him.

Lin Huang remained smiling as he nodded at the people.

He walked straight to the front desk and spoke to the lady who was dressed rather fashionably, "Is Tianfu here?"

"Yes, Master Tianfu is here." The lady at the front desk nodded immediately.

"Thank you. Keep it up," Lin Huang replied and turned around, heading to Huang Tianfu's office.

The lady at the front desk watched Lin Huang left looking like she was charmed while mumbling softly, "Master Emperor thanked me…"

Lin Huang knocked on the door when he arrived at Huang Tianfu's office.

Huang Tianfu's voice soon boomed from the room. "Come in!"

Lin Huang then opened the door and entered. Huang Tianfu was stunned for a moment when he saw that it was Lin Huang who strolled in. Clearly, he did not expect him.

"Still busy working?" Lin Huang glanced at the numerous documents that were projected from his Emperor's Heart Ring. He suddenly felt that it was not easy being in Huang Tianfu's position.

"There's something that I need to handle," Huang Tianfu said and paused all of a sudden. He asked in surprise, "Master Emperor, have you already broken through to imperial-level?!"

"Yes, I just did," Lin Huang confirmed with a wide grin.

"I thought you'd need at least a week to half a month when you went hunting for Life Base monsters. I never expected you to be so quick!" Clearly, Huang Tianfu knew that Lin Huang had left Dynasty early in the morning.

"The elevation this time was considered pretty smooth." Lin Huang did not plan to explain his cultivation system that was different from the usual since Huang Tianfu did not have to know about that. "How much more time do you need to finish this? Shall we have supper together?"

"I won't finish them just yet. I'll do it tomorrow."

"I heard there's a new barbecue place that's pretty amazing."

"Are you talking about Biggie Barbecue? They're pretty amazing indeed," Huang Tianfu replied cheerfully, "They usually let the customers do the grilling themselves, but the owner has a special sauce. There are four flavors which are non-spicy, slightly spicy, medium spicy and extra spicy. They only open after 6 p.m. but people queue until 11 p.m. to 12 a.m. Their business is booming!"

"Is it really that good?" Lin Huang was even more excited hearing that.

"You'll see after you've tried it. Their sauces are amazing," said Huang Tianfu and he turned off the projection. He then projected his contact book. "Let me call the owner and get ourselves a reservation. Otherwise, we'll have to queue one to two hours when we get there."

Both of them departed as soon as Huang Tianfu completed the reservation. Soon, they arrived at the Biggie Barbecue restaurant.

It was almost 7 p.m. There was a long queue outside the restaurant. At least 40 to 50 people were waiting to be seated.

The owner came out and welcomed Lin Huang and Huang Tianfu as soon as they arrived. He led the duo to a VIP room that had just been cleared on the third floor.

The owner was a bald middle-aged man who looked plump and kind.

However, Lin Huang clearly sensed that the guy was a transcendent. Although he was only on holy fire-level, he was still a transcendent nevertheless.

"It's our pleasure that will last for a lifetime for the Master Emperor to come to our humble restaurant!" Clearly, the owner recognized Lin Huang as soon as they met.

"Give us your best today. Show Master Emperor your skill," challenged Huang Tianfu while grinning.

Lin Huang thought he could finally do the carving himself, but the owner ended up doing it. He merely smiled as they watched the owner's messy knife skills.

Although the owner was pretty good at it, he was not considered an eligible sword cultivator. Judging from his fancy way of cutting meat, Lin Huang could tell that he was the type who went for elegance. This kind of person would most probably fail in Martial Dao due to his lack of effort to grasp the true Martial Dao.

Lin Huang did not comment on his skills from the beginning until the end. He might have pointed out his mistakes if the owner were a cultivator. However, the owner before him had obviously excused himself from the cultivator circle and was living a normal life now. He might not want to hear what Lin Huang had to say even if he were to discuss Sword Dao with him out of kindness.

Naturally, the owner was perfect apart from his overly fancy knife skills.

He began preparing the second batch of meat to be grilled after the first batch was done and served it to both of them.

Lin Huang shoved the first piece of grilled meat into his mouth in anticipation. Just when he chewed twice after putting it into his mouth, the expression on his face turned odd.

After he ate the first one, Lin Huang shoved the second piece of meat into his mouth solemnly. He put the cutlery in his hands down after eating the second one. He looked at the owner who was preparing the second batch of grilled meat.

"Sir, where did you get the sauces from?"

Huang Tianfu was surprised to see Lin Huang asking that question so seriously. "What's wrong?"

"Answer me!" Lin Huang raised his hand to stop Huang Tianfu from asking further. His eyes remained staring on the owner. "Who gave you the recipe for this sauce?"

The owner put what he was doing down and explained while panicking, "A guy gave it to me when I was running my restaurant back in Division 7."

Lin Huang looked through the photo album in his Emperor's Heart Ring immediately. He finally projected a photo after searching for a long time. "Was it him?"

"Looks similar, but that's a kid in this photo. The young man that I met looks the same age as you," said the owner nervously while looking at the photo.

"Which foothold did you meet him in Division 7?" Lin Huang asked again.

"Winter City!"

"When was that?"

"Over three months ago."

"Can you tell me what happened when you guys met in detail? Tell me everything you remember. Try not to miss anything out," Lin Huang requested.

The owner did not decline his request. Instead, he nodded and began telling the story.

"I had a restaurant in Winter City of Division 7 before this. Business was alright. Three months ago, that handsome young man came to my restaurant and ate almost everything I stocked that day on his own. When he called for the bill, he told me that my food was okay but not my sauces. He told me that he happened to have barbecue sauces that he could give me for free. However, I must promise him one thing, which was to open a barbecue restaurant in Emperor City of Division 1, next to Dynasty's headquarters.

"The first reaction I had was to think that that guy was insane or that he was just a con man. However, he took out the sauces and made a batch of grilled meat for me and got me to try them. I agreed to his condition after eating only a piece of grilled meat. He gave me the recipe for the sauce and left.

"The rental agreement for the restaurant that I rented back then had come to an end, so I cleared my stuff and came straight to Emperor City after I made the first batch of sauces."

"Do you know the guy that he's talking about?" Huang Tianfu could not help but finally ask.

"If I'm not mistaken, he should be my brother." Lin Huang figured the person was most likely Lin Xuan because the grilled meat tasted very familiar to him. Although the sauces had improved a lot, Lin Huang recognized it was Lin Xuan's recipe after tasting them.

"What else did he tell you? Think carefully. Did you miss anything out?" Lin Huang lifted his head again and looked pointedly at the restaurant owner.

"Oh yeah, he said something else after giving me the recipe. He told me if the Emperor of Dynasty came to my restaurant one day and asked about him, tell the Emperor this —'Don't think of me, don't look for me. One day, we'll definitely meet.'"

"Don't think of me, don't look for me. One day, we'll definitely meet…" Lin Huang repeated while frowning slightly.

Initially, all Lin Huang wanted was to discuss things with Huang Tianfu and buy him supper. He did not expect to be surprised at the barbecue restaurant.

He was shocked when he heard about Lin Xuan out of nowhere.

It had been three years since he found Lin Xuan. Although the little guy had only stayed for half a year with him and Lin Xin, Lin Huang treated him like family. In reality, Lin Huang had been trying to look for him for more than two years but to no avail. He knew nothing else apart from the fact that Lin Xuan had gone to the Land of Origin.

Lin Huang was finally relieved when he heard that Lin Xuan had now appeared in Winter City where the three of them had lived before. At least, he was still alive, and he still remembered Lin Huang and Lin Xin.

As for what Lin Xuan got the restaurant owner to say, he clearly knew about Lin Huang's current position and situation. To prevent Lin Huang from wasting his efforts of searching for him, he requested the restaurant owner to pass the message: 'Don't think of me, don't look for me. One day, we'll definitely meet'.

He wanted to tell Lin Huang that there was no need to waste his efforts and time to look for him. He would naturally show up when they should meet, and it would not take long for their next encounter.

Lin Huang nodded while smiling at the owner after hearing Lin Xuan's message. "I get it now. Thanks for the message."

Lin Xuan might not know that his message arrived just in time. Lin Huang was planning to use Dynasty to search for him before he left this gravel world. However, now it seemed like it was unnecessary at all.

He was sure that Lin Xuan was safe now. Moreover, his freedom should not be restricted to judging his whereabouts. Lin Huang decided to respect his decision, so he dismissed the thought of looking for him and just waited for him to show up one day.

Lin Huang got the owner to excuse himself when they were almost done with the barbecue. He then began talking business with Huang Tianfu.

"Now that I've already elevated to imperial-level, I might leave this gravel world in a few months," Lin Huang told him his plan without hiding anything.

"You're leaving the gravel world when you're only on imperial-level? Isn't it too risky? Why don't you leave when you've elevated to virtual god-level? With your talent as the Emperor of Dynasty, it's just a matter of time when you elevate to virtual god-level." Huang Tianfu tried to stop him. As a Dynasty member, it was only natural that he hoped Lin Huang would stay longer. After all, Dynasty's destiny lay completely in Lin Huang's hands. He was concerned that Dynasty would be disqualified by Royal if Lin Huang died after getting to the great world.

"The reason I'm heading to the great world so soon is that this gravel world is coming to an end. I must find a solution before the disaster arrives."

"Don't worry about me. Although I'm only on imperial-level, even a Virtual God rank-9 powerhouse can do nothing to me when it comes to the ability to keep myself alive," Lin Huang said while smiling, "Otherwise, how is it possible for me to have managed to obtain rank-A authorization if I'm not capable?

"I'll relegate most of my power at Dynasty to you, Wunan, and Tufu before I leave. As usual, the three of you will manage Dynasty. I hope to see a better Dynasty when I get back from the great world."

"It definitely will be better!" Huang Tianfu nodded immediately. He knew that Lin Huang had made up his mind, and stopping him was futile.

"I need you guys to help me with a few things before I leave."

"Shoot."

"Firstly, help me collect as many sword skills as you can. I need sword skills of all ranks, so collect as many as you can. Second, collect Godheads and broken Godheads for me. The more, the better! Thirdly, collect god-level soul crystals or god items containing a sea of spiritual energy for me."

Lin Huang took a temporary storage ring out from his storage space after he was done with the three requests. He passed it to Huang Tianfu. "Naturally, I'll pay for the things that I've personally asked for. This is the prepaid cash for you. Just let me know when you've run out."

Huang Tianfu peered at the ring as he accepted it. He was secretly shocked.

Such a ring contained almost all of the treasures that Lin Huang had obtained from ending God Bless. There were over 40 god relics alone and more than 500 demigod relics. There were also up to millions of Divine Stones as well as tens of thousands of miscellaneous items such as ancient relics.

"Handle the miscellaneous items such as the ancient relics in the ring for me."

"Sure, I'll sort it out tomorrow morning." Huang Tianfu merely looked through the contents and put the ring away into his storage space.

"I heard Tufu went to Division 3 two days ago. Was he discussing a collaboration with the Union Government of the Division 3 branch?" Lin Huang asked rather casually.

"Yes, our organization is doing great in Division 3. With your fame in the past few months, our branch in Division 3 is almost on the same par with the Union Government. They looked for Tufu this time mainly to discuss the collaboration to maintain the order in Division 3 and the follow-up work."

"Since their branch in Division 3 is collaborating with us, I think we can collaborate with their headquarters too," Lin Huang continued with a smile.

Huang Tianfu frowned slightly after hearing that. "But it would mean that we're turning our backs on other underground organizations if we do that. The other underground organizations can turn a blind eye if the branches are collaborating. After all, some of their branches have businesses with the Union Government.

"Although we're a neutral organization now, we're still on the underground organization's side after all. If we do that, we're definitely making a statement. The heretics have always said that they're a neutral organization, but they've never dared to cross the line. It's fine no matter how the underground organizations' branches want to collaborate with the Union Government and the Hunter Association, but the headquarters have to remain in opposition. Furthermore, they would sometimes stir things up on purpose just to show their status of opposition."

"Are there no neutral organizations that are officially collaborating with the Union Government at the moment?" Lin Huang asked immediately after hearing that.

"There were some few hundred years ago, but they basically joined the union and became union organizations throughout the centuries. There are not many major neutral organizations now. They're all like us and the heretics, the underground organizations that want to go neutral.

"What are the major neutral organizations like?" Lin Huang inquired.

"The Shadow Killer, the heretics, the Mystic Butterfly, and us."

Naturally, the heretics were no strangers to Lin Huang since they had met. He heard of the Shadow Killer and the Mystic Butterfly too. The Shadow Killer was the No. 1 assassin organization in this gravel world. Never had Lin Huang thought they were actually a neutral organization. Lin Huang had also heard of the other organization called the Mystic Butterfly. It was the biggest intel organization in the underground world. Above 70% of the intel from the entire underground world came from them.

"I can understand that the Mystic Butterfly is a neutral organization, but how is the Shadow Killer a neutral organization too?" Lin Huang could not understand it.

Theoretically, the No. 1 assassination organization in the world, the Shadow Killer, should be the boss among all of the underground organizations.

"The Shadow Killer founded themselves as a neutral organization back then. Throughout the centuries, they took up almost every task as long as they made money. They also took up many jobs from the Union Government too. They're pretty much one of the earliest batches of neutral organizations that have collaborated with the Union Government and the Hunter Association."

"If they took jobs from the union organizations, many underground organizations should know about that, shouldn't they?" Lin Huang raised his brow.

"They basically know about it, but nobody can do anything to them as long as they do it well and leave no flaws behind."

"I don't think it's because they do it well and leave no flaws behind." Lin Huang shook his head as he smirked. "It's because the Shadow Killer is so powerful that the other underground organizations daren't confront them even if they have sufficient evidence."

"Plan it out for me during these few days. Pick a good date. We'll visit the Union Government headquarters to discuss a collaboration!"

In reality, Lin Huang wanted to collaborate with the Union Government for many reasons.

One of the main reasons was to prevent Huang Tianfu and the rest from falling back into an underground organization after he left the gravel world. It would mean that his efforts were wasted if that happened.

Collaborating with the Union Government publicly would tie Dynasty and the union organization together. By the time he left, Dynasty would only have two options. One was to merge with the union organization while the other was to remain as a neutral organization. Meanwhile, the option of rejoining the underground organization would be out of the picture completely.

Naturally, there would be clear disadvantages to doing that.

Within a short period of time, Dynasty would be a traitor to all the underground organizations. Some of them might even go after Dynasty for revenge.

Nonetheless, Lin Huang was prepared to handle that.

If there were any underground organizations that dared to go after Dynasty, he did not mind killing them to warn others.

All of the neutral organizations knew that collaborating with the Union Government had more benefits than disadvantages in the long run. Nobody dared to take the first step because they were afraid of being killed by a bunch of underground organizations before they could even enjoy the benefits.

One must know that there were many ruthless individuals among the top underground organizations.

However, Lin Huang did not care about that. He was invincible in this gravel world with his God Figurine's Combat Souls. He had the absolute ability to suppress them no matter how ruthless they were.

He would kill those who dared to come at Dynasty, he was violent like that!

On the next morning, Huang Tianfu passed down Lin Huang's requests to the underlings. Dynasty's purchasing department began searching for the Godheads, sword skills and soul crystals that Lin Huang asked for in all safety zones.

After that, Huang Tianfu spent the morning communicating with the Union Government and set the official time to visit.

Even Lin Huang was a little surprised when Huang Tianfu informed him about it.

"It's settled so soon?"

"They contacted the Union Government committee immediately after hearing that it was Master Emperor who suggested that. In less than two hours, the deputy chief of the Union Government, Dongfang Bai, responded himself. We'll meet at the Union Government headquarters in First City, Division 1 on 10th December, at 9 a.m.."

"I've arranged for Senior Baiyu and myself to go with you. Wunan will stay to guard the headquarters."

"Bring Lin Xin along. You may sort out the rest." Lin Huang was worried about leaving Lin Xin alone at Dynasty's headquarters.

In reality, Huang Tianfu expected Lin Xin to join the trip, so he did not object to it. They were not going to attack the Union Government anyway, thus there was no need for people with high combat strength to go on the trip.

"Also, this morning, I've informed the purchasing department about the items that you requested last night. They're sorting it out," Huang Tianfu remembered to inform Lin Huang before he hung up the phone.

"Alright, thanks!"

Lin Huang closed his eyes slowly and began cultivating Seamless after hanging up the call with Huang Tianfu.

Although he was already invincible in this gravel world, Lin Huang did not want to depend on his God Figurine's Combat Souls. In fact, he knew very well that his personal ability had leaps and bounds to improve in. Even though he would not be able to elevate his combat strength within a short period of time, his Sword Dao, telekinesis, and Twisted Fate Scripture had yet to reach his peak. Therefore, he did not plan to waste time and indulge during the last few months in the gravel world. Instead, he was planning to improve himself as much as he could in the last few months before heading to the great world.

Cultivating Seamless was the fastest way for the results to show because he could see the increment of each telekinetic threads clearly. Compared to his Sword Dao for which he had no idea when he might break through, Seamless gave him a sense of achievement whenever he cultivated it. Therefore, Lin Huang put cultivating Seamless in his first round of self-improvement.

Ever since elevating to imperial-level, Lin Huang noticed that his speed of cultivating Seamless was much faster than before. He could split 2,000 telekinetic threads almost everyday.

He only spent six days boosting the telekinetic threads from 18,000 to 30,000 threads. He also broke through to level-5 on Seamless.

Lin Huang had gone into closed-door cultivation for merely three days when he was interrupted by a commotion.

He glanced at the source of the commotion, and saw that it was the Evil Dominator who had elevated.

Killer had also elevated less than two hours after the Evil Dominator did. Over three hours later, Lancelot finally emerged from his cocoon.

After looking at the three brand new Monster Cards thoroughly, Lin Huang put the three cards away into his body one after another. He waited for a whole day, but Bloody had yet to complete its elevation.

To his relief, the next evening, Bloody finally elevated.

However, Bloody looked completely different from before its elevation.

Lin Huang was stunned for a moment upon seeing the silhouette that came out of the cocoon.

A lady with a drop-dead gorgeous body strolled out of the cocoon. There were circles of red mist lingering around her body. She had purple hair that reached her waist, and each strand of her hair looked like they were mumbling softly as if they were alive.

"Bloody?" Lin Huang questioned, feeling unsure although he saw the panel information that was projected from far away.

"Master." Bloody appeared before Lin Huang in the blink of an eye. She was so quick that Lin Huang did not even see her trajectory clearly.

"Is there… anything wrong with your elevation?" Lin Huang could not help but ask. He thought that it was absolutely strange that Bloody had elevated to such a form.

"I think it's great! This human form allows me to showcase my battle ability to the max!" Bloody was satisfied with her brand new form.

She had learned endless human knowledge and read countless Martial Dao books as well as obtained the inheritance of countless human powerhouses. Her human form was the best form that could allow her to showcase what she had learned.

Lin Huang realized what Bloody's purpose of changing form was after hearing her talk about her battle ability.

He had no doubt that Bloody's progress in cultivating the human Martial Dao might be terrifying given the intelligence and knowledge that she had in store. He even faintly felt that she might be able to master the true meaning of Martial Dao faster than he could.

"Won't this form affect your computing ability?" Lin Huang enquired.

"No, this elevation boosted my computing ability to become tens of times more powerful. Moreover, each of my hair is an extension of my brain. Each of them gives me an approximate 1% boost in computing skills. I have over 100,000 strands of hair which will give me thousands of times of boost in my computing skills. In other words, the most computing skills I'll have would be tens of thousands of times more than before," Bloody explained, "The only disadvantage is that such overloaded computing with that much of a boost will make my hair shed as soon as it lasts for a long time. They'll only grow back in 48 hours."

'So, it's true that you'll only be powerful if you go bald. This makes sense.' While Lin Huang teased secretly, he could not help but check Bloody's card details.

"Monster Card: Bloody

"Rarity: Mythical-level

"Monster Name: Wise Queen

"Type of Monster: Wisdom-type / Unknown Tribe

"Nickname: The Wise

"Combat Level: Imperial-level Yellow Gold-rank

"Major: Intelligence, Parasitism

"Major Skills: Divine Parasitism (includes hundreds of parasitism skills), Absolute Administration, Heart of Knowledge, Inheritance Plunder…

"Minor Skills: Supreme Intelligence, Divine Telekinesis, Immortal Tinder, Consciousness Transfer…

"Summon Authority: Activated

"Card Remarks: Recommended to train with maximum effort!"

Bloody had similar skills as Divine Parasitism, Absolute Administration and Supreme Intelligence before. Lin Huang knew the rough effect of the few skills after only taking a glance.

However, there were some new skills that he could not understand what exactly their effect was. He tapped them open to read carefully right away.

"Heart of Knowledge: Extreme eagerness to learn, a 100-time boost in the learning ability for all knowledge."

"Inheritance Plunder: Allows one to plunder a host's memory inheritance by force even if the inheritance is sealed (the success rate of plundering isn't 100%; it depends on how much the inheritance is sealed.

"Immortal Tinder: The main body can create nine Immortal Tinders that contain his complete memory and inheritance. When the main body is dead, the tinder will be activated automatically and transform the host rapidly to be replaced by the main body.

"Remarks: This skill is best combined with Consciousness Transfer.

"Consciousness Transfer: The main body can preserve his complete consciousness and transfer it to a specific host.

"Remarks: This skill is best combined with Immortal Tinder."

Lin Huang thought Bloody's overall ability was countless times more powerful than it had been before after roughly reading her card.

Not only did she have the talent to be a military advisor, but the three abilities including Inheritance Plunder, Heart of Knowledge, and Supreme Intelligence were also sufficient to make her the ultimate genius that no human could compare to.

If given enough time, she could absorb all the knowledge in the entire world and become an invincible existence who knew everything and was capable of everything.

"I've been sleeping for more than ten days. Is there anything that you need my help with?" Bloody asked Lin Huang just when he was done reading the card details.

"Your elevation came just in time. I'll be discussing a collaboration with the Union Government in two days. You can help me plan out how to maximize the benefits for Dynasty and me as well as create a win-win for the Union Government."

To Lin Huang, Bloody's elevation came at the perfect timing.

Lin Huang came up with the collaboration proposal for the Union Government after spending merely a night discussing with Bloody.

He sent the proposal he got Bloody to sort out to Huang Tianfu, asking the experienced man if there was anything that they should add or delete.

Huang Tianfu was a little surprised when he got the proposal from Lin Huang. Initially, he planned to get Lin Huang out of the Emperor Palace to discuss it with him properly. In the end, Lin Huang had sent him a complete proposal directly.

He was shocked after giving it a thorough read because the proposal Lin Huang had sent him was complete. It included almost everything that he thought of, even some of the matters that he did not think of.

It was past 3 a.m. in the middle of the night when Huang Tianfu finished reading the proposal.

He peeped at the time and read the proposal all over again to see if there was anything that he could add on.

He finally went through the proposal for the second time when it was past 6 a.m. In the end, he thought Lin Huang's proposal was flawless.

Lin Huang smiled when he received Huang Tianfu's message early in the morning. "It seems like I can focus on my cultivation for two days."

Huang Tianfu's message was that the proposal was alright and that there was nothing that needed amending, so they could go on with the proposal right away.

Time flew by and two days passed. It was 10th December when the meeting was supposed to take place.

Lin Huang was done washing up at past 6 a.m. It was not even 7 a.m. when he was done with breakfast.

After preparing himself, the four of them including Lin Huang, Lin Xin, Huang Tianfu, and Huang Baiyu stepped into the dimensional portal and arrived in First City where the Union Government headquarters were at 8 a.m. sharp.

Lin Huang brought the few of them to a cafe near the Union Government headquarters. In less than three minutes they ordered their coffee, the current chief of Agency EA, Guan Zhong, arrived with his people.

Lin Huang greeted with a wide grin after seeing the familiar person, "Chief, are you here for coffee too?"

"You're funny, Master Emperor." Guan Zhong walked over to Lin Huang. "I've met Master Emperor a couple of times after all, so they sent me to ease everyone to prevent the awkwardness."

"Let me introduce you. This is Mr. Zhao Lingming, the committee chairman of the Union Government headquarters. This is Ms. Ran Ning, the deputy chairman." Guan Zhong stepped to his left and introduced the duo next to him to Lin Huang.

The man who stood on the left was tall and tanned, and he looked serious. Lin Huang could tell by the looks of it that this man must be from the military. The way he stood was so ramrodded straight that it was hard to hide the fact that he came from the military.

The lady next to him wore a pair of glasses. She looked 27 or 28. Lin Huang could not tell her actual age. This lady should be beautiful, but she wore the black-framed glasses on purpose. She even had light make-up on which was intentional, making her appear inconspicuous and easily ignored.

However, Lin Huang looked at her again because Bloody's Leech Pod sent a message to him: This lady might have Supreme Intelligence.

Since he could not bring any summoning beasts with him to this discussion, Lin Huang asked Bloody to cast a Leech Pod in his body to observe the meeting from far away and give him real-time suggestions.

Meanwhile, Bloody cast her parasite on a handsome man in a hotel less than 300 meters from the cafe at the beginning. Bloody used him to check into the hotel. In the hotel room, the man who was parasitized had fallen into a deep sleep while Bloody observed everything from far through the Leech Pod.

Clearly, the Union Government delayed the collaboration meeting by 12 days to give them enough time to prepare. Judging from the current situation, they had done a great job preparing.

"Nice to meet you, both chairmen," Lin Huang said to both of them while smiling.

At the moment, Huang Tianfu took over the conversation and introduced him to the few people from the Union Government, "This is our Master Emperor, and this is our Dynasty's little princess, who is the Master Emperor's sister. This man next to me is Dynasty's Duke Yu, Huang Baiyu. Lastly, your humble one is Dynasty's Huang Tianfu."

Guan Zhong and the rest clearly had their eyes trained on Duke Yu for a moment when they heard his name.

The ordinary organization members might not know it, but Guan Zhong and the rest who were the upper echelon of the Union Government knew that there were currently only two Dukes who were given official titles. They were Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang, who were both virtual god-level powerhouses. Meanwhile, those who were called Dukes like Huang Tianqi just had honorable titles that the outsiders called them. The title was not officially given by Dynasty. They knew that Huang Baiyu who was assigned the title Duke Yu was a powerhouse on Virtual God rank-3. He was considered one of the people with top abilities in this gravel world.

Ran Ning spoke while smiling in the next second everyone fell into silence. Her eyes focused on Lin Xin who was next to Lin Huang. "So, this is Dynasty's little princess. I've heard that Master Emperor has a sister, but never had I thought she'd turn out to be a little beauty."

'It would be ridiculous if you guys don't know how Lin Xin looks like,' Lin Huang thought to himself.

However, that was not what Lin Xin was thinking about. She had her head in the clouds since Ran Ning, who was a girl, had complimented her.

"I heard that you used to teach in the firearms faculty when you were at the Martial Hunter College in Division 7. I happen to have a gun in my storage ring that I've just gotten a few days ago. I'll give it to you as a gift," Ran Ning spoke and took out an ancient gun relic. It was a black lady's pistol with many purple decorative patterns on it, holding a mysterious beauty.

Lin Xin's eyes lit up when she saw it. "Isn't this the Purple Mystic 001 that the Eagle Company has just released recently? I heard this is the first product from their Purple Mystic series? It's a limited edition with only 100 of them worldwide!"

Lin Xin had taken note of the pistol before. Although it was just an ancient gun relic, its price was nothing less than a demigod relic.

"Yeah, I know the owner of the Eagle Company and asked for one for myself knowing that demigod Gong Wei designed it. I thought it was a great collectible."

"You like Gong Wei's design too?" Lin Xin felt like she had found herself a best friend.

"Yeah, I think her design is beautiful. I collect almost every household product that she's designed. Sometimes, I get those off the market through my connection…"

The two ladies talked about Gong Wei and ignored Lin Huang and the rest completely.

Gong Wei was one of the countable demigods in this world. Although her battle ability was not considered powerful, she was very pretty. Her dressing was classy and she landed as the focus of the media in each meeting she attended. As time passed by, she became the No. 1 fashionable person in this gravel world. She was also an idol to many females.

No matter what she designed, the product would be a hot sell-out almost every time because she had hordes of female fans who would purchase it.

Lin Huang had heard of her name before, but he had no thoughts about this lady.

The reason he remembered the name Gong Wei was that she had designed a lady's backpack two years ago. In the end, some of them realized the backpack was too small after purchasing it and posted threads online to complain that it could not contain much.

Gong Wei posted online directly after hearing about the complaints: "A bag is for one to look good. Why would you want to put anything in it? If that's what you want, why don't you just use a plastic bag?"

What she said caused a heated discussion online. Many of them complained that the things she designed were impractical. Meanwhile, there were many fans who stood by her side, supporting what she said and agreeing that it made sense.

That was the only impression Lin Huang had of Gong Wei the demigod. He did not even know that Lin Xin was also Gong Wei's fan.

Ran Ning passed the pistol over to Lin Xin after the two ladies chatted for a while. "This pistol will be my meeting gift to you."

"This is too much!" Lin Xin waved her hands immediately. Although she liked it, she did not want to take away something that someone else loved. After all, Ran Ning had used some effort to obtain it.

"Don't worry about it. I'm not a firearms master anyway. This pistol will be treated as a collectible with me, but with you, it could live its life to its fullest."

"But…" Lin Huang interrupted her when Lin Xin was about to continue with something.

"We can't take it for free. Let's trade." Lin Huang glanced at Ran Ning while smiling. "I asked the chief earlier. He told me that Ms. Ran you're a sword cultivator. Let me trade a demigod sword relic with this pistol. Such a gift exchange of the same value is a kind of friendship too. Furthermore, the gifts that we exchange are very practical for both of us," Lin Huang spoke while taking a demigod sword relic out from his storage space.

He had picked the sword with Ran Ning in mind. It was completely purple with beautiful shape and intricate patterns.

Even Ran Ning could not help but feel stunned when she saw it.

"This Purple Phoenix will be the gift Xin Er exchanges with Ms. Ran," Lin Huang said and passed the sword to Lin Xin.

Lin Xin looked at Lin Huang in gratitude and took over the sword.

Ran Ning was speechless. She wanted to get Lin Xin a gift so that Lin Xin would remember the favor. Never had she thought that Lin Huang would interfere and that it would turn out to be a gift exchange instead.

Although he did not want the demigod sword relic, she could only accept it since events had unfolded this way.

The two ladies soon exchanged their gifts under the witness of many.

Lin Huang could not help but smirk a little when he saw Lin Xin failing to take her eyes off the Purple Mystic 001 that she had just gotten while Ran Ning put the sword away into her storage space expressionlessly.

"Let's head to the meeting room at the headquarters. We'll talk over tea." Guan Zhong circled back to the topic after seeing that the two ladies had stopped their chatting. He then led Lin Huang and the rest to the office building where the Union Government headquarters were.

Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu were speechless when they saw the building as they stood outside the Union Government headquarters. Lin Xin looked away while blushing a little. Clearly, she recognized the shape of the building.

"It's huge! It's much bigger than the video projection!" Huang Baiyu, who had been silent, could not help but exclaim.

Guan Zhong and the rest turned away. None of them were looking straight at the building.

In reality, Lin Huang had gone searching for the reason why the Union Government headquarters were designed like that out of curiosity when he got back from his visit last time.

In the end, he found out that it was not a joke the architect was trying to pull.

The buildings were designed by a powerful demigod named Gao Lou during the new era. He was hot-tempered and possessed powerful abilities.

The Union Government requested him to build a main building and two subsidiary buildings with the main building being so tall that it soared into the sky like a giant sword. Meanwhile, the subsidiary buildings had to be beautiful and tasteful.

In reality, the two subsidiary buildings were three to four times bigger than what they were now compared to the draft. Apart from that, the main building looked more like a sword that pierced into the land. It should be taller and thinner than what it was at the moment.

However, the Union Government was unsatisfied with the draft. They thought the main building was not tasteful enough and that the subsidiary buildings were too attention-seeking. They got the architect to change the sizes again and again.

After amending the draft for more than 20 times, Gao Lou could no longer take the Union Government's warped sense of beauty and decided to drop the job entirely. The last version he drew was the current ratio of the trio.

The Union Government went looking for Gao Lou after he dropped the job, but he disappeared.

Unable to do anything else, the upper echelon looked for other architects. However, none of them wanted to take the job.

There were very few demigods in the entire world back then whereby there were only less than ten of them. As the only demigod-level architect, Gao Lou was the best architect in the field and was an idol to many architects.

The act of the Union Government offending Gao Lou would mean they offended everyone in the architectural industry.

Without having any idea what to do, the Union Government built the headquarters using the last draft version that Gao Lou designed since the previous ones were all gotten rid of.

Ultimately, it turned out to look like this, a Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon.

The current the Union Government would have definitely chosen a dimensional demigod relic or god relic as their headquarters instead of constructing a building from scratch.

However, the discovery of ruins had yet to take place when the Union Government was founded 800 years ago during the new era. Not many people had demigod relics, let alone dimensional demigod relic and god relic.

"It's windy outside. Let's get in." Eventually, the committee chairman, Zhao Lingming, broke the awkwardness and gestured for Lin Huang to go in.

They followed Lin Huang into the main building and arrived at the 198th floor, which was the highest floor of the Union Government office building by elevator.

Both sides sat at the table after entering the meeting room, and they fell into silence again.

After the staff served everyone tea, Guan Zhong finally broke the silence, "The chief found the tree of these tea leaves in a grade-5 ruin over 100 years ago. It's considered an ancient tea. They brought 12 trees back, but only one survived. I think this should be the only ancient tea tree in the world."

Lin Huang took a sip. All he tasted was a light sweetness and fragrance that lingered on his palate. There was no bitterness at all.

"How's the annual production of these tea leaves like?" Lin Huang carried on with the topic.

"The annual production is extremely low with only approximately a pound a year. The chief usually serves 50% of them to our guests, sets 30% aside as a reward, and keeps 20% for himself."

"One pound is indeed a little low," Lin Huang responded.

As the few of them chatted about tea leaves, they soon moved on to something else. The atmosphere in the meeting room that was initially silent was now livelier.

Not long later, a few new people soon came into the meeting room one after another.

There were faces that Lin Huang was familiar with, such as the deputy chief of the Union Government, Dongfang Bai, and the press representative, Han Yao.

Both of them always appeared in the Union Government official news site, so it was hard for people not to recognize them.

Apart from the two familiar faces, there was another old man with silver hair who was the committee deputy chairman of the Union Government just like Ran Ning.

There was also a middle-aged man who was clearly a security guard or some sort who came with Dongfang Bai. He had the same combat strength as Huang Baiyu, which was Virtual God rank-3. He sat next to Dongfang Bai and almost never took his eyes off Huang Baiyu as soon as he came in.

Huang Baiyu merely peeped at him and ignored him completely.

Everyone introduced themselves courteously after entering. They then found themselves a seat after chatting out of politeness.

When it was almost 8.55 a.m., the Union Government chief, Jiang Shan, finally walked into the meeting room. He was the last to arrive.

As soon as he showed up, everyone in the meeting room including Lin Huang and the rest stood up to welcome him as a sign of respect.

It was Lin Huang's first time seeing Jiang Shan in real life. This man looked 35 or 36 years old and was almost 1.9 meters tall with a strong body. He wore a neat, light gray suit. Among everyone present, he was the most formally dressed.

Lin Huang could not help but hold his head down to look at himself after seeing how Jiang Shan was dressed. He thought he might have dressed too casually.

Jiang Shan looked through the room while standing at the door. His eyes soon landed on Lin Huang, and he walked toward him while smiling and gripping Lin Huang's hand.

"Mr. Emperor, it's such a pleasure! I've heard of the name Lin Xie around half a year ago. I told myself I must meet you if I had the chance for you're such a talented young man. I never thought the No. 1 genius would become the Emperor of Dynasty in the blink of an eye! I couldn't believe it when I heard the news. And now, you're here as an organization leader. We should never underestimate the younger generation!"

"Well, I can only say that life is unexpected. I didn't expect myself to be the Emperor of Dynasty as well." Lin Huang smiled while nodding.

"It's fate now that I think about it. You're Mr. Fu's disciple. He's taught me before as well, so I'm considered his half-disciple. We're pretty much senior and junior brothers of the same sect." Jiang Shan soon found common ground.

"It's nice to meet you, Senior Brother!" Slyness flashed through Lin Huang's eyes. He did not think that calling Jiang Shan Senior Brother was a loss to him. After all, Jiang Shan was older and held a high position. Now that he was his junior, it would benefit him in the discussion later.

"How's Mr. Fu doing?" Jiang Shan asked out of politeness.

"Pretty great. His injury has recovered." Lin Huang's answer surprised everyone.

The reason he revealed that at such a time was that Mr. Fu had informed him last night that he had elevated to Virtual God rank-9. Moreover, he told Lin Huang that he could use his name when he needed to.

Even Jiang Shan was stunned to hear the news. He asked immediately, "Are you serious?"

"Of course, I'm serious! I never joke about things like that," Lin Huang replied grimly.

Apart from Lin Huang and Lin Xin, everyone was shocked by the news of Mr. Fu being healed.

Most of the people had no idea about Mr. Fu's exact combat strength. However, Jiang Shan and the rest of the Union Government upper echelons knew about it.

To many, Mr. Fu, who had been severely injured over 800 years ago, was like a tiger who had lost its teeth. He was nobody to be feared of. He was nothing no matter how powerful his combat strength was because the more Divine Power he used, the closer he was to his impending death. Therefore, they were sure that Mr. Fu would not retaliate.

However, the situation was totally different if Lin Huang was telling the truth.

Virtual God rank-8 was close to the limit that this gravel world could contain. Meanwhile, the most powerful seniors in all the top organizations only had a combat strength of Virtual God rank-3. At least, that was what was known to the public.

To a Virtual God rank-8 powerhouse, comparing a Virtual God rank-3 person was like comparing a baby less than a month old to an adult hunk that could carry 300 kilograms of weight. Their abilities were on entirely different levels.

Having had his ability recovered, Mr. Fu was considered a person who should be feared in this gravel world.

Naturally, the Union Government was doubtful of what Lin Huang told them.

After all, it had been over 800 years since Mr. Fu had been injured, and he had yet to heal throughout the years. Moreover, it was such a coincidence for Lin Huang to come with the news. They could not rule out the possibility that he had come up with a lie to win more benefits in the discussion.

Lin Huang knew that Jiang Shan and the rest would most probably doubt him if he were to tell them the news. The purpose of him revealing the news was not for them to believe in him, but to make them worry.

Jiang Shen took the main seat after chatting with Lin Huang for merely a moment.

Everyone in the meeting room also returned to their seats.

There were not many people in the entire meeting room. There were a total of eight people from the Union Government's side, including their chief Jiang Shan, deputy chief Dongfang Bai, committee chairman Zhao Lingming, the deputy chairmen Ran Ning and Qiu Xu, press representative Han Yao, and the two Virtual God rank-3 powerhouses who were responsible for their safety.

Meanwhile, the people Lin Huang brought from Dynasty only made up half of the number of people from the Union Government. They were Lin Huang and his sister, one of the three Grand Dukes, Huang Tianfu, and the Virtual God, Huang Baiyu.

Jiang Shan spoke directly seeing that it was close to 9 a.m. which was the scheduled time of the meeting, "Emperor Lin, you've been keeping the collaboration's agenda and direction a secret. Can you share it with us now?"

Lin Huang picked the cup up and took a sip of the tea before saying slowly, "I'm sure every one of you from the Union Government knows that the organization behind Dynasty is Royal from the great world. Am I right?"

He then proceeded to speak after seeing that everyone from the Union Government nod. "I passed the Royal Trial and became a Royalty officially before being chosen as the Emperor of Dynasty."

In reality, the Union Government upper echelons including Jiang Shan knew about this, but they listened patiently.

"The reason I have the confidence to collaborate with the Union Government is that I have Royal's support. This looks like a collaboration between Dynasty and the Union Government on the surface, but in reality, I'm representing Royal to propose a business opportunity with the Union Government."

The people from the Union Government looked solemn as they listened. Although they figured the bargaining power Lin Huang might bring, they could not help but anticipate it when they heard Lin Huang mention it out loud.

"Although there are many ruins and sites in this gravel world, it's been over 800 years since the new era began. The resources available in those ruins and sites that were explored for many times are depleting. Moreover, there are fewer and fewer new ruins and sites throughout the centuries. Sometimes, we can't even find a single one throughout a year.

"I know you guys restricted the participants' combat strength and time to enter the newly opened ruins and sites throughout the centuries. You guys are also trying your best to control the number of old ruins and sites being explored as well as prolonging the interval in between explorations so that the ruins and site can grow more resources. However, the resources that everyone can get from the ruins and sites are still dropping every year.

"After all, the world that we're currently in is merely a gravel world, whereby the number of ruins and sites are limited. The resources will continue to decrease as more people explore those ruins and sites that are already limited. It's a fact that you can't change no matter how much you guys want to restrict and manage them. The number of ruins and sites make the resources limited.

"Meanwhile, the bargaining power I have to bring to the table today is the solution to increase the number of ruins and sites!"

"Let's hear it!" Jiang Shan and the rest were giving him all of their attention at this point.

"Royal has countless mini-worlds under them, and the number of ruins and sites continue to go up every day. Well, I have the authority to explore these ruins and sites."

The eight from the Union Government were a little restless as soon as Lin Huang said that.

Even Jiang Shan did not expect Lin Huang to hold onto the Union Government's weakness as soon as he showed up. However, he was accurate.

Naturally, it was not Lin Huang who came up with that idea. Instead, it was Bloody who was in the hotel hundreds of meters away that transferred the information into his head through her Leech Pod while he merely repeated the information he was fed with.

It was also the plan Lin Huang and Bloody came up with, which was to get Bloody to participate in the discussion.

Just like what Bloody got Lin Huang to say, the Union Government had indeed done everything they could to maintain all the ruins and sites. However, there were a limited number of ruins and sites after all which resulted in limited resources.

As the Union Government members and the military department had been growing throughout the 800 years, they had more and more requirements for all cultivation resources. Meanwhile, there were fewer and fewer new ruins and sites as well as resources throughout the past century. That was the biggest issue that put the Union Government's development to a halt as of late.

They had been looking for solutions but their attempts were to no avail. They had opened all the ruins and sites in this gravel world. Although there were new ruins and sites that appeared occasionally, it was just a drop in the ocean which did nothing much to help the issue.

Jiang Shan finally spoke again after they discussed among themselves through voice transmission for a while, "Emperor Lin, what do you guys want in return for the authorization to be extended to us?"

"An extensive and comprehensive collaboration, including sharing of information that's circulated in the union organizations. Basically, the sharing of resources and authorization that other union organizations can enjoy." Lin Huang went all out.

"Whatever you're requesting is exclusive to our union organizations. If Dynasty really wants to enjoy these benefits, you can actually join the union organization directly," Deputy Chief Dongfang Bai said to Lin Huang while smiling.

"We're a neutral organization and we won't pick any sides," Lin Huang rejected him directly.

"Emperor Lin, why don't you give us a day to discuss it? Let's end today's meeting right here." Jiang Shan called off the meeting immediately upon noticing that Dongfang Bai and Lin Huang were staring at each other and nobody was backing off.

Since the first round of discussion came to an end, Guan Zhong checked Lin Huang and the other three of them into a hotel near the Union Government headquarters.

Each of them were supposed to stay in a room individually, but Lin Huang got Guan Zhong to put Lin Xin in the same room with him because he was worried. The three rooms were connected. The room Lin Huang and Lin Xin were in was in the middle while Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu's rooms sandwiched theirs.

Guan Zhong soon excused himself and left after checking the four of them into the hotel.

Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu only knocked on Lin Huang's door after waiting for Guan Zhong to leave.

"Master Emperor, the collaboration…"

Lin Huang interrupted Huang Tianfu just when he began to speak, "Come in. We'll talk inside."

He recalled Bloody who was hundreds of meters away into her card form when the duo entered. Then, he summoned her again.

The three of them were surprised to see Bloody who had a knockout figure in her red dress.

Lin Xin was checking Bloody out rather closely since it was her first time seeing Bloody since her elevation.

"Brother, who is this chick?"

"She's Bloody."

"Bloody?!" Lin Xin was even more sceptical now. The Bloody she remembered did not look like this but was a clump of purple cloud who liked hiding in Lin Huang's sleeve. However, the person before them was clearly a human. Besides that, Lin Xin could not see any resemblance of a monster in her.

"She elevated and transformed into this," Lin Huang explained, feeling helpless.

Seeing that Lin Xin was still in disbelief, Bloody spoke using her voice from before, "Miss Xin Er, I'm really Bloody. I just underwent a significant change in form during the recent elevation."

Lin Xin only confirmed it was Bloody after hearing her familiar voice, but she remained curious. Never had she thought that a monster that was initially a cloud would transform into a human form after elevating.

Bloody turned her head and introduced herself to Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu when she noticed their surprise too, "I'm Master's summoning beast. My name is Bloody."

"This summoning beast looks terribly like a human, doesn't she?" Huang Baiyu stared at Bloody for a while and could not tell her apart from a regular human. "Even her aura is exactly the same as a human's."

Meanwhile, Huang Tianfu was much calmer. All he did was look at Lin Huang rather curiously. "Master Emperor, you summoned this summoning beast at this moment because…"

"Bloody has Supreme Intelligence. She's the one who came up with the proposal for the collaboration with me." Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu understood the reason why Lin Huang summoned Bloody as soon as he said that.

"Although she can't participate in the discussion, it's great to have a strategist who has Supreme Intelligence." Huang Tianfu grinned while nodding in approval.

"She just can't participate in the discussion publicly," Lin Huang said, "Bloody has a special technique which allows her to observe the meeting through my eyes in real life and communicate with me from far away without anyone noticing. It looks like there are only four people from our side in the discussion, but in reality, there are five of us."

Lin Huang did not go into Bloody's ability in detail on purpose when he explained. It was normal for Imperial Censors to hold back on revealing their summoning beasts' abilities to the public.

Fortunately, Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu did not focus on Bloody's abilities. Having a participant in hiding from their side was undoubtedly great news.

"Bloody, tell us what we should do next." Lin Huang threw such a question directly before everyone to prove that Bloody deserved to participate in the discussion.

"It's impossible for the Union Government to agree to our condition completely. After all, Dynasty is just a neutral organization. No matter how tempting the benefit that we're offering is, it's impossible for them to give Dynasty all the benefits that are exclusive to the union organizations. We'd be enjoying benefits exclusive to those union organizations without having to go along with their rules. Such a request is totally breaking their rules, so there's no way the Union Government will agree to that.

"However, judging from the response from the Union Government, they're eager to explore new ruins and sites. They'll only accept our request in addition to their own conditions to come to an agreement. Therefore, now we'll have to fight for what we want most as much as we can and let them reject our requests that aren't exactly important to us. After all, both sides will have to compromise to achieve a win-win situation."

Bloody's clever answer won Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu's trust completely.

Lin Xin, who was sitting on the other side, only believed that it was Bloody by then. "Now, I'm sure that you're really Bloody because none of Brother's summoning beasts are as smart as you."

Lin Huang had no idea whether to laugh or cry after hearing that. In reality, Bloody was not the only one who possessed Supreme Intelligence among the summoning beasts he had. Grimace, the Bug Tribe's Queen Mother, and the Superbrain Worm that he had just obtained earlier also possessed Supreme Intelligence. As for those monsters who did not possess Supreme Intelligence, many of them had elevated to quadruple mythical-level. Speaking of intelligence, they were actually smarter than ordinary humans. Their learning and comprehension abilities were on par with human supreme geniuses (monsters on pseudo-mythical-level only have abilities comparable with supreme geniuses).

Bloody was a little speechless by Lin Xin's compliment. She pretended that she did not hear her and proceeded to speak, "We must put the things that the Union Government definitely won't let go off into consideration when we decide which condition to give up on. Even if there are authorizations that we're eager to obtain from them, if we know that it's impossible for them to allow that, we don't have to insist on it. Instead, it's better for us to be mentally prepared about what to give up on so that we can obtain benefits in other things."

Bloody's suggestion helped Lin Huang and the rest set the direction of their discussion again.

They looked at the list and began discussing which were the things that they must come to agreement on and which to give up.

Meanwhile, the Union Government was in full-swing discussion too. They were discussing what authorization they should give to Dynasty and which to prohibit no matter what.

Time flew by and a day soon went by. The Union Government and Dynasty had their preliminary discussions drafted internally.

The next morning, Lin Huang led his people into the Union Government building again after breakfast.

Bloody, who was in the hotel hundreds of meters away, spoke to Lin Huang through voice transmission all of a sudden a moment after they had just taken their seats, "The news of the discussion between Dynasty and the Union Government has been exposed! Someone took a video of you guys entering the Union Government building earlier and posted it on the black market forum. The entire forum is in a heated discussion now."

Lin Huang went to the black market forum immediately after hearing that.

As told, the first thread on the main page of the forum was 'Emperor Of Dynasty Visited The Union Government Headquarters Secretly. Click Link for Video Proof!'

Soon, Lin Huang saw the video after clicking on the thread.

The video was taken outside the Union Government building. It only lasted for some ten seconds and was a clip of Lin Huang and the other three walking into the entrance of the Union Government in the morning.

Lin Huang and Lin Xin's faces were not in the video, but Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu, who walked behind them, had their faces captured.

Many people recognized Huang Tianfu as soon as they saw the video. Naturally, it was not too difficult to recognize Lin Huang from his side profile.

Heated discussions from countless underground organizations went on below the threads. Most of them condemned Lin Huang as a traitor to the underground organizations.

Lin Huang thought about it and decided to comment on the thread with his personal account.

"Firstly, thank you everyone for your concern about Dynasty and myself. As the Emperor of Dynasty, I would like to say something representing Dynasty here. Dynasty is a neutral organization now and forever. As a neutral organization, we won't pick sides. We have the right to choose who we want to work with, and that has nothing to do with a third person's will (in other words, it's none of your business!). It has nothing to do with whether it's a union organization or an underground organization as well as the size or the people involved. Dynasty is willing to work with anyone whose development philosophy is in line with ours as long as it's a win-win for both sides. We welcome all organizations to collaborate with Dynasty. Let's excel together!"

Lin Huang closed the forum after posting that comment on the thread. He no longer followed the topic after that.

He did not plan to hide his discussion with the Union Government from anyone anyway. It made no difference to him that it was exposed since everyone would find out sooner or later. He did not care whether people found out sooner or later. If he cared, he would have disguised himself with Huang Tianfu and the rest when they entered the First City yesterday.

However, Lin Huang had no idea that the comment he posted on the thread in the black market forum became a hit. The views on the thread that was initially tens of thousands skyrocketed to over 30 million views within less than ten minutes after he commented, and the number was rising. The comment threads grew from a few hundred to more than 100,000 now.

The black market forum almost crashed from the traffic that came out of nowhere.

The reason for the sudden spike in traffic was that some of them posted the thread on some other social media sites. In addition to that, some people screenshot Lin Huang's comment and forwarded it around.

The criticism about that Lin Huang and Dynasty being traitors that was consistent on the black market forum took a turn after a new bunch of people flooded the site. The threads were all supporting Lin Huang.

"Are you guys ashamed of taking this video sneakily? The Emperor wasn't even hiding it."

"Good job on the 'it's none of your business'! Because of that, I'm Lin Huang's fan from today onwards."

"Secret visit, my a*s! He visited the Union Government publicly and didn't disguise himself at all. Instead, he walked into the building from the entrance. The video you posted shows that loud and clear, so how is that a secret visit? Do you think we're all blind?"

"To those who called out Dynasty as a traitor, the Emperor officially announced that Dynasty was no longer an underground organization four months ago as soon as he was appointed. They're now a neutral organization. What does a neutral organization working with union organization has anything to do with you underground organization?!"

…

Lin Huang's name became the No. 1 topic on all the social media sites early in the morning. Dynasty also became the second topic on trending topics, and they were popular now.

The first thought that flashed through many people's minds when they saw Lin Huang's name on social media sites was, 'What did Lin Huang do again? Why is he always trending? Can he give a chance to the others?!'

Everyone who clicked on the trending thread and read it thoroughly came to the same conclusion — they supported Lin Huang!

The reason was simple. Many ordinary cultivators were on all social media sites while most of them loathed the underground organizations.

Lin Huang's action undoubtedly made a statement that Dynasty was a neutral organization. Moreover, him working with the Union Government was a plus to the ordinary cultivators. To them, the Union Government represented justice. It was impossible for them to be in the same boat with evil organizations. Therefore, Dynasty's image turned positive now.

In reality, Lin Huang and Bloody did not expect that to happen.

One of the reasons why Lin Huang decided to work with the Union Government was that the Union Government had the most power. Another reason was that compared to other organizations, the possibility of the Union Government backing out on their promise was slimmer.

Lin Huang and the rest had no idea that the Union Government was following this matter closely since early in the morning.

Jiang Shan and the rest were a little surprised to see that almost everyone on the Internet supported Lin Huang.

"Everyone on the Internet supports Dynasty and Lin Huang. I really have no idea what Lin Huang fed those people," Deputy Chief Dongfang Bai shook his head while saying, failing to understand how did that happen.

"It's not too hard to understand actually." Jiang Shan smiled hearing what Dongfang Bai said. "Lin Huang is only 19 and he's already the Emperor of Dynasty as well as the No. 1 genius of the era. His name doesn't represent himself alone. It's more like a symbol, a symbol that the younger generation believes in.

"Think about it. He's a formidable genius as bright as the sun above, masking all of the light the rest of the talents shine with his ability and he's the same age as you when you were 19. Would you worship him?"

Dongfang Bai fell into silence. The rest also experienced a slight change of expression.

"Lin Huang's existence isn't something bad. There's no need for us to be intimidated by him. Even if Lin Huang isn't the one conquering the world, it might be Zhang Huang, Liu Huang or Li Huang. It's just how reality is. A person will show up at the right time in the right position as the leader of the new era. He'll leave his mark in his time and people will remember him for years to come," Jiang Shan continued.

"You sure speak highly of him. Are you trying to boost his ego?" said the committee chairman Zhao Lingming while smiling.

"What I said is what I really feel. You must know that I was even less significant than his finger when I was 19," Jiang Shan ridiculed himself.

"Alright, let's stop talking about Lin Huang. We might as well call off the meeting with Dynasty and agree to all of their conditions directly if we continue to talk about him," Dongfang Bai scorned.

"It's almost time to go. I think the people from Dynasty are already waiting at the meeting room." Ran Ning changed the subject right away.

They then stopped chatting and headed to the meeting room.

Lin Huang and the other three had been waiting in the meeting room much earlier.

When it was almost 9 a.m., they began the meeting officially after a moment of chatting.

The Union Government chief, Jiang Shan, was the first to speak, "Emperor Lin, you were saying that the main bargaining power you guys have is the authority to the ruins and sites yesterday. We'd like to know how many are there going to be."

"Royal's grade-0 trial zone is the equivalent of grade-1 to grade-5 ruins and sites in our world. I can give you authorization to 300 of them. Meanwhile, a grade-1 trial zone is equivalent to grade-6 ruins and sites in our world. I can give you authorization to 30 of them. However, the condition is that we'll take a 30% commission from the items that you guys obtained from the trial zones," Lin Huang named his condition directly.

Apart from the restriction whereby only Royal's affiliate organizations were allowed to enter the trial zones, members with rank-A authorization actually had another privilege which was to invite a maximum of three people who were not from the affiliate organizations into the trial zones.

However, the guests would not obtain any points from the killings in the trial zones. Royal's internal market would not be opened to them either. The only thing they could bring back would be the monster carcasses and the treasures from the trial zones.

They probably gave such a privilege because Royal did not want their elite members to be too introverted. They hoped that the members could socialize like normal people and even work with other organizations instead of limiting themselves to being acquittances with others.

Meanwhile, the authorization to the ruins and sites Lin Huang was offering the Union Government was actually a privilege given to rank-A Royalties.

Lin Huang offered acess to 330 trial zones as soon as he spoke. It was almost half of all of the ruins and sites in the entire gravel world. Moreover, the number surpassed the total number of ruins and sites that the Union Government owned.

The meeting room fell into silence once again hearing the offer Lin Huang gave.

The Union Government was mentally prepared for Lin Huang to definitely offer a high number but never had they thought it would be so high. Although Jiang Shan and the rest were mentally prepared, they were shocked when they heard the actual number Lin Huang offered.

If they agreed to that offer, it would mean that the number of sites and ruins that the Union Government could explore could be multiplied.

"If you guys need, I can pick those trial zones that have just been opened," Lin Huang added, "But there's something that I must tell you in advance.

"Although there are many Royal trial zones, there are also many Royalties' affiliate organizations. Therefore, it's very normal for you guys to bump into other organizations who would enter the trial zones the same time that you do. Even if those were new trial zones, the organizations under the Royalties might've explored and taken the resources.

"Royal doesn't prohibit fights in trial zones. One can even say that they encourage them. So, when your people bump into other organizations in the trial zones, don't show mercy when you have to fight. Otherwise, you'll end up being the one killed."

"I understand that. We'll pass that message down then." Jiang Shan nodded and proceeded, "I've looked at the list you sent to Guan Zhong yesterday, and we've discussed it and came to an agreement."

Jiang Shan read out while projecting a list, "The first condition is that you guys requested to have access to the union organization's trading channels. We're okay with that. It can be opened to Dynasty freely.

"The second condition is that you guys requested to enjoy the same privileges we offer to the union organizations. We can promise you that as well."

…

"However, we can't agree to give access to union information to Dynasty. The most that we can do is give Dynasty access to public information, not the access to the confidential stuff.

"The same goes for the access of books and documents of all sorts. We can only open a part of it to Dynasty. We can give access to cultivation books under god-level, but not to other books, documents, and confidential stuff."

…

"As for the access to ancient sites opened to Emperor Lin alone, we can do that for you but the duration will only be 30 days. The access will be revoked as soon as 30 days have passed.

"We can also give a month of access to the highest authorization in the Central Library to Emperor Lin. However, you can't transfer or record the methods in the books to others."

…

There were over 20 lists on the projection. Those were the conditions that Lin Huang and Bloody had discussed and listed.

Among the conditions, there were only merely a few that were completely accepted.

Most of the requests were not rejected by the Union Government directly. Instead, they accepted them with their own terms and conditions.

The Union Government's way of handling the matter was completely within Bloody's expectations.

In reality, Lin Huang could see where the Union Government drew the line in the list. Almost all of the conditions that touched the union organization's confidentiality were rejected instantly.

Huang Tianfu and Huang Baiyu were quiet. In reality, they were pretty satisfied with the first round of discussion with the Union Government. However, Bloody and Lin Huang wanted to fight for more.

Soon, Bloody who was hundreds of meters away contacted Lin Huang. "The Union Government has drawn the line. I think they've shown it on purpose to prevent us from putting the union organization's confidentiality on the table for the next few rounds of discussions. If that's the limit, we don't have to step across their baseline over and over again. We just have to compromise on some of the conditions as long as we get what we should fight for."

Lin Huang spoke again after communicating with Bloody on their consciousness for a while, "Chief Jiang, to be honest, I see your sincerity in working with us. However, there are some conditions that I hope to bargain with you.

"The first one, access to information. If you're only giving us access to public information, that has not much difference versus not giving us access to it at all.

"Everybody knows that most underground organization members have a Emperor's Heart Ring with a fake identity. Moreover, the fake identities are basically members of the union organizations including the Union Government, the Hunter Association, and Adventurer Paradise. We can look at the public information open to the union with a fake identity ring. Therefore, the first condition that you guys offer serves no difference compared to not giving us anything.

"We know it's pretty impossible for you guys to give elder-level authorization to us. After all, an elder-level authorization would fall under core authorization. However, we're hoping to fight for transcendent-level access, even if it's only holy fire-level."

Jiang Shan turned his head to look at his people after hearing that.

He then turned his head back to look at Lin Huang after a simple communication with the remaining seven people through voice transmission. "Please give us some time to deliberate."

"Please do." Lin Huang nodded lightly while picking up the cup and taking a sip of tea. He waited for them to discuss among themselves patiently.

Meanwhile, Bloody's voice came into his head again. "There will be two possible results later. One of them could be they're going to change the authorization. If that's the case, we'll pick something that they'll most probably disagree with. The other result would be for them to disagree to change it. If that's the case, there's no need for us to insist on this and compromise with another condition that we're eager to realize."

Approximately seven to eight minutes later, the Union Government finally came up with their decision.

Jiang Shan and the rest who gathered around fixed their attention back to the table. Jiang Shan finally spoke again, "I'm so sorry, we can't give you access. As for the fake identities that Emperor Lin mentioned, we'll look into it. The public union information is only open to union organizations. It's not for non-members to pry."

"Alright, since you guys have come to that decision, I won't waste any more time dwelling on that. Let's talk about the next condition." Lin Huang shrugged and skipped to the next condition promptly.

Both sides discussed back and forth for the entire day and finally came to a preliminary agreement. In reality, the progress was considered swift for a collaboration between top organizations.

After the direction and conditions of the collaboration came to an agreement, Lin Huang and the rest stayed another two days in First City to discuss the details.

Including the first day that was wasted, they spent a whole four days to finally officially sign the agreement.

Lin Huang and Jiang Shan decided to release a statement together as soon as the agreement was signed.

The statement that was posted on the Union Government's official account was, 'It's a historical day today! The Union Government is collaborating with the neutral organization, Dynasty!"

The attached picture was the last page of signatures on the agreement as well as a photo of the upper echelons of the Union Government and Dynasty.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang was much more casual with his statement. 'Happy collaboration []~(￣▽￣)~*'

The photo he attached was the photo taken with Lin Xin and the Union Government chief, Jiang Shan, as well as the cover of both agreements.

Lin Huang who was still trending on top ten rose to No. 1 within less than three minutes of the statement being made. He became the trending No. 1 again!

To avoid having interviews with media, Lin Huang and the rest returned to Emperor City as soon as the agreement was signed.

Lin Huang browsed the websites on his Emperor's Heart Ring as soon as he returned to Emperor City. He realized all of the headlines on the news pages was the collaboration between the Union Government and Dynasty.

The comment section below the news was on fire. The number of comments were growing almost every second.

Although everyone knew that Lin Huang led Dynasty to the Union Government headquarters in First City three days ago, many of them looked down on Dynasty whereby they thought the discussion would most probably come to no avail.

After all, Dynasty used to be an underground organization back then. Many of their members were still on the union organization's blacklist until today. The two organizations were on different pages no matter whether it was in the past or now. Theoretically, it was pretty impossible for the Union Government to come to an agreement with Dynasty.

Although Dynasty was a top organization in this world, compared to the Union Government, they were on a different level. Many people thought that the Union Government would have everything that Dynasty had. Therefore, there was no need for the Union Government to work with Dynasty at all.

However, the outsiders had no idea that the bargaining power that Lin Huang offered was so handsome that the Union Government could not reject it at all.

Being a neutral organization aside, the Union Government might be unable to decline such tempting offer even if Dynasty was still an underground organization. Naturally, if that was the case, they would definitely not make their collaboration known to the public. Instead, they would only work secretly.

Apart from the news sites, the collaboration between the Union Government and Dynasty became the No. 1 or No. 2 topic on all the forums and social media sites. Lin Huang was even trending as No. 1 on some sites.

Clearly, people took note of Lin Huang and the collaboration between the Union Government and Dynasty.

Lin Huang realized that his personal social media account experienced a boost in fans again.

On the social media site that he paid the most attention to, his fans that were originally over 50 million had grown to 70 million and was still growing.

Within an hour of him posting the statement, there were over two million comments and at least 10 million likes on his post.

Lin Huang scanned through the comments roughly. Most of them basically supported what he did. Many new cultivators began following him because of the collaboration that had gone through this time. It proved that Dynasty was indeed a neutral organization because it was impossible for the Union Government to work with an underground organization. At least, it was impossible for them to do that publicly.

Moreover, working with the Union Government publicly would be the equivalent to drawing a line with the underground organizations. It was a different story from merely saying that Dynasty was a neutral organization like Lin Huang had before.

Naturally, there were criticisms in the comments too.

Some of them criticized them for standing on the underground organization's side, saying that Lin Huang and Dynasty were traitors to the underground organization. Some of them were condemning them for taking the union organization's side, accusing Lin Huang and Dynasty doing it as a show and just pretending on the surface. After all, they were still an underground organization deep down in their bones with a neutral organization's cover over their skin.

Lin Huang did not respond to those jokers. He only looked through the comments and skipped through the pages, not even bothering to read the details. It was not that he was a chill person, but he just thought it was not necessary for him to waste time on those jokers.

He closed the website after looking at a few pages of comments. He sat with his legs crossed and began cultivating Seamless.

However, he had no idea that the collaboration between Dynasty and the Union Government which he made possible had become heated discussions in many top organizations.

On the union organization's side, they were most curious about what bargaining power did Dynasty exactly have to make the Union Government agree to work with them. Moreover, some of the organizations heard some of the conditions and found out about the access the Union Government gave to Dynasty.

Some union organizations looked for the Union Government committee and deputy chief directly to object to the collaboration.

However, Jiang Shan and the rest were expecting to hear different opinions, so they carried out the solutions that they had prepared.

The underground organizations were also in heated discussions. However, most of them were discussing to take revenge on Dynasty. They thought that Dynasty working with the Union Government was a betrayal.

"They used to be one of the top three underground organizations and they're kissing the Union Government's a*s now?! Dynasty is just pure disgusting!"

"Who do they think the underground organizations are? They dismissed themselves just like that. Did we agree to that?!"

"They kept saying that they're going to the neutral side and we didn't say anything because we know it was just something that they'd say. I thought we could just laugh about it, but they're ignoring the other underground organizations completely just to work with the Union Government. We don't care about anything that you're trying to stir but this is just stabbing a knife into our backs!"

"Dynasty is too much! We must teach them a lesson this time! Especially that Emperor, we must teach him a good lesson. He has been stirring things up ever since he was appointed!"

Apart from the union organizations and the underground organizations, the neutral organizations were also in heated discussions about the collaboration between the Union Government and Dynasty.

This happened in Shadow Killer's headquarters in the No. 1 safety zone of foothold No.1A11 in Silhouette City.

"What Dynasty did this time is pretty interesting," commented a man in white as he smiled slightly while watching the news projected before him.

A shadow on the ground became distorted and slowly transformed into a big, black mouth. It then spoke, "We've collaborated with the Union Government hundreds of years ago. Besides the Union Government, we're also collaborating with the Hunter Association and Adventurer Paradise."

"That's different. We're collaborating with the union organizations secretly. Dynasty announced their collaboration to the world. They're not afraid of letting everyone know about it."

"Perhaps the current Emperor of Dynasty is a dumb*ass. It makes sense for him to do such a thing without putting any consequences into consideration," the big, black mouth spoke again.

"No, Dynasty's three Grand Dukes are all smart, especially Huang Tianfu. Not many in the underground organizations can compare to him when he does something with motive. It's impossible that he doesn't know the consequences of doing this. Even if that Emperor is dumb, it's impossible for Huang Tianfu to allow him to come up with such a stupid plan. Him going to the Union Government with the Emperor for the discussion proves that three of the Grand Dukes approved of that. So, the only possible explanation is that Huang Tianfu knows Dynasty has the ability to handle the consequences."

Meanwhile, in foothold No. 2A13 of Freedom City in the No. 2 safety zone, 13 people sat at the table in the meeting room at the neutral heretics headquarters.

Among the 13 of them, some of them were listening to music with earphones on, some were digging their nose, some were rubbing their feet with their leg up, some were biting their nails and some were sleeping while snoring…

The person who sat in the main seat was a man who wore a black robe covering his body and had a terrifying white mask on his face

The man removed his mask and revealed a harmless face that seemed like a baby's. He looked like he was only in his early 20s.

"Hey, can you guys at least pretend to be serious? We're in a meeting now!" insisted the black-robed man while slamming the table.

"Boss, you can just say what you've got to say. There's no need to slam the table. We're not deaf," complained the man who was rubbing his feet before he sniffed his fingers. He then revealed a disgusted expression.

"I'll chop your legs off!" the black-robed man growled fiercely.

'Boss, don't be angry. You look like a baby who is upset. That makes you lose all of your power." The middle-aged man with stubs had half of his little finger up his nostril. His voice was muffled when he spoke.

"It's all your fault! You guys always half-a*s everything you do. We were supposed to be the first neutral organization to collaborate with the Union Government. Now, Dynasty has done it first!" The black-robed man pointed his finger accusingly at the people.

"Boss, you can't blame us for that. We have everything that the Union Government has. What can we offer to work with them?" said the fatty who was sleeping and snoring earlier, yawning while looking sleepy.

"I don't care. We can do what Dynasty did! You guys figure out what can we offer to work with the Union Government when the meeting adjourns! I'll give you three days. Each of you will have to write a report! You know what's the consequence for not passing it up on time!"

After the discussion with the Union Government was over, Lin Huang went back being a hermit crab on the second day he returned to Emperor City.

However, his Emperor's Heart Ring began vibrating when he had just started cultivating Seamless early in the morning.

The interference did not bother Lin Huang since he was not in closed-door cultivation. He did not turn off the communication function in his Emperor's Heart Ring.

The reason being he knew that the collaboration between Dynasty and the Union Government would definitely create a stir. He was most probably needed to handle it himself.

As expected, it was Huang Tianfu who was calling.

Lin Huang picked up the call peeping at the name popped up on the communication device.

Huang Tianfu's full body was soon projected before Lin Huang. However, he looked bothered.

"What's wrong?" Lin Huang knew that it was pretty impossible for Huang Tianfu to contact him if there was nothing important. It was a consistent relationship that he had built with Huang Tianfu.

"Misery has just sent an invitation. They'll visit us in three days."

"Misery?" Lin Huang could not help but raise his brow after hearing that.

Naturally, Lin Huang was familiar with the name Misery. It was the No. 1 underground organization in the entire gravel world.

He had no idea how powerful Misery was. All he knew roughly was that the No. 1 rank Misery had been sitting in for hundreds of years could not be shaken by Dynasty at all.

Among the top three underground organizations, Dynasty and Inferno had been fighting for No. 2 all this time.

"How powerful exactly is Misery? They can't compare with the Union Government. Am I right?" Lin Huang asked Huang Tianfu.

"Misery is a little like the enhanced version of Saint. Compared to Saint members who are avid believers of their god, Misery worships the Death God. The Misery followers believe that life is like cruising on a sea of misery, whereby death is the only salvation and relief. They think that killing is an act to help others to achieve salvation and relief, which also cleanses their own sin."

"If death is the only salvation and relief, why don't they commit suicide?" Lin Huang could not help but ask solemnly.

"Misery followers think that committing suicide is a depraving behavior. Not only will they not be salvaged or relieved, but they'll also drown in the sea of misery after they die and they won't be relieved forever. Any form of suicide isn't encouraged, including hiring someone to kill themselves or setting someone up to kill them. All of those are considered suicide."

"What double standards of logic." Lin Huang pouted. Killing others would mean offering salvation and relief, but committing suicide would put them in the sea of misery. No matter what, they had the right to an explanation whereby they could make up anything they wanted.

"Due to the high threshold to enter Misery, their members have a compelling ability. Basically, all of their members are genius powerhouses because they worship the Death God, which makes their followers fearless of death, resulting in them having extreme cultivation and battle techniques. Only a handful of people with the same combat strength are a match for them. Their average personal ability ranks No. 1 in the entire gravel world. There's a rumor saying that Misery has a way to get their members to virtual god-level. They might have more virtual god-level members than the Union Government does. Apart from having fewer members compared to the Union Government, Misery can definitely suppress the Union Government and all of the other organizations in other aspects.

"If their average personal abilities and top combat strength are more powerful than the Union Government, then indeed, their overall ability is much more powerful than Dynasty." Lin Huang nodded lightly and asked Huang Tianfu, "Has Dynasty encountered Misery before?"

"We don't have much contact, but we've encountered them a few times." Huang Tianfu nodded.

"What do you think? Are they as powerful as what the rumor says?"

"I personally think that the rumor is real," Huang Tianfu answered, "They have a minimum of three virtual god-level powerhouses and the most powerful one is on at least Virtual God rank-3."

"Naturally, Misery sent us the invitation right when we're in the middle of the heat. They want to show us who the boss is. The person who will come visit us three days later isn't someone to be underestimated. Master Emperor, should we get Mr. Fu…?"

"Don't worry, I'll work something out." Naturally, Lin Huang would not alert Mr. Fu about a rare Godhead that was coming his way. "I hope they send many people here with higher combat strength so that the effect of warning our enemies will be more impactful."

After hanging up on Huang Tianfu's call, Lin Huang began cultivating Seamless without any distractions.

Meanwhile, outside the Emperor Palace, the access that the Union Government promised was granted one after another. Dynasty soon began giving all sorts of access to their members.

By then, the Dynasty members gained a new level of trust in Lin Huang.

On the other hand, Huang Tianfu was communicating with the Union Government's business partners to purchase broken Godheads and Godheads for Lin Huang.

Time flew by, and two days passed. On the evening of the third day, which was the day before Misery would visit Dynasty officially, a thread on the black market forum blew up.

The title of the thread was 'Dynasty Will Be Past Tense After Tomorrow'.

The thread seemed to have been posted by someone from Misery because apart from Lin Huang and the three Grand Dukes from Dynasty, only a few of the upper echelons knew that Misery was visiting. However, the thread revealed the invitation, saying that Dynasty had received the invitation from Misery two days ago and that they would visit the next day.

Although there was no photo of the invitation attached in the thread, judging by the descriptions, the thread starter obviously knew about the visit.

However, although the thread created a stir, not many people believed it.

After all, the contents of the thread were merely words. There was no proof to show that the exposé was real.

Although the news was unreliable, many people supported it.

They commented that Misery should teach Dynasty a lesson, show them the consequence of being a traitor.

Some were targeting Lin Huang, saying Misery should teach Lin Huang, the daring brat a good lesson.

Soon, the screenshot of the thread was posted on all the social media sites, causing heated discussions among cultivators.

Because Misery had been quiet for over ten years, many rookies had never heard of it. There was very little information about them on the Heart Network too.

Many people were asking the same question. "What kind of organization is Misery exactly?"

Some of the people from the underground organizations and some senior cultivators began researching about Misery.

However, many of the cultivators were in disdain after learning about some stuff that Misery did. They became supporting Dynasty.

"I thought it was some amazing organization, but it's just a radical terrorist organization. I really don't know why such an organization exists."

"Killing others is a relief to them but committing suicide is prohibited. Such double standards make me want to laugh."

"Such underground organizations are more disgusting as you learn more about them. It seems like Dynasty is better since they decided to get out of the dark and go towards the light. Great job!"

"What times are they living in to be sending an invitation out? Do they really think they're underground bosses?!"

"If this thread is real, I hope that Lin Huang and Dynasty will be able to brave through the disaster tomorrow."

Apart from the netizens, many organizations were following the issue too.

In reality, the top organizations knew that the thread was real without having to look at the proof because they had heard about it since the beginning.

Even the Union Government was following the matter.

"Should we do something about it?" Dongfang Bai asked Jiang Shan.

"This is a conflict between Dynasty and Misery," Jiang Shan responded calmly.

"What if they really put Dynasty to an end?" Dongfang Bai asked while frowning, "Wouldn't that mean that the collaboration we had would go to waste?"

Jiang Shan lowered his head to look at the projected screenshot.

"Since they've decided to collaborate with us, they should have the ability to bear the risk of working with us. If they didn't consider all the risks that might happen or if they weren't prepared for this prior to the discussion, we can only say that they're not the people we want to work with."

"I believe Emperor Lin and the rest should know very well that taking the first step to work with us isn't difficult. The tricky part is to maintain collaboration. If they manage to maintain it, everything will be smooth-sailing in the future. If they can't, it'll just be a dream."

It was at the beginning of winter during mid-December in Emperor City. The temperature was between 5 to 10 degrees Celsius.

Many citizens began wearing thin coats while the cultivators donned long pants and jackets.

White frost could occasionally be seen on the damp ground in the morning while the nights were chilly.

To the commoners, 15th December was just an ordinary day. It was the same for most people in Emperor City.

However, almost all of the top organizations in the entire gravel world had their attention on Emperor City that was tens of thousands of miles away from them because something important was about to happen there on that day.

The underground organization that ranked No. 1 throughout hundreds of years was 'visiting' Dynasty.

Everyone who was following this matter knew that 'visit' was just a nice term. In reality, it was a fight.

It would not only be just a fight between Misery and Dynasty, but it was also a fight for order.

If Misery won this match, it would not only mean that Dynasty would be destroyed, but it would also mean that the old order could not be broken, and there would not be a second underground organization who would confront them for at least hundreds of years. There would also not be a second neutral organization who would work with the Union Government.

If Dynasty won the match, Misery would be defeated and a new order would be in place. By then, more organizations would become neutral and more neutral organizations would work with the Union Government. One could say that Dynasty would begin a brand new era as soon as they won the match.

That was the reason why all the top organizations were following this incident closely.

The minor organizations and cultivators who were following this matter did not look that far into the future. All they thought was that the match between these two top organizations would be interesting.

To them, Misery was the No. 1 giant while Dynasty was the latest talk of the town. This match had to be an intense one. In reality, they had no idea exactly how powerful Misery was, and neither did they know what trump card Dynasty was holding.

The three Grand Dukes and another two virtual god-level dukes were preparing for the day to come.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang had been shutting himself away in the Emperor Palace.

He was not nervous at all and had been cultivating Seamless throughout the past few days. He even had a faint feeling that his Divine Telekinesis was improving a little each day.

By the time it was 8 a.m., Huang Tianfu finally could not wait any longer and called Lin Huang.

In reality, he had sent Lin Huang a message past six in the morning. He told him that Misery would arrive before 9 a.m., but Lin Huang did not respond.

However, Lin Huang hung up the second the call was connected.

Huang Tianfu received a message a moment later.

"Alright, I'll get out after I take a shower and have changed."

The reason why he had been dragging and refused to leave the Emperor Palace until now was that he was 200 threads away from reaching 50,000 telekinetic threads at 6 a.m. As a man who had slight OCD, he only insisted on getting out after he had broken through to 50,000 telekinetic threads. In reality, he paced himself so he would only take two hours the most. He was sure he would not be late to meet Misery.

Lin Huang opened his eyes all of a sudden less than ten seconds after hanging up Huang Tianfu's video call request with his telekinetic threads.

He had finally consolidated the last thread for the 50,000 telekinetic threads!

Lin Huang only sent Huang Tianfu the message after recalling the telekinetic threads back into his body. He then got up and walked to the bathroom.

After washing up and changing, he walked out of the Emperor Palace feeling fresh. He lowered his head to check the time. It was 8.18 a.m.

"It's still a little early. I have time for breakfast," Lin Huang mumbled softly and disappeared in a flash.

He arrived at the fat aunty's dumpling store when he appeared again. However, he was speechless to see the long queue at the entrance.

"Such good business!"

"Master Emperor, haven't you had breakfast?" the fat aunty greeted him in a friendly manner. "What would you like? I'll get it for you."

The couple knew Lin Huang's identity, but they did not really understand what the Emperor meant. They thought he was a governor of some sort. Although they respected him, they treated him as an ordinary person since they were already familiar with each other by now.

Everybody else gawked at Lin Huang after the fat aunty said that.

A few of the customers were cultivators who came from foreign lands to check out the dumplings. They began taking videos secretly as soon as they saw Lin Huang.

Nonetheless, Lin Huang did not stop them when he noticed that since he had gotten used to people filming him secretly.

Initially, he wanted to cut the queue after hearing what the fat aunty said. He did not do that when he realized that everyone in the queue was staring at him in respect, and there were two kids in the queue too.

"Don't worry about me. I'll queue," Lin Huang said and went to the back of the line. Including the two kids, there were 14 people before him. He looked at the time to see that it was 8.20 a.m. He estimated the time and figured he could still make it, so he decided to wait patiently.

In the beginning, the speed of the queue went smoothly. However, a young lady could not make up her mind and took up quite some time. Later on, there was a kid who wanted to have fried buns and fried eggs. The fat uncle started frying the buns, leaving the fat aunty alone which slowed the line down.

It was almost 8.50 a.m. when it was Lin Huang's turn to order.

After ordering two servings of dumplings, Lin Huang turned around and realized that all of the tables were basically taken. There was only one seat left at a table for two. Nobody dared to sit there because there was a hunk with a scar on his face sitting at the table. He was bald and appeared fierce.

Lin Huang walked straight to him. "Is this seat taken?"

In reality, he sensed that the hunk was a cultivator and had rather high combat strength. He was a transcendent on high immortal-level.

"N-No." the hunk had been filming Lin Huang secretly. When he saw Lin Huang walk over, he panicked.

"You can film me if you want. There's no need to hide," Lin Huang said after seeing the hunk cover his left hand with his right, revealing the camera shutter on his Emperor's Heart Ring between his fingers.

"Can I do that?" The hunk did not expect Lin Huang to be so easygoing.

"You guys would still film me even if I said no. There are already over ten cameras pointing at me now, so it doesn't make a difference if you're filming me too," responded Lin Huang and he began eating the dumplings with the dipping sauce.

The scar-faced hunk sitting across him could not help but ask when he had eaten half the dumplings, "Isn't Misery visiting Dynasty today? Why are you still having breakfast at such a time?"

"Is it 9 a.m. already?" Lin Huang peeped at the time and asked casually.

"But… shouldn't you be getting ready?" the scar-faced hunk asked again, "They're from Misery after all."

"What should I prepare?" Lin Huang asked him back. He then shoved the last dumpling in the first basket and began munching on it quickly.

The scar-faced hunk could not answer that question. He could not help but question again when Lin Huang devoured the second basket of dumplings a moment later, "Do you have the confidence to handle the crisis?"

"Crisis? I don't understand what you're saying. All I'm seeing is a thoughtful lamb hopping onto my chopping board."

Three guests arrived at the guest lounge at Dynasty's headquarters at 8.50 a.m.

The person who was leading them was a young man who looked about 20 years of age. He wore a white robe and had long hair that reached his waist. His face was so beautiful that he looked like a lady.

Huang Tianfu and the rest sensed clearly that this young man's combat strength aura was imperial-level purple gold-rank. However, he was two years older than Lin Huang at the most by the looks of it.

Of the other two gray-robed men, one was muscular while the other was skinny and slender.

They stressed the Virtual Gods Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang out even though they did not release their aura intentionally. Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang could faintly sense danger from them.

The duo could see the fear in Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang when they locked eyes. The two gray-robed visitors were at least mid-level Virtual Gods. In fact, they might be even more powerful than that.

The white-robed young man had a slight smile on his face as he observed the people from Dynasty quietly.

He only fixed his eyes on Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang for a moment and peeped at Huang Tianfu, Huang Wunan, and Huang Tufu. However, the three perfect-stage demigod-level Grand Dukes did not interest him at all.

He glanced at the three Grand Dukes and then at the few Dynasty upper echelons. However, he soon looked away, losing interest after seeing that they were demigods.

A sense of disdain flashed through Huang Tianfu's eyes but he asked with a smile on his face, "May I know how to address the three of you?"

"I'm sorry. We forgot to introduce ourselves. Your humble one is Ku Zhen." The white-robed young man put down the teacup in his hand and said while smiling, "These two next to me are Jie Sha and Zhi Lu."

Huang Tianfu and the rest experienced a slight change of expression upon hearing that. They did not know much about Misery, but they knew that the members would remove their names and given nicknames since they joined the organization.

Meanwhile, although they had never heard of the nicknames Jie Sha and Zhi Lu, they knew that the nicknames that began with 'Jie' and 'Zhi' were the earliest batch of Misery members.

For Ku Zhen who had a nickname that began with 'Ku', he was like the Holy Son from Saint. In Misery's terms, they were called Bodhisattva. Those who would be chosen as Bodhisattvas would have to be at least supreme geniuses. They might even have abilities that were comparable with the Four Princes on the same combat strength.

"So, it's the Bodhisattva and two seniors." Huang Tianfu soon adjusted his emotions.

Naturally, the white-robed young man Ku Zhen noticed Huang Tianfu's change in emotions. He was quite impressed by his control. "I see you guys have done your homework."

Huang Tianfu looked calm, but in reality, he was panicking.

It was a few minutes to 9 a.m., but Lin Huang had yet to show up until now. Moreover, Misery obviously came prepared. He was afraid that Dynasty might not be able to go through this easily.

As the atmosphere in Dynasty headquarters was incredibly intense, many cultivators in the cultivation world began discussing Lin Huang again.

There was no other reason why that happened no other than the scar-faced hunk sitting across Lin Huang who live-streamed Lin Huang devouring the dumplings and airing their conversation.

"Emperor Lin, you gobbling those dumplings makes me want to eat dumplings too."

"Which dumpling store is Emperor Lin eating at? Please provide the address and the store name!"

"Can you gluttons be more serious? The babe behind Emperor Lin is quite pretty. Please provide her contact number!"

Naturally, some of them were talking about serious stuff.

"I feel like Emperor Lin really doesn't care about Misery. It doesn't look like he's pretending.

"He has a meeting with Misery at 9 a.m. but he's still eating dumplings at 8.55 a.m. How serious exactly is he?"

"Somebody took a photo outside Dynasty headquarters. The people from Misery have entered the headquarters. And he's here eating dumplings (｡⊙౪⊙｡)"

"Emperor Lin, it's time to go back to Dynasty. Otherwise, your lair will be gone!"

"Who cares about the lair? To a glutton, eating is the topmost priority!"

…

Lin Huang glanced at the time when he was done with the two baskets of dumplings. It was almost 8.59 a.m.

He stood up and walked to the fat aunty to pay his bill calmly. He then spoke to the scar-faced hunk and the rest, "I'm making a move. Enjoy your breakfast." He vanished from where he was as soon as he was done speaking.

It was 9 a.m. sharp when he appeared in Dynasty's meeting room in a flash.

He looked at the time projected on his Emperor's Heart Ring just when he managed to stand still. "Ah, I'm on time."

He turned off the projection from his Emperor's Heart Ring and walked straight to the main seat in the meeting room. He took his seat and began observing the three people from Misery.

The young leader who wore a white robe was so beautiful and angelic that he did not look like a man. He had imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength but his ability might not be that low.

The other two men dressed plainly, but Lin Huang noticed they had combat strengths of Virtual God rank-5 and Virtual God rank-6. In this gravel world, they were considered supreme powerhouses whose combat strength ranked just lower than Mr. Fu's.

Lin Huang was suspicious of the duo's combat strengths because theoretically, demigods integrating a Virtual God rank-3's Godhead should be the limit. The success rate of integrating Virtual God rank-4's Godhead was almost zero. However, the duo's combat strengths were Virtual God rank-5 and Virtual God rank-6.

It would mean that either Misery had found a way to achieve virtual god-level or they had special techniques to integrate Godheads. A gleam of judgment flashed through Lin Huang's eyes as he thought about this point.

"Yours truly is the Emperor of Dynasty, Lin Huang. I would like to represent Dynasty to welcome all of you for visiting."

The three of them from Misery focused their eyes on Lin Huang as soon as he appeared.

Everyone was curious about this No. 1 genius of the era who was also the Emperor of Dynasty. Even Misery's Bodhisattva was no exception.

Ku Zhen squinted slightly as he observed Lin Huang. He was coming up with an estimation secretly, which was his ability to find out about someone through observation.

"He has just attained imperial-level, but his aura is rather odd. He doesn't feel like an ordinary imperial-level black gold-rank. He has compelling Sword Dao in him, so I'm guessing he has reached level-6. He has powerful telekinesis too. He's almost at the peak of imperial-level. That's strange. How come he's got no Imperial Censor aura?"

Ku Zhen nodded with a light smile at Lin Huang after his attempt to read him was to no avail. "I'm Ku Zhen. I've heard so much about you, Emperor, and we've finally met today."

"So, you're the Bodhisattva. You're too kind." Lin Huang was too lazy to do his homework but he had gotten Bloody to do it for him. Bloody researched Misery a bit, so it was only natural that she knew about the Bodhisattva.

Huang Tianfu told Lin Huang about the other two through voice transmission. However, upon seeing that Ku Zhen did not introduce them, they did not take the initiative to introduce themselves.

Lin Huang nodded quietly and lifted his head to look at Ku Zhen who was sitting across him. "I won't be beating around the bush so that we won't waste each other's time. I don't think you, the Bodhisattva, and the other two seniors happen to pass by the headquarters for nothing. You didn't state the reason in the invitation. So, why are you really here?!"

Huang Tianfu and the rest felt helpless. They thought they could test Misery for a little instead of turning against each other so soon. However, there was no way they could turn the situation around since Lin Huang said that.

Beyond Misery's expectations, Lin Huang went straight into the subject.

To them, Dynasty was at a loss. Usually people who were at a loss would not state their opinions in a discussion. Instead, they would beat around the bush to test where the one with the upper hand stood.

Since Lin Huang had asked about their intentions in such a straightforward way, Ku Zhen thought he saved a lot of his effort.

"Since you've asked, Emperor Lin, I shan't beat around the bush and I'll say whatever I have in mind."

Ku Zhen paused and continued when he saw Lin Huang nod at him, "We hope that Dynasty will cancel their collaboration with the Union Government."

Ku Zhen had been staring at Lin Huang when he said that. He wanted to see what kind of reaction Lin Huang would have.

Lin Huang only smiled lightly. "Don't you think you guys are sticking your noses into our business?"

"Misery is the underground boss. It was in the past, and it still is now. You guys working with the Union Government broke the underground organizations' rules. This is under our jurisdiction," Ku Zhen explained.

"Dynasty is now a neutral organization. We've got nothing to do with underground organizations. I don't care where you stand among the underground organizations, but you can't do anything to us," Lin Huang warned, not buying it at all.

"You guys can't dismiss yourself from the underground world as you wish. Dynasty will still be an underground organization as long as Misery hasn't given permission for you to do so. Dynasty will still be under Misery's jurisdiction. The notice you guys announced doesn't count. Such behavior isn't in line with our underground organizations' rules." Ku Zhen began denying Dynasty's power of statement.

"It's our business whether to dismiss ourselves from the underground world or not. It has nothing to do with other organizations. I don't care if Misery agrees with that or not, but we've already done that. It's a fact. The Union Government working with us publicly has proven that they approve of us as a neutral organization."

Lin Huang paused before speaking again, "If Misery has something to say about us dismissing ourselves from the underground world, you should've come to us when we announced it. You shouldn't be doing what you're doing now, telling us that we're breaking the rules after we've made the announcement four months ago."

"You guys only announced it with a written notice four months ago. Nobody would've taken that seriously. Do you think we should visit all the organizations that want to dismiss themselves from the underground world one by one? We wouldn't have come if you guys didn't work with the Union Government and broke the rule." Ku Zhen retaliated against what Lin Huang from through Misery's angle.

"Whether you agree with that or not, Dynasty is a neutral organization now and we've come to an agreement to work with the Union Government. Everything has been set, so you can't change the fact even if you've come all the way here."

"You can change the facts. I suggest you think it over again, Emperor Lin." A gleam of coldness flashed through Ku Zhen's eyes.

"We, Dynasty, will never take our words back." Lin Huang shook his head and declined immediately.

"Why are we still wasting our time talking to them?" Jie Sha, who was sitting aside, finally could not take it any along and revealed a ferocious expression. "Let's just kill them!"

The skinny Zhi Lu next to him held Jie Sha's arm and looked at Lin Huang calmly.

"You have two choices. One is to cancel the collaboration between Dynasty and the Union Government and dismiss yourself as a neutral organization. Release a notice within three days to inform the world. The second choice is to end Dynasty from this world entirely, sparing nobody's lives."

Huang Tianfu and the rest had a slight change of expression as soon as Zhi Lu said that.

Lin Huang was the only one who maintained a light smile on his face. He seemed to not take Misery's threat seriously at all. "You're pretty old. I can't believe that you're so immature."

Ku Zhen, who had been observing Lin Huang secretly, was suspicious of Lin Huang's reaction. His detective ability found out that Lin Huang did not fake his confidence. However, he could not figure out what kind of trump card did Lin Huang exactly possess.

'The only trump card he has now might be Mr. Fu. If Mr. Fu is at his peak, we might we scared of him. However, currently, Mr. Fu's ability is merely on Virtual God rank-4 or rank-5 at the most.'

"You're seeking death, brat!" Jie Sha yelled at Lin Huang before Zhi Lu could speak.

"Huang Tianfu, we forgive this brat for not knowing the rule. Are you guys unaware of the rule as well?" Meanwhile, Zhi Lu ignored Lin Huang completely and looked at Huang Tianfu instead.

Huang Tianfu and the rest looked terrible. They were really unsure if Lin Huang's trump card would work out.

At that moment, Huang Tufu was the first to stand up. "I support the Emperor no matter what his decision is! If you're going to fight us, we're all in!" He had returned from Division 3 just for this.

Never had Lin Huang thought that Huang Tufu would be the first one who supported him.

Huang Tianfu hesitated for a moment. Then, he said while sighing when he saw Huang Tufu standing by the Emperor's side, "The Emperor's decision is Dynasty's decision. I'm merely Dynasty's butler. Naturally, we'll do whatever the Master wants. As for the consequences, we'll bear it together."

Huang Wunan shrugged, feeling helpless, and walked to Huang Tianfu without saying a word.

While the rest looked conflicted, Jie Sha grinned all of a sudden. "Those who are against this brat's direction, you'll live as long as you stand your ground."

Lin Huang remained unbothered and did not comment anything on what Jie Sha said.

Apart from those who had stood their ground, Huang Baiyu, Huang Haoyang, and the other right demigods were the ones remaining on Dynasty's side.

Huang Baiyu was a little conflicted initially, but he walked up to Lin Huang after hearing what Jie Sha said. "I didn't agree with what Master Emperor is doing initially, but I can't take it when you guys are trying to break us apart."

Huang Haoyang also could not take it and finally piped up, "Although I'm unwilling to fight Misery, I respect Master Emperor's decision. Also, you trying to break us apart is just a cheap act. It always backfires. It's been hundreds of years since the last time I used this technique."

Ku Zhen and Zhi Lu could not help but peek at Jie Sha next to them as soon as Huang Haoyang said that.

Since Huang Haoyang stood his ground, the remaining eight demigods stood on Lin Huang's side without hesitation. None of them objected to the decision.

Lin Huang looked at the three of them across while smirking. He spoke again while having his eyes on Ku Zhen, "Bodhisattva, I've got a question for you."

"Do tell." Ku Zhen nodded lightly.

"You guys said that you'd end Dynasty if we rejected your suggestion, sparing nobody's lives. Is that a threat or will you guys really do that?"

Everyone could not figure out what Lin Huang was trying to do. Ku Zhen was stunned for a second and subsequently answered while smiling, "Of course, it's not a threat. If you guys insist on rejecting our suggestion, we can only end Dynasty to show others the consequences of betraying the underground organization!"

"I get it now. If that's the case, I'll give you guys a multiple choice question too." Lin Huang nodded while smiling hearing that.

Ku Zhen and the other two were puzzled to hear Lin Huang saying that out of nowhere.

"You have two choices. One is to leave now. I'll pretend that you guys were never here and pretend that whatever happened today never took place. Dynasty and Misery won't get into each other's business. We will live in peace.

"The second is to leave your dead bodies here and I'll go ahead ending Misery. Nobody from Misery will be spared. I'll eradicate all of you!"

Everyone was bewildered to hear what Lin Huang said.

Even Huang Tianfu and the rest had no idea what trump card he had to be saying that.

The people from Misery were shocked while Jie Sha and Zhi Lu were completely enraged.

"You imbecile! I'll catch you alive today and send you to the Ghost Prison after sealing you. They'll torture you every day with cruel punishments. I bet that'll teach you a lesson!" Jie Sha glared viciously at Lin Huang.

Naturally, Lin Huang knew what kind of place the Ghost Prison was. It was the darkest and cruelest place in the black market. Almost all the high-quality slaves in the black market came from that place. It was said that no matter how strong a person's will was, they would be turned into a slave physically and mentally as long as they stayed in the place for a long time. It was impossible for them to ever find themselves again.

However, Lin Huang grinned when he heard the threats. "Your suggestion sounds great, but I don't usually like to leave anything behind. I won't spare your life to prevent you from escaping the Ghost Prison. You'll just be wasting my time if I go after you should you be out there playing tricks again."

"I'd like to see if you can still be so high and mighty when I got you!" Jie Sha attacked as soon as he was done speaking.

He stretched his hand from where he was, and a huge golden hand arrived before Lin Huang in the next second. Seeing that he was going to get Lin Huang, Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang did not bother helping him at all.

However, the golden hand caught nothing but thin air. Besides Lin Huang vanishing, even Huang Tianfu and the rest disappeared.

Instead, the trio from Misery was astonished to see a monster that looked like a tiger with a long trunk appeared next to the golden hand out of nowhere.

"Where did all of the Dynasty people go?" Ku Zhen did not see how Lin Huang and the rest disappeared at all, so he asked both of them.

However, Jie Sha and Zhi Lu did not see it clearly either.

"They must've been teleported away by this monster with some sort of technique," Zhi Lu explained while frowning. He subsequently said to Jie Sha through voice transmission, "Be careful. I can't sense this monster's combat strength."

However, the long-trunked monster mauled with its claw as soon as Zhi Lu spoke, crushing Jie Sha's golden hand instantly.

In the next second, the long-trunked monster vanished from where it was.

Jia Sha's pupils shrunk and he backed away immediately. However, the long-trunked monster appeared behind him as soon as he did that.

Then, he abruptly realized pain radiating all over his body. He held his head down and it dawned on him that his head was separated from his body.

Ku Zhen and Zhi Lu were shocked. All they saw was blood spurting out of Jie Sha's body and him being sliced into pieces.

Even the god relic on his body retreated back into his body from the single attack alone.

"What!?" Zhi Lu gulped. As Jie Sha's partner, he knew his ability very well. Although he had a slightly more powerful ability than Jie Sha, there was a limit to it. Since the monster managed to kill Jie Sha within a second, it would mean that it was easy for the monster to kill him too. Although it might not kill him in one blow, it could definitely kill him with two to three hits.

Ku Zhen was completely dumbstruck. Never had he thought the two people that he brought along would die. His mind went blank at that moment.

Just then, the long-trunked monster turned its head slowly and glared at its second target — Zhi Lu.

Zhi Lu had goosebumps when he locked eyes with the long-trunked monster like a terrified cat. He dared not move at all, afraid that any action he took would trigger the monster to attack him.

However, the long-trunked monster stepped out anyway and disappeared.

Zhi Lu did not see its movement at all, but he retreated quickly by instinct. He gripped his god relic battle sword in front of his body in a defensive stance.

Just when he was moving, he felt an immense strength shaking his battle sword. His right arm that was holding the sword was crushed!

The terrifying impact pierced through the battle sword and crashed into the god relic battle armor on his chest.

At the same time that Zhi Lu was thrown out, he felt the Divine Power in his body being drained. Without the support of Divine Power, the god relic battle sword and battle relic retreated back to his body automatically.

Although Zhi Lu was not killed by the attack, his Divine Power was drained fully and he lost an arm. Apart from that, the ribs under his chest were all crushed.

"Such insane ability! It has to be on at least Virtual God rank-8 or even Virtual God rank-9!" A glimmer of fear flashed through Zhi Lu's eyes. Never did he expect Lin Huang to have such a trump card.

However, he had no idea that the Nightmare Tapir held back a significant amount of his ability. In the dreamland that it had created, the Nightmare Tapir was just revealing peak-stage Virtual God rank-8 ability.

Therefore, Zhi Lu was not killed instantly by the attack.

If the Nightmare Tapir was to give his all, he might be able to kill a Virtual God rank-9 in one hit.

"How is Lin Huang controlling an imperial beast on such a level?" Just when Zhi Lu was having doubts, he saw a yellow silhouette appear above him in a flash.

He looked up to see a pair of cold eyes staring at him.

"Sh*t…"

Just when Zhi Lu thought that, his body was cleaved into pieces.

He saw his body separating from his head at the very last moment when he was still conscious. Meanwhile, his body that was sliced into pieces fell onto the ground pathetically.

Within three seconds, Ku Zhen saw two Virtual Gods being killed consecutively. His throat felt dry and constricted as his mind that had gone blank earlier was now in chaos. He could not understand how Lin Huang was controlling such a powerful monster at all.

As the Nightmare Tapir walked to him step by step, he felt like the Grim Reaper was approaching with every step he took.

Just when he was giving up hope, an idea popped into his head all of a sudden.

"Lin Huang! I'm only on imperial-level. You're being a bully, summoning a virtual god-level monster! Do you dare to accept my challenge to make this a fight between imperial-level?"

The Nightmare Tapir stopped walking after a moment of silence, and Lin Huang revealed himself next to it.

"Such prodding is so low." Lin Huang patted the Nightmare Tapir's head while smiling.

Upon seeing that, Ku Zhen was sure that the Nightmare Tapir was Lin Huang's summoning beast. His heart plummeted, but he had yet to give up his last hope of fighting.

"Let's have a fair match. You can do anything to me if you win. If I win, you'll have to let me go."

"I heard that people from Misery aren't afraid of death, but it seems like a Bodhisattva like you cherish your life," Lin Huang teased while smiling.

"I'm not scared of death, but death can be as light as a feather or as heavy as a mountain. I just hope that I won't die in vain," Ku Zhen argued.

Lin Huang continued smiling without saying anything. Naturally, he did not believe in a thing that Ku Zhen disputed.

"You want a fair match, don't you? I'll give you that."

Ku Zhen's eyes lit up when he heard his promise.

Lin Huang grinned. "You won't be fighting me, but him."

A man wearing a black cloak and a hat appeared next to Lin Huang as he uttered those words.

The man who was standing before Lin Huang was approximately two meters tall.

The hat he wore on his head was maroon and had black dragon patterns all over it. The massive hat covered his head under the shade. One could only faintly distinguish that he should be a man from his body.

He merely slung the black cloak on his shoulder casually, leaving his hands outside the sleeves. There were no patterns on the cloak, only golden dragon patterns on the edge of the collars and cuffs.

He stood there with his hands on his chest, as still as a rock.

Ku Zhen's pupils shrunk without him even realizing it the moment he saw the man in the hat. The person stood before Lin Huang quietly without moving and he could sense the suppressive aura coming from him clearly.

"His name is Killer. He's also a sword cultivator and has imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength just like you." Lin Huang gave a simple introduction. "I think it should be fair enough to give you such an opponent. Am I right?"

As the Bodhisattva of Misery, Ku Zhen did not doubt his ability. He knew very well that his ability was close to invincible below virtual god-level. He was fearless even when he encountered a perfect-stage demigod. However, the suppressive aura that the human-form monster Lin Huang summoned before him was similar to a Virtual God despite the fact that they had the same combat strength.

'Can this summoning beast be a quadruple mythical-level?!' A thought flashed through Ku Zhen's head all of a sudden.

The only explanation that made sense for someone having same combat strength as he did but gave out such a suppressing aura was that the monster was quadruple mutated!

Ku Zhen could not help but seem a little troubled after coming up with this logical explanation.

He had only heard about quadruple mutated monsters but never had he thought he would see a live one. Although he had definite confidence in his ability whereby he was fearless of opponents under virtual god-level, he had no confidence of defeating a quadruple mutated monster.

He stared at Killer for a moment with his guard up. He turned away all of a sudden and began looking at Lin Huang instead.

"Emperor Lin, it's boring for me to fight your summoning beast. Why don't both of us fight? I hear that you're the No. 1 genius of the era. I've actually been wanting to spar with you. Such an opportunity is hard to come by!"

Lin Huang interrupted Ku Zhen amusedly, "I'm an Imperial Censor. The battle technique I love to use the most is to summon a bunch of imperial monsters to surround and fight my opponent. Are you sure you want to challenge me in doing that? I have a couple of imperial monsters like Killer."

Ku Zhen was speechless. Initially, he thought he would fight Lin Huang himself. However, he had just realized that as an Imperial Censor, Lin Huang would usually summon his imperial monsters to fight according to what he had just told him. Meanwhile, he did not even have the confidence to fight Killer alone. If it was true that Lin Huang had other imperial monsters with similar abilities, him challenging Lin Huang would be seeking death.

"How about this? I'll give you a chance to fight me if you manage to defeat Killer. I'll show you the rest of my imperial monsters and whether you win or not, I'll let you go." Lin Huang smirked because there was another thing that he did not say out loud. 'Given that you manage to survive being surrounded by a bunch of imperial monsters.'

Naturally, Ku Zhen managed to read between the lines. He was looking even more aghast now.

Initially, he could have left as soon as he defeated one imperial monster. The situation backfired when he attempted to play it smart by challenging Lin Huang himself.

Lin Huang ignored Ku Zhen's reaction and turned his head to say to Killer with a smile. "Kill him and I'll reward you with 300 sword skills. But if you lose, you'll lose three months worth of snacks."

Two golden glaring beams of light lit up under the hat when Lin Huang said that while two electric arcs stretched from the glows almost at the same time.

Killer appeared before Ku Zhen in the blink of an eye.

"That's quick!" Ku Zhen's pupils shrunk. He did not see Killer's movements at all, so he could barely catch his movement trajectory.

He swung the long, narrow battle sword in his hand and charged.

At the same time, Killer stretched his big hand under the cloak. A huge, black sword appeared in his hand secretly. The blade alone was at least two meters long while its width was similar to the size of Killer's waist.

One could imagine how heavy such a sword was. However, it seemed like it weighed nothing in Killer's hand.

He held a sword up and charged the pitch-black sword forward like a lightning bolt. It collided with the long sword in Ku Zhen's hand in a heartbeat.

Ku Zhen's robe fluttered while Life Power charged out of his body. White mist lingered around his body.

However, Ku Zhen felt an immense strength coming from the sword during the point of collision. The intense impact made him shoot out without him having the ability to control it.

He felt that his right arm that was holding the sword had gone numb. He almost lost grip of the long, narrow battle sword in his hand.

Clearly, the opponent's strength was on a different level.

On the other side, Killer stood immobile like a rock. His cloak was fluttering with the flapping sound in the air while black mist coiled around his body. The only thing that could be seen were the two golden glows under the hat as he gazed in the direction where Ku Zhen had fallen in a condescending way.

The eyes under Killer's hat lit up before Ku Zhen fell onto the ground completely. His cloak was fluttering like boiling water all of a sudden before he disappeared from where he was.

Two golden beams flashed through the sky, and a black silhouette appeared above Ku Zhen. He had a slight change of expression when he noticed the golden glow approaching.

Killer was swinging his sword again while Ku Zhen's right arm that was holding the sword was still numb. He could not do anything.

If the sword touched him, even though the attack would be blocked by his god relic battle armor, the Divine Power in his body would be drained significantly.

An idea flashed through Ku Zhen's head as he thought about this. In a split second, he summoned a Combat Soul.

A bronze Buddha statue appeared, blocking Ku Zhen and Killer. The statue held up its palm which collided with the giant sword in Killer's hand.

As the statue flew backward, Ku Zhen bought himself time to escape, seizing the opportunity. Dust flew up as he landed on the ground, covering his body. Killer hovered in the air while sensing Ku Zhen's location with his Territory skill.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang who was watching the battle from far away raised his brow.

He figured that the Combat Soul that Ku Zhen had summoned to save him was clearly a God Figurine's Combat Soul because only a God Figurine's Combat Soul could have withstood Killer's sword attack earlier.

"He's only on imperial-level purple gold-rank. How did he manage to activate a God Figurine's Combat Soul?"

"That's nothing surprising. After all, he has Divine Power in his body," the stone tablet piped up.

"Divine Power… in an imperial-level purple gold-rank's body?" Lin Huang narrowed his eyes. "Which means his cultivation technique is different from the usual one in this world!"

"It's different indeed." The stone tablet explained slowly, "The cultivation technique he has is similar to an organization that used to be in the great world. The organization was called the Demonic Buddhist Sect. However, it was destroyed by a Heavenly God from an organization called the Buddhist Sect after existing for over a hundred years.

"The Buddhist Sect cultivates Reincarnation Dao whereby they would salvage souls for reincarnation. Meanwhile, the founder of the Demonic Buddhist Sect, the Demonic Buddhist Old Man, found a way to cultivate by engulfing souls from a Buddhist Sect's forbidden skill. He then created a new method — the Demonic Buddhist Telekinesis — with the forbidden skill as the foundation.

"This brat from Misery seems to be cultivating Demonic Buddhist Telekinesis. He must've engulfed quite a number of souls since his Divine Telekinesis is almost formed. Its intensity is even higher than your pseudo-Divine Telekinesis. Moreover, the shape of the inked relic in his body that's similar to a Godhead has formed. There's a sea of Divine Power in it. He'll be able to form it completely within half a year to a year. He'll get to destiny-level (virtual god-level) by then."

"So, are you saying that the Demonic Buddhist Sect that's been destroyed in the great world might be Misery's mastermind?"

"That's pretty impossible. The Demonic Buddhist Sect has been destroyed over 50,000 years ago while Misery has only been founded over 600 years ago. There shouldn't be any relationship between these two." The stone tablet dismissed such a possibility directly.

"Why is it impossible? What if someone from the Demonic Buddhist Sect survived back then and escaped to our world?" Lin Huang asked again.

"Well, that's possible," the stone tablet proceeded, "There's no need for us to guess on our own. You'll find out after you read the trio's minds later."

Soon, Killer, who was in the air, locked onto Ku Zhen's coordinates with its Territory skill. He picked up his sword and swung it from where he was.

The black crescent-shaped sword attacks charged insanely at Ku Zhen one after another.

Ku Zhen dodged the attacks in the dust without stopping. He tried his best not to confront Killer's attacks as much as he could, appearing very clumsy.

His white robe was filled with dust and soil, and there were many tears on it too.

Lin Huang, who was watching the battle from far away, could not help but smirk. He knew what Ku Zhen was planning to do.

The goal was simple. He wanted to drain Killer's Life Power. Killer's attacks would drain Life Power tens of times more than he would. As long as he dragged it out long enough, it was sufficient to drain Killer's Life Power.

Naturally, Ku Zhen's plan would work theoretically.

The problem was that apart from the Life Power in his body, Killer would obtain Life Power from Lin Huang's side, and his Life Power was almost endless. Ku Zhen's plan was clearly a smart idea that would never work.

Of course, he should not be blamed. Most experienced powerhouses might do what Ku Zhen was doing when they encountered such a sword cultivator monster with powerful attack abilities like Killer.

However, Ku Zhen was unfortunate to have encountered Killer today.

Even though Killer's capability of draining the Life Power was tens of times more than his, if he compared who would drain their Life Power first, Ku Zhen would definitely be the one.

Unfortunately, Ku Zhen had no idea about that. He was thinking to himself while dodging Killer's attacks clumsily, 'Let's see how much longer you can attack like this! I'll let you brag for now, and I'll teach you a lesson when your Life Power is drained!'

Lin Huang was watching Ku Zhen running around like a dog that had lost its home in the dust gleefully. He did not plan to tell Ku Zhen that Killer's Life Power was impossible to be drained at all. He was watching a show, waiting for Ku Zhen to realize something was wrong.

Time passed in the dreamland.

Ku Zhen had been suppressed by Killer to the point that he only managed to attack a few times. All the while, he had been dodging and defending himself from Killer's attacks.

The Dynasty headquarters was in a mess in the dreamland. Apart from the Emperor Palace, a few god relic palaces, and the mothership that were in one piece, all of the other buildings had turned into ashes.

If not for the layer of defense covering the place, Ku Zhen would have escaped from Dynasty since the beginning.

Ku Zhen was persistent in his battle plan as he did not want to fight Killer head-on.

The battle went on for half an hour. Ku Zhen gave everything that he could to dodge the attacks. He would drain his Life Power to defend himself from those attacks that he could not dodge in time. Sometimes, he might be hit by the impact of the attack. In reality, those were draining his Life Power significantly.

He had drained more than half of the Life Power in his body throughout the half an hour. However, Killer who initiated the attacks did not seem tired at all.

Ku Zhen finally noticed something wrong. He realized that Killer did not exhibit any exhaustion at all. Theoretically, such a high-frequency attack that would be harmful should drain his Life Power significantly. However, Killer did not seem to experience a drop in his attack frequency and strength. On the contrary, it was even boosted a little bit.

The peculiarity made Ku Zhen suspect that Lin Huang might be using some special technique to replenish Killer's Life Power. He then raised his suspicion. "Emperor Lin, this is just a sparring session. Do you really think you should replenish your summoning beast's Life Power?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you this. This summoning beast of mine is rather special whereby the Life Power in his body is endless, so it can't be drained," Lin Huang explained while smiling calmly.

Ku Zhen was speechless to hear that. He did not suspect the authenticity of what Lin Huang told him. Mythical-level monsters could not be measured in theory, thus it was not surprising for them to have a certain ability.

However, Ku Zhen realized that he had wasted half an hour after finding out about Killer's ability.

He was running around like a stray dog, not even daring to fight back because he was scared to lose his precious Life Power. However, he drained over half of his Life Power throughout the half an hour. Meanwhile, his opponent attacked him for over half an hour but none of the latter's Life Power was drained.

The thought of it alone made him mad!

"No, my Life Power will be drained if I go on like this. I'll be the one who will be killed by then." Ku Zhen frowned and thought hard about it. He realized there was only one way to end this cycle, which was to fight with all his might!

After making up his mind that he had no second option, Ku Zhen clenched his teeth and leaped with immense strength. He got out of the dusty area and dodged Killer's attacks one after another as he charged towards Killer.

'He's fighting a losing battle.' Lin Huang's eyes lit up. He was excited to see the head-on battle between the two sword cultivators.

In the air, Ku Zhen managed to dodge all of Killer's attacks like a slippery loach. Soon, he arrived before Killer.

He smashed his long, narrow sword against the gigantic black sword in Killer's hand.

Ku Zhen was attacking out of rage. He held almost nothing back, even activating the Divine Power in the inked relic in his body. He wanted to destroy Killer unexpectedly.

Killer did not hold back either. As a quadruple mutated mythical-level monster, although he was only on imperial-level purple gold-rank, he could activate his Divine Power too. However, he did not usually do it because it brought more burden upon his body.

Ku Zhen activating his Divine Power triggered Killer to activate his too.

Inky black Divine Power flowed out like liquid and engulfed his entire battle sword in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, Ku Zhen's Divine Power was white, completely contrasting to Killer's.

The different Divine Powers collided together through the swords.

Glaring golden glows of light shot into the sky from the point of collision in the next second.

It was only a small dot size of a sesame seed, but it began growing rapidly in the next second. Within almost two breaths, it turned into a giant, golden sphere with a diameter of over three meters. It then exploded.

The glaring golden light spread tens of kilometers away. Clearly, the defense in the dreamland did not block the peculiar scene out entirely.

The golden glow that exploded from Killer and Ku Zhen's collision illuminated tens of thousands of kilometers away like a sun.

Fortunately, it was just a dreamland.

If this happened in reality, one would wonder how many innocents would be involved in this battle and died from the impact of the collision.

Lin Huang's eyes lit up as he watched the phenomenon. He could barely look away from the golden sphere that erupted.

"That's my Killer. His ability has totally reached virtual god-level standard!"

A white silhouette flew out of the battle the moment when the golden light exploded in the air.

Lin Huang looked closely to see that it was Ku Zhen in a white robe.

In reality, Lin Huang expected that to happen.

Killer showcased his Virtual God rank-1 ability in this battle.

Although Ku Zhen's ability was also powerful, he was slightly weaker than a virtual god-level. He might be able to fight a perfect-stage demigod-level when he encountered one. In fact, he might even win, but that was the best that he could do.

However, Lin Huang clearly sensed that Ku Zhen's aura did not fade.

Although he had been suppressed by Killer in the collision, he was not dead. Lin Huang could even tell from his aura that he was not harmed physically.

Lin Huang looked at the layer of white glow that was spinning rapidly around his body. He plainly saw that the layer of Divine Power did not defend the impact of the golden glow by force. Instead, it was spinning quickly around his body and absorbed most of the impact.

"This guy is pretty good in battle."

Killer charged immediately since the attack did not kill his opponent, going after Ku Zhen again.

Ku Zhen did not choose to retreat. Instead, he activated his Divine Power again and went after Killer as he moved.

…

The white and black silhouettes collided again and again in the air. Circles of energy waves and strong winds were created.

The Dynasty headquarters was a mess in the dreamland. Apart from the areas that were protected by god relics, almost every inch of the land looked like it had been dug by excavators on Earth.

Although Ku Zhen had given up his battle model of not draining his Life Power, even initiating the attacks, the difference in the duo's ability soon began one-sided.

Ku Zhen would always be the one who would be shot out during each collision.

Killer would go after him again and again, but Ku Zhen was extraordinarily persistent.

He had the upper hand depending on the god relic sword in his hand and god relic battle armor. Together with his exquisite movement skill and unique charging methods, he managed to avoid being annihilated by Killer with all of the techniques that he had.

Desperately looking for opportunities to attack again and again, he would swing his sword whenever he found an opening. He was unwilling to lose any chance of winning.

"This guy has compelling battle talent. He's considered the top among supreme geniuses. He might be on par with Chan Dou," Lin Huang could not help but comment. He even began to be curious about other Bodhisattvas from Misery after watching Ku Zhen's performance.

In comparison, Killer lacked battle experience.

In reality, his ability was a level more powerful than Ku Zhen's. With his endless Life Power and Divine Power, theoretically, he should have the upper hand. However, he failed to kill Ku Zhen as they fought for more than ten minutes.

However, Lin Huang did not panic at all. He saw Killer improving throughout the battle with Ku Zhen, so he did not bother urging him. Instead, he was happy to see Killer practicing with Ku Zhen who was like a sandbag to him.

Time passed by, and Ku Zhen's will was decreasing. His Divine Power and Life Power were almost drained. Meanwhile, his opponent's Life Power was endless like what Lin Huang said. From the beginning until the end, his battle will did not dip even for a second and his attacks remained consistent.

Lin Huang, who was watching the battle, smiled as he watched Ku Zhen changed his battle model again. He began dodging Killer's attacks and refused to fight head-on again.

"He should only be left with less than a tenth of Divine Power in his body. The possibility of him turning the tables around is slim."

In reality, Killer's ability in the battle was not stagnant. As Ku Zhen's Life Power was dropping, he was learning continuously. His mythical-level learning ability allowed him to digest Ku Zhen's battle model in less than an hour. He had also found a way to counter him.

Killer's attack mode changed all of a sudden as Lin Huang watched in surprise.

His initial attack mode was quick and fierce. However, his attack this time became a mix of light and heavy, quick and slow, and even illusory sometimes.

Lin Huang's eyes lit up when he saw the change.

Ku Zhen was dodging even more clumsily since the change. While he tried to figure out why Killer changed his battle model, he felt more and more troubled.

A respectable Bodhisattva like him had become a monster's sandbag. What was more pathetic was that the monster was somebody else's summoning beast!

As Ku Zhen felt anxious, a black silhouette flashed by and stopped before him.

He looked up to see that it was Killer. However, his sword remained in the scabbard, and he seemed like he was not planning to attack.

"Show me what else you have. Otherwise, you won't ever have the chance again." Killer's voice was deep and a little husky. He sounded like a middle-aged man who was a heavy smoker.

Ku Zhen grinned ferociously just when Killer was done speaking. The narrow, long battle sword in his hand lit up. Almost at the same time, he disappeared from where he was. Lin Huang's pupils shrunk.

In the air, a white glow shot out like a lightning bolt, reaching Killer in almost the blink of an eye and targeting his forehead.

Nevertheless, Killer was calm. He twisted the giant sword in his hand. Then, it shrunk rapidly and turned into a long, narrow sword. It was even thinner than Ku Zhen's sword.

Killer only changed while swinging his battle sword after the sword experienced a change in form. Soon, he disappeared.

His black sword also flew forward like a lightning bolt. It was even a few times faster than Ku Zhen's attack.

Even Lin Huang could barely capture Killer's trajectory.

What surprised Lin Huang was that he saw the shadow of the sword skill Thunder Sting that he cultivated before in the swing of the sword.

Clearly, Killer had integrated many human sword skills with his own sword skills.

It was evident that Ku Zhen did not expect Killer to be able to change the form of the battle sword in his hand. Besides that, his sword was even a few times faster than his top speed.

The black and white bolts of lightning collided in the air. Before an explosion could erupt from the collision, Killer had activated the Divine Power in his body this time.

The black Divine Power was like a flood that broke out of a dam, suppressing Ku Zhen's charge of Life Power that was depleting.

Ku Zhen's heart dropped entirely when he saw the black Divine Power coming at him like a wave.

In reality, he was attempting to win by speed whereby he would severe Killer's head when he was unaware. Therefore, he held nothing back when he attacked earlier. He funneled all of the Divine Power in his body into it, causing him to drain the Divine Power in his body completely. Even the god relic armor and the god relic battle sword in his hand retreated back into his body because his Divine Power had been drained.

Without his god relics, Ku Zhen stood where he was calmly. He watched the black wave coming at him expressionlessly.

Seeing that he was going to drown, Ku Zhen opened his arms wide all of a sudden. He mumbled softly while showing a slight smile, "Death is the starting point to the other side…"

His entire body was engulfed by the black wave completely before he was even done speaking.

Lin Huang commented while he looked at Killer after getting out of the dreamland, "There's space for your battle skills to improve. However, you're pretty skilled overall. After all, your opponent this time is pretty powerful and you're improving fast."

The giant sword in Killer's hand disintegrated slowly. He then nodded at Lin Huang lightly. Indeed, this battle had exposed his flaws.

Lin Huang extended his hand subsequently and pressed it on Killer's hat to share over 300 sword skills that he promised.

"This is the reward that I promised you. Take your time to digest them." With a flourish of his hand, he recalled Killer back into a card.

Later on, Lin Huang looked at the three bodies that were in Dynasty's meeting room. The three of them from Misery had lost their vital signs completely, but they remained sitting just like how they were before the Nightmare Tapir pulled them into the dreamland. They had not even closed their eyes.

"How's the progress of retrieving their memory?" Lin Huang asked the Nightmare Tapir all of a sudden.

"It's done."

Lin Huang summoned Bloody again after hearing the Nightmare Tapir's response.

Donning a red dress, Bloody was a beauty no matter one was admiring her body or her face. However, she never had any expression on her face. Even Lin Huang had never seen her smiling in this form.

Bloody knew why she was summoned. She leaped and appeared before the Nightmare Tapir, then pressed her hand against the Nightmare Tapir's chin.

She retrieved the memory within two to three breaths while sorting out the information at the same time. She bounded as soon as she let go and appeared before Lin Huang, pointing her finger between his brows.

Lin Huang received the information some ten seconds later. He finally figured out Misery's biggest secret after scanning through the trio's memories.

"So, this is how Misery grew!"

According to Jie Sha and Zhi Lu's memories, Misery discovered a ruins unintentionally over 500 years ago. The ruins had been a Buddhist city back in the ancient era, and it accommodated up to a hundred of temples of all sizes. Many inheritances were left behind in almost each of those temples. There were even many methods that could get one to True God level.

Misery depended on those methods to cultivate many powerhouses and soon became No. 1 among the underground organizations.

Meanwhile, the Demonic Buddhist Telekinesis that Ku Zhen cultivated was the quickest to be acquired among those methods. Therefore, it became one of the main methods that Misery members cultivated throughout centuries.

However, apart from cultivation methods, there were all sorts of Buddhist techniques exclusively for battles among the other inheritances.

Apart from the inheritance, Misery also obtained many resources from the ruins. There were hundreds of god relics, let alone demigod relics and other equipment.

"Never had I thought that such a ruins would have been left behind by the ancient Buddhist era!" Lin Huang could not help but exclaim. It was such a waste for the ruins to be discovered by Misery. Had it been the Union Government or the Hunter Association who found it, many Buddhist cultivation inheritances would be passed on and spread, churning out a few times more powerhouses compared to Misery.

Lin Huang had picked up something about the ancient era unintentionally when he was reading a lot back when he was a teacher. He only found out during that time that the ancient era was between 80,000 to 30,000 years ago. Buddhist cultivation was the main cultivation direction the powerhouses practiced during that era.

However, until now, there were limited ancient era ruins that were excavated in the entire world. Even if there were, those were just medium or small ruins, and no inheritances were left behind.

Never had Lin Huang thought the ruins Misery discovered 500 years ago had so many Buddhist cultivation inheritances.

Apart from that biggest secret, Lin Huang also found out many hidden secrets from scanning the trio's memories.

For instance, there were actually 13 virtual god-level powerhouses in Misery. There were actually not that many demigods more than Virtual Gods as there were only 18 of them. If not for the lack of resources, Misery might have had more than 30 Virtual Gods throughout the years.

Meanwhile, among the 13 Virtual Gods, the one with the highest combat strength was on Virtual God rank-9. There was only one, who was the actual leader of Misery, but he was only a demigod and had only been assigned the position for publicity. However, he basically did nothing.

Apart from the Virtual God rank-9 powerhouse, Misery had two high-level Virtual Gods on Virtual God rank-7 and rank-8.

Below them were seven mid-level Virtual Gods from Virtual God rank-4 to rank-8 and three on Virtual God rank-3.

Among the 13 Virtual Gods, 11 of them broke through by cultivating while only two Virtual God rank-3s elevated through refining Godheads.

The number of Virtual Gods Misery had alone had made them the king of the entire gravel world.

However, Lin Huang found out about a secret that had nothing to do with Misery, but with the Union Government.

The reason why Misery had been refraining from attacking the Union Government was that they knew the Union Government had a technique to kill Gods. It could kill all powerhouses below True God almost in just one blow.

However, Misery had no idea how exactly the technique worked, which irritated Lin Huang. He could only speculate from all sorts of limited information that it might be a weapon that was similar to the God Crasher.

Even though Bloody had filtered the memories, the data in the trio's memories were almost endless. Lin Huang only scanned through them roughly, studied the parts that he was interested in and saved that part of the memories temporarily.

Lin Huang walked to the trio calmly after snapping back to reality. Then, he began searching for loot from their bodies. He found eight god relics from them alone and five Emperor's Heart Rings.

With his Divine Telekinesis, he scanned through the three bodies carefully. He then looked at Jie Sha and Zhi Lu's chests after making sure that he had not missed anything out.

"I wonder if I can refine those inked relics in their bodies."

"The form that was consolidated is different due to different cultivation methods. In reality, inked relics and Buddhist cultivators' warrior relics are pretty much the same in nature," the stone tablet initiated its explanation after hearing what Lin Huang said.

"Since I can refine them, I won't leave them behind. I happen to need Godheads," said Lin Huang and turned his head to look at the Nightmare Tapir. "Dig out the inked relics in their bodies for me."

The Nightmare Tapir nodded and appeared before the three bodies in a flash. He unsheathed his claws.

A moment later, two round, pitch-black gems floated out of Jie Sha and Zhi Lu's bodies and hovered before the Nightmare Tapir.

Lin Huang watched closely and discerned that the two gems were merely the size of an adult thumb. They were like two pitch-black glass spheres that had faint golden patterns on them.

"The one in his body has disintegrated." The Nightmare Tapir pointed at Ku Zhen.

"It's okay. Two will do." Lin Huang stretched his hand out and grabbed the two inked relics in his hand. He played with them for a while and flicked them into his body.

The two inked relics were like meteorites shooting into Lin Huang's Life Palace one after another.

Lin Huang lifted his head and looked far away to the west after snapping back to reality. "It's time to visit Misery…"

Foothold No. 1A13, Nirvana City in Division 1 was where Misery's headquarters was located.

The tallest building in the entire Division 1, the Sky Pagoda, was in this foothold.

The 999-story Sky Pagoda was over 3,000 meters high. It stood tall in the central zone of the entire foothold with the building penetrating into the sky.

Although it was an underground organization's headquarters, many tourists would visit this place every year. The adventurous ones might even visit more than one foothold under the jurisdiction of the underground organization. In reality, they knew very well that the safety in those footholds where the underground organization headquarters were was not as lackadaisical compared to the Union Government.

Safety would affect the number of residents directly which, in turn, would affect the number of investors. The number of investors would make or break the economy of a foothold.

Therefore, the footholds where the underground organization's headquarters were based would usually be bearable. At least, it was for the commoners on the surface.

Even most of the underground organizations welcomed tourists to visits their footholds because tourism made good money. The effect also spilled over to many other businesses which was beneficial for the foothold's economy.

Nirvana City was one of the underground organization's footholds that was considered wealthy in tourism.

The Sky Pagoda was the highest artificial building in Division 1, and it attracted many tourists each year. Misery even made the areas around the Sky Pagoda into tourism zones with all sorts of amenities.

At the moment, an elevator containing many tourists was rising from the foot of Sky Pagoda.

The Sky Pagoda was an attraction not to be missed when one visited Nirvana City. All the tourists flocked to it.

Almost all of the ten or so tourists in the elevator were snapping videos and photos.

A little boy of seven or eight pulled his father's hand all of a sudden. "Dad, look! Someone's flying over there!"

His exclamation drew many people's attention, so they looked where he was pointing.

A silhouette to the right of the elevator was flying high at a speed tens of times faster than the elevator.

"It's a transcendent!" someone exclaimed out loud.

The elevator erupted into chaos all of a sudden. Many people began adjusting the angle of their cameras in an attempt to document this moment.

However, the silhouette soon disappeared into the clouds above.

"Dad, why is the transcendent flying above the pagoda?" piped up the little boy again.

The kid's father looked pretty young. He was speechless from the question as he had no idea how to explain it.

At that moment, an uncle next to them said, "Kid, this Sky Pagoda has a total of 999 floors, but this elevator that we're taking can only go to the 990th floor. We can't access the last nine floors. I heard that the nine floors above are the headquarters office. The office area has no elevator, so you can only fly if you want to get in. The person who was flying should be a member of Misery."

As those tourists were talking about Misery's headquarters, Lin Huang had passed through the clouds and arrived on the 999th floor of the Sky Pagoda.

"Why didn't the Dynasty's Master Emperor notify us about your arrival? We must roll out the red carpet." A deep male voice came from not far away just when Lin Huang stood still.

A man in a red robe walked out of the dark slowly. There were ten people in gray robes who followed behind him.

Lin Huang noticed that most of the 11 of them were glaring at him like an enemy while a minority of them had no expression on their faces. Meanwhile, the leader had a faint smile on his face.

Clearly, these people had heard about Ku Zhen, Jie Sha, and Zhi Lu's death and knew that he would come.

"Didn't you guys know that I was coming?" Lin Huang smirked and said to the person who was leading the group. He could sense that the person's aura was nothing below the Master God's clone of God Bless. He should be Misery's leader.

Secretly, he observed the person. Both his height and features looked mediocre. He was one of those who looked inconspicuous if he were to be thrown into a crowd.

"Let me introduce myself. Your humble one is Zhi Ji. You can say that I'm Misery's current abbot," the red-robed man said calmly.

"Lin Huang from Dynasty." Lin Huang gave a simple introduction of his identity. He was sure that everyone knew who he was anyway.

"Master Emperor, you came alone. What a man," Zhi Ji said while smiling lightly.

"You guys sent people to visit Dynasty, so I thought I'd visit Misery myself. It's reciprocity, I guess," Lin Huang replied.

"Let's talk in the meeting room then." Zhi Ji gestured for Lin Huang to take a step forward.

Lin Huang did not decline the invitation and stepped out directly.

He had the Ninetails Lynx hiding in the alternate dimension and the Nightmare Tapir which had shrunk to hide in his sleeve anyway. The duo would fight if anything were to happen.

Everyone sat around the table after following Zhi Ji and Lin Huang into the meeting room. Zhi Ji sat at the main seat while Lin Huang sat across him.

A bald man in a gray robe served every one tea after they had settled in.

"Master Emperor, try this snow tea. I brought a few of these tea trees from a ruins over 500 years ago. They only sprout when it snows. I plucked this batch of tea leaves during the first snowfall half a month ago," Zhi Ji introduced graciously.

Lin Huang picked up the teacup and took a sip. He was not afraid that the tea might be poisoned since he had Divine Fire in his body. As long as it could not kill a True God, anything could be refined with Divine Fire. Meanwhile, according to Zhi Lu and the rest's memories, no poisoning techniques were found in the inheritance from the ruins.

The tea was sweet. Indeed, the tea leaves were considered the best Lin Huang had ever tried. It could almost compare with the batch of ancient tea the Union Government chief, Jiang Shan, had.

The people from Misery were surprised to see Lin Huang drink the tea without hesitation.

A few of them were waiting for Lin Huang to refuse the tea. They thought they would have a chance to tease Lin Huang. However, Lin Huang sipped it instantly, so their anticipation was short-lived. Some were a little pissed, so they held their heads down and refused to speak.

However, Zhi Ji remained calm since the beginning. He pretended as if nothing happened and told the story about the tea leaves.

Lin Huang was just as patient. He was chatting with Zhi Ji happily as though he was not there to seek trouble.

After a few cups of tea, Zhi Ji was done with his story. Lin Huang smirked slightly. "Now that we've drunk the tea and talked about other things, shall we get down to business?"

The atmosphere that was eased in the meeting room became heavy all of a sudden after everyone heard what Lin Huang said.

"Do you guys not want to know why I visit you?" Lin Huang looked at Zhi Ji and smiled wryly.

"Lin Huang, you killed…" A bald hunk in a gray robe stood up all of a sudden. However, Zhi Ji applied pressure to his shoulder from far away before he could finish speaking.

"Sit down, Jie Se." Zhi Ji's voice was soft. The bald hunk wanted to say something, but he held his head down upon seeing Zhi Ji's expression. He dared not say anything.

Zhi Ji then looked at Lin Huang after stopping the bald hunk and continued smiling.

"Master Emperor, so what's the purpose of you visiting us this time?"

Lin Huang smiled since they were finally on track.

"Zhi Lu gave Dynasty two options when he visited us this morning. One was to cancel the collaboration between Dynasty and the Union Government and dismiss ourselves as a neutral organization. The second choice was to eradicate Dynasty from this world entirely, sparing nobody's lives.

"I'll also give Misery two options now. One is to serve me unconditionally and become the second organization under me. The second is to be killed by me, sparing nobody's lives!"

The 11 Virtual Gods from Misery, including Zhi Ji, were shocked when they heard Lin Huang's declaration. Then, rage settled into their hearts.

In the entire meeting room, apart from Zhi Ji who appeared calm, the remaining ten of them glared deadly at Lin Huang.

Three of them stood up directly in a stance which left no doubt that they were going to fight Lin Huang.

"Lin Huang, do you know what's the consequence of challenging us, Misery?" spoke an old man with a mustache sitting on Zhi Ji's left all of a sudden. His tone was clearly furious and threatening.

From Zhi Lu and the rest's memories, Lin Huang recognized this as Jie Wu, Misery's powerhouse whose combat strength was right behind Zhi Ji's. He seemed skinny and inconspicuous. In reality, he had a combat strength of Virtual God rank-8 and was also Misery's second leader. In their memory, although Jie Wu's combat strength was a rank lower than Zhi Ji's, his ability might be comparable with Zhi Ji who was on Virtual God rank-9.

Lin Huang peeked at Jie Wu but eventually ignored him. Instead, he looked away quietly and fixed his eyes on Zhi Ji who was sitting beside him.

"I can give you guys three minutes to discuss it."

"You…" Jie Wu was seething from anger when he was ignored directly. However, Zhi Ji, who was sitting aside, gripped his shoulder.

Jie Wu only calmed down slowly after seeing that Zhi Ji shake his head at him. However, he continued glaring at Lin Huang in rage.

"Please take your seats." Zhi Ji gestured to the three of them who had stood up.

After everyone in the meeting room took their seats in silence, he frowned slightly for a moment before lifting his head to look at Lin Huang.

"How about this, Master Emperor? I know that you brought your imperial monsters and that there are two Virtual God rank-8 imperial monsters hiding in this room."

The remaining ten of them were stunned as soon as Zhi Ji said that. They then looked around immediately.

Lin Huang did not expect Zhi Ji to find out about the Ninetails Lynx that was hiding in the alternate dimension and the Nightmare Tapir that had concealed itself with an illusion. He smiled and refused to comment on that, saying nothing at all.

Zhi Ji continued, "Why don't we make a bet?"

"Pick your most powerful imperial monster to fight me. If your imperial monster wins, we'll serve you willingly. If your imperial monster loses, we won't drag the rest of the Dynasty members into this. I'll send your body to Dynasty myself."

Lin Huang could not help but grin when he heard he stakes.

Clearly, Zhi Ji was a wise man who wanted to take the opportunity to see how powerful his trump card was. If his trump card was powerful enough, he would not lose anything by surrendering. However, if his trump card was measly, it would mean that he was but a lamb sending itself to a tiger's jaws and seeking death.

Lin Huang did not respond to the bet right away. Instead, he glanced at the other ten slowly and smirked more. "This bet of yours isn't exciting enough. Why don't you get all 11 of them to fight together? That way, you can prevent anyone of you from being upset when you lose. I'll still be sending only one imperial monster from my side."

Although the Virtual Gods from Misery felt they were being underestimated, at the same time, they thought there was something wrong with his head.

His changing the bet would mean raising the bar for himself.

"If that's what you say, brat!" Next to Zhi Ji, Jie Wu was so mad that he was cackling. He thought Lin Huang completely underestimated his abilities. A raging fire in his body was rearing to go and was ready to be released later.

"Yes, mark my word." Lin Huang tilted his head at everyone. "Does anyone have anything to say? It's best that you say it now instead of backing out if you lose later."

While they were secretly cursing Lin Huang for being arrogant, they were also glad. All of them thought Lin Huang changing the bet was undoubtedly digging his own grave.

Naturally, none of the 11 of them objected.

Among the 11 of them, Zhi Ji was the only one frowning a little, but he still said nothing. Although they had the upper hand in the bet, he had the feeling that Lin Huang was either up to something no good or he was really confident about changing the bet.

However, since the bow was already nocked on the arrow, it had to be released.

"Since you suggested that, Master Emperor, we'll change the bet as you wish. The condition of the bet remains," Zhi Ji concluded out loud.

Lin Huang nodded while smiling and shook his sleeve. "You may come out now."

The Nightmare Tapir leaped out of Lin Huang's sleeve as soon as he said that. It restored its original size and revealed itself.

The first impression it gave everyone in his tiger form and long elephant trunk was that it was a ferocious beast. However, Zhi Ji and the rest sensed that the monster before them only had Virtual God rank-8 combat strength.

Zhi Ji suspected something was up at that point. "Master Emperor, are you sure you're using this imperial monster to fight in this bet?"

"I only have three monsters with similar abilities, so I'll choose him," Lin Huang confirmed with a feeble smile.

Meanwhile, Zhi Ji and the rest did not notice that Lin Huang faded and disappeared after he said that.

"Jie Wu, come with me! The rest of you will defend where you are. Beware that he might have some unknown attack techniques!"

Their opponent was a Virtual God rank-8 monster. Because Lin Huang had gotten it to fight them, it could possibly mean that it was a quadruple mutated mythical-level. The monster might not be defeated by low-level and mid-level Virtual Gods. Even a Virtual God rank-7 Virtual God might not be able to break its defense. Therefore, Zhi Ji did not attack directly but delegated the responsibilities to the rest.

The Nightmare Tapir did not attack immediately either. A gleam of disdain flashed through its eyes when he saw the 11 of them summoning their god relic battle armors and weapons right away and glaring at it with their guards up.

Zhi Ji was the first to move. He did not attack immediately. Instead, he was running towards the side rapidly. He seemed to be trying to attract the Nightmare Tapir's attention from the looks of it.

Meanwhile, Jie Wu was the second to move. He headed towards the opposite direction while Zhi Ji went quietly.

Clearly, both of them planned to attack the Nightmare Tapir from the front and behind.

However, just when the duo stayed in position and charged at the Nightmare Tapir from the front and back, it swung its trunk and shrieked louder than thunder.

The deafening shriek pierced through the eleven people's eardrums like some demonic tune hurting their heads.

Even Jie Wu and Zhi Ji who were charging at it covered their ears immediately. They felt like tens of thousands of thunderclaps had exploded in their heads. The roar of endless thunders was screaming in their heads continuously.

However, it was useless to cover their ears since the shriek pierced through their souls directly.

Zhi Ji and Jie Wu only felt their heads hurting terribly, but the remaining nine of them from Misery collapsed onto the ground one after another.

The three powerhouses on Virtual God rank-3 fell onto the ground almost as soon as the shriek was released. The five mid-level Virtual Gods only lasted less than 30 seconds before also collapsing onto the ground. Meanwhile, the Virtual God rank-7 spat foam after lasting for almost three minutes.

Zhi Ji and Jie Wu, on the other hand, began to adapt to the headache three minutes later. Then, they struggled to stand up still.

They realized they were the only two left among the 11.

Until then, Zhi Ji and Jie Wu finally understood why Lin Huang had gotten the 11 of them to fight together.

Zhi Ji understood Lin Huang's ironic act of kindness and could not help thinking to himself, 'This monster really has the ability to fight 11 people!"

In reality, Zhi Ji already had speculation about the ability Lin Huang was hiding when Jie Sha and Zhi Lu were killed. He guessed that his ability should be above Virtual God rank-7. Now that he saw Lin Huang and noticed his two Virtual God rank-8 imperial monsters, he developed new speculation about Lin Huang's ability. He felt that Lin Huang had techniques to fight a Virtual God rank-9.

Even though he thought he had overestimated Lin Huang's hidden ability, he never expected Lin Huang to summon a Virtual God rank-8 imperial monster and defeat almost all of Misery's core team in one go.

Seeing the other members on the ground, Zhi Ji and Jie Wu glanced at each other and saw the fear in each other's eyes.

"This guy is definitely quadruple mutated! Be careful." Zhi Ji guessed that only the Nightmare Tapir was quadruple mutated earlier. However, he was sure of it now. "I'll distract him and you can check on the rest of them."

Jie Wu nodded lightly and appeared next to the other members in a flash. He was relieved after checking on them. He then spoke to Zhi Ji through voice transmission, "They're just unconscious, but they're alright."

In reality, both of them knew very well that the low-level and mid-level Virtual Gods were still alive because the Nightmare Tapir held its power back. Clearly, Lin Huang hoped to take over the complete team after he won the battle.

Seeing the nine of the 11 fall while the remaining two had adapted to his attack and were walking, the Nightmare Tapir finally began the first round of attack.

The thunderous roar that screamed in their heads stopped all of a sudden. Zhi Ji and Jie Wu's heads were peaceful now, and they felt like the world was beautiful again.

To prevent the battle from affecting the remaining nine, Jie Wu dragged them into his God Territory.

On the other hand, Zhi Ji used his Divine Telekinesis to check the floors below. He was completely relieved when he found out that the floors outside the defense layer were not affected.

"Don't worry. This is just a sparring session. I know my limits." The Nightmare Tapir's voice came into their ears slowly. "If you give your attention to something else, both of you might be killed by me in the next attack!"

Jie Wu glared at the Nightmare Tapir madly without saying anything.

Meanwhile, Zhi Ji nodded at the Nightmare Tapir calmly. "Indeed, we were a little distracted earlier, but we'll pay attention now."

The Nightmare Tapir grinned when both of them adjusted themselves and paid it all of their attention. "That's more like it."

Seeing the Nightmare Tapir encouraging his opponents, Lin Huang, who was watching the battle outside the dreamland, was speechless. "Why are you encouraging them? Don't be reckless and lose the battle!"

"Don't worry. They can't defeat me in my dreamland!" The Nightmare Tapir's response made Lin Huang even more speechless now.

"Where exactly did you learn to be so full of yourself?" Lin Huang could not help but mumble softly.

"It's the God Figurine's Combat Soul that you visualized. Naturally, their consciousness is a reflection of your own." The stone tablet's voice came all of a sudden.

Lin Huang had no idea how to argue back after hearing that. "I'm only full of myself occasionally, alright?"

The stone tablet paused before speaking again after waiting for Lin Huang to admit it himself, "Of course, apart from the reflection of consciousness from you, the God Figurine's initial consciousness will remain, as well as the monster tribe's bloodline that you visualized. If you must categorize the God Figurine's Combat Soul's consciousness in detail, the reflection of your consciousness would occupy approximately 50% while 30% comes from its own consciousness and around 20% from its bloodline."

"Are you doing this on purpose? Don't you need to breathe when you speak?"

In reality, Lin Huang knew that his God Figurine's Combat Souls were very different from others.

The Combat Souls that he consolidated from his visualization were complete individuals whereby their combat strength would not be restricted by his own combat strength. If there were enough resources, their combat strength could almost elevate endlessly to the limit they could bear.

Moreover, the Combat Souls were consolidated through the visualization of Protoss's God Figurine as the foundation and the powerful monsters on the True Spirit Guide as the mold and the sea of spirit energy. Their level easily surpassed quadruple mutation.

Apart from that, his God Figurine's Combat Souls came with complete personal consciousness and even had terrifying learning abilities.

Meanwhile, the combat strength of the Combat Souls belonging to the rest of the people in this gravel world would be restricted by their master's combat strength. The highest the God Figurine's Combat Souls could go would be their master's combat strength. The Combat Soul's level would also be limited by the monsters they hunted. Most of them were triple mutated. There were very few that were triple and a half mutated. As for the Combat Soul's consciousness, only their battle consciousness was left behind. They would only move by command without any ability to think.

Even though they managed to refine a God Figurine and integrated the Combat Soul, they would only have a God Figurine's puppet.

Compared to normal Combat Souls, their God Figurine's Combat Souls were not much different from the normal Combat Souls apart from the fact that their bodies were slightly more powerful and had a better ability to carry out the skills that the God Figurines could initially do.

Because of all these reasons, many people thought Lin Huang's God Figurine's Combat Souls were his summoning beasts when they saw them. Under normal circumstances, only summoning beasts had complete self-consciousness and high intelligence.

In reality, due to the God Figurine's Combat Souls' numerous flaws, many powerful genius powerhouses were unwilling to spend time refining them. To them, God Figurine's Combat Souls were not a great help. Besides draining an immense amount of Divine Power, their combat efficiency was only so-so, hence they would rather fight on their own. They would rather elevate their own combat strength or cultivate battle skills than spend the time to refine God Figurine's Combat Souls.

However, Lin Huang broke many limitations of the God Figurine's Combat Souls and they became his trump card.

It gave him the ability to conquer the entire gravel world with his imperial-level combat strength.

Meanwhile, the Nightmare Tapir was at ease as it fought the duo in the dreamland. In reality, it already had the ability to kill Virtual God rank-9s when it was on Virtual God rank-5 back then. Even though Zhi Ji and Jie Wu's abilities were slightly more powerful than normal a Virtual God rank-9's, there was a limit to it. Moreover, it was no longer on Virtual God rank-5 now.

The Nightmare Tapir had been holding back its abilities and merely performed at Zhi Ji and Jie Wu's level to play a game of cat-and-mouse.

Since it had the ability to copy the skills that it had seen in the dreamland, Zhi Ji and Jie Wu were having a tough time fighting it.

Lin Huang, who had been watching the battle, said nothing. After all, the Nightmare Tapir needed the opportunity to practice and he was worried that it would be excluded from performing techniques that were on par with True God.

Meanwhile, Zhi Ji and Jie Wu were extremely clumsy in the dreamland.

The Nightmare Tapir's ever-changing techniques made them fail to expect what was its next move at all.

Within half an hour, they had drained more than half of their Divine Power.

In reality, the duo only managed to attack efficiently only a few times together and they spent most of the time running away from the Nightmare Tapir's attacks. The draining of their Divine Power was mainly caused by the impact of the Nightmare Tapir's attacks.

In the dreamland, the 999th floor of the Sky Pagoda was thrown into chaos.

Jie Wu was running while panting hard. His eyes were a little bloodshot and he was obviously in disbelief.

Not far away, Zhi Ji's chest was going also heaving up and down. However, his eyes were clear while he maintained his calmness.

"Theoretically, this guy's Divine Power should've been drained many times more than ours. However, it doesn't seem tired at all and its Divine Power has remained at the same level. It proves that it might have some special technique to replenish its Divine Power. No matter what the reason is, our chances of winning will drop if this goes on," Zhi Ji said to Jie Wu through voice transmission.

"I've told you to kill it since the beginning, but you told me to preserve our Divine Power and find the opportunity to fight back. Now, it's been half an hour. This monster with the trunk has attacked us more than 4,000 times and we've only attacked it four times together," Jie Wu mocked through voice transmission. The mustache above his lips looked like it was flying away.

"Indeed, I miscalculated," Zhi Ji admitted his mistake.

"So, what's the plan? Do we take his attacks on directly, fight him for one round and mess up his rhythm?" Jie Wu asked first and gave his own suggestion later on.

"We can't do that. It'll drain too much of our Divine Power." Zhi Ji shook his head to decline the suggestion. He only spoke a moment after thinking it through, "I'll defend. You'll be responsible for attacking."

Zhi Ji took out a god relic shield as soon as he was done speaking. He stopped running all of a sudden after inserting Divine Power into it. Then, he spun around and defended the Nightmare Tapir's air slices from mauling him by force.

Jie Wu hid behind him in a flash.

The golden shield created a half golden sphere shield after being inserted with Divine Power. It protected the duo.

Seeing that the duo changed the battle model all of a sudden, the Nightmare Tapir could not help but raise a brow. It subsequently revealed a delighted expression that looked human instead of feeling stunned.

In reality, chasing and suppressing the duo was boring for it. Clearly, the duo's defending and retaliating was much more interesting.

"Fight me now. That'll be more interesting." The Nightmare Tapir was smirking in joy.

Zhi Ji headed towards the Nightmare Tapir swiftly, holding the golden shield.

Meanwhile, Jie Wu followed closely behind him. The tip of the spear that he was holding had a white glow the size of a rice.

Just when Zhi Ji was 100 meters away from the Nightmare Tapir, it did not seem to have sensed the danger around it. Instead, it stood where it was. However, behind Zhi Ji, Jie Wu vanished in a flash.

Jie Wu arrived around ten meters before the Nightmare Tapir when he appeared again.

Before the Nightmare Tapir could react, he charged with the bronze spear in his hand. Endless white glow shot out of the tip of the spear and drown the Nightmare Tapir in it.

"Is it over?!" Jie Wu and Zhi Ji thought of that almost at the same time.

However, a voice entered their ears at the moment. "What are you guys waiting for? Are you looking for me?"

The duo spread their Divine Telekinesis as soon as the voice boomed. They searched anxiously for the Nightmare Tapir's coordinates.

However, Zhi Ji had goosebumps as soon as he spread his Divine Telekinesis. The Nightmare Tapir was just ten meters behind him!

'If he hadn't spoken earlier and attacked directly, I think I might've been dead now.' Zhi Ji saw a whip coming at him just when he thought about his mortality. The whip was growing at an alarming speed, so he backed off immediately. At the same time, he inserted Divine Power into the shield.

Meanwhile, Jie Wu, who was on the other side, noticed that Zhi Ji had lured the Nightmare Tapir to attack him. He flashed and swung his spear at the Nightmare Tapir again.

The silver spear charged like a lightning, arriving before the Nightmare Tapir in the blink of an eye. The stars that were shining at the tip of the spear were pointing at its head.

Almost immediately, the Nightmare Tapir mauled it with its claws which collided with the silver tip of spear.

The intense contact flung Jie Wu out.

On the other side, the Nightmare Tapir's trunk collided with Zhi Ji's shield almost at the same time. Zhi Ji also flew out with the shield.

If the Nightmare Tapir did not hold back its ability, the duo would have definitely died from the collision.

However, since the Nightmare Tapir suppressed its ability to be on par with Zhi Ji and Jie Wu, they only shot out from the collision instead of suffering any physical injuries.

The duo adjusted themselves and went back into their high-morale battle mode.

The intense battle began again!

Since their collaboration went well, Zhi Ji and Jie Wu were becoming more and more in sync.

The three silhouettes collided over and over again in the air.

Zhi Ji was not always the one who was responsible for defending whereby they would exchange their responsibilities occasionally, causing a bit of trouble for the Nightmare Tapir.

However, the Nightmare Tapir's Divine Power remained stable as time passed by. No matter how it attacked relentlessly, the Nightmare Tapir's Divine Power seemed to be bottomless.

Meanwhile, Zhi Ji and Jie Wu, on the other hand, could not do the same. The draining of their Divine Power was clearly faster than before since they initiated the attacks.

Their Divine Power was almost non-existent within the short 20 minutes. Zhi Ji and Jie Wu were helpless.

"It seems like we're losing. My Divine Power is only sufficient for one last attack!"

"Mine too."

Naturally, the Nightmare Tapir noticed the changes in the duo's Divine Power. It knew that they were coming to a dead end.

"The both of your Divine Powers are finished. To show my respect, I'll be a little more serious in my last attack. You guys will lose in vain if I keep dragging you around like this."

Zhi Ji and Jie Wu were puzzled.

"This guy held back his abilities? Who is it kidding?"

"I think it's just bragging. After all, everyone knows how to brag."

A gleam of disdain flashed through the Nightmare Tapir's eyes again when it saw that they were in disbelief.

With an aggressive swing of its trunk, a red glow lit up in the sky all of a sudden.

All Zhi Ji and Jie Wu could feel were the red glow approaching them at the speed of light. They were drowned in the red glow before they could even react.

They flew out directly, the very last drop of Divine Power in them evaporating.

Without the support of Divine Power, their god relics retreated back into their bodies. Their bodies that had lost the protection of the god relics were fragile under the immense suppression, so their bones were crushed completely.

Zhi Ji and Jie Wu gaped at their bodies in shock. Their bones began to be pulverized from the chest spreading all over their bodies. From their shoulders to the tip of their fingers, from their pelvic bones to their toes, and from their chest to their back…

At that very moment, Zhi Ji and Jie Wu sensed the very horror of death.

As their bones were crushed, their organs turned into mush. They watched their bodies become distorted and sunken. It was the longest and scariest one second that they had ever experienced in their lives.

Fortunately, all of the bone-crushing and tremors came to a halt abruptly right before the horror spread to their skulls.

Only able to move their heads, they felt like they were fish on the chopping board at the moment, waiting for death.

Until then, they finally realized their differences in abilities compared to the Nightmare Tapir.

However, the Nightmare Tapir did not tell them that that was not even its maximum performance level.

In reality, the Nightmare Tapir's last attack was very close to a True God's attack.

Although one had no idea if the attack would be rebounded back by the gravel world if he were to perform a True God's ability, his real combat strength was only on Virtual God rank-8 after all. Recalling Lin Huang's warning earlier, the Nightmare Tapir maintained the attack below True God without stepping out of the line.

Even though that was the case, the attack suppressed Zhi Ji and Jie Wu like a piece of cake.

He even had the ability to control the intensity of the attack to stop it from spreading before it arrived at the duo's heads.

Zhi Ji and Jie Wu felt like they escaped death from the attack.

The Divine Power in their bodies were drained completely when the collision happened. As a result, their god relics retreated back to their bodies. The intense attack crushed their bodies one after another when it reached their bodies. If the Nightmare Tapir did not manage to control its power, their skulls and brains might have turned into mush by now.

Left with their heads, the duo saw darkness envelop them and the Nightmare Tapir then released them from the dreamland.

All 11 of them from Misery looked puzzled when they returned to reality all of a sudden.

Apart from Zhi Ji and Jie Wu, the rest had no idea what happened. All they remembered was the Nightmare Tapir's thunderous shriek and they blacked out. To their absolute surprise, they were sitting at the meeting table in peace when they woke up.

Zhi Ji and Jie Wu were in shock. They only realized that the tough battle that they were in was only a dream after seeing that their bodies were perfectly fine while they were sitting in the meeting room and everything around them was in one piece. Never had they thought they would be dragged into the dreamland without realizing it.

Nevertheless, they dared not underestimate the Nightmare Tapir. They knew that if they were killed in the dreamland, they would truly die in reality. They would not have a chance of waking up.

Meanwhile, the Nightmare Tapir had shrunk and laid by Lin Huang's feet at that moment.

The Ninetails Lynx also revealed itself. It shrunk into a kitten and lay on Lin Huang's shoulder.

Zhi Ji and Jie Wu looked at the Nightmare Tapir in fear. However, their pupils shrunk when they saw the kitten that was pretending to sleep on Lin Huang's shoulder as they sensed its true aura.

Lin Huang smirked and trained his eyes on Zhi Ji directly. "I won the bet."

Zhi Ji nodded before Lin Huang proceeded to speak further. "We've lost. We're willing to do as we promised!"

"From today onwards, Misery will be under your jurisdiction, Master Emperor! We'll publish an announcement within 24 hours telling the entire gravel world about this news."

"Oh, no. We're the only ones who need to know about Misery being under my jurisdiction. There's no need to inform the world. You don't have to announce it, so the Union Government won't think I'm trying to take over them," Lin Huang waved his hands and said while smiling.

Lin Huang was even delegating all of his responsibilities as the Emperor of Dynasty. He knew that he could not take up the responsibility as chief of the Union Government.

He had never thought of taking over the Union Government. Although it was glorious being a leader, the role would come with great responsibilities.

In reality, the Union Government had been doing a great job throughout the hundreds of years. From building safety zones from nothing and building as well as maintaining all sorts of regulations, Lin Huang knew he definitely could not do any better than they had.

Moreover, compared to being the leader of a gravel world, he would rather explore a bigger world to see what was outside this gravel world.

"Misery is still Misery on the surface. Nothing has changed," Lin Huang continued, "I don't need you guys to convert into a neutral organization either, but we hope that Misery will be the leader of the underground world and law enforcer, just like the Union Government's position in the union organization. Your mission is to standardize all the underground organizations' doings."

The people from Misery initially looked upset as they thought Lin Huang would make their organization a neutral one. They never thought Lin Huang would have made such an arrangement instead.

"I'll come up with a code of conduct for underground organizations. You guys think of ways to promote it. I'll give you guys some suggestions. You can use Dynasty being dismissed from the underground world as a reference."

Zhi Ji and the rest frowned slightly as people from the underground organizations obeyed no one. The mission that Lin Huang had assigned them was definitely a tough one.

"Oh yeah, you actually do need to publish an announcement. However, it has nothing to do with me. It's about Misery's statement of agreeing to Dynasty pulling out from the underground world. Just make it simple."

"We'll sort it out later." Zhi Ji nodded lightly.

"I'll treat you well for being under my jurisdiction. You guys will have the same treatment as Dynasty does. Whatever Dynasty has, you guys will have it too."

"I'll register you guys as an affiliate organization of Royal, so you'll enjoy the same treatment as Dynasty does. You guys didn't have support in the great world back then, but now you do!"

By doing so, Lin Huang was binding himself completely to Misery. Misery would become an organization under him officially instead of having a vague verbal agreement.

After all, Misery was the No. 1 underground organization. Throughout the years, they had heard of Royal that was behind Dynasty. Although they did not know much about Royal, they knew that it was a major organization in the great world.

Naturally, Misery was willing to have support from such a major organization.

"Just like Dynasty, we'll give you access to the many trial zones in Royal. It depends on how willing you are to give in to obtain cultivation resources."

Zhi Ji and the rest's eyes lit up when they heard that. Misery's current issue in development was the lack of resources. If they had sufficient resources, Misery could have over 30 Virtual Gods now.

"As for the ruins and sites that you currently own, they'll still be yours. Just like Dynasty, we'll have our own possessions, and nobody will interfere with each other. Of course, if you guys are lacking the manpower to explore ruins and sites, you can ask me for Dynasty's help. On the other hand, I'll also request assistance from you if Dynasty has such a need," Lin Huang said intentionally to tell Zhi Ji that he was not interested in the Buddhist city ruins that they were hiding.

"I won't be going through Misery's treasury, but there are a few things that I hope that you guys can collect for me." Lin Huang had already seen what was in Misery's treasury in Zhi Lu and the rest's memories. Indeed, there was nothing that he was interested in.

"Do tell, Master Emperor."

"The first are the Godheads and broken Godheads. The more, the better. The second one would be the god-level soul crystals. The higher the grade and the more of them there are, the better. The third thing, other items that contain a sea of spiritual energy…"

After adding Misery to Royal's list, then getting Zhi Ji and Jie Wu's signature as well as stamping the list with Misery's chop, Lin Huang finally owned his second affiliated organization.

Since the registration was done, Lin Huang delegated the responsibilities to Zhi Ji and Jie Wu after holding a simple meeting with the 11 Misery Virtual Gods.

Naturally, he did not forget to return Jie Sha, Zhi Lu, and Ku Zhen's bodies to Misery before leaving so that they could be buried.

It was almost noon when he returned to Emperor City.

Huang Tianfu was the first to welcome him after seeing his return. "Master Emperor, how was the discussion with Misery?"

"It was pretty successful," Lin Huang said with a wide grin. "They'll publish an announcement either today or tomorrow to verify the fact that Dynasty has been pulled out of the underground world."

"Wow, the people from Misery let you off so easily?" Huang Tianfu was baffled to hear that.

After all, Lin Huang had killed people from Misery, so it was pretty impossible for them to be so friendly to him.

"They're Buddhist cultivators after all. They'll listen as long as what I say makes sense," Lin Huang explained smugly. He did not utter the last sentence that he wanted to say, 'Everything makes sense when you have a bigger fist!'

The impression Huang Tianfu had on Misery was different. Hearing how Lin Huang made it so simple, the more he thought that Lin Huang's ability was unfathomable.

"Oh yeah, how's the gathering of the Godheads and the rest that I asked you to collect for me?"

"We didn't collect many Godheads. There are only 11. Very few organizations are willing to sell that. We have slightly more broken Godheads. There are over 200 of them. There are also very few high-grade god-level soul crystals. We've only collected three."

Huang Tianfu took out a temporary storage ring and gave it to Lin Huang who then patted Huang Tianfu's shoulder.

"Thanks for the hard work. Continue to collect them and let me know if the money is insufficient. Don't use Dynasty's money. These are things I personally asked for after all."

"Your humble one understands." Huang Tianfu nodded.

"Anything else? If not, I'll go into closed-door cultivation in the Emperor's Palace." Lin Huang could not wait to refine the Godheads that he had just obtained.

"I can basically handle the rest here! However, the heretics sent an invitation this morning saying that they'll visit us. I think it's better for you to be present, Master Emperor."

"The heretics?" Lin Huang was stunned to hear the familiar name. "Why are they visiting us?"

"They didn't specify the exact reason. They only said that they're visiting since they're also a neutral organization," Huang Tianfu informed the reason the heretics included in the invitation helplessly.

"It does sound like what they would say." Lin Huang could not help but recall the time when he fought the heretics. They were insane like that. "Let them come then. We'll just chase them out if they stir trouble up here. I won't be going into closed-door cultivation these two days then. Let's see what the heretics want."

Lin Huang began sorting out the loot he had obtained that day as soon as he returned to the Emperor's Palace.

It was a rewarding trip to Misery this time. Misery had more than a hundred Godheads of all grades alone and up to 1,00 broken Godheads. There were more than ten types of god-level soul crystals and at least ten different treasures containing spiritual energy.

Lin Huang had retrieved the methods the people from Misery cultivated from Zhi Lu and the rest's memories. Nevertheless, he got Zhi Ji to make a copy of all of the methods that they excavated from the ruins.

After sorting out the loot, Lin Huang did not go into cultivation immediately. Instead, he summoned Bloody.

"There are up to a hundred Buddhist cultivation methods here. Most of them can get one to virtual god-level. You can refer to them and see if you can integrate them with the ancient methods that I gave you before coming up with a few sets of new methods."

"I'll try." In her red dress, Bloody sat with her legs crossed in the Emperor's Palace after getting the Buddhist methods from Lin Huang. She then began to study those Buddhist methods that she had just obtained.

Lin Huang, on the other hand, took out the god-level soul crystals from his storage space and summoned the Shackle Serpent.

As a control-type of God Figurine's Combat Soul, the Shackle Serpent had mediocre battle ability but remarkable sealing ability. Lin Huang had taken some time to think about it before deciding to pick it as the fourth God Figurine's Combat Soul to be elevated to Virtual God rank-8.

He tossed the soul crystals at the Shackle Serpent which opened its jaws wide and swallowed all the 18 soul crystals into its stomach.

Subsequently, Lin Huang took out the treasures containing spiritual energy and fed them to the Shackle Serpent one after another.

Although the Shackle Serpent's aura was being upgraded, it was still some distance away from elevating its combat strength after finishing all the materials.

In reality, the elevation of the God Figurine's Combat Soul's combat strength was the easiest to Lin Huang. As long as he had sufficient resources, the upgrade was possible. However, now that the resources were insufficient, their combat strength elevation would become a long, arduous journey.

Since Lin Huang knew that, he did not feel troubled at all. He patted the Shackle Serpent's head and recalled it back to his body.

Lin Huang left Bloody alone upon seeing that she was in the zone with her legs crossed.

He took out all of the Godheads and broken Godheads, then tossed them into his body without hesitation. The Godheads and broken Godheads he obtained this round combined together with the Virtual God rank-9 Godhead he had were sufficient to get him to imperial-level rank-3.

However, since the heretics were visiting tomorrow, he had to wait for a day before he could go into closed-door cultivation.

Sensing the broken Godheads being refined automatically in his body one after another and flowing into his Life Palace after turning into Divine Power, he could clearly feel that the Divine Power provided by the broken Godheads was decreasing.

"The broken Godheads' effect is dropping immensely before I've even gotten to imperial-level rank-2. I think the broken Godheads would lose their effect entirely when I get to imperial-level rank-3. Furthermore, the effect of the Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 Godheads would have dropped by heaps by then."

Considering that he had something to deal with tomorrow, Lin Huang refrained from refining the Godheads. He was afraid that he might be unwilling to stop as soon as he got into refinement mode.

He thought about it for a while and sat with his legs crossed. Then, he began cultivating Seamless.

However, Lin Huang had no idea that the entire cultivation world was stirred up not long after he stepped into the Emperor's Palace.

The announcement published by Misery was the reason for the uproar.

This was the rough content of the announcement: "After a friendly discussion between Misery and Dynasty, Misery feels sorry that Dynasty is pulling out of the underground organization. However, we respect the decision that Dynasty has made, and we wish Dynasty the best in their development as a neutral organization."

The simple two sentences caused many different encryptions by countless people.

Most of them thought Dynasty had bribed Misery. They must have come to a secret agreement for which Dynasty might have paid a big price.

Only organizations such as the Union Government that knew Lin Huang's ability very well could figure out this matter might not be as simple as it seemed.

In the Union Government headquarters, Jiang Shan looked out of the floor-to-ceiling window while frowning a little. "Lin Huang's ability is so much more powerful than we estimated!"

The announcement from Misery caused a stir.

Misery, which had been staying low-key for many years, became the No. 1 trending topic on all the social media platforms.

Dynasty soon trended as No. 1. However, not many talked about Lin Huang this time. After all, it did not seem to be very much related to him this time.

"Dynasty has been doing so many things recently. They came up with an agreement earlier and it has only been two to three days, but they're already at peace with Misery. I wonder what will happen next."

"They had just dropped from the top ten trending topics this morning and they've risen back to No. 2 in the afternoon. They're amazing!"

"They're trending everyday. I'm a little tempted to join Dynasty for the exposure."

"The neutral organization, Dynasty, welcomes everyone to join us! You can join as long as you pass Dynasty's assessment and are at least 16 years old. No matter what your gender is, what kind of person you are, how you look like, your height, weight, and sexual preferences… We don't discriminate. We welcome minors below 16 too as long as you've got your guardian's permission!" That was the response Dynasty posted on their official account.

"Damn, their official account is so playful! Can a gender-bender join too? Asking for a friend."

"Of course, there's no gender restriction o(*￣3￣)o," responded the official account.

"Are you talking about yourself when you said you were asking for your friend?!" Many people commented below.

"I'm also asking for a friend. Can a person who weighs 800 pounds join?"

"Sure, we accept anyone who passes the assessment," the official account replied again.

"800 pounds… Did you eat the weighing machine when you were growing up?"

"Wow, that weight is ten times more than mine!"

"The commenter who said he's 80 pounds, you must have looked at the wrong unit. Am I right?"

…

Misery's account was jammed pack as well. However, the admin taking care of Misery's account seemed to be a cold person, and he replied to none of the comments.

No matter what the people commented, the admin remained silent.

It was crowded on all the social media sites, and even more so on the black market forum.

After all, it was about Misery. It attracted tons of attention as soon as the announcement was made.

However, the first thought everyone had when they saw the announcement was, 'The account that posted the thread has to be fake, isn't it?"

However, the account was verified by the forum when they refreshed the thread. It caused a stir among the commenters.

Nobody could believe that Misery compromised with Dynasty and permitted them to pull out!

Initially, most people from the underground organizations were upset with Dynasty's decision.

How could a top three underground organization pull out from the underground world and convert to a neutral organization?

However, most of them were only criticizing Dynasty online. None of them had the guts to confront Dynasty face-to-face.

Hearing that Misery visited Dynasty, they thought Misery was going to claim justice, whereby they would definitely teach Dynasty and Lin Huang a good lesson.

They never thought that that would be the outcome. They could not believe that Misery permitted Dynasty to pull out.

Many of them looked dumbstruck when they saw the announcement Misery published.

However, many people shifted their rage away from Dynasty to Misery in the thread.

"Why don't you guys pull out from the underground world just like Dynasty did? The neutral organization would definitely welcome you guys with open arms!"

"This announcement… They were obviously bribed!"

"I thought Misery would claim justice. I can't believe they put up a show like this."

Although many people were criticizing them on the black market forum, Misery did not explain themselves.

…

Meanwhile, in foothold No. 2A13 of Freedom City, the 13 of them gathered in the meeting room of the heretics' headquarters.

The baby-faced man sitting in the main seat took his mask off. He wore a black robe.

He glanced at everyone before speaking, "I'm visiting Dynasty tomorrow. Those who are willing to go with me, please raise your hand."

The 12 of them at the meeting table were doing everything else such as digging their noses and rubbing their feet. None of them seemed to be listening to their leader. None of them even raised their hands.

Baby-face cleared his throat, feeling a little embarrassed upon seeing that. He changed his way of conveying the message by shouting directly, "Those who are unwilling to go, raise your hand!"

The meeting room was peaceful. Still, nobody raised their hands.

Baby-face looked helpless. Clearly, it was not the first time such a thing had happened.

"Since none of you are volunteering, I'll pick on my own. Whoever I pick later must go with me. I don't care if you're unwilling by then!"

"Boss, I remember that girl, Xia Yu, spoke to Lin Huang before. You can bring her with you. It's easier to go with someone familiar with the Emperor after all. Moreover, she's a Virgen. She's a suitable candidate to go to the meeting with you." The person who spoke was a middle-aged man with stubbles on his face and was picking his nose. His voice sounded nasal.

"Hey, stop giving stupid ideas, okay?" The hunk, who was rubbing his feet, could not help but confront him. "Xia Yu told me about her encounter with Lin Huang before. She was trying to bring Lin Huang back to the heretics back then, but he fought back hard, so the mission failed. It should be an upsetting experience for Lin Huang."

"Ah, so that's what happened. Indeed, I've never heard of this story before. I thought they were friends." The hunk, who was picking his nose, dug a sticky booger out of his nostril without a care in the world and flicked it at the trash can with a sign written 'residual' on it.

"Hey, can you stop doing such a disgusting act in front of everyone?"

"How is that disgusting? Have you never dug your nose in your whole life?! Furthermore, how's your habit of rubbing your feet any better than mine?" The middle-aged man digging his nose confronted and taunted before he was done.

"Alright, alright. Stop fighting," pacified Baby-face immediately. "I'll ask Xia Yu later. She'll go with me if she's okay with it."

"How about the rest? Do you guys want me to go with just a little girl? I'm the heretics' Presiding Judge after all. If we don't show any grandeur, people will think that the heretics are dead," Baby-face argued again.

"What kind of grandeur do you want? You're not getting married anyway," complained the young lady who was biting her nails in silence. Although her voice was soft, everyone heard her loud and clear.

"That's right. Do you want us to rent eight sedans and get eight muscular hunks to carry you to Dynasty's headquarters?" argued the middle-aged man digging his nose in his nasal voice, "Is that grand enough?"

"I think that's a terrific idea. We'll definitely trend the next day. I've already thought of the news title, 'Breaking News: The Heretics' Presiding Judge is Married to Dynasty!" crowed the hunk rubbing his feet.

"Are both of you eager to be smacked?" Baby-face glared at both of them and subsequently looked at the rest. "Since none of you volunteered, I'll pick the candidates then."

Lin Huang was woken up from his cultivation by the alarm on his Emperor's Heart Ring at 8 a.m.

He stopped cultivating Seamless immediately and left the Emperor's Palace after getting up to wash up. He left Bloody behind in the palace to continue coming up with the methods.

The meeting with the heretics would be at 9 a.m. It was not even 9.50 a.m. when he came back from breakfast. Just as he stepped into Dynasty's headquarters, a voice echoed all around Emperor City, "The Heretics' Presiding Judge, Sun Zhuo, visits Dynasty with the Vice Presiding Judge and the Virgen!"

Lin Huang stopped walking upon hearing the voice. He turned towards the direction of the voice, looking stunned. "They're the heretics alright. They even brought their own announcer."

It was crowded in the Emperor City. Especially with those cultivators, someone soon posted about it on the Heart Network and all the social media platforms.

Dynasty that was initially trending as No. 2 achieved first place in less than ten minutes after the news spread.

All the social media platforms were busy early in the morning.

"Holy sh*t! They're conquering the union organization, the underground organizations, and the neutral organizations! Is Dynasty planning to conquer the world and become the ruler?"

"They were involved with the Union Government a few days ago. They flirted with Misery yesterday and are dating the heretics today. Dynasty is a classic a*shole!"

"The commenter above is so accurate in his description! I already have the live version in my head."

"They really look like a*sholes if you put it this way! I'm crying from my laughter ＼(*T▽T*)／"

Four official accounts responded to that comment.

"A*shole! ヾ(｡｀Д´｡)ﾉ彡," commented the heretics' official account.

"A*shole! ヽ(#`Д´)ﾉ┌," commented the Union Government's official account.

"Hehe," commented Misery's official account.

"?," commented Dynasty's official account.

As people were discussing fervently on the Internet, the people from the heretics had walked into Dynasty's headquarters.

Lin Huang and the three Grand Dukes welcomed them.

The heretics' Presiding Judge looked the same as Lin Huang had seen from the video a few years ago. He still wore his black robe and a terrifying white mask on his face.

"I'm the heretics' Presiding Judge, Sun Zhuo." The Presiding Judge in a terrifying mask introduced the other three behind him after a simple self-introduction. There was a man and two ladies standing behind him.

Lin Huang noticed the middle-aged man behind him immediately because the man clearly had a Virtual God rank-3 aura. He looked like he was over 40 years old with a plump body. He had stubble all over his face and looked like he was sleep-deprived.

"This is our Vice Presiding Judge, Zhou Tong."

"This is our Presiding Judge Elder, Cao Ya." Sun Zhuo then pointed at the one who was skinnier among the two ladies.

The lady was very petite. She was less than 1.5 meters tall even in her shoes. She looked like a 12 to 13-year-old girl. She dyed her hair purple and divided it into two ponytails. She did not look like an adult no matter what.

However, Lin Huang knew very well that her real age definitely exceeded what she seemed like because her combat strength was clearly on demigod-level.

As for the last lady, Lin Huang actually recognized her as soon as he saw her.

The lady was the heretics Virgen who had attempted to capture him back to the heretics last time.

"This is the heretics' Virgen, Xia Yu." Sun Zhuo and the rest were secretly observing Lin Huang's response when Sun Zhuo said that.

Lin Huang merely peeped at Xia Yu and nodded. "I know. We met three years ago." However, he only glanced at her and stopped giving her attention.

The heretics' Virgen had been on blue flame-level back then while Lin Huang, who had been on bronze-level, could only run clumsily when they met. Now that three years had passed, although this lady had experienced a great improvement whereby she was on immortal-level rank-5 now, he had surpassed her by heaps.

Meanwhile, Xia Yu was observing Lin Huang secretly.

She had a deep impression of Lin Huang because he was the one and only mission that she had ever failed in her life. Since she found out about Lin Huang's identity as the Emperor throughout the half a year, she would occasionally follow the news about him.

She would always feel it was absurd whenever she saw Lin Huang doing something dramatic on the news. The little guy who had only been on bronze-level back then had surpassed her immensely no matter whether it came to combat strength, ability, or identity.

After the heretics introduced their people, Lin Huang also gave a simple introduction to his people. They then entered the office with the heretics. He closed the meeting room door after the four heretics had entered.

The heretics' Presiding Judge finally removed his mask then. Lin Huang finally saw how he really looked like. He could not believe that he had such a baby face that made him looked like he was only in his early 20s.

Huang Tianfu and the other two were surprised too.

"I never thought the heretics' Presiding Judge would be so young," Lin Huang teased while smiling.

"Stop teasing me, Master Emperor. My parents gave me this face, so there's nothing that I can do about it. I've always been treated as a little brother by everyone who's the same age since I was a kid," Sun Zhuo said while smiling helplessly.

Lin Huang could roughly understand why Sun Zhuo insisted on wearing a mask whenever he was out. In reality, not only did he have a babyface, but he also looked like a harmless, kind person. One could say that he was not threatening at all.

Although Lin Huang was also young and handsome, his glory on the Stairway Tree was known to the world. Nobody dared to underestimate the No. 1 genius of the era. Furthermore, as long as he did not smile and showed a poker face, he would be taken seriously no matter where he went.

However, Sun Zhuo would look like a dummy if he had a poker face with how he looked. He would look like an irritated baby when he was mad, and it would be funny.

Therefore, wearing a mask was actually a wise move.

As they were chatting, Lin Huang noticed that Xia Yu had been observing him. She looked like she had something to say but was hesitating.

"Is there anything that you would like to say, Virgen?" Lin Huang asked with a smile.

Xia Yu hesitated and decided to speak up anyway, "I'm just very curious about how you cultivated. How did you manage to cultivate so fast?!" The reason why Xia Yu asked that was that she was also a supreme genius, and she could not figure out how Lin Huang had surpassed her so much in terms of cultivation speed.

"Hmm, how do I explain this? I can only say that it depends on the body that we're born with. I adapt to Life Power faster whereby I can break through without spending too much time digesting whenever I reach each rank." Lin Huang told her the excuse that he had prepared beforehand with a grin.

Naturally, he could not tell her that he managed to elevate so quickly because he could obtain a sea of Life Power by getting his imperial monsters to kill other monsters instead of refining Life Crystals to replenish his Life Power slowly.

"I'd bring you back to the heretics even if it meant death for me if I knew you have such potential back then." Xia Yu shook her head while sighing helplessly. Until now, she regretted having passed the chance to make a good bud such as Lin Huang back then.

Sun Zhuo and the rest had a slight change of expression after hearing that. They told Xia Yu to stop talking about that through voice transmission. After all, this part of the history was not glorious to Lin Huang.

On the other hand, Lin Huang smiled while waving his hand. He accepted everything that had happened to him in the past.

"There's nothing that I can't talk about. This might be fate. If you really had captured me for the heretics back then, I might not have achieved what I have today."

"We have to make many choices at the crossroads in our lives. It might seem unimportant when we make our decisions, but it might decide where our future leads. I just happened to be fortunate enough to have made the right choice."

They finally got in business after a while of chatting.

Lin Huang did not bother to beat around the bush, so he went straight to the topic.

"Presiding Judge, we're happy that you guys are visiting Dynasty. However, I still don't know what your purpose of visiting is since our chat earlier. Can you tell me more about that?"

"Purpose?" Sun Zhuo raised his brow when he heard Lin Huang. "Of course, we're looking into collaborating."

"Didn't you guys invited people to collaborate with Dynasty in the video a few days ago? Here we are," said the Vice Presiding Judge Zhou Tong sitting on Sun Zhuo's left while digging his nose.

Lin Huang frowned at what Zhou Tong was doing. Since he entered the meeting room, he had been picking both of his nostrils alternately with his left little finger as if he would feel uncomfortable if there was no finger stuck up one of his nostrils.

Noticing that, Lin Huang frowned at Zhou Tong. Sun Zhuo explained softly through voice transmission immediately, "Zhou Tong has always had this peculiarity since way back. He loves digging his nose. Don't mind him, Master Emperor."

"I see. I thought something was wrong with his nose," Lin Huang smiled while replying through voice transmission.

After looking away from Zhou Tong, Lin Huang unintentionally caught sight of Cao Ya who was sitting next to Zhou Tong. She was biting her fingernails.

Just when Sun Zhuo wanted to explain, Lin Huang spoke through voice transmission, "Peculiarity. I get it."

Among the three people that Sun Zhuo brought along, Xia Yu was the only one who appeared normal.

Lin Huang could not help but sympathize with Sun Zhuo. It was pretty tough to lead such an odd team.

Hearing what Zhou Tong said, as the one responsible for all matters in Dynasty, Huang Tianfu spoke, "What kind of collaboration are you looking at?"

Sun Zhuo laughed when he heard that question. "Of course, collaboration in all aspects." He signalled Cao Ya who was biting her fingernails after he said that.

Cao Ya took her finger out from her mouth calmly and projected a document from her Emperor's Heart Ring.

Lin Huang looked at the projected document while Huang Tianfu next to him turned on his Emperor's Heart Ring and accepted the document Cao Ya shared.

Lin Huang glanced through the outline of the documents roughly. Apart from the financial collaboration, the heretics listed many other aspects in the outline. It seemed like they were planning to form a thorough collaboration with Dynasty.

"I'll get Tianfu and the rest to look at the proposal. Let's chat." Lin Huang turned his head and said to Huang Tufu, "Tufu, get the kitchen to prepare some desserts."

He thought of something all of a sudden just when he said that. He asked Sun Zhuo, "Is there anything that you guys don't eat or are allergic to?"

"I'm allergic to nuts," Cao Ya answered before Sun Zhuo could speak.

Sun Zhuo shook his head helplessly. "Only Xiao Ya is allergic to nuts. The rest are fine."

"Alright." Lin Huang nodded and said to Huang Tufu again, "Get them to avoid nuts in the desserts. And ask them to prepare a few glasses of fruit tea."

Huang Tufu nodded and left after standing up.

Lin Huang began chatting with Sun Zhuo since Huang Tufu left. Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan, on the other hand, began to study the heretics' proposal.

Soon, Huang Tufu had returned.

Sun Zhuo and the rest were surprised when they saw him taking desserts out from his storage space because he had just left for less than two minutes.

"That's quick!"

Huang Tufu smiled while nodding. "I got them to prepare this beforehand, so it was ready even before you guys get here. I told them to leave out the two desserts with nuts and brought the rest here."

Lin Huang smiled while speaking upon seeing Huang Tufu bring the fruit tea out. "Try the tea. It's a secret recipe that our back kitchen had just come up with earlier. You can only taste it at Dynasty at the moment."

There were many food cultivators in Dynasty's back kitchen, including some retired Food Hunters with amazing cooking skills. They had many secret recipes that they would not share with anyone. A particular chef might be the only one who could make that specific dish in the entire gravel world. The fruit tea that Lin Huang mentioned was clearly one of those secret recipes.

Hearing that it was a secret recipe, the people from the heretics could not help but sip it immediately.

"It's so delicious!" Cao Ya and Xiao Yu exclaimed almost at the same time.

"It feels like we're slurping on a frozen watermelon in summer," Zhou Tong said with a dazed smile after taking a sip.

"Sweet, fragrant, and a magical taste that lingers." Sun Zhuo nodded lightly. "This fruit tea is interesting."

"Try the desserts. We have a pastry chef in our back kitchen. His skill ranks among the top three in the entire gravel world." Lin Huang promoted again.

"Is he Master Zhou?!" Xia Yu asked immediately.

"Yes, he only stays with Dynasty for three days per month. He happens to be here today. These three desserts we have today are made by him." Lin Huang did not tell them that the reason Master Zhou was here was that Dynasty had gotten him back after the people from Misery visited yesterday.

Xia Yu's eyes lit up when she heard about the chef. She had loved desserts since she was a kid.

"Master Zhou has a store called Hearty in the business district near my house. The store opens at 8 a.m. but there will be people queuing from 5 a.m. until they close at 10 p.m. There's always a queue. It's even crazier during the weekends. There would always be more than a hundred people queueing. It's the most popular store in the entire business district. It even boosted the business of hiring someone to queue and purchase pastries for you. I'll have to hire someone to buy it for me every time I'm craving for their desserts."

"There's one near my house too. True, there's always a queue everyday," Cao Ya agreed.

"Those pastry chefs at Hearty were trained at the academy that Master Zhou owns. It isn't Master Zhou who teaches them but some of his students. Sometimes, it's even the students of his students. Nonetheless, the desserts that we're having today were made by Master Zhou himself this morning." Huang Tianfu could not help but interrupt them after hearing them talking about the desserts.

"Come and try," Lin Huang invited while smiling. He picked up a piece as well.

"It's so heavenly!" Xia Yu and Cao Ya cried out almost at the same time again.

"It's never too much for me to eat ten pounds of these everyday." Zhou Tong shoved the desserts into his mouth immediately.

"To be honest, I'm not a dessert person, but I can eat this every day," Sun Zhuo said while grinning after eating one.

"Boss, I think we should include Master Zhou in this collaboration. Let him work for the heretics three days a month too!" Zhou Tong announced in a muffled voice as he spoke with his mouth full.

"If he can't do three days, one day will work too!" Xia Yu offered.

Sun Zhuo was speechless.

"We can't be deciding this for Master Zhou, but since he happens to be here today, I'll bring you guys to see him after our discussion is over later. You guys can discuss the part-time matter with him," Lin Huang said while smiling.

"Emperor Lin, you're such a nice person!" Cao Ya looked grateful while Xia Yu next to her nodded.

Huang Tianfu and the other two finally looked through the heretics' proposal more than half an hour later. They also came up with a preliminary conclusion.

Sun Zhuo noticed that Lin Huang did not participate in the discussion throughout the process. Instead, he delegated the task to the three Grand Dukes in relief.

He looked at Huang Tianfu and the other three and then at the three people he brought. He was getting more and more depressed upon recalling the bastards at the heretics' headquarters.

'We're both bosses. Why are we being treated so differently?'

After the three Grand Dukes were done with the discussion, Huang Tianfu went through the main points of the heretics' proposal with Lin Huang and informed him about the conclusion that they came to through voice transmission.

Lin Huang nodded after listening and said to Sun Zhuo, "Presiding Judge, we've already come to a preliminary conclusion. Tianfu, please go on." Then, he passed the stage to Huang Tianfu who nodded and projected the heretics' proposal from his Emperor's Heart Ring.

"The proposal that the heretics have provided is very thorough. It covers almost all aspects of the possible collaboration between Dynasty and the heretics that might occur in the future. They even gave very solid suggestions in some aspects which inspires us.

"In reality, this proposal is fantastic in the long run. However, we feel that this multi-faceted collaboration might be a little too rushed."

At the moment, Sun Zhuo could not help but speak up, "Maybe we weren't clear about this. This proposal itself is an idealized version of the final collaboration for both sides. Therefore, we included all possible collaborations as much as we could. The reason why we didn't include the details was mainly that we aren't sure what kind of collaboration Dynasty is looking at."

"I was going to ask about the details because we didn't see it in the proposal," Huang Tianfu responded, "But we can discuss them now.

"I think financial collaboration can be the first step. Dynasty can give our collaborators access to our internal trading system at all times. We're ready for that. We can give the access tomorrow morning if we reach an agreement today.

"In reality, we synced our trading system a day after we signed the agreement with the Union Government five days ago. The trading rate throughout the past few days experienced a 50% boost and it's still growing every day."

The four heretics looked interested as they listened keenly.

Sun Zhuo could not help but ask, "If we sync our system with yours, can we get access to the Union Government trading system too?"

"We've thought about this in the beginning and discussed with the Union Government. They give our collaborators access but it's limited. Approximately 12% of products are banned sales. Even though the trading access is only 88%, it's much higher than the 61% the Union Government gives to the public. Moreover, since the collaborators will be given online access to the trading system, there'll be a 17% premium to the sales. It's considered as commission for Dynasty."

"A 17% premium! That's a little high. Auctions usually only charge a 5% handling fee." Zhou Tong gasped.

"17% isn't actually high because you're given insider prices. Even with the 17% premium, the price that you pay is similar to the price you find in the market. No matter whether they are auctions or black markets, there'll definitely be a higher premium compared to the price you find in the market. In reality, it's not us who set the 17% premium. We were asking for 10% from the Union Government in the beginning, but they're afraid of affecting the market price which might cause the butterfly effect and influence the entire market.

"Of course, the ratio isn't fixed whereby it will be adjusted following the market price. Moreover, we'll reduce the commission accordingly for organizations that we're closer with in the future, given the condition that the items won't be resold. There will be a more detailed condition by then." Huang Tianfu provided a comprehensive explanation.

"How about the items from Dynasty? Can we enjoy insider prices too? What's the ratio of banned sales like?"

"It depends on the price the heretics are giving us. At the moment, we give the Union Government an insider price just like what the Dynasty members pay. There're no banned sales. We're not the Union Government. We have no military businesses. All of the resources are obtained from hunting and exploring ruins and sites. Therefore, there's nothing that we can't sell. The only difference between the Union Government and Dynasty members is that the latter has the priority to buy an item that they are keen to purchase at the same time."

"I get it. Priority purchase. Right. We understand that." Sun Zhuo nodded lightly when he heard the clarification. "I'll discuss the price and banned sales with the headquarters later."

"May I ask what's the banned sales ratio like working with the Union Government?" Zhou Tong asked all of a sudden. "Of course, you don't have to tell me if it's too much to ask."

Huang Tianfu looked at Lin Huang to get his approval. Lin Huang nodded at him since it was not actually a secret.

"The banned sales we're given is 3%."

"Wow, this ratio is similar to the Hunter Association, isn't it?!" Xia Yu exclaimed.

"Not exactly. The Hunter Association has an even lower figure. No organization can compete with how close they are to the Union Government." Huang Tianfu did not reveal more.

"Let's end the discussion of trading access here. We'll discuss the detailed conditions when the heretics have set the price. We'll give access within 24 hours as soon as the agreement is done."

"Sure, let's end it here. We'll talk about the detailed conditions tomorrow morning when we're done on our side." Sun Zhou never thought that they would set the first project so soon. In reality, the agreement was basically in place now that they were in discussion. He did not expect Dynasty to be so open before coming here. Not only were they sincere in the collaboration, but they were not perfunctory at all.

"Let's talk about the next project then. About the data access…" Huang Tianfu moved onto the second project directly.

Sun Zhuo stayed three days in Emperor City with the other three heretics. They spent most of the time in Dynasty's meeting room.

In reality, the meeting was mainly run by Huang Tianfu and the other two Grand Dukes. They went into detail about the few projects that could be accomplished in the first round of collaboration. They also raised many questions, even giving Sun Zhuo and the rest some solutions for their reference.

The people from the heretics witnessed the three Grand Dukes' professionalism, especially Huang Tianfu who was totally an all-rounder butler.

Sun Zhuo even had the thought of poaching Huang Tianfu back to the heretics quite a few times.

However, he decided to be wise and give up on the idea. Poaching Huang Tianfu would mean an end to the collaboration with Dynasty. On the other hand, he realized apart from his combat strength, he could not compare with Lin Huang in many aspects. At least, his charm was ahead of Lin Huang's.

Throughout the meeting, although Lin Huang only gave his opinion a few times, he would always strike with core questions every time he spoke. The three Grand Dukes would almost accept whatever he said and they genuinely respected him.

Even Zhou Tong and the other two clearly became quieter after spending three days in the meeting room.

On the last day of the meeting, Zhou Tong became more enthusiastic. He was more engaged in the collaboration than Sun Zhuo was.

As the three-day meeting ended, the first collaboration among Dynasty and the heretics was finally sealed. With the enthusiasm from both sides, the discussion was smooth, and they came up with many projects together.

After they had a celebratory dinner at Dynasty, Sun Zhuo dragged the three of them for steamboat in the middle of the night.

Sitting at the steamboat table, Sun Zhuo finally could not hold it any longer and asked, "Why exactly were you guys so quiet throughout the three days?"

The three of them had their lips sealed.

Cao Yao was the first to speak after a while, "Boss, do you think that we're useless? We can't do anything and we're always causing trouble."

"Err… Not really." Sun Zhuo was stunned and waved his hand later on. "Why do you ask such a question?"

"Did you see how amazing the three Grand Dukes are? They're so competent. They can solve anything. They've taken care of everything even before the Emperor speaks," Cao Ya said, "If there are people like that in the heretics, we would definitely be so much better off than this."

"We can't be envious of some things." Sun Zhuo shook his head while grinning. "Each organization has their own style. The heretics are the heretics because of you guys. If all of you are as serious as Huang Tianfu and the rest, I might pull out of the organization after staying for a month."

"Really?" Cao Ya widened her eyes.

"Of course! That's who you are. You don't have to pretend when you're in the heretics. Nobody will judge you. Didn't you join the heretics because of this back then? This is also the founding motto of the heretics. No matter how the outside world is, no matter how the past is, and no matter how the future will be, as long as you're in the heretics, we're always the realest and most liberated."

Zhou Tong and the other two had their eyes lit up when they heard that proclamation.

"How about you, little girl? Why have you been so quiet?" Sun Zhuo looked at Xia Yu.

"I think Lin Huang has changed so much. He was only a little guy on bronze-level three years ago. Within three years, he's totally transformed like he's a different person. Not only is there a change in his combat strength, but he's also different from who he was before. Moreover, he looks more like a boss than you do, Boss," Xia Yu spoke her mind, "I wonder if it's because I'm not working hard enough. Is that why he's so much farther ahead than me?"

"Don't belittle yourself, Xiao Yu. You've improved a lot throughout the three years. You got to immortal-level when you were 20, and your cultivation speed is considered fast. Fewer than 30 people in this entire world can do that. You're just comparing yourself to the wrong person. Comparing yourself with Lin Huang is simply creating trouble for yourself.

"The things that Lin Huang has gone through these three years might be more than what a person has ever done in his or her whole life. His terrifying talent and potential isn't the only factor of his growth. He's definitely killed many to achieve what he has today. The path that he's taken is so tough that most people can't imagine it. He's the only one who would know how many battles and kills he has experienced, how many times he was involved in life-and-death battles, and how many times he escaped death."

What Zhou Tong said did not only make Xia Yu and Cao Ya fall into deep thoughts, but even Sun Zhou was looking at him in puzzlement.

"Hey, Old Zhou, what's wrong with you?" Sun Zhou could not help but prod. "Let's not talk about you involving yourself in the collaboration today. You're even promoting Lin Huang now. Are you planning to join Dynasty?"

"B*tch, please, I joined the heretics before you did! You've got to be dreaming if you want to get me to pull out of the heretics," Zhou Tong condemned mercilessly.

"Then, why…?"

"I'm just speaking what I think about Lin Huang. In reality, I've been observing him these few days. However, the more I observe him, the more I can't see through him, but now I understand why Huang Tianfu and the rest respect him like that, and I also roughly figured out how Dynasty developed so quickly.

"The terrifying thing isn't his combat strength and ability, or his talent and potential. It's that he has a different way of looking at issues compared to ordinary people. His perspective doesn't seemed to be restricted by this world."

"Now that I think about it, you're right. The few questions that he asked in the meeting were a little strange, but they were pointing at the crux of the matters. And the solutions that he proposed were never heard of." Sun Zhuo thought about it carefully and nodded.

"The reason I was enthusiastic about our collaboration with Dynasty is Lin Huang's performance. I think he might be the pioneer of a new era. Dynasty will go a long way with his leadership. Then, I thought about the heretics' current situation, so I have an interesting idea. Since we can't be a pioneer, why don't we butter up a pioneer and excel with him?"

Xia Yu and Cao Ya roared in laughter at what Zhou Tong said.

However, Sun Zhuo fell into a long silence while frowning. He only lifted his head to look at Zhou Tong after a while. "What if the path Dynasty goes on turns out to be a dead-end?"

Zhou Tong was stunned to hear that. He understood what Sun Zhuo meant. Nobody had done this before, so nobody knew if such a model Dynasty was adopting could last long. It seemed great now, but nobody could foresee what would happen in the future. Meanwhile, the heretics would be at a great loss as soon as something happened the closer they were with Dynasty.

"It's been over 200 years since the heretics have had any changes. I've no idea when we'll have a transformation if we miss this chance. Of course, you make the last call. I'm just giving my perspective and opinion. We'll support you no matter what your decision is in the end."

Sun Zhuo fell into silence for a moment after hearing that. He chuckled out loud all of a sudden. "I've no idea why I was concerned. We've already signed the agreement, but the fear of making the wrong decision came out of nowhere. However, now that I think about it, there's nothing to regret since the decision has been made. Let's just take the bet. Let's see where this sugar daddy Dynasty will bring us!"

Lin Huang rushed back to the Emperor's Palace as soon as the three-day meeting with the heretics was over.

There was no reason for his hurry other than Bloody coming up with the cultivation methods at noon and telling him that she found out about something through voice transmission.

Lin Huang had been holding the piece of information until he signed the agreement with the heretics. He then returned to the Emperor's Palace immediately.

The lights were shining brightly in the Emperor's Palace. In her red dress, Bloody sat with her legs crossed under Lin Huang's throne. She only got up calmly when she saw Lin Huang entering the Emperor's Palace.

"Bloody, what exactly did you find out?"

"There's no rush. Let me tell you slowly," Bloody said while smiling, "I was studying the Buddhist methods that you gave me throughout these few days. I came up with three sets of simple cultivation methods from up to a hundred Buddhist methods. When I was coming up with the third set of methods this morning, I realized that it's very similar to a set of ancient methods that I came up with earlier.

"I then compared both methods and simplified the cultivation steps. I found out that there are only three steps in these two cultivation systems to get one to virtual god-level — foundation building, accumulation of energy, and formation of the core.

"These are the differences. The first one, there's a different way of building the foundation. Secondly, there are many types of ways for the accumulation of energy whereby each method is different. Some methods to accumulate energy only have two steps while some have five. It causes the categorization of ranks to be completely different. Last would be the formation of the core. In reality, it is natural is to consolidate a solid energy substance just like the Godhead in your body. However, different cultivation systems form different energy substances."

Lin Huang recalled what the stone tablet had said before about the human cultivators in an era cultivating the foundation as the first step. However, they did not continue the topic further and they stopped at the foundation. At that time, he did not think of asking further.

"So, what's the conclusion?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"The conclusion is that the cultivation system of the gravel world that we're currently in is messed up. The accumulation of energy is placed before the foundation building, making the formation of the core difficult."

In reality, Lin Huang had heard about Bloody's conclusion from the stone tablet before. Bloody proceeded when he was going to explain that he knew about this, "However, there's a benefit out of all this mess. Without building the foundation, it would mean that one has yet to step on the path of cultivation. Your body can cultivate the methods that start with building the foundation which doesn't collide with the current system.

"To put it simply, those who are below imperial-level and haven't consolidated their Life Palace can cultivate methods that build their foundation. They can then perform the accumulation of energy and consolidate Godheads. Naturally, whether one can elevate to Virtual God or not depends on the compatibility of the methods. Also, it depends on one's potential and talent."

"How about people above imperial-level? Is there any solution to this?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"There is!" Bloody looked at Lin Huang grimly. "You can do that by destroying your Life Palace and building your foundation from scratch!"

Lin Huang was stunned to hear her answer. In reality, there should be people who had considered that in theory, but he figured not many would have the guts to actually try that.

Most of them would fear that not being able to cultivate once their Life Palace was destroyed. What if they had to be stuck on immortal-level forever?!

"Are you sure that's viable?" Lin Huang asked while frowning a little.

"It totally can, theoretically." Bloody nodded although she dared not promise that either.

"How about those demigods who failed to elevate to Virtual God? Can they fix it?" Lin Huang asked again.

"That's much more difficult than imperial-levels. Theoretically, it would work if one destroys the broken Godhead in their body. However, the impact of exploding a Godhead is different from destroying a Life Palace. I'm afraid most people can't handle such an explosion. Even if it was a broken Godhead, it's a high-density energy crystal. A major explosion will definitely take place as soon as it's destroyed. It's much easier to destroy a Life Palace because a Life Palace won't explode. It'll only collapse and disintegrate.

"But it doesn't mean that it's impossible for a demigod to fix that issue. As long as the accumulation is sufficient, theoretically, the demigods can consolidate a complete Godhead with the help of the exploding broken Godhead in their body."

"It would be great if they didn't die from the explosion. How is consolidating a new Godhead possible?" Lin Huang thought Bloody's theory was too optimistic.

"In reality, I've done a simulation. It's possible if a high-level virtual god-level powerhouse steps in," Bloody explained, "It's just that nobody has even tried this before and I haven't found a way to do it safely. The success rate at the moment is less than 3%."

"There's no need to dwell on this since the success rate is so low." Lin Huang shook his head while smiling grimly. "If a high-level virtual god-level powerhouse were to help, what's the probability of stabilizing the explosion from the broken Godhead?"

"If we rule out the nature of a person's body, the success rate is pretty high overall at approximately 83%. The higher the person's soul and body are, the higher the success rate, especially when one has a powerful soul. The reason being when the broken Godhead explodes in one's body, the first thing that will be impacted will be one's soul. Naturally, the 83% success rate I mentioned is the probability after using a soul-type god relic. Without the soul-type god relic, except for people with compelling souls, the survival rate of an ordinary person would basically be 0."

"So, what happens to people who survive the Godhead explosion?" Lin Huang asked again.

"Their combat strength will drop to immortal-level rank-9 directly because Godheads are formed by Life Palaces. As soon as the Godhead is destroyed, the Life Palace will go too," Bloody said like everything made sense. "After some time of rest and when the inner world has stabilized, one can build their foundation again."

Although Bloody made it sound very simple, Lin Huang knew that it was much more troublesome to carry out something like this. He asked again after a moment of silence, "Have you done a simulation of all that?"

"I began the simulation in the afternoon. I've done it approximately more than 5,000 times now. In reality, I'm still doing the simulation in my head at this very moment. I've only divided a part of my consciousness to speak with you now. I'm planning to do the simulation a million times and see if there's any way to stabilize the Godhead explosion."

"How long will it take for you to simulate it for a million times?"

"Judging from my current progress, it'll take around 57 days."

"I'll go into closed-door cultivation for almost two months anyway. Let's do it together." Lin Huang estimated the speed of him refining Godheads. It would take him almost two months for him to refine all of the Godheads. He would be on imperial-level rank-3 when he got out of the closed-door cultivation by then.

After sending the people from the heretics off, Lin Huang informed Huang Tianfu before going into closed-door cultivation.

This time, he was no longer cultivating Seamless but breaking through his combat strength by refining Godheads.

Together with the two Virtual God rank-9 Godheads that he tossed into his body as well as the 136 complete Godheads and 1,528 broken Godheads, they were enough to boost him by two ranks.

His leveling up to imperial-level was completely different from the rest. He did not have to look for Life Base monsters and killed them to obtain its Life Base. All he had to do was to refine enough Godheads to transform his Life Palace automatically.

In reality, compared to obtaining his Life Base, this was much easier. The only problem was that it was time-consuming.

Fortunately, there was a boost in his Divine Fire since he elevated to imperial-level. The speed of refining Godheads was a few times faster than when he was on immortal-level.

Initially, he would only refine 1% of Virtual God rank-9 Godheads throughout a full day of maximum effort. Now, he could refine over 3% per day which would take him a month to complete refining all of them.

Lin Huang merely peeked at Bloody who was focused on the simulation in the Emperor Palace and glanced away. He also found a space to sit with his legs crossed. Quieting his mind, he began to activate the Divine Fire in his body to refine the Godheads.

The 1,500 or so broken Godheads that he put in his body earlier were refined by the Divine Fire automatically within an hour. Throughout the three days, even though he did not refine them on his own, more than 40 Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 Godheads were refined by the Divine Fire. Even half of the Virtual God rank-3 Godheads were refined.

As Lin Huang activated the Divine Fire himself, the refining speed skyrocketed six to seven times faster.

Lin Huang looked into his body and could even see 21 Virtual God rank-3 Godheads melting rapidly at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye.

In less than half an hour, half of the Virtual God rank-3 Godheads were melted by Divine Fire fully and turned into clumps of golden gravel.

Some ten hours later, all of the Virtual God rank-4 Godheads were refined.

Over 20 hours had passed, and all of the Virtual God rank-5 Godheads were refined.

Later on, Lin Huang spent two days refining the 13 Virtual God rank-6 Godheads.

He then spent approximately half a month to refine all of the other Godheads apart from the two Virtual God rank-9 Godheads. He soon arrived on the brink of breaking through to imperial-level rank-2.

However, he was not sure if it was a lack of Divine Fire intensity, but the speed of refining the two Virtual God rank-9 Godheads was one fold slower when they were refined together. Fifteen days had passed, but only a quarter of them was refined.

Lin Huang did not rush nonetheless. No matter what, looking at the progress, they would be completely refined completely one and a half months later.

Time passed by. Lin Huang's aura was growing almost every day in the Emperor Palace.

Meanwhile, the collaboration between Dynasty, the Union Government and the heretics were getting on track since half a month had passed.

Since the trading system opened, the members of three organizations soon familiarized themselves with the new trading model.

The transformation of the trading system added more choices. It also caused the members of the three organizations to be more enthusiastic to hunt for resources to purchase the items they desired.

Apart from the trading system, Dynasty's intel department also began working with the Union Government and the heretics. They expanded Dynasty's intel channel by heaps as well as boosted the efficiency of obtaining information.

The heretics gained many benefits from the collaboration.

On the underground organization's side, Misery also carried something out throughout the half a month.

Using Dynasty's pulling out of the underground world as an excuse, Misery began engaging in all aspects of the underground world and came up with a series of new regulations. They seemed like they were going to take charge of the entire underground world.

Everyone in the underground world was discussing it.

Many thought that Misery must have been triggered by Dynasty. However, the top organizations could tell that Misery was using it as an excuse and was taking the opportunity to integrate the entire underground world.

Although Misery had many fans, they had many haters too.

The promotion of Misery's new regulation throughout the half a month was considered a failure, and they even received many objections.

As Lin Huang was refining the last two Godheads with all of his might, it was getting closer to New Year's Eve.

Usually, all the organizations would slow their activities down when it was close to New Year's Eve because most people would spend time with their families.

However, since Dynasty had just collaborated with the heretics and the Union Government this year, both neutral organization members were extraordinarily active.

On the union organization's side, the Union Government had begun their exploration in Dynasty's trial zones.

Before Lin Huang went into closed-door cultivation, he had given Huang Tianfu the authorization, so his closed-door cultivation did not affect the Union Government going into the trial zones.

Apart from that, the underground boss, Misery, had preliminary success in promoting the new regulations.

They even killed two organization members who were playing tricks secretly to warn the people for the sake of promoting the new regulations.

The few top underground organizations including the Purple Crow and Saint dared not object any longer.

The consecutive activities in the union organizations, the neutral organizations, and the underground organizations made the last month before New Year's Eve even more crowded than before.

Naturally, not all the organizations were merely watching.

As the top spy organization in the entire world, the Mystic Butterfly was the first to notice something going on with the heretics.

They went prying around after realizing that the people from the heretics became more hardworking. They were familiar with the heretics, so they knew about their casual and lazy way of handling things. Finally, they found out about the truth.

They were surprised to find out that the heretics were collaborating with Dynasty and working with the Union Government indirectly. They had even obtained internal trading access to the Union Government.

The Mystic Butterfly did not blow things up after learning that. Instead, they visited Dynasty secretly.

Although they did not get to meet Lin Huang during the visit, the discussion was smooth with Dynasty's three Grand Dukes. They only spent two days coming up with the agreement. They became Dynasty's third collaboration partners after the agreement was signed.

The Mystic Butterfly obtained the trading access they desired while Dynasty obtained access to the Mystic Butterfly's data.

After the Mystic Butterfly joined Dynasty, the Union Government also got the Hunter Association within less than three days. However, the Union Government reserved the leading position for the Hunter Association coming in instead of Dynasty.

Dynasty and the Union Government were the core of the collaboration circle. It grew stronger after involving a few organizations within less than two months.

Even Huang Tianfu and the rest did not expect that the collaboration method Lin Huang came up with could attract so many people to join them within such a short period of time.

They had no idea that it was called a circle on Earth. However, the circles on Earth were mostly created by business moguls and not the entire organization joined them but individuals.

The winter in Emperor City was not considered cold. It would drop below zero degrees Celsius occasionally and sometimes it would snow.

However, it was mid-February at the moment. It was close to the New Year, and half of the winter had passed. The temperature was slowly turning warmer.

As it was close to the New Year, the entire Emperor City seemed rather prosperous.

"It'll be New Year's Eve the day after tomorrow. When will Brother come out of his closed-door cultivation?"

Lin Xin had been feeling down the past few days because in two days, it would be New Year's Eve, but Lin Huang was still in closed-door cultivation.

"Master Tianfu said that the Emperor will be in closed-door cultivation for two months, so he should be out within these two days," comforted Xiao Mo who was sitting next to her. He had officially joined Dynasty. Naturally, he was addressing Lin Huang and Huang Tianfu differently now. However, the task Huang Tianfu had assigned him was very simple. It was the same as before, which was to protect Lin Xin at all times.

"I hope that he can get out from his closed-door cultivation before the year ends so that I can say goodbye to him," Chan Dou who was aside could not help but speak up.

"Boss Chan, are you really going back to the Chan Clan?" Lin Xin asked immediately.

"It's New Year's Eve after all. I must be with my family no matter what. Moreover, I can't be hiding the truth that I'm alive from them forever," Chan Dou replied while smiling.

"But your memory…" Xiao Mo was a little concerned.

"Although my memory has yet to recover, my combat strength had elevated by three ranks within half a year in Dynasty. I'm on imperial-level white gold-rank now, and I can fight a demigod by force if I ever encounter one. As long as those old monsters hiding in the organizations don't show up, I should be able to protect myself.

"Even though I don't remember how my parents look like, this is a problem that I must face at the end of the day as long as my memory doesn't fully recover. There's no need to keep dragging it out. I'd rather face it now and solve it as soon as I can. Also, I thought going back to the Chan Clan might be helpful to recover my memory as I'd be in an environment that I was once familiar with," Chan Bai explained what he was thinking about honestly.

"So, will you come back to Dynasty, Boss Chan?" Lin Xin asked again.

"I will visit all of you when I have the time," Chan Dou said with a gentle smile. In reality, he had no idea when he would come back after he left this time.

As the few of them were chatting, the doors to the Emperor's Palace opened all of a sudden. Two silhouettes walked out with Lin Huang being one of them leading the way.

He wore a black trench coat while Bloody in her red trench coat was not far away behind on his left.

Lin Huang walked straight to Dynasty's office as soon as he got out of the Emperor's Palace. With his Divine Telekinesis, he sensed that Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan were around.

Everyone gaped at Lin Huang as soon as he stepped into the office building.

"Master Emperor!"

Lin Huang nodded lightly at them. "Proceed with your own stuff. Ignore me," he said and walked straight into the elevator with Bloody.

As soon as the elevator doors closed, everyone in the lobby began discussing excitedly among themselves.

"Who is that girl? She's so pretty!"

"Could she be the Master Emperor's girlfriend?"

"That might be possible. Didn't you see they were wearing couple trench coats? The colors were just different. One is black while the other is red."

…

Although the elevator was going up rapidly, Lin Huang, who was currently on imperial-level rank-3 and Bloody who was on Virtual God rank-2, heard the gossip loud and clear.

Lin Huang could not help but peek at what Bloody was wearing next to him. Her style indeed looked similar to his. Perhaps, she had copied it when she saw him. It was no wonder people misunderstood.

Nevertheless, he did not say anything about that.

His combat strength had broken through to imperial-level rank-3 during the closed-door cultivation this time.

Initially, he thought the combat strength of his summoning beasts would not elevate since he was on imperial-level. However, just when he elevated to imperial-level rank-2, something happened to Bloody. Her combat strength broke through imperial-level and arrived on Virtual God rank-1.

Lin Huang then checked through all of the other cards to find that all of the quadruple mutated mythical-level cards had elevated to virtual god-level. Meanwhile, Bai who was on pseudo-mythical-level had elevated too.

As he advanced to imperial-level rank-3, there was a transformation in the combat strength of his Monster Cards again. They reached Virtual God rank-2.

Overall, there was an immense boost in Lin Huang's overall ability.

Lin Huang only felt that it was a pity that the ten thousand pseudo-mythical-level bugs, the pseudo-mythical-level Soul-assimilating Beast, and the two White-haired Swordfiends that he had yet to elevate did not go on to virtual god-level automatically.

In the monster world, pseudo-mythical-level was the lowest grade to elevate to Virtual God. However, not all pseudo-mythical-level monsters could get to virtual god-level successfully.

However, it was clear that the ten thousand pseudo-mythical-level cards that failed to be elevated did not lack potential. It was a bigger possibility was that it was the system default, assuming that all pseudo-mythical-level monsters would not elevate automatically.

As Lin Huang had his head occupied about the Bug Tribe army, the elevator arrived at the highest floor of the building.

Naturally, Huang Tianfu, who always had his Territory skill activated, sensed Lin Huang's arrival immediately.

"Master Emperor, you're out!"

Lin Huang nodded at Huang Tianfu. "Has Tufu gotten back to Division 3? Or is he still in Emperor City?"

"He has returned to Division 3. Is there anything that you need from him, Master Emperor?"

"There's something that I need to tell you guys. I'll tell him in private later since he's not here. Get Wunan here," Lin Huang ordered.

Huang Tianfu did not ask what exactly was happening. He told Huang Wunan to come through voice transmission immediately.

Knowing that Lin Huang was looking for him, Huang Wunan put what he was doing down and arrived in Huang Tianfu's office in a flash.

Lin Huang signaled to Bloody who turned around and closed the office door and performed a Witchcraft Rune to build a shield that covered the entire office.

Huang Tianfu only asked when the shield was completed, "Master Emperor, what do you need to tell us that's so serious?"

"I've found a way to elevate demigod-levels to virtual god-level." Lin Huang suddenly noticed something was off as soon as he said that. He corrected himself immediately. "To be exact, it was a method that Bloody simulated."

"Really?!" Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan exclaimed in unison.

"I've done more than a million simulations and found the right way for the elevation. The success rate is 97.1%. As long as one's soul and body have no major flaws, the success rate is almost 100%!" Bloody announced her simulation result calmly.

Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan agreed to be the first batch of experiments upon hearing Lin Huang talking about elevating to virtual god-level.

The 97% success rate aside, even if the success rate was only 67%, the duo might have agreed to that too. One must know that elevating to virtual god-level one day was what all the demigods in the world were hoping for. Naturally, that included Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan.

If someone else were to tell them that they had a way to elevate demigod to Virtual God, Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan might scoff at the person, thinking that it was a lie. However, since it was Lin Huang who said that, the impossible became possible. The duo did not hesitate at all and chose to believe him.

After Lin Huang left, Huang Tianfu contacted Huang Tufu immediately. However, he did not tell him what was it about on the Emperor's Heart Ring. He just told Huang Tufu to get back to Emperor City.

As Lin Huang walked out of the office, the first thing he did was to get to the compound that Lin Xin was staying in.

It was two days before New Year's Eve. That girl must have been complaining about him every day.

He heard Lin Xin, Xiao Mo, and Chan Dou's chatter as soon as he walked into the courtyard.

Scanning the area with his Divine Telekinises, he found out the trio's combat strength crystal clear.

Lin Xin had elevated to immortal-level and was already on immortal-level rank-6 now. Clearly, she had been suppressing her speed of elevating.

Xiao Mo had already achieved imperial-level yellow gold-rank since he was healed. Clearly, he had not slacked off.

Among the three of them, Chan Dou was the one who had the highest combat strength. He was already on imperial-level white gold-rank now and was only one step away from imperial-level purple gold-rank. Compared to a holy fire-level, an imperial-level powerhouse could advance three ranks within half a year. It was even a few times faster than Xiao Mo whose body had been transformed by the Crow God before.

Lin Huang could not help but exclaim secretly, 'He deserves to be one of the Five Princes, the highest powerhouse among the supreme geniuses!" He knew very well that if he had no conduit such as Xiao Hei, he could never compare to Chan Dou no matter whether it was talent or potential.

Talking about the real talent and potential, the Five Princes, including Chan Dou and Huang Wuji, suppressed the era in this gravel world.

Lin Huang appeared before the trio in a flash after some observation. "What are you guys talking about? It sounds fun."

The three of them were stunned to see him appear out of nowhere.

"Brother, you've finally gotten out! I would have to see you next year if you didn't get out in time," Lin Xin teased him while smiling.

"You silly girl, do you think I don't know when New Year's Eve is?" Lin Huang shook his head while saying with a smile, "Of course, I went into closed-door cultivation after careful calculation."

"Master Emperor." Xiao Mo cupped his hands. He was now a Dynasty member. Naturally, he could not be as casual as he had been before when speaking to Lin Huang.

"We're family. There's no need to be so serious. I got you to join Dynasty so that it's easier for you to obtain cultivation resources. I didn't mean for you to learn all these."

"I must obey the basic rules." Xiao Mo remained respectful.

Seeing that Chan Dou did not speak, Lin Xin could not help it and informed Lin Huang, "Brother, Boss Chan is leaving."

Lin Huang spun around to look at Chan Dou with a delighted expression. "Boss Chan, so you've made up your mind!"

"I have," Chan Dou responded while nodding, "I've been waiting for you to get out of your closed-door cultivation so that I can say goodbye. Thanks for taking care of me for half a year!"

"Don't worry about it, Boss Chan. You took care of me back when we were at the Genius Union, so I should be the one thanking you."

"Although I don't remember anything about the Genius Union, it feels good to know that I used to be your boss," Chan Dou said while smiling.

After all, Lin Huang was the mighty Emperor of Dynasty now. Moreover, he was collaborating with a few of the top organizations including the Union Government. Dynasty was one of the biggest influential organizations in the whole gravel world now, hence it made sense for Chan Dou to feel proud about being such a person's boss in the past.

Lin Huang could not help but chuckle out loud after hearing what Chan Dou said.

"You were glorious when you were the chief of the Heaven Alliance. You were on par with me. You'll remember it when your memory recovers."

"I also hope to recover my memory soon, but I can't force such a thing to happen. I'll just go with the flow." Chan Dou smiled lightly. "Perhaps, I might recall something when I return home in the environment that I was familiar with."

"It'll be New Year's Eve in a few days. I shall leave today, so I'll be able to familiarize myself since I'm going back a few days ahead. I can prevent myself from forgetting my family members and their names during the New Year."

"The Chan Clan…" Lin Huang hesitated and said it anyway, "The Chan Clan was in chaos during the six months since you went missing in May last year. Although your father is still the master of the clan, he has been challenged. The Chan Clan has been divided into three sects, and all of them are fighting to be the master of the clan. They are also fostering a supreme genius each. You must be careful in everything you do when you return. Don't be betrayed by your own family."

Chan Dou narrowed his eyes after hearing that. He only nodded at Lin Huang after a moment of silence. "Thanks for reminding me."

"But it's good for you to go back now. It's New Year's Eve. Everyone will be busy. Nobody has the time and strength to be fighting. Moreover, since you're alive, it'll be the best piece of news of the year for your father." Lin Huang patted Chan Dou's arm.

"You can consider joining Dynasty if you're eager to join an organization after you're done handling your matters at home. I've reserved a good position for you. Whether I'm in this gravel world or not, Dynasty's doors will forever be opened for you."

"I'll think about that," Chan Dou nodded in all seriousness. He was not perfunctory at all when he said that. He was really putting Dynasty the first in his list.

As Chan Dou took out a dimensional portal from his Emperor's Heart Ring, Lin Huang and the other two watched him disappeared after stepping in. (Lin Huang found Chan Dou's Emperor's Heart Ring among the loot he gotten after fighting God Bless. He then returned it to him.)

"Brother! Why didn't you get him to stay?" Lin Xin asked while watching Chan Dou leave. "The Chan Clan is in chaos now, but he has yet to recover his memories."

"He has to face what's happening at home sooner or later. His memory didn't recover the slightest bit throughout the past half a year. He can't keep dragging it out if he doesn't recover in ten or 20 years. Moreover, for the Chan Clan, the earlier they solve the internal conflict, the better. It'll be too late to remedy it if this goes on."

"What if the people in the Chan Clan attack him for the position of master?" Xiao Mo asked all of a sudden. He was trained by the Purple Crow, so he had seen and heard about many of such filthy doings.

Lin Huang could not help but snicker after hearing what Xiao Mo said. "Don't underestimate Chan Dou. He can fight a demigod with his current ability. As long as he doesn't encounter any virtual god-level powerhouses the organizations are hiding, he's basically conquered the entire gravel world. It would be seeking death if someone stupid in the Chan Clan decides to attack him.

"You guys have only seen his gentle and quiet side throughout the half a year. That's why you're afraid that he might be bullied. Do you really think a man who was the boss of the Heaven Alliance could be bullied by just anyone?!"

When Chan Dou left, Lin Huang began his preparation to leave the gravel world.

His combat strength had elevated to imperial-level rank-3. He would need more and more Godheads in the future to continue elevating his combat strength.

It might be hard for him to break through within a short period of time if he continued staying in the gravel world.

Therefore, he had finally came up with an official itinerary to the great world.

However, since it would be New Year's Eve a few days later, Lin Huang allowed himself to rest for a few days. He was planning to finish everything he had yet to handle in the gravel world after the new year and with that, he would be able to depart to the great world without any worry.

New Year's Eve came rather late this year — on 21st February. In reality, it was almost early spring in Emperor City. The temperature had turned a little warm, being only 13 or 14 degree celsius at its warmest point during the day. Most people just stopped wearing jackets.

Meanwhile, the weather in Emperor City was rather nice. The weather was a cloudless sunny sky as far as thousands of miles.

The first thing Lin Huang did after sending Chan Dou off was to step into the dimensional portal to head over to Peaceful Ocean.

To avoid being chased, Mr. Fu's ship had been wandering around Peaceful Ocean. He hardly stayed in one place for a long time. However, now that his combat strength had recovered and even elevated to Virtual God rank-9, he no longer had to hide himself. With that, there was no need for him to wander around.

Lin Huang appeared on Mr. Fu's ship directly as soon as he stepped out of the dimensional portal.

"My dear disciple, there's been an elevation in your combat strength again since we last met a few months back!" Mr. Fu's voice was heard without warning the moment Lin Huang appeared. As his voice echoed, Mr. Fu's body slowly revealed itself within ten meters of Lin Huang.

"It's just an elevation within imperial-level. Compared to you, master whose rank has elevated to Virtual God rank-9, mine is nothing." Lin Huang smiled as he walked toward Mr. Fu.

It was then that Mr. Fu took out two chairs and a tea table from storage. "Take a seat."

He took a seat after speaking to Lin Huang and began making tea as Lin Huang sat on the other chair, saying nothing as he watched Mr. Fu patiently prepare the tea.

Once Mr. Fu was done sealing the pot with the prepared tea, he brought it over along with tea cups. "I heard Dynasty has been doing great these past few months."

Lin Huang took the tea cups and nodded as he smiled. "It's alright. I merely set things in motion. Tianfu and the rest have been handling everything ever since."

"The model that you came up with was pretty interesting. There must be many organizations that are willing to join as long as you promote it. The problem is it's pretty risky. After all, Dynasty isn't the Union Government that oppresses everyone without abandon. As time goes by, as more and more organizations join, there would be more disputes of interest. When that happens, people would begin challenging Dynasty's leader."

"That scenario has crossed my mind from the very beginning. That's why I've come up with two plans." Lin Huang nodded lightly. "I'll drag Misery in after the new year. By then, Misery would be leading the entire underground organization that would be supporting Dynasty. That's my first plan."

"Misery?!" Mr. Fu looked at Lin Huang with his eyes widened.

"Misery is now under me. Just like Dynasty, I've added them into the Royal's affiliate organization list. There's no need to worry about them betraying me," Lin Huang smiled as he explained.

Mr. Fu was stunned for a moment before asking, "So you were the mastermind behind Misery's earlier release of new regulations integrating the enture underground organization?"

"Yes." Lin Huang nodded. "I made that decision after discussing with Bloody and Grimace."

"After all, I neither have enough time and effort to turn all the underground organizations neutral like I did to Dynasty, nor can I stop everyone in the whole world from being evil. Therefore, the decision Bloody, Grimace and I came up with was that we might as well support one powerful organization among the underground organizations, and get them to lead the development of the underground organizations. The regulations enforced at the moment can't completely stop them from crimes, but it can restrict some of their evil doings. However, it will improve slowly and subtly transform the entire underground organization."

Mr. Fu nodded after listening to that, "What you have planned is great but it's going to be tough. I admit that despite most people having a good nature, they could possibly commit a crime on impulse or when they're forced into a corner. However, there are people who are born evil. It's in their bones, and there are no regulations or restrictions that will change them."

"I know that. We'll kill those who are born evil if we ever encounter any. I won't waste my effort trying to turn someone good," Lin Huang said as he smiled.

Mr. Fu nodded after seeing Lin Huang come to such a realization and moved on from that topic.

"You said you came up with two plans. Misery was the first one… so what's the second one?"

Hearing that, Lin Huang simply shot Mr. Fu a smile while remaining silent.

Mr. Fu was initially puzzled but later reacted by pointing at himself. "Are you talking about me?"

"Master, your ability has recovered and it's improving. I hope that you can make a comeback and guard Dynasty for me when I'm away from this gravel world!" Lin Huang nodded along with his request.

"Are you going to the great world?" Mr. Fu frowned slightly when he heard that.

"Yes. My cultivation system is different from regular ones. It's very hard for me to elevate here in the gravel world. Moreover, the disaster is coming really soon, and I don't think it's wise to be a sitting duck. I'm thinking of going to the great world to look for the crux so we can eradicate this problem of our world being attacked."

"But your current combat strength…" Mr. Fu was still concerned of Lin Huang's combat strength.

"Master, my ability is more than enough to protect myself," Lin Huang's body began rapidly disintegrating into pieces the moment he finished speaking. The entire god-level ship and the Peaceful Ocean below the ship disintegrated along with him as well.

Mr. Fu was stunned as he saw the events unfolding before his eyes, not believing even for a moment that he could be caught in an illusion without even realizing it.

"What…"

"Master, that was just a little demonstration I performed for you. Sorry if I've offended you," Lin Huang put the tea cup down while smiling. He was still sitting still as if the events that happened earlier did not happen.

Mr. Fu had just noticed a monster that looked like a tiger with long trunk that appeared next to Lin Huang without him even noticing. Shock flashed through his eyes as he could clearly sense the Virtual God rank-8 combat strength of the monster.

Noticing Mr. Fu's stare, Lin Huang introduced it with a smile, "This is Nightmare Tapir, he was the one who created the dreamland earlier."

"Such a bizarre illusion ability!" Mr. Fu could not help but exclaim.

"I currently have three imperial monsters that have similar ability to him," Lin Huang added.

"No wonder you managed to oppress Misery. I should've thought of this." Although Mr. Fu said that, he had no idea exactly how powerful the most compelling Misery member was. All that he knew was that Misery had more Virtual Gods than any of the other top organizations.

"So when do you plan to leave?" Mr. Fu asked again after snapping back from his shock.

"I'll leave after New Year when I'm done sorting out the follow-up and some other stuff on my plate," In reality, Lin Huang was planning to leave after he broke through to imperial-level. However, he countered many things throughout these few months which he had to postpone his plan until now.

"And when do you plan to come back?"

"I'll try my best to come back within a year. Although the Union Government foresees that the disaster will take three years to hit, their estimation might not be accurate. Moreover, more than half a year had passed since the three-year speculation. We don't have much time left." In reality, Lin Huang knew that the one-year period that he gave himself was rather tight.

"Sure, I'll guard Dynasty for you for a year. But I'm telling you beforehand, this old thing can't bear much torture. I'll leave when one year is up. You better come back alive within a year or I'll trade everything within Dynasty's treasury into food if you're late for even a day. I'll remove all of the doors if you're two days late. I'll tear all of the floors, walls and ceilings if you're late for three days!"

Lin Huang was unsure whether to laugh or cry hearing that…

"Master, apart from guarding Dynasty, there's another reason why I'm asking you to make a comeback this time."

Lin Huang only spoke about this other thing after breaching the subject of guarding Dynasty with Mr. Fu. "Bloody found a way to elevate from the demigod-level to the virtual god-level."

"Elevating from a demigod to a Virtual God?!" Mr. Fu got excited when he heard this. Nobody has ever solved that problem since the old days. "Is there really a way?"

"Yes. Bloody had done up to a million simulations after coming up with the theory. The success rate even exceeded 97%." Lin Huang nodded.

"What exactly is it? Can you tell me?" Mr. Fu was a little curious.

"Put simply, it's done by causing the broken Godheads within one's body to explode and consolidate a new Godhead with the intense energy from the explosion," Lin Huang explained it as simply as he could. In reality, he had no idea how it would work because Bloody was the only one who knew.

"Can a person still live when their Godhead explodes? You said the success rate exceeds 97%, but I think it's more like the death rate exceeds 97%," Mr. Fu glared at Lin Huang doubtfully. He thought the solution made no sense. "Stop fooling around, tell me the solution!"

"I'm being serious! I'm not fooling around with you. I'm not exactly sure what the exact steps are but Bloody will explain to you by then." Lin Huang looked helpless. "But this process would require a high-level Virtual God that's at least at Virtual God rank-7 to take control."

Mr. Fu remained doubtful and was in disbelief. However, after giving it some thought, he asked Lin Huang anyway, "So you're asking me to help the demigods in Dynasty to elevate to the virtual god-level?"

"In reality, I was only thinking of getting Huang Tianfu and the other two to elevate to the virtual god-level. I'll get them to use a disguise god relic to conceal their combat strength so the news won't go out and attract trouble from other organizations."

"However, Bloody suggested elevating all the Demigods in Dynasty and spread the news of it later as long as the exact method of achieving this feat was not revealed. After all, even if Huang Tianfu and the other two managed to hide this, they would only be able to hide it for a while. It would be far worse if someone was to find out about it by then. Moreover, we can take in the request of other demigods request after announcing this news and charge them for the service. We believe there are many demigods would be willing to pay to elevate to the virtual god-level."

"You little rascal, always thinking of tricks like these." Mr. Fu laughed as he criticized Lin Huang. "But I love this idea of yours! All the senior demigods are filthy rich, and we've finally found the opportunity to take their money…"

Mr. Fu thought he was a little disgusting for saying that and changed his expression to one far more serious.

"Since the disaster is coming, having more Virtual Gods is a good thing to the entire gravel world. I'll be more than happy to help them elevate to the virtual god-level!"

"Hehe…" Lin Huang was speechless. Mr. Fu was showing more and more of his true colors before Lin Huang.

After their discussion, Mr. Fu decided to pack up his ship to return to Emperor City with Lin Huang.

Huang Tufu had just returned too as soon as they stepped into the dimensional portal.

"Master Emperor!" Huang Tufu went to Lin Huang immediately.

"Have you just returned, Tufu?" Lin Huang did not expect such a coincidence.

"Yeah, I've just taken a few steps out of the dimensional portal and saw you stepping out with this young brother," Huang Tufu smirked while saying.

"Young brother…" Mr. Fu was a little speechless. It had been a thousand years since someone called him that.

Lin Huang who was standing next to Mr. Fu almost laughed out loud but he explained immediately, "He's my master, Mr. Fu. Don't call him nonsensical things like that."

"Mr. Fu?! Huang Tufu was stunned to hear. He could not help but mumble to himself after a moment of observation, "Isn't Mr. Fu a short, old man according to the rumors?"

"A… Short… old man…" Mr. Fu squinted as he heard what Huang Tufu mumbled later on.

Realizing that he had said something wrong, Huang Tufu owned up to his mistake and apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend an old man like you…"

"Old man…" Mr. Fu's expression when he was looking at Huang Tufu was getting increasingly impatient.

Lin Huang grabbed Mr. Fu's shoulder immediately. "Tufu, isn't Tianfu looking for you? Why don't you go look for him, now."

He signaled Huang Tufu to ask him to leave immediately.

Realizing that he said something wrong again, Huang Tufu left right after he cupping his hands before them in respect.

"I'll remember you, muscular brat!" Mr. Fu mumbled softly while looking at Huang Tufu leave.

"Don't be angry. Tufu always speaks before he thinks. He didn't mean it," Lin Huang comforted.

"I'll bring you to Tianfu and Wunan now." Lin Huang said and brought Mr. Fu into Dynasty's office building.

Everyone had their eyes on both of them as soon as they entered the lobby, starting their gossip once again the moment they entered the elevator.

As they got to the highest floor via the elevator, Lin Huang brought Mr. Fu to Huang Tianfu's office.

Huang Wunan and Huang Tufu were there too.

Seeing that Mr. Fu was staring at him, Huang Tufu looked down and away immediately.

Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan stood and spoke. "Master Emperor, Mr. Fu."

Clearly, both of them learned about Mr. Fu's identity from Huang Tufu.

"It's the pleasure of those of us in Dynasty's to have you, Mr. Fu here…"

Huang Tianfu took out a tea set from his storage space after a short chat of courtesy.

Even Lin Huang was surprised. He had no idea how Huang Tianfu found out that Mr. Fu loved tea art.

Mr. Fu only spoke once he saw Huang Tianfu bringing out the tea leaves, "This is pretty good."

"These are the tea leaves from an ancient tree. I've got no idea of its background but it was Master Emperor who brought them back earlier," Huang Tianfu explained.

"I brought them back?" Lin Huang was stunned to hear this. Then, he recalled a moment later that Zhi Ji from Misery was the one who gave it to him two months ago.

Although they had no idea of the origin and type of the tea leaves, Mr. Fu started the conversation and began speaking about the art of tea with Huang Tianfu. Huang Wunan who was standing aside would chime in occasionally as well.

Huang Tufu was the only awkward one who sat exactly where he was, having no idea what he could say to add to the conversation.

The topic finally changed when Huang Tianfu distributed the tea. "Lin Huang told me that he has a way to elevate demigods to Virtual God, do you guys believe him?"

"What?" Huang Tufu looked lost. He told Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan about bumping into Mr. Fu as soon as he flew here. He did not have the time to ask why Huang Tianfu brought him back to the headquarters in such a rush.

"We didn't have the time to tell him yet," Huang Tianfu explained, feeling a little embarrassed.

Huang Wunan who was next to him gave Huang Tufu a simple explanation through a voice transmission immediately.

Huang Tufu's emotion stirred after he heard it. He looked at Lin Huang. "Master Emperor, can it really be done?"

"This is one of the main reasons why I brought my master here. To get him to help you guys elevate to the virtual god-level." Lin Huang nodded.

"That's awesome! I've dreamed of breaking through to the virtual god-level every single day!" Huang Tufu was so happy that he was almost jumping with joy.

'He believes it so easily…' In reality, Mr. Fu who was standing at one side heard the voice transmission Huang Wunan sent to Huang Tufu. He merely passed the news to him and Huang Tufu believed it just like that without a single doubt.

He asked Huang Tianfu and the rest if they believed what Lin Huang said to test how much trust they had on Lin Huang. However, it seemed like Huang Tufu's belief in Lin Huang was without hesitation.

He could not help but peep at Lin Huang. Initially, he thought he would help to teach the three of them a lesson if they lacked confidence in Lin Huang's management. However, it seemed like Lin Huang was not just a respectable Emperor, but had even won over the heart of Dynasty. It was so much better than what Mr. Fu expected.

After meeting the three Grand Dukes, Lin Huang brought Mr. Fu to the residential area and got him to pick his own compound.

The luxurious residential area in Dynasty's headquarters had different courtyard styles for each compound. Lin Xin got to choose her own courtyard as well.

Mr. Fu scanned through all the courtyards with Divine Telekinesis.

Lin Huang smiled seeing that as he was clearly looking for Lin Xin.

A moment later, Mr. Fu stopped walking when he arrived at the compound to the right of the one Lin Xin chose. "This courtyard seems pretty good, I'll pick this one."

Naturally, Lin Huang knew why Mr. Fu picked that compound but said nothing about it.

"Xin Er happens to be staying next to me. I can visit her whenever I have time," Mr. Fu said while smiling.

"Then let's drop by Xin Er's place. I'll get someone to clean your house," Lin Huang replied and sent a message to Huang Tianfu. He then brought Mr. Fu to Lin Xin's courtyard.

Mr. Fu nodded while smiling. "That's great, it's been a while since I last saw Xin Er."

Lin Xin was practising with her sword in the courtyard as the duo walked in.

This girl could elevate her combat strength by merely eating Life Crystals. However, she knew what her weakness was. Her combat strength elevated too fast so the cultivation of her combat skills along with actual battle experience was lacking. To remedy this, she would spend some time practising with the sword every day.

She was now only on immortal-level rank-6 but she had mastered no less than 20 sword skills. She was only on level-1 Sword Dao which was Nuance at the moment.

Although she had surpassed many of the same age, she was very much lacking if compared to top geniuses like Lin Huang.

Seeing Lin Xin so focused in practising with her sword, Lin Huang and Mr. Fu stopped walking at the same moment. They did not interrupt her as they waited for her to finish practising this set of her sword skills.

Approximately four to five minutes later, Lin Xin was done with her first round of practise. It was the Soul Butterfly, something Lin Huang taught her.

It was only then that she noticed Lin Huang and Mr. Fu's presence. She put away her sword and sprinted toward them.

"Brother!" She also noticed that the person standing next to Lin Huang looked a little familiar as she arrived before her brother. "You're… Grandpa Fu?"

Mr. Fu once spent New Year's Eve at Lin Huang's house looking like this, and Lin Xin still remembered how he looked like.

"You still remember Grandpa Fu, little girl." Mr. Fu was happy that Lin Xin recognized him.

"But why did Grandpa Fu disguise this way again?" What Lin Xin said subsequently upset Mr. Fu.

"Xin Er, this is how master really looks like. He was injured earlier which caused his body to age. Now that he recovered, his looks returned as well," Lin Huang explained immediately.

"It's normal to look young when he's recovered but how come he's even taller now?" Lin Xin asked honestly.

"Well…" Lin Huang had no idea how he was going to answer that question.

Mr. Fu who was standing aside decided to explain himself, "The injury that I suffered earlier contained a curse that caused my flesh to shrink. Bones are in my flesh so they were cursed as well. Therefore, my height and body had been shrinking each year throughout the 800 years. It's just that the changes can't be seen by the naked eye."

Lin Huang recalled the time when he saw Mr. Fu for the first time three years ago when he heard what Mr. Fu said. Indeed, Mr. Fu was slightly taller three years ago compared to when he last saw him before his recovery. However, the change was insignificant and was almost invisible to the naked eye. He even thought it was an illusion.

Mr. Fu seemed to no longer want to dwell on this issue so he shifted the subject to Lin Huang after explaining.

"Little girl, your combat strength elevation is pretty fast. You're catching up with your brother."

"What's the use of elevating so fast? My brother could fight 10,000 of me when he was on immortal-level rank-6," It was Lin Xin's turn to feel depressed. She knew her weaknesses very well and was rather upset to hear such a compliment.

"You're exaggerating," Lin Huang patted Lin Xin's head while smiling, "Sword skill are merely something quite minor for you. As soon as you train well in your main firearm, your ability will reach the supreme genius-level as well."

"Really?" Lin Xin asked with eyes wide open as she heard him say that that.

"Of course I'm serious. Your talent in firearms is no less impressive than the few supreme geniuses that I've met in the past." Lin Huang nodded while smiling. He was not lying to Lin Xin about this. Lin Xin's talent in firearms was truly no less inferior than that of a supreme genius. However, she would have to work harder on her cultivation.

One must know that most supreme geniuses spend almost all their time in cultivation apart from sleeping and eating. It would be normal even if they were to cultivate for more than 15 hours a day. It was not that Lin Xin was slacking. She spent more than eight hours in cultivation almost every day and at times, she would even spend more than ten hours. Compared to ordinary people, she was working extremely hard.

The reason why Lin Huang held his tongue from telling Lin Xin about her difference compared to other supreme geniuses was because he did not want her to turn into a lunatic when it came to cultivation.

After chatting for a while, Lin Huang left with Mr. Fu since the compound that he chose was now clean. Meanwhile, Lin Xin continued to practice with her sword.

Mr. Fu had been quiet ever since he stepped into the compound.

"Master, we can get you another one if you don't like this. Let's take a look at the compound to Lin Xin's left."

Mr. Fu smiled and shook his head as he heard that. "I'm just thinking if I should tell you this."

"Master, there's no secret between us. Just tell me what you have in mind."

"It's about the little girl Lin Xin," Mr. Fu turned his head to look at Lin Huang.

Lin Huang smiled while nodding. "What about her?"

"Have you ever thought of getting her to cultivate the Saber or Spear Dao instead?" Mr. Fu raised an odd question.

"I've never thought of that. She was the one who picked the Sword Dao back then. I thought I'd let her do whatever she wanted so I didn't pay much attention to that," Lin Huang was unsure why Mr. Fu asked such a question.

"I think her talent in the Sword Dao seems to be… quite mediocre. So I'm thinking whether it would be better for her to change it to the Saber Dao or something else. After all, she would have to try all sorts of weapons to find one that suits her most." Mr. Fu was secretly observing Lin Huang's reaction.

Lin Huang was still a little puzzled from hearing the question earlier. However, he realized what Mr. Fu meant now that he heard this and could not help from smirking. "Master, I don't know much about other weapons apart from the Sword Dao. I'm afraid I can't teach her if Xin Er really wants to learn some other weapons."

He managed to read between the lines and gleaned that Mr. Fu wanted to teach Lin Xin the Saber Dao. Perhaps he saw some potential in Lin Xin, causing him to make such a rash decision out of nowhere.

After all, he had been cultivating the Sword Dao. He did not accept Mr. Fu's Saber Dao inheritance.

"Don't you have me if you can't teach her? I'm good in every weapon so I can let her try and see which suits her most. She can't be burying her talent if she's really good in one of those weapons," Mr. Fu replied immediately.

"I'll leave her in your hands then, master," Lin Huang agreed while smiling.

Mr. Fu only got down to business after they were done with their discussion about Lin Xin.

"Get Bloody to give me the steps to elevate a demigod to a Virtual God then."

Lin Huang nodded and summoned Bloody who was wearing a red dress when she appeared.

Mr. Fu was clearly stunned when he saw Bloody who had such a beautiful body. He only asked a while later, unsure about what he was seeing, "She's Bloody?"

Ever since Bloody elevated to the mythical-level, her form was not the only change she went through. Even her aura was now completely different.

"Did she elevate from a quadruple mutation?" Mr. Fu could not get his eyes off Bloody. "This is my first time seeing a quadruple mutated monster that's alive…"

Lin Huang nodded and smiled as he saw Mr. Fu's curiosity. "Yes, she has elevated from a quadruple mutation."

"Apart from your form, is there anything that's different compared to before?" Mr. Fu asked Bloody.

"Major changes, it's like a thorough transformation." Bloody replied honestly while smiling. "There are plenty of boosts in all aspects, I've also obtained much more abilities."

"What about the boost in your abilities?" Mr. Fu asked again.

"This probably varies from individual to individual. I've had a significant boost in my abilities because after all, my previous form was unsuitable for battle. On top of that, I've mastered plenty of human battle skills and secret skills. I wasn't able to do any of these things in my previous form. With my current form, I can pretty much perform all the human secret battle skills," Bloody explained in full detail.

"How about the skills like Supreme Intelligence that had before this? Is there a boost as well?"

"Yes, my computing skills has had a significant boost as well." Bloody nodded. "Moreover, I can feel that my Supreme Intelligence is at its peak now. If I elevated one more time or if this skill experiences a boost, it could possibly grow toward an even more powerful direction."

Mr. Fu only recalled the serious things after discussing a quadruple mutation with Bloody for some time.

"Oh yeah, that kid Lin Huang told me that you've found a way to elevate demigods to Virtual Gods. He also told me that the solution is to use the broken Godhead in a demigod's and cause an explosion. Is that true?" Mr. Fu was still doubtful of the solution until this moment.

"Put simply, that's about it." Bloody nodded and admitted.

"But one would have to follow my steps throughout the entire process or the success rate would be almost zero." Bloody continued as she walked in front of Mr Fu.

"I'll share the complete steps of the simulation I have concluded with you." Mr. Fu nodded and closed his eyes. Bloody then pointed her finger between Mr. Fu's brows. The tip of her finger was two to three millimeters before Mr. Fu's skin.

If one was to observe with Divine Telekinesis, one would see the colorless and formless particles that were so small they were almost invisible. They accumulated into threads that looked like lightning and pierced through between Mr. Fu's brows.

A moment later, Bloody retreated her finger after all of the particles had been transported.

Mr. Fu kept his eyes closed, delving into his body as he sought out the new information Bloody shared with him.

Mr. Fu was silent for more than ten minutes.

He looked deadly serious when he opened his eyes.

"How did you get the data of this simulation?"

"I obtained the preliminary data from Huang Tianfu and the rest. Such elevation can only be done by perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouses who have converted 100% of their Life Power to Divine Power. Although Huang Tianfu and the other two have rather higher data compared to ordinary perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouses, they range within the normal standard," Bloody explained, "I gotten the average rate after quantifying all kinds of data from the trio's bodies."

Mr. Fu nodded and asked again, "There's one step that I don't understand throughout the whole simulation. I can understand that the re-accumulation of Godhead after the broken Godhead exploded would need massive amounts of energy. However, why is high temperature and pressure required?"

"The function of high temperature and pressure is actually polymerization. Without the high temperature and pressure, it would be tough for the polymerization to happen if energy is the only thing that's provided. I've also got this inspiration from knowledge of other worlds."

Bloody peeped at Lin Huang who was next to her as she spoke to this point. In reality, she gotten the inspiration from the hydrogen bomb's nuclear fusion that Lin Huang told her before.

"Alright then. I heard from Lin Huang that you've done over a million simulations and the success rate was 97%?" Mr. Fu asked again.

"It's 97.1% to be exact," Bloody corrected him.

"Perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouses can elevate to Virtual Gods through this but how about those Virtual Gods who have been refining someone else's Godhead? Theoretically, they should be able to consolidate their own Godhead through the same method as well, right?"

"Yes, but the success rate will be much lower. The reason is that it's even tougher for a complete Godhead to explode but the impact would be stronger. Furthermore, those Virtual Gods who achieved the virtual god-level depending on refining Godheads are flawed in flesh and soul. The death rate would be even higher if they were to elevate this way."

"According to my current simulation, if one was to refine a Virtual God rank-1 Godhead, the success rate would only be 88.7%. Refining a Virtual God rank-2 Godhead would have a success rate of approximately be 81.6%. If one was to refine a Virtual God rank-3 Godhead, the success rate would only be 72.3%. These are already the best case scenarios from my simulations, especially the difficulty would be much higher in reality and pull the success rates even lower."

"It can work on Virtual Gods as well?!" Lin Huang was wondering if Virtual Gods who managed to achieve the virtual god-level through refining Godheads could use the same way as well. He held his tongue because he thought it was virtually impossible but now that he heard Bloody's explanation, he realized that Virtual Gods could do the same thing as well. "Is there any way to increase the success rate?"

"There's no way. At least there's no way that I know of before my Supreme Intelligence transforms again." Bloody smiled helplessly as she waved her hands.

"I must inform Baiyu and Haoyang to see what they think about this."

"There's no need to wait, you can do that now. Also, gather all those perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouses who are eager to elevate in these few days," Mr. Fu said to Lin Huang.

"It'll be New Year's Eve the day after tomorrow, do we have to rush it?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrows.

"It's better to settle this before New Year's Eve." Mr. Fu nodded.

"Alright then, I'll get Tianfu to make the arrangements." Lin Huang nodded and called Huang Tianfu right away.

Huang Tianfu had no complaints when Lin Huang delegated the responsibility to him. He merely replied, "Alright, I'll handle it."

Mr. Fu on the other hand was discussing the details with Bloody.

When it was almost lunch, Lin Huang had to interrupt them since they were still deep in discussion.

After lunch, Lin Huang left Bloody behind with Mr. Fu to answer his questions while he brought Lin Xin and Xiao Mo out for shopping.

Under Huang Tianfu's arrangements, a couple of perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouses rushed back to Dynasty's headquarters in Emperor City one after the other.

Including Huang Tianfu and the other two, there were a total of seven perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouses in Dynasty. All of them were present.

The last time the seven of them gathered was when Lin Huang was enthroned as the Emperor.

It was not only the seven perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouses, but Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang who Huang Tianfu informed of the matter were here as well.

Powerhouses wielding the top combat strength throughout Dynasty were now gathered in the same room.

It was past six in the evening. Two Virtual Gods and seven perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouses from Dynasty gathered at the courtyard Mr. Fu had just moved into.

Lin Huang also went there according to Bloody's voice transmission. After all, Dynasty needed Lin Huang to look after the situation in the absence of the upper echelons.

"Baiyu, Haoyang, have the both of you decided? There's a certain probability that the transformation will fail. As soon as it fails, your cultivation base will be destroyed and you might not be able to cultivate any longer. That's considered a milder situation. If it's serious, you'll explode and die directly. Even your soul will be killed too."

"Tianfu told us about it in the past few days, so I've made up my mind." Huang Haoyang nodded without any hesitation.

Huang Baiyu also nodded. "I'm willing to accept it no matter what the final result is."

The duo had been stuck on their current level for hundreds of years. Throughout the centuries, they watched their juniors grow generation after generation while there was no way for their combat strength to be elevated at all. Naturally, they felt uncomfortable. Moreover, as the promotion of the ancient methods went on, achieving virtual god-level was no longer a challenge for those young people with terrifying talents. It was possible that the juniors would surpass them if they stagnated for some decades.

One of the reasons why Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang accepted the challenge was that they really hoped to be a normal cultivator who could boost their combat strength levels. Other than that, they figured it was just a matter of time for Huang Tianfu and the rest to surpass both of them as soon as they got to virtual god-level. To avoid being left out, the duo decided to take the risk.

Lin Huang stopped saying anything discouraging after confirming their determination.

"Since you guys have made up your minds, I'll respect your decision."

"Both of you will be the last. I'll start with those with a higher success rate first to warm up." Mr. Fu glanced at the seven perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouses including Huang Tianfu and asked while smiling, "Who wants to be the first?"

The seven of them were stunned to hear that question. Although Lin Huang told them that the success rate was 97%, it was only in theory. Furthermore, nobody had ever experimented with it before, not even Mr. Fu. Nobody was willing to be the first lab rat.

Just when Huang Tianfu thought no one was willing to volunteer, he saw Huang Tufu advancing a step out.

"I'll go first then!" Huang Tufu stepped out, appearing determined. The rest noticed that his muscles were stiff. He was clearly nervous.

"Alright, buff guy. You'll be the first then." Mr. Fu grinned at Huang Tufu.

"Mr. Fu…" Huang Tufu's scalp was a little numb upon noticing that Mr. Fu was studying him like a lab rat.

"Spill whatever you have to say!"

"So… Since I'll be the first one to do this, can you be more thorough later?" Huang Tufu probed while smiling.

"I'll know how much hair you have on your body when I scan you with my Divine Telekinesis later. How much more thorough do you want me to be?" Mr. Fu asked with a raised brow.

"Never mind. Pretend I never said that." Huang Tianfu shrugged helplessly.

"To prevent any interference, the entire elevation will take place in my God Territory. This is the first time we're doing this. Apart from Bloody and this buff guy, the rest will have to wait outside. The same goes for the rest. I don't want to be interrupted throughout the process. So, all of you will come in one by one. I'll block all the unrelated people outside."

"Don't you need my help?" Lin Huang asked.

"No, having Bloody is good enough. I'll get Bloody to contact you if I really need your help." His assistance was declined directly.

"Oh yeah, how long does it roughly take to elevate a person?" Mr. Fu asked Bloody.

Because Bloody's simulation was the fast-forwarded version, the entire process was compressed into a couple of seconds. Although that did not affect the content by scanning with his Divine Telekinesis, Mr. Fu could not pinpoint the exact duration.

"It usually takes around two hours. However, you'll need one to two hours to replenish your Divine Power after each round of elevation," Bloody explained, "It'll take longer for people who are already on virtual god-level. The replenishment will take longer too."

"So, that means it'll take at least three to four hours each." Mr. Fu raised his brow when he heard the clarification. He spoke to Huang Tianfu and the rest, "Then, let's not wait here. All of you can do whatever you want to do. Those who have nothing to do can go shopping or get some sleep. I'll get Lin Huang to inform you when it's your turn."

Huang Tianfu bowed immediately after hearing that. "Then, I'll return to my office. There are some things that I have yet to finish." He looked like a workaholic.

Huang Wunan glanced at him and spoke subsequently, "I'll return to my office too."

Among the nine of them, apart from Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan, the rest said nothing.

The duo left right after they said goodbye.

Mr. Fu said nothing either. All he did was wave his sleeve. Next, Huang Tufu and Bloody disappeared at the same time. Subsequently, Mr. Fu faded away slowly.

Lin Huang knew that Mr. Fu had taken both of them into his God Territory.

"You guys don't have to stay here. I'll inform you when it's your turn," Lin Huang emphasized again. However, he stopped bothering them upon seeing that Huang Baiyu and the remaining five did not plan to leave.

Just as Lin Huang left Mr. Fu's courtyard, Huang Tufu's transformation began in Mr. Fu's God Territory. He sat with his legs crossed in the air with his eyes closed tightly.

Mr. Fu also sat across him with his legs crossed while his hand pressed against Huang Tufu's chest.

Golden Divine Power penetrated Huang Tufu's body rapidly. It soon found where the broken Godhead was, and a sea of Divine Power began filling it.

Meanwhile, Bloody stood aside while scanning Huang Tufu's body with Divine Telekinesis to observe the transformation process.

After Mr. Fu inserted Divine Power for an hour, Huang Tufu's broken Godhead was replenished and filled to the point that it could no longer take in anymore Divine Power.

"Higher temperature and more pressure right now!" Bloody urged to Mr. Fu through voice transmission.

Mr. Fu did not respond. Instead, he ignited his Divine Power, igniting the inside of Huang Tufu's body on fire. In the sea of fire fuelled by Divine Power, it began to put pressure from all directions, pressing the broken Godhead.

Huang Tufu had a dramatic change of expression. He could feel the pressure and high temperature that was squeezing his broken Godhead throughout his entire body. He was in so much pain that he was groaning.

"This is pretty painful, but you must bear it. Keep activating your Godhead and don't pass out. The elevation will fail as soon as the activation of broken Godhead stops," Bloody said to Huang Tufu through voice transmission, "Scream if you really can't take the pain. Don't hold it back. It might be better if you let it all out."

Huang Tufu nodded lightly while clenching his teeth. He dared not say a word, scared that he might give up as soon as he spoke.

Time passed by in the God Territory.

Mr. Fu maintained his Divine Power at a high temperature and high pressure. It was crushing Huang Tufu's broken Godhead in all directions.

Under normal circumstances, it was hard for the outside world to intervene as soon as one deactivated their Godhead. That was the reason why it was so hard to destroy a Godhead. However, the Godhead could experience an exchange of energy when it was activated. Theoretically, it could be destroyed.

As the high pressure and high temperature went on for more than an hour, the broken Godhead in Huang Tufu's body finally became unstable. Furthermore, the instability was getting more and more obvious. It might even explode anytime.

"Mr. Fu, you must maintain the high temperature and pressure at all times during this process. Even if his broken Godhead explodes, you can't stop for even a second. That's the key to combine the Godhead!" Bloody spoke to Mr. Fu through voice transmission again.

"Huang Tufu, don't detonate your broken Godhead on purpose. When the instablization is at its peak and might explode anytime, you can detonate it with little effort by then," Bloody spoke to Huang Tufu through voice transmission.

As Huang Tufu's broken Godhead went unstable, he immersed his consciousness into his body while waiting patiently.

As time ticked by, the broken Godhead soon expanded to its peak under the high temperature and pressure. The entire Godhead turned red like a smoldering iron.

Bloody's voice came into Huang Tufu's ears all of a sudden. "Right now!"

He detonated it without hesitation.

Bang!

Intense golden sparks came after the explosion. The glaring golden glow soon filled his entire inner world. The explosion soon reached its peak under the intense temperature and pressure.

"Activate your Divine Power to consolidate the Godhead!"

As Bloody's voice boomed, Huang Tufu began activating his Divine Power as much as he could.

A sea of Divine Power began to gather in a river in the middle of the explosion point. A whirlpool formed. Then, it merged into golden gravel at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye. The gravel was expanding continuously…

Huang Tufu's elevation took almost two and a half hours to complete.

Mr. Fu was finally relieved to see the Godhead in Huang Tufu's body being formed.

Although he was upset that Huang Tufu had called him short and old, he was merely giving him attitude so that Huang Tufu would watch his mouth in the future. Although he teased Huang Tufu about knowing how much hair he had on his body, Mr. Fu was giving it his all throughout the process of elevation as he did not want any mistakes to happen.

After all, it had something to do with Huang Tufu's future and destiny. As soon as it failed, Huang Tufu's cultivation base could be destroyed or worse, he could die from the explosion.

Huang Tufu was on cloud nine when his Godhead solidified successfully. He could clearly feel that his body and soul being transformed.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Mr. Fu had retreated ten meters away with his legs crossed to replenish his lost energy by refining Divine Stones. Huang Tufu thanked him immediately, "Thank you, Mr. Fu, for helping me to get to virtual god-level!"

Mr. Fu opened his eyes to peek at him. "Stay there quietly. Don't disturb me replenishing my Divine Power."

"Yes, yes, yes. I'll shut up." Huang Tufu covered his mouth and stayed where he was obediently. He quieted down his mind to observe the transformation in his body.

Although Mr. Fu and the other two did not get out of the God Territory, Lin Huang heard the news from Bloody as soon as the elevation ended. He found out that Huang Tufu's elevation was completed successfully. He had elevated from demigod-level to Virtual God rank-1!

In the Emperor's Palace, Lin Huang was finally relieved.

The 97.1% success rate that Bloody told him about before was just data in theory. They would only find out if the plan worked when it was carried out in reality. After all, the denotation of a broken Godhead was crazy enough when one heard about it. Now that Huang Tufu's elevation was successful, it finally proved that Bloody's simulation worked and that the solution that she came up with was viable.

Approximately over an hour later, Mr. Fu finally opened his eyes since the replenishment of his Divine Power was done.

Seeing that Huang Tufu's body transformation had yet to be done, he did not chase him out of his God Territory. Instead, he leaped and appeared in the courtyard.

"The buff guy has completed his elevation and his body is still in the midst of transformation. Who'll be the second one?" Mr. Fu glanced at the remaining four demigods since Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan were absent.

"Me!" A muscular hunk who was even more muscular than Huang Tufu was the first to raise his hand.

"Pick me!" A girl with short hair who was rather tiny jumped up almost at the same time.

Mr. Fu looked at both of them carefully. "The lady goes first then. You'll be next, buff guy. The rest of you will discuss the sequence. Don't waste any time. I'd like to have a good rest during New Year's Eve."

Mr. Fu waved his sleeve again as soon as he was done speaking, and the short-haired girl disappeared from where she was directly. Mr. Fu too disappeared subsequently.

The girl saw Huang Tufu who was sitting with his legs crossed as soon as she was dragged into the God Territory. She clearly sensed that his aura was indeed on virtual god-level. While she was anxious before, she was now excited.

"It really works!"

Naturally, Mr. Fu noticed her change of emotions but he ignored that. He glimpsed at Huang Tufu who was still in mid-transformation and then spoke to the girl, "I'll send all of you out of my God Territory as soon as your Godhead is formed. You guys might interfere with the process and affect the others' elevation success rate if all of you stay in my God Territory. You guys can complete the body and soul transformation in the courtyard later."

The girl nodded. "Understood."

"Alright, calm down. Sit with your legs crossed and close your eyes. Begin activating your Godhead when you're ready. Leave the rest to me." Mr. Fu began to delve into the entire process since he had practiced it on Huang Tufu earlier.

The girl soon went into the zone and began activating her Godhead. Mr. Fu then began the first step.

Time flew by and two hours passed. The short-haired girl's forming of her Godhead was slightly faster than Huang Tufu. Naturally, she shrieked much louder than him throughout the process. Even Huang Tufu, whose body was undergoing the transformation, was woken by her screams.

Initially, he was confused about where the girl's screams were coming out of nowhere. He thought somebody was bullying a girl and was going to criticize the bully on instinct. However, when he opened his eyes, he realized that it was Mr. Fu elevating the short-haired girl. He covered his mouth immediately in fear that he might say something offensive again.

Bloody turned to Huang Tufu with a grin. Seeing him look at her, she gestured him to keep quiet.

Huang Tufu nodded and sat where he was without daring to move. He knew that it was a critical moment when the short-haired girl was consolidating her Godhead. He dared not do anything to distract Mr. Fu.

The short-haired girl's elevation was very successful as well. She triumphantly consolidated her Godhead within two hours.

Before she managed to extend her gratitude, Mr. Fu flicked his sleeve, sending her and Huang Tufu out of his God Territory.

Much to the excitement of the rest, they noticed that the duo's combat strength had changed as soon as they were sent out.

The short-haired girl's body was still changing while Huang Tufu had finished his transformation. The people then gathered around him to ask all sorts of questions.

After sending both of them out, Mr. Fu took an hour to rest and stepped out of his God Territory again.

"Buff guy, you'll be the third one." This time, Mr. Fu did not waste even a second. He waved his hand and took the muscular guy into his God Territory.

Since the muscular guy, another two demigods underwent successful elevation. Huang Tufu got Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan to be there immediately.

The duo waited for Mr. Fu's Divine Power to recover in the courtyard. They then went into the God Territory one after another.

They took a slightly longer time, only completing the elevation almost three hours later.

After 28 hours, all seven perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouses in Dynasty had elevated to Virtual God rank-1.

The success rate was 100%!

Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang were thrilled to witness the success of the seven. Although the success rate for them would be slightly lower, they were encouraged by the continuous success for Huang Tianfu and the rest.

Even Mr. Fu himself was confident since he was getting more and more familiar with the process after performing it seven times consecutively.

After Huang Tianfu was elevated, Mr. Fu rested for more than three hours. He only stepped out of his God Territory when he had rested enough to perform at his peak.

He glanced at Huang Baiyu and Huang Haoyang, finally setting his eyes on the latter. "You're on Virtual God rank-2, so your success rate is slightly higher than his. You'll be the first."

Huang Haoyang nodded. "As you wish."

Mr. Fu flicked his sleeve, then Huang Haoyang disappeared. Mr. Fu's body faded slowly almost at the same time…

In reality, the conversion of Godheads required similar steps to consolidating broken Godheads.

To put it simply, it was just detonating the Godhead and piecing it back together to consolidate a new Godhead.

The difference was that the difficulty of detonating a complete Godhead was even higher. The energy that was released from the broken Godhead was even higher and much more difficult to control.

However, the two differences alone had spiked the difficulty for Mr. Fu who was the controller.

"Calm your emotions down. Don't rush it. After all, there's no difference if the conversion is done earlier or later. Sit down with your legs crossed and close your eyes when your body has stabilized. Control the Godhead in your body and activate it as usual. Leave the rest to me," Mr. Fu said to Huang Haoyang, "Just follow what I say after that and don't hesitate."

"Got it." Huang Haoyang nodded and began to adjust his breathing. His anxiety began melting after a few deep breaths and his heartbeat that had been racing was now normal.

After confirming that his body was alright, Huang Haoyang sat down with his legs crossed. He then nodded at Mr. Fu. "I'm ready."

In reality, Mr. Fu had been scanning Huang Haoyang's body with his Divine Telekinesis. He sat across Huang Haoyang calmly after confirming that he was relaxed and everything in his body was fine.

At that moment, Huang Haoyang closed his eyes and began activating the Godhead in his body.

Mr. Fu extended his palm and pressed it against Huang Haoyang's chest. Golden Divine Power began penetrating Huang Haoyang's body, going toward his Godhead.

This time, the penetration alone took over four hours. The Godhead in Huang Haoyang's body was filled after that.

Mr. Fu released a long sigh after confirming that the Godhead was full. The first step he took with Huang Haoyang alone was longer than the entire elevation process for Huang Tianfu and the rest.

Since the first step was completed, Mr. Fu began applying high pressure and high temperature on Huang Haoyang's Godhead.

At that point, Bloody advised, "Use four times higher pressure and temperature first and adjust it later."

Mr. Fu said nothing. In reality, Bloody had told him about this step before, but she was emphasizing it again.

After applying four times more pressure and temperature compared to what he did with Huang Tianfu and the rest, Mr. Fu and Bloody observed the changes in Huang Haoyang's Godhead.

A moment later, Bloody spoke again, "Four times isn't enough. Make it five!"

Mr. Fu did as she said immediately.

Less than a minute had passed before Bloody frowned slightly. "Make it seven!"

"Are you sure? You only did a little more than four times in your simulation," Mr. Fu could not help but ask through voice transmission.

"I missed out the Godhead's attribution in the simulation because most attributes won't affect the process. However, the Godhead that he's refined seems to be a little more unique. If I'm not mistaken, this is a Godhead that was born with a fire attribute. It has a high resistance to high temperatures. We have to increase the temperature and pressure to detonate the Godhead. There's no other way," Bloody explained helplessly.

"But if that's the case, even if the explosion happens, the impact of the explosion will surpass our expectations by heaps. The impact on his body and soul will be a few times more." Mr. Fu was already considering giving up.

"Indeed, his survival rate will drop to 21.7% and the success rate will be less than 18%." Bloody frowned deeply. "Unless there's an outlet for the extra energy coming from the explosion."

"Why don't we stop it now? The failure rate will be high if this goes on," Mr. Fu advised.

"I've an idea. I'll get Master to absorb the extra energy." Bloody thought of an idea all of a sudden.

"Lin Huang? We're dealing with Divine Power here. Moreover, the Divine Power coming from such a high pressured explosion in Huang Haoyang's body might be like being attacked by a Virtual God rank-4 powerhouse." Mr. Fu could not understand why Bloody would suggest such a bad idea at such a time.

"Don't worry about it. Master can even refine a Virtual God rank-9 Godhead. However, indeed, we need to ask Huang Haoyang's opinion first and see if he wants to proceed." Bloody then explained the current situation to Huang Haoyang through voice transmission.

"Less than an 18% success rate?" Even Huang Haoyang was stunned to hear that. He then asked subsequently, "What if Master Emperor absorbs the extra energy? Will the success rate increase a little?"

"It depends on his absorption rate and the duration of which your body and soul can take the impact, but it's definitely higher than 18%." Bloody did not provide an exact value. "But you can give up temporarily. I'll spend some time building a model based on your body's data. Then, I'll perform the simulation again and see if I can find another way to get a higher success rate."

Huang Haoyang fell into silence for a moment and made up his mind. "Go on then. After all, this is caused by the unique Godhead attribute in my body. You might not be able to find a way to raise the success rate with the simulation."

"Indeed, I might not be able to find a way," Bloody admitted while nodding. She only found a way after more than a million simulations earlier. It was even more difficult for her to improve it from the foundation. "Then, I'll get Master here."

It was five in the morning at the moment. The sky was still dark since it was winter in Emperor City.

Lin Huang, who was in a deep sleep, was awakened by Bloody. He sat up immediately and appeared in Mr. Fu's courtyard in a flash after hearing Bloody's explanation.

Huang Tianfu and the rest had left Mr. Fu's courtyard much earlier while Huang Baiyu was the only one who stayed. He was stunned to see Lin Huang's appearance in his pajamas at such a time.

However, Mr. Fu dragged Lin Huang into his God Territory in the next second.

Huang Baiyu's pupils shrunk a little. "Did something happen to Haoyang?!"

Lin Huang rushed over in his pajamas and he was dragged into Mr. Fu's God Territory as soon as he arrived. Huang Baiyu knew something must have happened to Huang Haoyang even if he had to think with his toes. He began to worry.

As Lin Huang was dragged into the God Territory, Bloody narrated exactly what happened to him quickly.

"Got it. Leave the absorbing of the extra energy to me," Lin Huang agreed without hesitation.

Mr. Fu began adding pressure and temperature into the Godhead in Huang Haoyang's body. He raised the intensity from five to seven times.

However, Bloody urged again approximately a minute later, "Eight times!"

This time, Mr. Fu had no doubts and raised the pressure and temperature by eight times.

Approximately three minutes later, Bloody spoke again, "Raise the pressure to 8.5 times and the temperature to 12 times!"

"Are you sure about that?" Mr. Fu asked.

"I'm sure!"

Mr. Fu did as he was ordered right after he received the confirmation.

Around three minutes later, she instructed, "Maintan the same amount of pressure and raise the temperature to 18 times!"

"Ahh!" Huang Haoyang's veins were bulging from the pain while his gums were bleeding from all the clenching.

"You must remain awake no matter how painful it is. Otherwise, you'll waste all the efforts," Bloody said to Huang Haoyang through voice transmission.

Huang Haoyang's eyes were all bloodshot with red veins. He panted hard while nodding at Bloody. He had no more strength to speak.

Time crawled by. Finally, Bloody did not order to increase the temperature any further, much to Mr. Fu's relief.

The next three hours were complete torture for Huang Haoyang. The immense pain almost crushed his consciousness, but his strong will gave him the strength to hold on to it.

The bloody red Godhead in his body was reaching the brink of explosion.

"Master, press your palm to his back. You'll have to absorb the Divine Power as soon as the Godhead explodes later. You can only stop when I ask you to," Bloody said to Lin Huang.

Lin Huang nodded and walked to Huang Haoyang. He then sat behind him with his legs crossed and pressed both of his palms on his back.

Bloody then turned his head to Huang Haoyang. "It all depends on you now. Detonate the Godhead when it's almost exploding. Don't do it prematurely. When it explodes, summon a soul-type god relic to protect your soul immediately. You must bear the impact alive!"

Huang Haoyang panted while nodding hard.

A moment later, the bloody Godhead finally reached its brink of exploding. Barely holding on, Huang Haoyang detonated it, and it exploded.

Red sparks shot out, illuminating his inner world. The red Divine Power that ignited spread towards all directions.

Right at that moment, Lin Huang absorbed the spreading Divine Power.

With Lin Huang as the outlet, the sea of bloody Divine Power rushed into his body like a broken dam.

The ten Divine Fires in his body absorbed all of the scorching red Divine Power, sharing the same amount of power among themselves. Lin Huang noticed this and increased the strength of absorption immediately.

With him absorbing the Divine Power, the pressure in Huang Haoyang's body was lifted.

However, the explosion impacted his body and soul. His soul was injured from the first round of impact. He was dying from the consecutive impacts while his soul was shaking.

Even though he had a soul-type god relic protecting his soul, his body and soul were weaker than an ordinary Virtual God rank-2 powerhouses. He could not bear the impact that was on par with a Virtual God rank-4's attack.

Naturally, Lin Huang noticed the changes in Huang Haoyang's body. Seeing that his soul was being crushed, an idea popped into his head. He released Divine Fire to fill Huang Haoyang's body directly.

The ten Divine Fires were like ten fire dragons rushing into Huang Haoyang's body. They began absorbing the bloody Divine Power as much as they could.

One of them even rushed up in front of Huang Haoyang's soul and blocked the impact.

The Divine Fire dragons danced in Huang Haoyang's body for less than a minute, and almost half of the Divine Power in his body was taken away.

Three minutes later, there was less than a tenth of Divine Power in his body.

Bloody told Lin Huang to stop upon noticing that, "You have to stop. If your Divine Fire proceeds to absorb the Divine Power, he can't consolidate his Godhead."

Lin Huang recalled his Divine Fire immediately.

Meanwhile, a bloody, gravel-sized Godhead was formed in the middle of the explosion point in Huang Haoyang's body. The bloody Divine Power around it turned into a gigantic bloody whirlpool and penetrated the gravel…

Thinking that death was a sure thing, Huang Haoyang did not expect Lin Huang to summon ten fire dragons. Lin Huang pulled him away from the brink of death and allowed him to reconsolidate his Godhead.

He had no idea that the fire dragons were made of Divine Fire. He thought it was some technique that Lin Huang had executed.

He was also unaware of was that if not for Lin Huang, he would have exploded and died much earlier if another Virtual God had helped him instead.

Seeing that Huang Haoyang's aura had stabilized and that he began using the Divine Power from his transformation to recover his body and soul, Mr. Fu waved his hand and sent him out of the God Territory.

"Divine Fire… You sure have many secrets!" On the other hand, Mr. Fu saw that Lin Huang was using Divine Fire.

"I was lucky to obtain it unintentionally," Lin Huang admitted while smiling bashfully.

"No wonder Bloody told me that you can even refine a Virtual god rank-9 Godhead." Mr. Fu thought of something all of a sudden. "You told me that you were going to use Godhead as the foundation of imperial-level before. Did you really do that?"

Lin Huang had mentioned this when he had a phone call with Mr. Fu before elevating to imperial-level. However, since he only mentioned it casually, Mr. Fu did not take it seriously. Nonetheless, upon seeing there was Divine Fire in Lin Huang's body now, Mr. Fu figured Lin Huang might have really done it.

"Yes."

Seeing that Lin Huang admitted that with a nod, Mr. Fu proceeded to ask, "So, how did you elevate to imperial-level?"

"By refining more Godheads," Lin Huang answered.

"So, what happens when you elevate to virtual god-level?" Mr. Fu was a little puzzled.

"I'm not too sure at the moment, but theoretically, I shouldn't be able to elevate further when my Life Palace reaches the peak. I think I'll have to convert my Godhead," Lin Huang explained, "But I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do it exactly. I'll figure it out then."

"You're being too reckless! You should consider the consequences before doing it." Mr. Fu frowned, thinking that what Lin Huang had done was too risky.

"Don't worry about me. There are countless types of cultivation methods in the great world. I'll look around as much as I can. I'll definitely find a way to elevate to virtual god-level by then." Lin Huang was not in a rush at all, and he did not think that he had made a mistake.

"Take a rest, Mr. Fu. It's New Year's Eve tomorrow. I think it'll take a long time to convert Huang Baiyu's Godhead too." Bloody helped to divert the subject at that second.

"What time is it now?" Mr. Fu lifted his head to ask Lin Huang.

"It's already 8.30 a.m.," Lin Huang said after checking the time.

Mr. Fu said nothing more. He took out a Divine Stone again and replenished his Divine Power after shutting his eyes.

As he was not sure if Huang Baiyu needed any help with the conversion, Lin Huang could only wait in the God Territory. He began chatting with Bloody through voice transmission because he was bored. He asked about Huang Tianfu and the rest's elevation.

Meanwhile, Huang Baiyu was relieved to see Huang Haoyang appearing in Mr. Fu's courtyard, looking fine while his combat strength remained on Virtual God rank-2.

Huang Haoyang only opened his eyes slowly four to five hours later.

"What happened earlier? I saw the Emperor going into the God Territory," Huang Baiyu asked immediately.

"You can't even imagine it. The Godhead that I refined is born with a fire attribute. I almost died from that, dude! Can you believe that the gigantic fire dragons the Master Emperor summoned are a 10,000 feet long each? They can suck the bloody Divine Power in my body into their dragon stomachs like an inverted tornado. It's as easy as slurping noodles to them…"

Huang Haoyang suddenly had an urge to boast when he saw his old friend Huang Baiyu. Huang Baiyu was stunned to hear him describe the entire process exaggeratedly

This time, Mr. Fu took almost six hours to finally replenish his Divine Power. He spent another hour to settle down before standing up to pull the last person, Huang Baiyu, into his God Territory.

Huang Baiyu was a little anxious at first. However, he was relieved to see Lin Huang there. After all, Huang Haoyang had boasted that Lin Huang was a Godsent from heaven.

"Calm down. Sit with your legs crossed and quiet your mind with your eyes closed. Begin activating your Godhead after settling down." Mr. Fu was at ease since he had the experience of handling Huang Haoyang earlier.

Huang Baiyu did as he was ordered and Mr. Fu went into the zone immediately.

Huang Baiyu's Godhead took seven hours of channeling Mr. Fu's Divine Power to be completely filled. By then, they reached the second step.

"Use six times of high temperature and high pressure first." Bloody was guiding Mr. Fu by the side.

Mr. Fu controlled his Divine Power to increase the temperature and pressure right away.

Bloody spoke again a moment later, "Seven times."

Mr. Fu made a slight adjustment immediately.

"7.5 times!"

Mr. Fu did as he was ordered.

"7.8 times!"

Mr. Fu did as he was ordered again. With his prior experience, he knew that there was no need for him to doubt Bloody's estimation.

"Alright, maintain this." Bloody finally nodded as she observed the minor changes in the Godhead in Huang Baiyu's body with Divine Telekinesis. However, she frowned a little.

"Although his Godhead is Virtual God rank-3, in reality, it's close to Virtual God rank-4. The impact of the explosion will definitely be more intense than we expected. We might need to get Master to absorb the Divine Power again," Bloody said to Mr. Fu and Lin Huang through voice transmission.

The Divine Power at the high temperature and pressure had been penetrating the Godhead for seven hours until Huang Baiyu's Godhead finally reached the brink of explosion.

After hearing Bloody's instructions, Lin Huang sat behind Huang Baiyu with his legs crossed easily while pressing both palms on his back.

A moment later, the Godhead in Huang Baiyu's body exploded. Endless white sparks flew out as insane Divine Power that exceeded their expectations spread out.

Lin Huang summoned all ten of his Divine Fires to suppress that. Ten fire dragons entered Huang Baiyu's body rapidly, spreading out toward all directions and absorbing the immense Divine Power.

Soon, ten gigantic inverted tornadoes appeared in Huang Baiyu's body one after another.

Each gigantic dragon was absorbing the sea of Divine Power like a whale guzzling water.

The riled up Divine Power that even Mr. Fu could do nothing about was suppressed within one to two minutes.

Huang Baiyu's soul was protected behind a gigantic fire dragon since the beginning, so it suffered almost zero impact.

Bloody called off the absorption of the Divine Power after it went on for almost four minutes. "Alright, he can consolidate the Godhead as usual now."

Lin Huang then recalled the Divine Fire back into his body.

Reluctantly, a couple of Divine Fire dragons peered hungrily in the direction where Huang Baiyu's Godhead was forming before they left. They wanted more.

As the ten Divine Fire dragons retreated from Huang Baiyu's body, his inner world finally recovered its peace. A massive white whirlpool formed in the middle where the Godhead was. White gravel was quickly appearing in the core of the whirlpool at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye.

It was almost six in the morning when Mr. Fu sent Huang Baiyu out of his God Territory.

Lin Huang, Bloody and Mr. Fu walked out of the God Territory right after that.

Mr. Fu let out a long sigh upon seeing the sun that had just risen from the horizon far away. "It's the New Year. Ah, I can finally take a good rest."

"Rest well, Master. I'll visit you at lunch with Xin Er," Lin Huang suggested.

"Alright then, I'll take a nap. I've been really exhausted throughout these few days. It's been over 800 years since I last drained my Divine Power like this," Mr. Fu confessed with a slight smile.

Lin Huang glanced at Huang Baiyu. He carried him and walked towards Lin Xin's compound next door with Bloody.

As they departed, Mr. Fu lifted his head and looked at the sun far away. He smirked. "It's a new year!"

After watching them for a while, he then turned around and walked towards the loft behind him with his hands behind his back.

Initially, Lin Huang thought he would be able to rest during the last few days at the end of the year. Never had he thought he would be dragged into being a slave and miss guarding the year with Lin Xin.

She was still sleeping when they arrived at her compound. Lin Huang did not wake her. Instead, he put Huang Baiyu down in a small pavilion in the courtyard and sat on the stone stool.

Bloody walked to the stone stool across him and sat down.

"Judging from Huang Baiyu's conversion earlier, I think Virtual God rank-3 is the limit of the solution. If it were Virtual God rank-4, I'm afraid it'd be difficult even for Mr. Fu to detonate the Godhead," Lin Huang told Bloody.

"It'll still work, but the controller might have to be a true god-level powerhouse when handling Virtual Gods above Virtual God rank-4." Bloody thought about and explained, "But, indeed, there are many uncertainties for Godheads that are obtained from other sources. It's very hard to figure what oddity some Godheads might have before the process begins. Even the refiners themselves are unsure of the Godheads that they've refined. Just like Huang Haoyang who underwent the conversion before Huang Baiyu, even he had no idea that he refined a Godhead with fire attribute."

"I think if Mr. Fu really wants to make this into a business, it's best not to take virtual god-level powerhouses in. He can only do it for demigods," Bloody could not help but suggest, "After all, the success rate is already so low. If he encounters those with problematic Godheads like Huang Haoyang's, death is almost guaranteed."

"I was just thinking about that," Lin Huang responded, "I really hope there are more virtual god-level powerhouses in this gravel world, and the more powerful they are, the better. However, the success rate is an issue. Also, the conversion is quite a burden to master. On the other hand, elevating demigods have a high success rate and it's easier for him."

"We can tell the people that we've only found a way to elevate demigods to Virtual Gods, but we haven't found a way to convert a Virtual God's Godhead." Lin Huang came up with a plan.

Since Lin Xin was still sleeping after speaking to Bloody, Lin Huang thought of bringing Bloody out of Dynasty's headquarters. They went to the fat lady's dumpling stall for breakfast.

The fat lady and uncle were still the same, busy working in the stall.

The fat uncle saw Lin Huang's familiar face, so he greeted him with a wide grin immediately. The fat lady's temptation to pry burned strongly when she saw Bloody.

"Master Emperor, have you brought a girl to our dumpling stall today? This lady is so pretty! Master Emperor, I don't mean to be offensive, but you should bring such a beautiful lady to a higher-end restaurant."

"Aunty, your stall is pretty high-end. Look around you, which stall within 20 miles has a longer queue than yours every morning?" Lin Huang teased.

The uncle continued with a grin, "That's right. What's wrong with dumplings? Our dumplings are one-of-a-kind in Emperor City. How are we not a high-end restaurant?"

The lady narrowed her eyes until there were only two slits as she spoke, "A man is always lying with his lips! The sweeter the things he says, the more you can't believe him!"

Bloody simpered when she heard that comment. She began to understand that humans were animals who said things they did not mean.

"You can try their dumplings," Lin Huang recommended, "If you don't like them, their sticky rice cake is pretty delicious too."

Lin Huang said that because Bloody used to only eat desserts whenever she was snacking. Her favorite food was sweets, and her second favorite was sugary drinks in all flavors as well as dessert. She was never interested in savory food such as dumplings.

However, now that she had elevated to mythical-level, Lin Huang was not sure if her tastebuds had changed.

Soon, the fat uncle brought two servings of dumplings.

Bloody used her chopsticks to take a nibble out of one dumpling. She then put it down and shook her head.

"Seems like your tastebuds remain unchanged." Lin Huang smiled and called to the fat uncle, "Uncle, a serving of sticky rice cake, please!"

"Sure, coming right up!"

The fat lady brought a small serving of four sticky rice cakes.

Bloody sniffed it in confusion. Judging by the smell, it smelled sweet, but there was the aroma of sticky rice. She was unsure if it was appealing or not.

She took a small bite of one with her chopsticks. The confusion on her face morphed into joy all of a sudden. She then picked up another sticky rice cake and shoved it into her mouth quickly.

"It's yummy, isn't it?" Lin Huang knew that she would like that.

Bloody nodded enthusiastically immediately.

When Lin Huang was done with half a serving of dumplings, Bloody had finished all four pieces of sticky rice cake. Lin Huang ordered another portion for her after noticing that.

The uncle noticed this and could not help reminding, "Our sticky rice cake is pretty filling. The most I can eat is two servings and I wouldn't be able to have lunch later on. You guys can get a refund if you can't finish. Don't force it down."

"Don't worry about it, Uncle. I'll pack it for lunch if we really can't finish it," Lin Huang assured kindly.

After the uncle left, Bloody finished another serving of sticky rice cake quickly.

Before Lin Huang could finish the second serving of dumplings, Bloody had inhaled the third serving of sticky rice cake.

Lin Huang raised his eyebrow when he realized that Bloody was looking at him in hunger. "Do you want more?"

Bloody nodded immediately.

"Then, I'll order two more servings for take-away and get a serving of dumplings for Xin Er."

Bloody's take-away was ready when Lin Huang was finished eating.

The duo then stood up and returned to Dynasty's headquarters. It was past seven in the morning when they were done with breakfast, and Lin Xin had just woken up when they arrived at the courtyard.

"Wash up now and have some breakfast." Lin Huang brought the dumplings that he had packed to the first floor and put it on the dining table.

"Coming!" Lin Xin's voice chimed from the second floor.

Bloody unpacked the sticky rice cake right away and began munching away at the table.

When Lin Xin got down, Bloody had finished the two servings of sticky rice cakes that she brought back.

"Brother, where did you go yesterday? I was guarding the year last night and I waited until 1 a.m. but I didn't see you," Lin Xin asked as soon as she saw Lin Huang when she arrived downstairs after putting on her slippers.

"Master dragged me to be his slave in the middle of the night. We were only done when it was almost six in the morning," Lin Huang explained with a comforting smile. "Don't worry. It's the first day of the New Year today. I'll guard the year with you tonight to remedy for last night."

Lin Xin pouted when she heard his response, "What's the point? Guarding the year means guarding the last day of the year and watching the New Year start. It doesn't make sense to guard the year today."

"Alright, I'll do it tonight and bring you shopping tomorrow," Lin Huang extended his condition.

"No, it has to be for three days!" Lin Xin bargained.

"Alright, three days it is," Lin Huang agreed to that bitterly since he figured there should not be anything happening the next three days.

Winter break in the gravel world usually lasted for more than two months from the end of December to the beginning of March.

Even cultivator organizations such as the Union Government and the Hunter Association would have a ten-day holiday during the end of the year. Apart from a minority of members guarding the organizations, the operations of the entire company's were basically stopped.

Naturally, it was the same for Dynasty whereby they had a standard ten-day holiday. During the first few days of New Year, apart from Huang Tianfu and the ten staff who had nowhere to go, Lin Huang's family was the only one that remained in Dynasty's headquarters. The massive headquarters was very quiet.

Since Lin Huang missed guarding the year with Lin Xin, he agreed to the unfair terms to go shopping with her.

In reality, he wanted to seize the opportunity to accompany Lin Xin, figuring that he would leave the gravel world soon after the New Year. After all, many things were still a question mark in the great world. He might not have enough strength to protect himself, so it would be unrealistic to bring Lin Xin along.

Lin Xin started to bug Lin Huang to bring her shopping after she finished the dumplings that he had packed.

"Can't you just stay at home on the first day of the New Year?" Lin Huang looked helpless.

"But it's so boring here. There's nobody in the entire Dynasty, and there's no New Year atmosphere here." Lin Xin gave a legit reason. "Since Sister Bloody is here, I'll get Brother Xiao Mo while you summon Little Witch and Sister Kylie, then we'll go shopping together."

"Summon Little Witch and Sister Kylie? What are you trying to do? Tear Emperor City apart?" Lin Huang asked while staring at her.

"We're all girls. They can give us their opinions when Sister Bloody and I shop. I can't be trusting you and Brother Xiao Mo, the two straight guys' sense of beauty. Am I right?" Lin Xin said while pouting.

"I think my sense of beauty is fine." Lin Huang had never thought there was anything wrong with his sense of beauty.

"Alright then." Lin Xin did not dwell on that with Lin Huang. Instead, she took out ten lipsticks and asked him after opening the caps, "What's the difference between the color of these lipsticks?"

Lin Huang glanced at the cylindrical tubes and subsequently frowned. "They're all red. What's the difference?"

"Sister Bloody?" Lin Huang turned around to look at Bloody.

Bloody glimpsed and said expressionlessly, "From left to right, it's No. 405 Tomato Red, No. 200 Muddy Maroon, No. 501 Red Bean, No. 154 Plum, No. 407 Moody Red Bean, No. 409 Dark Plum, No. 12 Pinky, No. 333 Maple, No. 80 Ruby and No. 317 Tangerine."

"You're absolutely right!" Lin Xin turned her head and smirked at Lin Huang. "What kind of opinion will you be able to give if I'm getting lipstick later?"

Lin Huang was speechless for a moment. "Alright, you win."

Lin Huang exclaimed secretly after summing Kylie and the Witch, 'Fortunately, this girl has no idea I have another four Bug Tribe Queen Mothers who take form of girls."

Kylie, who had elevated to quadruple mutation, wore a gold and purple armor dress. The material of the armor dress did not look like metal. Instead, it was more like a combination of metal and fabric that fluttered in the wind. Furthermore, the style looked luxurious. The patterns and designs on it were complex yet elegant. One could tell that it was tens of times or even up to a hundred times more expensive than an armor dress of the same rank.

She finally did not wear a mask on her face. She had a beautiful face but it was intimidating, especially her eyes. There were no eyeballs, just golden flashes of lightning that were sparkling.

On the other hand, the Witch no longer looked like a 15 or 16-year-old little girl. She had transformed into a young lady with long, shapely legs. She wore a black short skirt, showing off her pair of legs. In addition to that, her breasts and butt were perfectly proportioned. In short, she was sexy.

Meanwhile, her face looked like it belonged to a seductive mistress. Men might not be able to help but steal a glance at her a few times. A look was all it would take to make a man fall in love.

Lin Xin was stunned since it was her first time seeing the duo's brand new look.

She only snapped back to her senses a while later. "It's better if you guys change. You're attracting too much attention. Sister Kylie, put on some sunglasses to cover your eyes."

Lin Huang contacted Xiao Mo as Lin Xin got the two girls to change.

Xiao Mo was stunned when he saw the Witch and Kylie when he got there. He could not help but ask Lin Huang who the two girls were. To his disbelief, he found out that they were imperial monsters.

It was past eight in the morning when the two girls were done changing.

Lin Huang and the gang headed towards the shopping district as soon as they left home.

The two handsome men and the four beautiful ladies attracted attention as soon as they strolled on the streets.

If everyone in Emperor City did not know who Lin Huang was, many might have thought that the city was having a parade whereby the six of them were a new band.

Lin Huang and Lin Xin had gotten used to being watched, but Xiao Mo felt uneasy.

Among the three summoning beasts, Bloody and Little Witch did not care about the attention. However, Kylie disliked the attention.

The six of them grabbed even more attention when they reached the shopping district.

It was crowded in the shopping district, and there were people everywhere. All the stores were opened and the staff on shift were busy. Undoubtedly, their efficiency was much lower than usual since they were understaffed. It caused a long queue which wasted more time for the shoppers than usual. The entire shopping district was even more packed than the average day.

"There are so many people today!" Lin Xin complained to Lin Huang, "And you said people usually stay at home on the first day of the New Year."

"Buy whatever you want now. We're having lunch with Master when we're done." Lin Huang changed the subject directly.

"How do I know what I want if I don't shop?" Lin Xin had a different logic.

Lin Huang wanted to argue her logic, but he gave up on the idea when he thought about it. He recalled something that he had heard before. 'Don't try to argue with a girl because they always think they're right.'

The two men and three human-form pets followed Lin Xin shopping from one store to another.

Lin Huang noticed that Lin Xin had no purpose when she was shopping. She had no idea what she wanted to buy.

If Lin Huang were to shop, he would first choose the item that he was looking for and exclude the rest. He would only shop for one type of targeted item.

For instance, if he was looking for a t-shirt, he would only go into t-shirt stores. If there was no t-shirt store at first glance, he would skip the entire area.

However, Lin Xin had a different shopping logic.

'Oh, they sell caps here. Let's take a look. This store has nice bags. Let's take a look too. This store has cool sunglasses. Let's go in. Wow, they have such cute dolls! Let's go. This wedding dress is so pretty. Let's take a look. This fitness store is so neat. Let's go in…'

She browsed over 20 stores in the morning alone and tested up to a hundred products. However, in the end, she bought nothing.

The other three female imperial monsters felt nothing. Perhaps because they were girls just like Lin Xin or perhaps monsters were curious about the human world, but they were happy shopping with her.

Even though Kylie did not show any emotions on her face, Lin Huang noticed that she would touch the products that she was interested in.

Xiao Mo had no expression on his face. Lin Xin would always drag him out for shopping when Lin Huang was not around, so he had gotten used to such torture.

However, to Lin Huang, shopping with Lin Xin was even more tiring than refining Virtual God rank-9 Godheads.

At least, he could see the refinement progress that increased daily whenever he refined Godheads. However, Lin Xin buying nothing from her window-shopping spree throughout the entire morning meant 0% progress to him.

After lunch with Mr. Fu, Lin Xin recovered her strength. She then brought Lin Huang and the rest to begin a new round of shopping.

Mr. Fu had asked Lin Huang what he was going to do in the afternoon at lunch. Upon hearing that he was going shopping with Lin Xin, he left with the excuse that an old man like him needed a nap after lunch.

Since it was the New Year, all the stores in the shopping district closed earlier than usual.

All of the stores closed when they shopped until almost 9 p.m. on the first day. Lin Xin returned to Dynasty's headquarters unwillingly.

At night, Lin Huang brought Huang Tianfu and the rest of the staff who stayed back out for a reunion dinner. It was considered the replacement reunion dinner that he missed yesterday.

On the second and third days, Lin Huang and Xiao Mo brought Lin Xin shopping in the morning and would go home late. They would head out at 8 a.m. and returned after 10 p.m. every day.

Throughout the three days, Lin Xin brought them to the five biggest shopping districts and seven big shopping complexes in Emperor City.

They had stopped in at least 300 stores and looked at up to 1,000 products. In the end, Lin Xin bought a pair of shoes, a shoulder tote, and some ten presents for Bloody and the other two.

She was thinking of getting Lin Huang and Xiao Mo something, but both of them declined her offer directly.

Lin Huang was finally relieved when he returned to the Emperor Place on the night of the third day of the New Year.

"The three days of torture have finally come to an end!"

Lin Huang finally eased into rest mode officially after the third day of the New Year.

However, he did not stay idle. He was learning new sword skills every day.

He would master a new pseudo-mythical-level sword skill almost every day. As he mastered more and more sword skills, he could faintly sense that his level-6 Sword Dao was approaching its peak.

Time flew by, and very soon a week had passed.

The tenth day of the New Year was the last day of holiday for many, including the people in Dynasty.

It was the 11th day of the New Year on the 3rd of March. All the organizations basically went back to their normal working operations.

Lin Huang called for a meeting with Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan early in the morning.

Since it was the first meeting of the year, Huang Tufu rushed back to the headquarters from Division 3.

The rest of the upper echelons were basically there.

At the meeting table, the six demigod Dukes gaped at Huang Tianfu and the rest in confusion. They clearly sensed that Huang Tianfu and the other six of them were now on virtual god-level. It was unexpected.

The six of them asked about it through voice transmission. The only response they got was, "Master Emperor will explain later."

The meeting officially began at 9 a.m.

It was still hosted by Huang Tianfu who welcomed Lin Huang after starting the meeting.

"The purpose of this meeting is to gather everyone since the New Year has started. After all, it's a new beginning with new plans. While I have many plans for myself this year, so does Dynasty.

"The first thing I would like to announce is that Mr. Fu is settling in Dynasty," Lin Huang explained further upon seeing many of them appearing surprised.

"I know that you guys have many doubts. The legendary Mr. Fu is my master. He used to be on Virtual God rank-8 and he's now on Virtual God rank-9. I invited him to come into Dynasty before the New Year, and he's temporarily staying for a year."

"Mr. Fu coming in won't affect Dynasty's daily operations. Dynasty will still be led by Huang Tianfu, Huang Wunan, and Huang Tufu. Mr. Fu is only responsible for Dynasty's safety matters."

Many of them were finally relieved to hear that. They were a little worried that Dynasty would have a change in authority structure when they first heard about Mr. Fu moving in. It seemed like Lin Huang had invited Mr. Fu there to provide Dynasty with a pillar of support.

"The second thing is what you guys have witnessed—Tianfu and the rest have elevated to virtual god-level.

"I've successfully found a way to elevate demigod-levels to virtual god-level. I've also gotten Mr. Fu to help Tianfu and the rest of the powerhouses on perfect-stage demigod-level to virtual god-level.

"Such an elevation process must follow the strict steps that I provide. Apart from that, only high-level Virtual Gods such as Mr. Fu can carry out the process. Furthermore, the basic condition is that the person to be elevated must be on perfect-stage demigod-level and the Life Power in his body will have to be fully converted to Divine Power. That's the reason why the six demigod Dukes present today weren't informed before the New Year.

"The third thing is that I have a portion of God's Blood that can help demigods to accelerate their conversion of Life Power to Divine Power. I'll get Tianfu's help to delegate it out the next few days.

"As the God's Blood might not be able to get all the demigods to perfect-stage demigod-level, it will be distributed according to the contribution points that all of you obtained last year. Those who have more contribution points will be given the God's Blood first while those who have less will be awarded later. Does anybody have anything to say about the sequence?"

All six of the demigods shook their heads.

In reality, it was very fair to carry out the dissemination by one's contribution points. Moreover, Lin Huang had taken over Dynasty last year, so it made sense to disseminate the God's Blood based on a year of contribution points.

"So, I'll hand over the God's Blood to Tianfu. He'll elevate you guys to perfect-stage demigod-level when he's done giving out the God's Blood and send me the list of those who are elevating to Virtual Gods. I'll then get Mr. Fu to handle that.

"The fourth thing is also related to demigods elevating to Virtual God. I've discussed this with Mr. Fu. We're planning to announce this news to the public. After all, we can't hide this forever as soon as there are that many Virtual Gods in Dynasty. It's better that we let people know now.

"We have plans to charge organizations other than Dynasty for the service. So, don't think that you guys won't have any competition and that you'll be able to relax as soon as you guys have elevated to Virtual God."

"The reason we came up with such a decision is mainly that disaster is hitting our gravel world soon. We need virtual god-level powerhouses to handle the crisis.

"Of course, the exact announcement will be made when this round of Dynasty demigods are done with the elevation. Therefore, I hope that all of you complete the elevation to virtual god-level as soon as you can when you get the God's Blood. Those who have insufficient God's Blood will have to obtain them before the news goes out. The price of the God's Blood might shoot up after that.

"Apart from those of you are present today, I'll get Tianfu to inform the rest of the demigods. However, I hope that you guys won't spread this news out before Dynasty does officially. If I find anyone spreading the news intentionally, I'll get Mr. Fu to sever the person's cultivation base and dispel the person from Dynasty. That will be the end of the person's relationship with Dynasty!"

Lin Huang glanced at everyone before speaking again, "The fifth thing is the circle that Dynasty has built with the Union Government.

"At the moment, the Union Government and Hunter Association are the leaders. The Mystic Butterfly is the fence-sitter while the heretics aren't powerful enough. I'm getting Misery to join for the balance of the circle and to impede the Union Government and Hunter Association. From now on, Misery will be our secret ally, but publicly, Dynasty isn't on the same side with them.

"As soon as Misery joins us, the development of the circle must slow down. We can't grow too fast. Dynasty's current priority is to deepen the collaboration with all major organizations so that the Union Government, the Hunter Association, and the Mystic Butterfly won't leave us. The circle will only be preliminarily stabilized when we've achieved that.

"Before the disaster condemns this gravel world, the Union Government will definitely want to lead this circle. There's no need for Dynasty to revolt their leadership. All we have to do is to win the same position as them. They can lead, but Dynasty must be included in the leadership. In other words, this is the main development direction for this circle for the next one to two years. We'll discuss the details further next time."

Lin Huang put a halt in the discussion of the circle and said no further for a few moments.

"The sixth thing is that I'll leave the gravel world for a while after I'm done with everything on my plate."

Everyone gawked at Lin Huang when he announced that.

"How long will you be gone?" Huang Tianfu asked immediately.

"A year at the moment. Of course, I hope that I can get back before the disaster befalls. Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense for me to return," Lin Huang said, "I'll give Tianfu a communication measure. If something really happens in the gravel world, contact me and I'll get back as soon as I can."

"But none of the people who left our world have ever returned," Huang Tufu muttered while frowning.

"The main reason is that they can't return to our world since they've elevated to true god-level," Lin Huang explained, "I'm only on imperial-level, so it's not difficult to return as long as I find the route. Even if I can't find the route myself, I can get Royal to help me. After all, I'm a rank-A Royalty."

The people were relieved when they heard Lin Huang. In reality, they were a little afraid that Dynasty would become ownerless again if Lin Huang died. Then, Royal would cut their resources off again.

"That's more or less what I've got to say today. I'll sort out the details in the next two days and send it to the three Grand Dukes. You guys can discuss it when they've studied the details and approved it."

After setting Dynasty's direction, Lin Huang delegated the rest to Bloody.

She spent less than half a day coming up with a series of plans. All of them contained detailed steps.

Lin Huang scanned through the plans Bloody came up with roughly and sent them to the three Grand Dukes.

On the second morning, Lin Huang visited Misery again.

While setting Misery's one-year development plan, he also discussed elevating demigods to Virtual Gods as well as getting them to join Dynasty's circle.

As Zhi Ji was a Virtual God rank-9 powerhouse himself, Lin Huang did not want to bother Mr. Fu, so he got Bloody to teach Zhi Ji the way to elevate demigods to Virtual Gods right away. He told him over and over again that it could only be used on Misery's internal members and had to be kept a secret. If anybody asked, they had to say that it was Mr. Fu of Dynasty who helped them achieve it.

When it came to converting a Virtual God's Godhead, Lin Huang also told them that they must inform him beforehand if they wanted to do so because the failure rate would be high if Zhi Ji were to do it himself.

Naturally, Misery was more than happy to join the circle. After all, cultivation resources were what Misery lacked the most. Apart from ruins and sites, they would be given access to all cultivation resources through trade as well. Furthermore, basically all the top-grade cultivation resources were monopolized by the major organizations. Very few of them were open to trading with other organizations. However, it would be a different case with the circle between Dynasty and the Union Government. All of the barriers caused by the monopoly would be broken down.

Figuring that he was leaving soon, Lin Huang even gave a part of Royal's authorization to Zhi Ji and Jie Wu, allowing Misery members the access to enter the trial zones.

Lin Huang mumbled to himself while holding his chin sitting on the throne in the Emperor's Palace when he returned to Emperor City, "I've basically arranged everything I need to for Misery and Dynasty. I'm almost done with all I need to handle before leaving the gravel world. Now, the only thing that's left for me to do is to visit the ruins where Qi Muxiong hid the Goldfinger."

Bloody, who was sitting aside and coming up with the one-year detailed plan for Misery, lifted her head and said to Lin Huang, "If I were you, I'd read through all the books in the libraries and archives in the major organizations. Also, I'll visit all the ruins and sites above grade-5 that are open to take as many resources as I can. I won't miss anything."

"These two ideas sound great!" Lin Huang's eyes lit up when he heard.

However, he soon frowned. "But I'm afraid it'll require a long time to read all the books in the libraries and archives even with the Epiphany Card."

At the moment, Xiao Hei, who had been quiet for a long time, spoke all of a sudden, "There's a card called the Memory Card that can store a sea of information. When the saving is done, it'll be integrated into your brain memory automatically."

"There's such an amazing item?" Lin Huang bought one and looked at it after hearing about the existence of the Memory Card.

"Memory Card

"Type of Card: Function Card

"Rarity: Grade-2

"Function: The card will save the content that the host wants to save as soon as it's activated.

"Remark 1: A Memory Card can only be used once no matter how much it contains.

"Remark 2: The user will only need to specify the content and the card will handle the rest as soon as it has been activated.

"Remark 3: When the Memory Card is done storing the memory, it will become a part of the user's memory automatically. The part of memory doesn't occupy the user's brain memory.

"Remark 4: The duration of memory saving depends on the volume. The more memory there is, the longer it takes to save. On the contrary, it will take a shorter time if there's a smaller volume."

"This card is great, but I wonder what's the saving speed like." Lin Huang put the card away and devised a plan.

He applied to visit the Central Library and the Central Archive from the Union Government immediately.

When he discussed collaboration with the Union Government while representing Dynasty earlier, he had obtained the highest reading access for a month. However, he still had to apply before he visited each time.

Such a procedure was not only applicable to Lin Huang but to everyone, including the chief of the Union Government, Jiang Shan. Even he would have to submit the application beforehand to access the highest reading authorization.

It could only be accessed by one person at a time. Therefore, the Central Library came up with an application system with the Union Government. Everyone would have to book their slot beforehand and the library would assign them access for the time slot booked. With this system, there would not be any conflict. Although very few people were given the access, the system indeed helped to avoid awkwardness when one entered but failed to be granted access.

The Central Library responded after three minutes Lin Huang submitted his applications.

"Dear Mr. Lin Huang, you applied to access the Central Library's highest reading authorization from 9 a.m. on the 5th of March to 9 a.m. on the 6th of March. The total duration will be 24 hours. The application has been approved. Please be at the Central Library at the booked slot.

"Dear Mr. Lin Huang, you applied to access the Central Archive's highest reading authorization from 9 a.m. on the 6th of March to 9 a.m. on the 7th of March. The total duration will be 24 hours. The application has been approved. Please be at the Central Library at the booked slot."

Lin Huang was elated to see both of his applications being approved.

On the next day, which was the 5th of March, he rushed to the First City after breakfast early in the morning.

He had a cup of coffee outside the Central Library. Only when it was 9 a.m., he stood up and headed to the library for the slot he booked.

The library was almost occupied early in the morning.

Lin Huang glanced through the first floor to find that most of the seats were taken. He walked passed the hall and headed straight to the elevator.

After scanning his ID on his Emperor's Heart Ring, the elevator took him to the highest floor of the Central Library, the ninth floor.

Lin Huang was a little puzzled when he arrived on this floor. He looked around.

Apart from a sealed container and a chair, there was nothing else.

Transparent liquid filled the transparent sealed container. There was a tissue the size of a basketball that looked like a human brain soaked in the liquid. Neither did it have tentacles, nor other extra appendages. It looked like an enlarged human brain floating quietly.

Meanwhile, the chair was placed approximately a meter before the sealed container.

The chair was ordinary. It was made of wood, and the pattern on the surface looked shiny from the collision. Clearly, someone else favored this seat.

Lin Huang looked around and sat on the chair while concluding that there was nothing else on this floor.

Just when he sat on the chair, the 'brain' in the container experienced a tremor all of a sudden. Constant bubbling frothed in the container.

A deep voice came into Lin Huang's ears at the same time. "What kind of information are you looking for?"

Stunned, Lin Huang realized that it should be the 'brain' in the container that had spoken. However, he soon snapped back to his senses.

"I don't have specific information that I'm looking for. I want to look at everything you have."

The 'brain' in the sealed container did not expect Lin Huang to say that. It went silent for a moment while a couple of bubbles rose in the transparent liquid.

Subsequently, the deep voice came again. "Interesting… You only have 24 hours."

"I know." Lin Huang smiled while nodding.

Almost at the same time, the container and the brain before Lin Huang disappeared. The walls around the entire floor turned into projected images. The same happened to the ceiling and the floor beneath his feet. There were up to ten thousands of images of all sizes.

Lin Huang glanced through the images and smirked. He crushed a Memory Card quietly.

As soon as the Memory Card was activated, the thousands of images began moving as if they had lost control.

The Memory Card only took less than three hours to download everything in the Central Library.

In reality, Lin Huang had been cultivating Seamless with his eyes closed during the few hours. He only opened his eyes when the Memory Card had downloaded all of the information and become memories in his head.

It was not even 12 p.m. when he checked the time. It would not make sense for him to stay, so he stood up and left.

He ate something around the library and contacted the chief of the Union Government, Jiang Shan.

Jiang Shan was surprised to see that it was Lin Huang who called. He picked up anyway.

Lin Huang asked while smiling as soon as the video call was connected, "Master Chief, could you help me change the slot that I booked for the archive visit tomorrow to today instead?"

"Didn't you apply to visit the library today?" Jiang Shan asked with his brow raised. He knew that Lin Huang submitted the applications yesterday.

"I've found the stuff I was looking for at the library." Lin Huang came up with an excuse. "So, I thought I'd drop by the archive today instead of tomorrow."

"I'll speak to the people at the archive. I'll change the time slot for you if nobody is using it in the afternoon. However, you'll have to wait until tomorrow if somebody is using it in the afternoon." To Jiang Shan, such a favor was nothing as long as it did not interfere with the archive regulations. After all, amending the time slot at the last minute was permitted. "They'll inform you whether they can amend the time slot for you later."

"Thanks, Master Chief!" Just when Lin Huang was going to hang up, Jiang Shan stopped him.

"Emperor Lin, I happened to have something to discuss with you."

Lin Huang was stunned to hear that. The first thought that came into his mind was, 'Did someone expose that we've elevated demigods to Virtual Gods?"

However, his face remained calm. "Do tell, Master Chief."

"The Hunter Association spoke to me twice. They're looking into working with you guys. What they mainly want is access to the trial zones."

"Sure, we can discuss the time later," Lin Huang agreed to that right away.

In reality, he wanted to see if there was anything useful in the Hunter Association's library and archives.

After hanging up the call with Jiang Shan, the archive sent him a message in less than two minutes. The amendment of the time slot had been approved.

The time was amended from 1 p.m. on the 5th to 1 p.m. on the 6th.

To Lin Huang, the hours given were not important. As long as the information was downloaded by the Memory Card, he would no longer need to return to the library and archive in the future.

Lin Huang made it to the archive at 1 p.m.

In reality, it was a huge building that was similar to the library. He arrived on the ninth floor after scanning his Emperor's Heart Ring.

The setting was similar to the library. There was also a tissue that looked like a human brain floating in a transparent sealed container.

The difference was the color of the brain. The one in the library was light red while this one was sky blue.

Given his experience in the morning, Lin Huang got the blue brain to get him all the information that was available in the archive directly.

After crushing another Memory Card, it began to download the information automatically.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang closed his eyes and began cultivating Seamless in a relaxed manner. The second the Memory Card stopped downloading the information around two hours later, it became a part of Lin Huang's memory. He stood up and left right after he opened his eyes.

As he arrived at the entrance of the archive, Lin Huang summoned a dimensional portal and returned to Emperor City.

The first thing he did as soon as he arrived at the Emperor's Palace was to share everything in the two Memory Cards with Bloody.

With Bloody's computing skills, she spent over two hours digesting everything in the two Memory Cards.

"The information load is pretty huge," Bloody could not help but exclaim after she was done digesting all of the information.

"Is there anything useful?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"Yes, quite a number of them. However, the real secrets should be sealed by the Union Government. For instance, there should be complete production drawings for weapons containing rule power. However, there's no such thing in the memory that you shared with me. Also, the item lists that were excavated from the ancient ruins are missing. There should be many secrets in them."

"It's normal for them to be sealing such information. After all, I'm just an outsider. It's impossible for the Union Government to reveal everything to me," Lin Huang, on the other hand, was understanding. "If I were Jiang Shan, I would seal that information and hide them from everyone else."

Bloody nodded and proceeded to speak, "There are quite a number of useful information too, especially in cultivation alone."

"There are 14 god-level sword skills that you can use and 37 pseudo-mythical-level sword skills. Including sword skills, there are a total of 63 god-level and 218 pseudo-mythical-level martial skills. There are also three divine skills and up to a hundred secret skills…"

As Lin Huang was talking to Bloody about the information that he obtained, a message came all of a sudden.

Lin Huang saw that it was Jiang Shan who had sent the message. He said that the Hunter Association had decided the time when they would visit Dynasty the next day.

In less than five minutes after Jiang Shan sent the message, Huang Tianfu informed Lin Huang that he had received the Hunter Association's appointment.

The Hunter Association even published the appointment on the Internet.

In reality, Lin Huang could understand why they did that. They were afraid that people might take photos of the Hunter Association's upper echelons visiting Dynasty, so they announced it instead.

The content of the appointment was simple. They were going to discuss a collaboration with Dynasty.

However, everyone on the Internet was discussing it despite the appointment having very vague content.

After being quiet for a few months, Dynasty was trending on No. 2 on the Internet again.

The Hunter Association was trending as No. 1 this time.

Everyone in the cultivation world was talking about this, and the Hunter Forum was the most crowded one.

Most people in the cultivation world had registered themselves as a hunter before even though they had never officially joined the Hunter Association. They could post on the Hunter Forum as long as they had their hunter's license.

The main topic on the Hunter Forum was what exactly Dynasty did the Hunter Association want to work with them on. What kind of collaboration were they looking into?

Meanwhile, in the black market forum, they were discussing what Dynasty had to be attracting the Union Government and the Hunter Association to work with them.

As the Internet was heated with discussion, the Hunter Association's upper echelons appeared in Emperor City in a high profile early in the morning on the 6th of March.

They walked into Dynasty's headquarters while many media representatives snapped pictures.

Lin Huang led the three Grand Dukes who had hidden their combat strength to welcome the people from the Hunter Association.

The discussion between both parties was considered smooth. They came up with the preliminary direction of the collaboration and project in the morning alone.

They then spent two days going through the details and signed the agreement eventually.

Bloody was observing and providing suggestions in the Emperor's Palace throughout the entire process.

Once again, the Hunter Association's collaboration with Dynasty stirred intense talk among many cultivators on the Heart Network.

Many organizations finally noticed Dynasty's odd behavior.

Dynasty collaborated with the Union Government, the heretics, the Mystic Butterfly, and now the Hunter Association. They almost covered half of the top organizations in the entire world.

The thought of such a line-up alone was terrifying.

The Union Government, the Hunter Association, and the Mystic Butterfly were the giants among the top organizations.

Although Dynasty was considered weak as a whole, it was also a giant among them. Moreover, Lin Huang had been developing it rapidly since the one year that he was appointed. Dynasty was considered a legit giant now.

The weakest one would be the heretics. Even though they were an organization with no discipline, they were still a top organization with two Virtual Gods and close to 20 demigods. No matter what, they would be the top five in the line-up with their overall abilities.

Such a majestic line-up could almost wipe out all the organizations in the entire gravel world if they were given access to each other's weapons.

Noticing Dynasty's odd behavior, many organizations had internal meetings to discuss whether they should join the parade.

Some even submitted their applications to the Union Government and Dynasty directly.

As the outside world was in a stir, Lin Huang visited the Hunter Association, the Mystic Butterfly, the heretics, and Misery with his personal identity.

He entered the four organizations' libraries and archives. He spent less than three days downloading all of the information with four Memory Cards.

On the third afternoon, Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring vibrated all of a sudden when he returned to Emperor City and was downloading Dynasty's information.

He took a glance to see that it was Huang Tianfu calling. Usually, Huang Tianfu would not look for him if it was not something urgent.

Lin Huang picked up the video call request right away.

"What's up?"

"Shadow Killer has just contacted me. They want in." Huang Tianfu went straight to the point. "What's your opinion on that?"

Lin Huang thought about it for a moment and nodded. "It's actually fine. If Misery joins us, we'll have four out of five giants. Shadow Killer would've definitely wanted in as soon as they found out. I didn't expect them to be so quick to act."

"However, as soon as Shadow Killer joins us, there'll be two uncertainties — the Mystic Butterfly which was already an uncertainty, and now Shadow Killer." Huang Tianfu raised his concern.

"That's nothing to be worried about. It's impossible for Shadow Killer and the Mystic Butterfly to watch the Union Government take charge. They won't be supporting the Union Government. Instead, they're most likely to gang up. Also, they might collaborate with us. After all, we're a neutral organization. No matter whether it's the former or the latter, there are more advantages than disadvantages for us."

"Make an appointment then. Let's see what exactly Shadow Killer wants. Also, settle Misery's agreement as soon as you can to avoid any changes when Shadow Killer comes in," Lin Huang reminded.

"Misery has submitted their review. It's currently stuck on the Union Government and the Hunter Association's side. They didn't decline us directly, but neither did they agree to it," Huang Tianfu updated about the situation.

"We shouldn't interfere in this. Let Misery talk to them themselves." Lin Huang said that because Dynasty could not be too close to Misery on the surface.

"Oh yeah, how's the sorting out of the God's Blood going?" Lin Huang asked again.

"I've sorted it out according to the ranking of contribution points. However, it's almost enough whereby the last person lacks a few drops to complete the elevation. I've gotten him to look for it himself. Those who have received the God's Blood these two days have been elevating to perfect-stage demigod-level."

"That's great."

Lin Huang proceeded to cultivate Seamless after hanging up. The Memory Card downloading function was completely automatic. As long as Lin Huang did not pause the download, it would not be affected no matter what Lin Huang was doing. Naturally, it was not interrupted by the video call either.

When it was past five in the afternoon, he had finally downloaded everything available in Dynasty's library and archive.

He had dinner at Dynasty's canteen. After that, he returned to the Emperor's Palace and shared all of the downloaded memories with Bloody.

Lin Huang closed his eyes when Bloody was sorting out the information. He began reading Qi Muxiong's inherited memory.

When he elevated to imperial-level earlier, Qi Muxiong's inherited memory had been unsealed. However, he was too busy back then, so he only took a glance at it and put it aside.

Nevertheless, it was the unsealing of Qi Muxiong's memory that reminded Lin Huang that the Goldfinger Qi Muxiong possessed as a traveler just like him was sealed in a ruins.

"The location of the ruins…" Lin Huang browsed through the inherited memory rapidly to look for where the Goldfinger was sealed. Soon, he finally found where the ruins were. He was a little dumbstruck when he saw it. "It's in the virtual zone?!"

"So, Qi Muxiong went to the virtual zone and made it back alive?" With that doubt in mind, Lin Huang began sifting through Qi Muxiong's memories.

The virtual zone was the fourth layer of the Abyss Brink. It was also the most dangerous forbidden area in the entire world. Legend had it that none of the people who entered the virtual zone made it back to the gravel world alive.

However, many ancient documents that were left behind recorded that the virtual zone was a gateway leading to another world.

In reality, Lin Huang was planning to leave the gravel world via the virtual zone.

One of the reasons why he believed that the virtual zone was a gateway was due to such records in many ancient books. Another reason was that there was a similar record in Wu Mo's inherited memories.

Another reason was that he obtained a description of such a gateway in those members' memories from the great world when he was in the Royal Trials.

All of the mini-worlds and gravel worlds with incomplete rules were the broken pieces in the central continent of the great world at a certain time or space. They were connected to the great world's central continent when they were created. Such connections made at least an invisible spatial gateway between the central continent and those gravel worlds as well as the mini-worlds. As long as the gravel worlds and mini worlds did not die, the spatial gateway connecting the central continents would be open forever.

Lin Huang also obtained the gateway's characteristics from those memories. To put it simply, there was no turning back. The reason was that such a dimensional gateway only worked one-way. In reality, it was a natural protection setting to prevent the powerhouses from the great world from stealing and enslaving the mini worlds and gravel worlds.

However, Lin Huang found nothing about the virtual zone after spending a couple of hours looking through Qi Muxiong's memories.

Filled with skepticism, Lin Huang shared that part of the memory with Bloody. He wanted her help to see what exactly the problem was.

Bloody spent half an hour scanning through the inheritance. She gave an answer that Lin Huang never expected. "This inherited memory is incomplete. To be exact, apart from this inheritance being real, much of the content in the memory was made by a powerful spiritual technique. A complete story was made up of facts and lies."

"It's made up?!" Lin Huang was shocked. Excluding the part of the memories which was only unsealed when he elevated to imperial-level, he had looked through the memories at least ten times when he was cultivating Seamless earlier. He had never noticed anything wrong.

"Don't you think apart from cultivation and battles, this memory of his seems to be acted out from a script? The people that he met during his daily life are like non-player characters in games. Even what they say is almost the same every time they meet, don't you think?"

"Daily life?" Lin Huang looked at it immediately.

He usually skipped those parts whenever he looked through the memories. Apart from scanning through it roughly the first time, he basically skipped it every time after that. As expected, he soon noticed that something was off after Bloody reminded him about it.

"Indeed, these people sounded weird and they behaved strangely too. I didn't notice anything from that single conversation, but everyone seems to be customized from the same set of a model after watching more of them.

"Moreover, in his daily life, many of those people who have zero interaction with him and those buildings, as well as the trees around him, were blurred out. Usually, we retrieve the most original memories when we read someone's memory. As long as we don't zoom in, everything he saw should be clear and detailed. Even if he forgot something, his original memory should be clear as a movie film.

"Also, he made many details up intentionally. He even used some real footage and combined them with the made-up stories. He thought people couldn't tell since it's a combination of real and fake stuff. However, the real portion of the memory had tens of times of information in almost every frame compared to the made-up memories. It causes the made-up memories to be extra crude compared to those details that are usually ignored with the naked eye." Bloody pointed out each issue one after another.

"I've cast parasites on up to a hundred millions of brains and read countless minds. Those amended memories and messed up memories due to some pathological causes in the brain… I can tell them apart easily. Although Qi Muxiong's inherited memory was made by a powerful technique, the effect is too crude. It gives me a feeling that it was made up simply without even trying to hide it."

"So, what's the reason for him to do that? If the inheritance is real, why make up the memory?" Lin Huang could not understand it.

"Nobody knows." Bloody shook her head. "Maybe there were too many embarrassing incidents in his original memory and he's afraid of being humiliated by his descendants. Maybe that's why he made up a fake memory to hide it. Or perhaps there are secrets in his memory that he doesn't want people to know."

She came up with two possible speculations. Lin Huang shook his head to shake off the thought since he could not figure out the answer.

"Forget it. Let's not think about it. Since Qi Muxiong's ruins is in the virtual zone, we'll explore when we go by then. We might retrieve the answer when we get there. Even if we don't, the effort won't be wasted if we get his Goldfinger."

Since Qi Muxiong's ruin was in the virtual zone, Lin Huang would not have to make two trips. The only thing left to do would be to look for loot in other ruins and sites.

In the entire gravel world, there were a total of 13 grade-6 ruins and sites with virtual god-level treasures and there were only four ruins and sites with true god-level treasures.

Lin Huang checked through Zhuge Feifan's memory. These 17 ruins and sites were not opened recently. However, there were three grade-6 ruins that were opened all the time. They belonged to the Union Government, the Hunter Association, and Shadow Killer relatively.

"I can only explore Shadow Killer's ruins when they join the circle. I'll explore the two grade-6 ruins under the Union Government and the Hunter Association's jurisdiction these few days."

Lin Huang submitted his application to the Union Government and the Hunter Association as he thought about this point. He just realized that it was almost midnight when he was done submitting the application.

The next morning, Lin Huang woke up early. He washed up and began to practice his sword skills.

He had boosted his telekinetic threads to more than 60,000 threads from cultivating Seamless the past few days. Now, he had arrived at the peak of his current combat strength.

Since he would not have more telekinetic threads from cultivating Seamless any further, he switched to practicing his sword skills. He happened to have downloaded information from so many organizations these past few days and obtained many sword skills.

Jiang Shan from the Union Government responded when it was almost 9.30 a.m. His application was approved. Some ten minutes later, the Hunter Association also approved his application.

Seeing that it was still early, Lin Huang summoned his dimensional portal without hesitation and headed straight to the First City.

The person who was responsible for welcoming him was still the person he was familiar with, Guan Zhong.

"Master Emperor, it's been a while." Guan Zhong smiled lightly.

"Chief? Why are you here?" To be honest, Lin Huang was a little surprised. Although he held a high position whereby it made sense for the Union Government to send Guan Zhong to welcome him, the thing was that it was not an official visit. It would be alright for them to get anyone to send him to the entrance of the ruins. There was no need for them to send the chief of the Agency EA to serve him.

"I was given the responsibility when I was speaking to the chief this morning." Guan Zhong spread his arms wide.

"You sound like you're reluctant," Lin Huang teased with a grin.

"Definitely not. I agreed to do it with all the willingness in my heart," Guan Zhong said while smiling, "I was excited when I heard that I'm serving you, Master Emperor."

'What an exaggeration…' Lin Huang was speechless.

"In reality, I've got nothing much to do in the past two days, so I thought I'd volunteer myself to give a good impression," Guan Zhong explained further.

"Alright then, let's not beat around the bush. Let's get to business." Lin Huang did not bother to dwell on that topic with Guan Zhong.

Guan Zhong nodded and summoned a dimensional portal directly. He opened the door and gestured for Lin Huang to go in first. Then, he went in after him.

A moment later, Lin Huang realized he was clearly no longer in the First City when he stepped out of the dimensional portal.

There were mountains after mountains all around him as he gaped around him. Moreover, there was snow beneath his feet. It was obviously not spring in the First City.

"Where is this?" Lin Huang could not help but ask as he looked around.

"A forbidden area that's unpopular," Guan Zhong answered. However, he added, figuring that his response was a little too perfunctory, "As this place is a little secluded, not many people know about it. Therefore, there's no official name for this place. If you must give it a name, the people living in the foothold close to this mountain call it the Crouching Dragon."

"Crouching Dragon…" The name reminded Lin Huang of Sir Tang in a TV drama.

"Is there anything that you're looking for, going into a grade-6 ruin alone, Master Emperor?" Guan Zhong asked while pretending to be casual.

"I'm not looking for anything. I just thought I would take a stroll in ruins that I've never been to before leaving the gravel world," Lin Huang said while smiling. In reality, he did not finish what he was saying. 'And I thought of killing all of the virtual god-level monsters in your ruins!'

The grade-6 ruin under the Union Government's jurisdiction was called the Demon Swamp. It had many abyss creatures and demons. It was said that the total number of monsters exceeded those in the usual grade-6 ruins.

Moreover, through the exploration before, it was known that there were at least 20 virtual god-level monsters in this ruin.

That was the reason why Lin Huang chose to go there first.

"The volcano beneath us is the entrance. It's approximately 1,000 meters beneath the spiritual lava," Guan Zhong said while smiling pointing at the volcano ahead. "Although this ruin is open all year round, almost nobody below imperial-level can get to the entrance."

Lin Huang sensed the intensity of the spirit beneath and nodded. "This spiritual volcano's spirit intensity is above an imperial-level powerhouse's Life Power. With the pressure coming from the depth of 1,000 meters, indeed, it blocks all cultivators below imperial-level from going in."

He looked around and finally found out why the mountain was called the Crouching Dragon. "No wonder this mountain is called the Crouching Dragon. The connected mountain range resembles a winding giant dragon. If I'm not mistaken, we're standing on the dragon's head. Am I right?"

"That's right," Guan Zhong agreed with a smile.

"If this is the dragon's head, then what's that volcano?" Lin Huang asked while pointing at the spiritual volcano beneath them.

"People living nearby call it the dragon jewel."

"They're pretty creative." Lin Huang raised an eyebrow.

He thought the scenery was beautiful as he stood tall at the top of the dragon's head. He snapped a few pictures and said to Guan Zhong calmly, "I'll go down then. Thanks for your service."

"Sure."

Lin Huang leaped and allowed his body to freefall. He only adjusted his direction slightly just before falling into the crater. He summoned a pitch-black god relic battle armor as he entered the crater while his body was engulfed in dust.

A maroon layer of defense emerged on the surface of the battle armor as he inserted his Divine Power into it.

He plunged straight into the boiling lava just when the defense layer appeared.

Heat throbbed from all directions all of a sudden. Even with the Divine Power blocking it out, the spiritual lava made one uncomfortable.

Lin Huang was plummeting rapidly. He scanned the area with his Divine Telekinesis at the same time and soon found where the entrance was.

Guan Zhong, who was standing on top of the dragon's head outside of volcano, watched Lin Huang fall into the crater. He then summoned a dimensional portal and stepped into it.

As he passed through the entrance of the ruin, Lin Huang got a rough idea of the ruin before he landed.

The sky was dark blue, and it looked like night had just fallen. Dusk covered the wilderness.

Lin Huang did not even see a single monster in his field of vision.

However, he could not help but grin as he widened his range of Divine Telekinesis.

"How careless…"

There was no other reason for him to smile so gleefully other than that there were actually monsters around him as he scanned the area with his Divine Telekinesis. There were monsters called Predator Plants disguised as weeds spreading across the wilderness. There were at least tens of thousands of them.

Nonetheless, with his naked eye, Lin Huang did not see any.

Apart from that, there were a couple of Carrion Maggots hiding underground.

The Carrion Maggot was at least ten meters long. Their bodies were as poisonous as pure venom. Although they loved eating rotten meat, they would make an effort to get onto the ground to hunt on their own sometimes.

Although the Predator Plant was an immortal-level monster, the couple of Carrion Maggots underground had imperial-level combat strength.

An imperial-level powerhouse might be at risk if he were to enter such a place without any preparation.

Noticing the existence of the two types of monsters, Lin Huang stopped descending. He summoned Bloody calmly while hovering mid-air.

In her red dress, Bloody sensed the existence of the Predator Plants and Carrion Maggots as soon as she was summoned. "Let's cast parasites on a few of them. See if there's anything useful in their memories about this ruin."

To be honest, Bloody was unwilling to cast her parasite on monsters that had poor combat strength and low grade. However, she did it without hesitation since the order came from Lin Huang.

A few invisible Leech Pods flew out and soon penetrated the few Predator Plants and Carrion Maggots' bodies.

Currently, she had Virtual God rank-2 combat strength. Almost no living thing below Virtual God rank-2 could sense the existence of her Leech Pods. The parasitization on the few local monsters was completed smoothly.

Almost the moment when the Leech Pods penetrated their bodies, the information in those monsters' heads were sent to Bloody.

Bloody spent less than a second sorting that information out.

"This is the south of the ruin. There should be a virtual god-level monster around 8,000 kilometers towards the north. They've no idea about the exact information of that virtual god-level monster. However, I have a rough idea about the exact route following the terrains and distribution of monsters."

"Then, let's head over there. There's no need to waste time using our feet," Lin Huang suggested and summoned Thunder.

Thunder, which had elevated to quadruple mutated mythical-level, had undergone a change of form again. Its feathers were now deep indigo with patches of beautiful golden patterns on them. Its pupils were golden purple. Its body was much more muscular than before, but it did not look bulky at all. Instead, it appeared as elegant as before but was more overbearing now.

Lin Huang leaped onto Thunder's back with Bloody and patted it.

"Follow Bloody's instructions."

Thunder flapped its wings and flew into the sky like a bolt of purple lightning. The entire sky echoed with thunder.

As the purple lightning soared into the sky, Thunder deviated and flew straight towards the north.

Within a minute, they arrived at their destination on Thunder's back.

Lin Huang only sensed the virtual god-level monster with his Divine Telekinesis when he was close.

It was an evil spirit-type monster from the abyss called the Blasphemy Dragonpede. Lin Huang had read about such a monster in the Union Government's archives.

The monster was a dark purple giant centipede. With its two pitch-black wings, it was thousands of meters long.

Its favorite food was dragonkin's babies and sky dragons with dragonkin's bloodline. Moreover, such a monster was deadly. It could poison almost all the monsters on the same combat strength.

Lin Huang also sensed that the monster was only on Virtual God rank-2, which was the same with Bloody and the rest.

While he was going to summon Lancelot to fight it, he never expected Thunder to attack the monster that occupied the swamp as soon as it noticed the monster. It did not even wait for Lin Huang's order.

Black mist curled around the Blasphemy Dragonpede. It lifted its upper body from the swamp when it sensed Thunder's aura from far away. Its hundred legs were dancing with its straighten body, appearing very terrifying.

Seeing Thunder approaching its direction, the Dragonpede shrieked in rage. Underneath, Thunder responded in kind. However, its reply was even more determined.

It flapped both of its wings. The dusky sky was filled with dark clouds that covered the entire sky.

As purple lightning bolts lit up around its body, more lightning sparkled in the clouds above.

Screech!

The lightning bolts around Thunder's body charged when it shrieked for the second time. Countless purple beams of light accumulated between the gaps in its feathers. They turned into thousands of lightning bolts and shot out like a pouring lightning waterfall.

At the same time, the dark clouds in the sky had purple lightning sparkling within them. The lightning rained down like a storm, and soon integrated with the lightning bolts that rained out from Thunder.

Endless purple lightning bolts drowned the gigantic Blasphemy Dragonpede.

However, a shriek emerged from the lightning bolts a moment later. The shriek sounded similar to a dragonkin's shriek, but it was even sharper. There was a ripping sound that sounded more evil and brutal.

Before the shriek ended, a gigantic silhouette flew out of the lightning bolts.

At that moment, the silhouette was at the same height as Thunder. Upon closer inspection, it was the Blasphemy Dragonpede.

It flapped its wings and hovered into the sky. There were faint purple lightning bolts lingering on its dark purple shell. However, the lightning bolts did not seem to affect its movement at all.

Lin Huang also noticed there seemed to be zero wounds on its body. "Hmm, it seems like the attack doesn't work on it."

"It makes sense. A monster such as the Blasphemy Dragonpede has powerful defenses. Furthermore, there's dragonkin bloodline in its body. It has immense immunity to elemental attacks," Bloody explained, "However, Thunder didn't give it its all earlier. It was just attacking it in a testing manner."

Lin Huang nodded. In reality, he could tell that Thunder indeed had not given its all. It was just a test attack. On a certain level, it was using a ranged attack to trigger the Blasphemy Dragonpede.

"Thunder seems to be a little excited to be encountering it, doesn't it?"

"Birds are the natural enemy of snakes and worms, so this is their instinct," Bloody explained further, "It's normal for Thunder to behave like water meeting fire when it encounters such a venomous centipede."

"I see." Lin Huang had always thought that monsters would lose their original instincts when they elevated. He even thought the instinct would go away entirely. Never had he thought that its animal instinct would still be there when Thunder elevated to mythical-level. The hatred between birds and worms did not disappear at all.

Within the short few seconds that Lin Huang and Bloody chatted, Thunder had collided with the Blasphemy Dragonpede a few times.

Although the Blasphemy Dragonpede was powerful, no matter whether it was the natural suppression that Thunder was born with or its low grade, it lost to the latter in all aspects.

Wounds started forming on its body as a result of the few collisions.

Thunder finally stopped testing its foe after gaining a rough understanding of its opponent's ability.

The lightning bolts on its body had now turned golden.

The tiny golden lights under its feathers accumulated into lightning bolts. They then covered the Blasphemy Dragonpede like a web.

The Blasphemy Dragonpede flapped its wings in an attempt to flee. However, it could not overcome the lightning bolts and drowned in it.

This time, black char marks appeared on its shell whenever the golden lightning hit its body. It groaned from the pain.

"Thunder is winning the battle like a piece of cake. Should we catch it alive?" Lin Huang raised his brow when he saw what was happening.

All the while, he was sitting on Thunder's back with Bloody. Although Thunder knew that both of them would be fine even if they got hit by the impact of the battle, it had been protecting them throughout the battle.

"This Blasphemy Dragonpede is born less powerful than Thunder. The fact that it's only triple and a half mutated, it's incomparable with a complete quadruple mutated monster. Moreover, Thunder has a double bloodline of the Thunder Lord and the Storm Phoenix, so it can kill many Virtual God rank-3 monsters." Bloody was not surprised by the outcome of the battle.

Just when she said that, the golden lightning web contracted rapidly. The Blasphemy Dragonpede shrunk together with the web, and Thunder grabbed its head with its claws. Consequently, the Blasphemy Dragonpede totally lost its ability to fight back.

Lin Huang and Bloody leaped from Thunder's back then.

Although it had shrunk substantially, the Blasphemy Dragonpede's head was much bigger than Lin Huang's body.

It glared dangerously at Lin Huang and Bloody with its four bloody eyes. If not for its head that was being squeezed by Thunder, it might have spat toxin to attack the duo standing before it.

However, Lin Huang was fearless as he faced this monster. Even if he did not have Thunder and Bloody next to him, he could fight a Virtual God rank-3 with his current ability. The giant centipede before him only had Virtual God rank-2 combat strength.

On the other hand, Bloody took a step forward directly and pressed her hand against the Blasphemy Dragonpede's head. She was not afraid of the toxin on its body.

Her parasitization was completed within three seconds.

Later on, she spent approximately half a minute reading and sorting out its memories. She then turned around and walked to Lin Huang to share the sorted memories with him.

Lin Huang closed his eyes and took some time to digest it. Then, he opened his eyes again.

"Including this one, there are a total of 23 virtual god-level monsters in this ruin. Most of them are on Virtual God rank-1 to rank-3, and only two of them are on Virtual God rank-4. There are no man-made buildings in the entire ruin, which means we don't have to waste time looking for human remnants and search for treasures."

Lin Huang thought the plan was pretty reliable, whereby he could rest after killing the monsters and wait for the ruin to reset itself.

"There isn't much useful information in this centipede's head." Bloody was dissatisfied with the giant centipede's memories. She suggested after Lin Huang mentioned waiting for the ruins to reset, "According to the Union Government records, the interval to reset the ruin is pretty long. Even if we kill many monsters, it'll take more than 72 hour for each reset. I think it's unnecessary for us to wait for it to reset."

"I think so too," Lin Huang agreed. "With Thunder's speed, I think we'll only take an hour and a half at the most to kill all 23 virtual god-level monsters. After we're done with the first batch of virtual god-level monsters, we'll do it again when it resets at midnight. We can leave right after that, so we don't have to wait for it to reset for the second time. The second reset will take three days. I can kill the monsters in the other two ruins in that time."

"Do we take its Godhead?" Bloody turned her head to look at the Blasphemy Dragonpede.

"There's no need. You can make the Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 monsters your puppets." Lin Huang shook his head. "Now that I'm on imperial-level, the effect of Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 Godheads is dropping. I'd rather make the best of it."

Bloody nodded and said nothing more. She then put the Blasphemy Dragonpede away into her God Territory.

Lin Huang spread his Divine Telekinesis out and searched for loot around the swamp where the Blasphemy Dragonpede lived. He then hopped onto Thunder's back.

"Let's go to our two o'clock about 12,000 kilometers away."

Thunder flapped its wings before Lin Huang could even finish speaking. It flew through the sky like a flash of purple lightning.

The dark clouds in the sky only faded slowly a long time after Thunder left.

Time flew by, and almost an hour had passed.

Lin Huang only managed to kill half of the 23 virtual god-level monsters. His efficiency was much lower than he expected.

In reality, apart from the Blasphemy Dragonpede they first encountered, Lin Huang did not get Thunder to fight those Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 monsters. He got Bloody to cast parasites on them and put them away in her God Territory. Among the Virtual God rank-3 monsters, he summoned Lancelot, the Evil Dominator, Killer, Kylie, and the rest of his battle imperial monsters to practice.

Although he saved ample time by putting the Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 monsters away, the time Lancelot and the rest took to practice was much longer than Lin Huang expected initially.

He thought he would only need one and a half hours to kill all 23 monsters. Unfortunately, after an hour had passed, he had only killed 12 monsters.

"The next one is a Virtual God rank-4 monster. I'm afraid Lancelot and the rest…" Bloody reminded just when Thunder flapped its wings and flew off.

"Lancelot and the rest aren't a match for it." Lin Huang knew his imperial monsters' abilities very well. "So, Bai will fight next."

He was very curious about how much of Bai's ability had increased since it elevated to pseudo-supreme god-level.

Thunder only took a minute to travel across ten thousand kilometers.

Lin Huang and the rest sensed their next target from far away. It was the Rotten Heart.

The Rotten Heart was an evil spirit-type monster with a unique form.

The monster truly looked exactly like its name. It appeared like a gigantic heart that was festering. It was dark with pus all over it. Dark purple veins bulged and throbbed, making it look even more terrifying. It had no eyes, mouth or ears.

It sensed its surroundings through the sonic coming from pumping its own body. In reality, it was similar to a bat.

Standing on Thunder's back, Lin Huang gazed down at the Rotten Heart from far away. As expected, it was the same as recorded in the Union Government's archives.

However, the Rotten Heart also noticed Thunder's existence whilst Lin Huang was observing it from far away. Instinctively, it attacked Thunder from a distance.

A black ray shot out like a lightning bolt, going after Thunder.

Thunder flapped its wings and barely dodged the assault. It never thought the second and third black rays would shoot out consecutively.

As Thunder was busy evading the attacks, Lin Huang inspected the black rays closely and realized they came from the black threads that stemmed from the body of the Rotten Heart. It was similar to the Vampire Particles Bai used to have, but the method of using it was different.

Initially, Lin Huang planned to summon Bai to fight when they got closer.

However, now that the opponent had initiated the attack, he could only summon Bai directly.

In its black robe, Bai nodded at Lin Huang as soon as it was summoned. It soon fixed its eyes on the Rotten Heart.

Although it was only on Virtual God rank-2, Bai was fearless when it glared at the Rotten Heart that was on Virtual God rank-4. Instead, its will to fight ignited.

As its black robe fluttered in the wind, the bloody patterns on the robe lit up like lava. They were flowing like they were alive.

A bloody crystal the size of a thumb extended out from between Bai's brows. His black pupils turned bloody red at that moment.

A layer of bloody mist began lingering around his body and covering him entirely.

Bai hovered mid-air and shot a deadly glare at the Rotten Heart with its bloody eyes. The bloody mist around its body began solidifying into bloody tentacles without it doing anything.

The hundred bloody tentacles expanded before Bai rapidly. They turned into bloody whips that tore through the black threads from the Rotten Heart and snapped them mercilessly.

Bai's Almighty Vampire Particles were clearly a level higher than the opponent's technique.

However, that was not the end of it. After blocking the attack, the bloody tentacles proceeded to charge in a frenzy towards the Rotten Heart.

Beneath, the Rotten Heart did not dodge the attack. Instead, it began pumping intensely like a beating heart at a frequency that only increased with time.

Lin Huang, who was watching the battle aside, soon noticed that circles of energy waves radiated from its pumping. Furthermore, the energy waves were getting denser and more powerful.

Almost when the bloody tentacles were ten meters before the Rotten Heart, it had reached its peak whereby the circles of energy waves spread hundreds of times faster than the speed of sound.

The bloody tentacles seemed to drown in mud as they slowed down. They could no longer go any further when they arrived around five meters before the Rotten Heart.

Bai frowned slightly when it saw that. It extended an arm from a distance and held its stance steady.

The tentacles seemed to have received an order as they stopped fighting on their own and began integrating quickly. Approximately one to two seconds later, the hundred tentacles became one.

Bai smirked and transformed the integrated tentacle into a giant drill immediately. It began working right away.

Lin Huang was stunned to see that. He subsequently chuckled out loud. "No wonder the skill evolved into the Almighty Vampire Particles after he elevated."

The drill began spinning quickly as soon as it was formed. It then proceeded to approach the Rotten Heart.

Although the beating waves from the Rotten Heart were powerful, it could not stop the drill from advancing further.

A couple of thick, black tentacles flew out of the Rotten Heart's body all of a sudden as the drill was about to penetrate its body.

The black tentacles bonded with the drill Bai created.

A moment later, Bai's attack was eventually blocked. However, it had reached its goal.

The bloody mist around it began transforming into bloody flying daggers.

One after another, the flying daggers flew at an alarming speed. They were going after the Rotten Heart.

Lin Huang noticed that Bai's attack was actually similar to his telekinetic attack, but the telekinetic threads were turned into Almighty Vampire Particles. Flying daggers were neither god relics nor demigod relics, but they were consolidated by the Almighty Vampire Particles automatically.

After breaking through the defense made of energy waves, Bai used a flying dagger attack immediately. He wanted to harm his opponent effectively before the Rotten Heart even managed to react.

However, the Rotten Heart reacted as soon as it happened. The black threads soon changed into a dense web.

The flying daggers were like insects stuck on a spider web when they collided with it. They could not get free.

Bai did not have any concerns on its face when its attack failed again. Instead, its will to fight was getting more and more intense.

Bai snapped its fingers after recalling the flying daggers and drill made of the bloody mist. The bloody mist around it transformed once again as it snapped its fingers. Soon, they turned into tentacles of sharp sabers.

On the other hand, the Rotten Heart dared not hold back at all. A mass of black threads began coming out of its body. They then merged into black tentacles of various weapons.

In the air, the black and red tentacles turned into various weapons and collided. Each collision was comparable with a Virtual God rank-4 powerhouse's full-force attack.

The collisions of the black and red Divine Power created deafening explosions consecutively. Thunder roared continuously as if there was a furious storm.

The impact coming from the collisions of two types of Divine Power alone spread thousands of kilometers away. Almost everything turned into dust wherever the impact passed by. The ground collapsed, and rivers and lakes dried up. Even the clouds in the sky were chased away. Almost all the holy fire-level to imperial-level monsters died.

A vacuum was formed as a result of the strong collisions. Circles of waves formed in the sky and spread tens of thousands of kilometers away.

The trees in the ruins were broken by strong winds. Many other plants were even uprooted. Dark clouds filled the sky and the ground cracked. It looked like doomsday had come.

The level of battle even surpassed Lin Huang's personal abilities.

Lin Huang, who was situated in the middle of the battlefield, had to carry a Mirror (the elevated Dark Mirror since Lancelot had elevated to mythical-level) to block the impact of the Divine Power.

He involved himself in the battle quietly. However, he realized that he would only be beaten no matter what. Putting the rest aside, he would be completely crushed in terms of speed alone.

He could only catch the shadows of the duo's attacks. Unfortunately, his body could not react in time at all.

The duo's intense attacks lasted for over ten minutes. Apart from Lin Huang, Bloody, and Thunder who were still alive, everything around was pulverized into dust.

The main reason why they could watch the battle in such a relaxed manner without being affected was the powerful defense coming from the Mirror.

In the middle of the battlefield, although the Rotten Heart had been suppressed, it persisted with its stubborn defense and had yet to lose.

Bai frowned slightly upon seeing that it could not defeat it.

He had consolidated up to 1,000 tentacles from the Almighty Vampire Particles. However, the black threads were crawling out of the opponent's body too. They were no fewer than his.

Although the opponent's black threads were much weaker than his Almighty Vampire Particles whereby they would be broken again and again, they recovered continuously.

Lin Huang realized Bai's problem as he watched the battle.

Perhaps because it was its first battle ever since he elevated to pseudo-supreme god-level, Bai was eager to prove its improvement by winning the battle. However, it encountered a cunning opponent this time. It seemed to have noticed Bai's eagerness and slowed the battle rhythm down on purpose. As a result, the battle stagnated.

Just when Lin Huang was going to remind him, Bloody spoke through voice transmission before he could say anything, "Bai, don't let it drag the battle rhythm out. Your overall ability is much more powerful than its own, but it's limited. It's very hard to oppress it entirely. All you'll have to do is to kill it in this battle. Don't try to win it perfectly. The more distracting thoughts you have, the more disadvantages there are for you in this battle. Don't think about anything else now. Just think of how to kill it in the fastest way."

Bai was stunned when it heard what Bloody said. It then noticed its problem subsequently. It shook its thoughts off immediately and stopped thinking of ways to defeat it perfectly.

Its attack soon became precise after that. It stopped colliding with the opponent's black threads. Instead, each attack went after the opponent's body.

The Rotten Heart began showing its weakness and become clumsy as soon as Bai changed its battle rhythm.

Lin Huang peeked at Bloody next to him after seeing Bai's changes.

Although he did not hear what Bloody said to Bai, he figured that she must have pointed something out for it.

There were more and more wounds on the Rotten Heart's body.

However, a black liquid would flow out whenever there was a wound on its body. The wound would then recover right away.

Bai had no concern with that. It knew that such a technique of its opponent would be draining.

Some ten minutes later, the healing on the Rotten Heart's wounds began to slow down. Even the black tentacles were weaker than before.

Bai sped up his attack frequency after noticing that.

The wounds on the Rotten Heart's body that was already clumsy increased all of a sudden. Its body was pumping rapidly. Although it had strengthened the black tentacles' defense, the draining of Divine Power was clearly more now.

Bai was calm because it had completely mastered the battle rhythm.

Realizing that it was now on the losing end, the Rotten Heart's pumping began to speed up. It was beating faster each second than before.

The rotten parts in the black heart began cracking.

At the same time that the black juice was spilling, there would be thick rotten tentacles coming out of it. The hundred rotten tentacles were completely different from the appearance of the black fluid earlier. They were more like the real stuff made of flesh and blood.

As the rotten tentacles grew, there was an intense noxious stench lingering in the air. Lin Huang felt dizzy after merely inhaling a little bit of the air. He shut his breathing system immediately and shouted at the rest at the same time, "Stop breathing. Its tentacles are toxic!"

A black silhouette came as soon as Lin Huang spoke. Thunder was the first to react. It flapped its wings slightly and dodged the black silhouette.

Lin Huang had just realized that the black silhouette that came earlier was a rotten tentacle coming from the Rotten Heart. It was attacking Lin Huang and Thunder.

Bai was enraged to see the Rotten Heart attacking.

"You're seeking death!" Two red glows shot out of Bai's eyes whilst endless bloody mist curled out of his body. They turned into ferocious bloody boas one after another. Tens of thousands of gigantic bloody boas were going after the Rotten Heart like a tide.

The Rotten Heart did not yield. Up to a hundred black rotten tentacles charged at the tide of the boa.

The bloody boas tore the rotten tentacles one after another. However, the bloody boas would be dyed black as soon as they touched the black liquid that shot out of the tentacles.

Lin Huang was frowning a little as he watched the whole scenario.

"Can the toxic even infect pure energy?!"

Five to six minutes later, the bloody boas tore up to a hundred rotten tentacles into pieces. However, almost half of the 10,000 boas were infected by the black toxin.

Nevertheless, Bai did not plan to stop fighting at all. It proceeded to control the giant boas to attack the Rotten Heart. They were tearing it apart.

In the beginning, the Rotten Heart would strive to recover itself. It even attempted to defend by extending its black tentacles. However, the bloody boas would bite them off each time it extended its tentacles.

After attempting it for some 20 times, it finally realized that there was no way for it to turn the tables around at all.

The Divine Power in its body had been drained, so its flesh could no longer recover. It could only watch its body being torn apart by the giant boas surrounding it, eating it alive.

In reality, it did not last long since its Divine Power was drained. Approximately five to six seconds later, it was devoured by the bloody boas one after another. A black Godhead hovering in the air was the only thing left behind.

Bai fled the battle in the air. The bloody patterns on his black robe seemed to be dormant again. Not only had they stopped flowing, but even the color was also dimmer. The lava-like color was now bright red as if it was painted on a picture.

The bloody crystal on his forehead penetrated his body automatically. His pupils that were bloody red became black and bright again.

Just when Bai was ready to recall the mist that was almost black, Lin Huang called out to him, "These participles have been infected. Will it be okay if you recall them?"

"Don't worry. I got them infected on purpose." Bai nodded and explained calmly, "In reality, this Rotten Heart has the same nature as my ability, which is the Blood Bond. However, his Blood Bond is special whereby it's a cursed virus. It's very suitable for battle. I got my Almighty Vampire Particles infected on purpose to engulf its cursed virus to obtain a new Blood Bond technique."

"Are you sure about this?" Lin Huang was still worried. It was not that he had no trust in Bai's ability, but the black rotten tentacles seemed like bad news no matter what. It might pose a problem if Bai were reckless.

"Let me show you." Bai knew the reason why Lin Huang was worried. Instead of explaining it with words, he demonstrated it directly.

He created a cloud the size of a fist from the black mist and another cloud the size of a thumb from the red mist. He placed both of them in a transparent, sealed energy bubble.

In the bubble, the red mist attacked the black mist as soon as they touched. It engulfed the black mist mercilessly. The same unit of red mist was produced whenever each inch of the black mist was engulfed.

The black mist attempted to extend its tentacles to infect the red mist a few times but its attempt was to no avail. The red mist would consume and convert the black mist each time it extended its tentacles.

Within ten seconds, the black mist was completely destroyed. The Almighty Vampire Particles were the only thing left in the entire sealed bubble.

"I didn't do anything throughout the entire process. I allowed them to do that," Bai said while smiling at Lin Huang after popping the bubble with its finger. "My Almighty Vampire Particles usually won't be affected by such a virus because my Blood Bond grade is higher than the Rotten Heart. Its virus is just food to my Almighty Vampire Particles. The reason why they were infected was that I removed the defense on purpose, allowing the virus to go in. The goal is to analyze and simulate how the virus works."

"Alright then." Lin Huang was relieved to see Bai's demonstration.

"Can I have the Godhead?' Bai turned his head to look at the black Godhead hovering mid-air nearby after explaining.

"You can have it if you want," Lin Huang offered. He did not ask Bai why would he want the Godhead. He knew that Bai had its reasons.

"This Godhead has signed a Blood Bond. I can use it as a medium to master the Rotten Heart's Blood Bond ability better. I can refine this Godhead directly when I elevate to Virtual God rank-4 and obtain the Rotten Heart's complete inheritance." Bai provided a detailed explanation anyway.

"You can have it if it's helpful to elevate your abilities. There's no need to explain in such detail," Lin Huang responded with a smile. "Put it away now. We need to move on."

Bai only put the Godhead away in its body after getting Lin Huang's permission.

The three of them hopped onto Thunder's back. Thunder flapped its wings and flew towards their next target.

Bloody cast parasites on six of the remaining ten virtual god-level monsters. Grimace and the rest practiced on the other three Virtual God rank-3 monsters. Meanwhile, Bai fought the Virtual God rank-4 monster.

The battle this time was much easier than killing the Rotten Heart before.

The Virtual God rank-4 monster that Bai fought was a Dead Spirit Dominator that was an expert in close-range combat.

Bai used the Rotten Heart's ability that he had just signed the Blood Bond with directly. His bloody tentacles turned black with the curse and toxin. The battle had just started for less than ten seconds, but a simple contact slashed the Dead Spirit Dominator's abilities by more than half.

Subsequently, the battle turned around as if Bai was beating a child. He spent less than two minutes settling this battle. However, Bai did not ask for the Virtual God rank-4 Godhead this time. Instead, it gave it to Lin Huang.

Lin Huang spent almost two hours decimating all the 23 virtual god-level monsters.

He checked the time. It was only past 11 in the morning. He was bored, so he had lunch early. Bai, Bloody, and Thunder took their favorite snacks out as their lunch.

It was noon after lunch, and Lin Huang was done chatting with his few pets.

The ruins would only reset the monsters after midnight. In other words, they would have to wait for another 12 hours. Lin Huang was bored just thinking of it.

Although it was noon at the moment, it seemed like the sky was turning dark.

Lin Huang lifted his head to gaze at the sky. The moon aside, there was not even a single star. He was getting really bored. He thought of something as he was dull to his very core.

"The Queens need many carcasses as material to give birth to Bug Tribe fighters. There are so many monsters in this ruin. Isn't this the best source of Bug Tribe material?!"

A daring idea came into Lin Huang's head as he thought about this point.

Almost in the next second, a massive galactic hive the size of a moon landed in the ruin.

This hive was oval like a football. It hovered some ten meters above the ground.

It was Lin Huang's first time summoning the galactic hive since he obtained it.

Even he was amazed when he saw the true form of the hive in reality.

Bloody, Bai, and Thunder were completely dumbstruck as they stood frozen where they were.

"Is this the legendary galactic hive?!" Bloody could not help but mumble. She had read about such a thing in the ancient documents more than once. However, it was her first time seeing the real thing. She was well and truly shocked.

Meanwhile, Bai and Thunder were speechless.

The bugs in the galactic hive used the hive as a medium. They did not occupy Lin Huang's summoning authority at all. He could summon a few hundred million or even a billion of them.

Lin Huang contacted the four Bug Tribe Queen Mothers and issued his order, "Clear the entire ruins!"

The four Queen Mothers that got his order cascaded the order to the bugs under them through the hive immediately. A stream of bugs rushed out like a tide when they received the Queen Mothers' orders.

They flew in all directions under the Multi-eyed Worms, the Superbrain Worms, the Golden Bugs, and the thousands of Bug Servants' command.

The four Queen Mothers that took the form of young girls sat in four corners of the galactic hive.

Under their command, the seven Virtual God rank-2 bugs led the 10,000 pseudo-mythical-levels and more than 30 million imperial-level purple gold-rank bugs to sweep the place.

The stream of bugs rushing out of the galactic hive covered the sky like dark clouds.

Lin Huang had cleared all of the 23 virtual god-level monsters in the ruin earlier. Now, the most powerful monster was merely on demigod-level while the rest of the monsters ranged from holy fire-level to imperial-level. The level of the monster horde was nothing compared to the number of monsters in the bug horde.

The bug horde was like a locust plague. They killed all the monsters wherever they passed, leaving no lives behind.

Approximately ten hours later, the bug horde cleared the entire ruin. Billions of abyssal and demonic monsters were killed. The few virtual god-level monsters put the carcasses away into their God Territory.

The monster carcasses were valuable material to the Queen Mothers, so they brought them to the latter.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang had been practicing his sword skills in a relaxed manner tduringthe ten hours.

It was 10.30 p.m. when the bug horde returned. The ruin remained looking as if it was dusk.

Bloody nodded at Lin Huang. "They've cleared everything. At least, there's nothing alive within my range of observation." She was actually secretly in awe about how terrifying the Bug Tribe was.

"The total amount of monsters killed is around 3.3 billion. I didn't calculate the exact data."

"The rough figure will do," said Lin Huang. He gazed into the galactic hive after chatting with Bloody.

In the hive, the seven virtual god-level bugs took out the monster carcasses from their God Territory respectively and gave them to the four Queen Mothers.

The Queen Mothers who obtained the sea of monster carcasses soon went into breeding mode. They transformed from human forms to their Bug Tribe forms. They began devouring the monster carcasses one after another after connecting to the incubator.

Lin Huang learned about the Queen Mothers' habits from the hive's inherited memories. Since the Queen Mothers were already on Virtual God rank-2, it would be meaningless for them to breed fighters below virtual god-level. Therefore, when the material obtained was of a lower grade, the Bug Tribe Queen Mothers would not breed fighters of the same combat strength as the material. Instead, they would store the material as sources of energy whereby they would be nutrients used in breeding imperial-level monsters.

Among the 3.3 billion monsters, most of them were on holy fire and immortal-level. Less than a tenth of them were imperial-level monsters. With these low-grade monster carcasses as material, the imperial-level purple gold-rank bugs that the Queen Mothers would eventually breed might come up to be less than a hundred million.

Even though that was the case, Lin Huang was pretty satisfied with the results.

After all, he had obtained tens of millions of Bug Tribe fighters without doing anything.

He put the galactic hive away into his body after seeing that all of the fighters had returned while the four Bug Tribe Queen Mothers had entered incubation.

He practiced his sword skills for another one and a half hours patiently. The sky in the ruin turned bright all of a sudden when it reached midnight.

Lin Huang lifted his head to peer up. A bloody crack extended across the sky rapidly. At first, it was less than a meter long, but it grew tens of kilometers long within a short few seconds. The crack resembled a stroke in the sky that had been drawn with a red pen.

As the crack expanded in the sky, tiny cracks began to appear below it. The sky seemed to have failed to bear the existence of the crack and it began to tear.

Time passed by. Slowly, the red crack appeared to be expanded by an invisible force. It looked like an eye beginning to open from a state of being shut.

The entire Virtual Eye hanging in the sky made it look like the sky had a bloody pupil growing in it and was studying the world.

The red, bloody glow turned the dusk into day. However, the day looked a little odd, as if the entire ruin had been dyed red.

Although the Virtual Eye was far away, Lin Huang clearly saw that there were many black silhouettes standing at the Virtual Eye that had just opened.

As the Virtual Eye stabilized, the black silhouettes rushed out of it like a waterfall. Lin Huang managed to notice that the black silhouettes which were rushing out were monsters.

He did not hesitate any longer and summoned Thunder again. "Let's go to the Virtual Eye!"

Thunder flew with Lin Huang and Bloody on its back. It only took two to three minutes to arrive at the area where the Virtual Eye was.

Lin Huang summoned the galactic hive again, showing no mercy after taking a glance at the Virtual Eye with monsters spurting out of it.

The four Queen Mothers that had received his order conveyed his order again. In the galactic hive, more than three billion imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters rushed out of it in a frenzy. They attacked and destroyed the monster horde coming out of the Virtual Eye.

Even the Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 monsters were parasitized by Bloody as soon as they came out. They had no idea what exactly happened at all.

As for the Virtual God rank-3 monsters, Lin Huang did not summon Lancelot and the rest to practice. After all, it was not suitable for them to practice their skills under such chaos. Instead, he got the seven virtual god-level bugs to attack and kill them as soon as they could.

Lin Huang summoned Bai again when the Virtual Eye sent its first Virtual God rank-4 monster.

Bai sensed his opponent's existence immediately. It went into battle mode before Lin Huang even gave his order.

The massacre at the entrance of the Virtual Eye was undoubtedly much more efficient than before.

Within approximately three hours, all of the three billion monsters that rushed out of the Virtual Eye were killed.

Apart from the two Virtual God rank-4 monsters which had taken some of Bai's time, all of the monsters were killed right away, including the Virtual God rank-3 monsters.

The Virtual Eye finally disintegrated completely when it finished releasing the last batch of monsters at 3 a.m.

The three billion monsters that came out of the Virtual Eye ended up as carcasses strewn all over the place.

The seven virtual god-level bugs cleared the battlefield quickly and put all of them away into their God Territory.

Meanwhile, Bai passed the two Virtual God rank-4 and five Virtual God rank-3 monsters' Godheads to Lin Huang.

It was almost 3.30 a.m. when the entire battlefield was cleared.

Lin Huang hovered mid-air and looked at the empty ground. The ruin was silent.

"The Virtual Eye will open again in three days. I wonder what would people from the Union Government think if they came within these three days and saw an empty piece of land."

"I guess the people from your hometown would say they must look dumb," Bloody mocked.

Lin Huang lifted his head and glanced at the sky that was dusky again after putting the galactic hive away in his body while riding on Thunder's back with Bloody and Bai.

He knew this should be the last time he would visit this ruin.

"Time to go! Next stop, the Hunter Association's Hunting Garden!"

The Hunter Association's grade-6 ruin was called the Hunting Garden.

The reason it was given such a name was that there were many varieties of monsters in this ruin.

Under normal circumstances, an ordinary ruin would only have 20 to 30 types of monsters. Very few of them had more than 40 types of monsters. However, according to the Hunter Association's records, they confirmed that the Hunting Garden had 183 types of monsters. It was said that over 20 types of monsters were never found. Nobody had ever managed to take photos as proof for some reason, so their existence was never proven.

There was something unique about the monsters in the Hunting Garden whereby most of them were carnivorous. There was a minority of them that were omnivorous, but almost none were herbivorous. These monsters had powerful hunting skills.

Lin Huang was very interested in such a ruin.

Since he had booked his slot earlier, he headed straight to the Hunter Association headquarters in foothold No. 1A2, Hunting City.

The person who was responsible for serving him was the deputy chief, Wu Xing, who was a tall and big man.

Although he looked like a lummox, in reality, Wu Xing's character was the complete opposite of his appearance. He was great in interpersonal relationships.

Lin Huang had no idea whether he was really friendly or was pretending. However, the experience made him comfortable. Wu Xing had a great sense of propriety in everything he did, and that alone impressed Lin Huang.

Most people had no sense of propriety as Wu Xing did. At least, Lin Huang could not achieve that. Furthermore, among the many people he knew, Huang Tianfu might be the only one whose sense of propriety could compare with Wu Xing's.

Lin Huang was chatting with Wu Xing along the way. He realized that he had arrived at the entrance of the Hunting Garden.

"This is the entrance of the ruin and it's also the furthest I can send you." Wu Xing stopped walking.

Lin Huang nodded and thanked him. Then, he stepped into the ruin.

Compared to the Demon Swamp, this ruin was completely different. Lin Huang felt like he had stepped from summer into spring as soon as he got in. The ruin looked like it was spring with lush flowers and trees around. There was even a small river flowing not far away.

This ruin did not look like a ruin at all. It looked more like a tourist spot where it was spring all year round.

Lin Huang was stunned to see the scenery. However, he snapped back to his senses after being distracted for a moment.

He remembered clearly of the ruins' description in the Hunter Association's record – Intruders would be treated as prey by the local monsters at all times.

Lin Huang summoned Bloody as soon as he stepped into the meadows of the ruin.

"This ruin has beautiful scenery," Bloody could not help but comment when she glanced around as soon as she was summoned.

Subsequently, the duo did the usual whereby Bloody spread her Leech Pods out to get a rough map of the entire ruins.

Later on, instead of killing virtual god-level monsters one by one, Lin Huang summoned the galactic hive and got the seven virtual god-level bugs to lead the bug horde to clear the ruins.

The Hunting Garden was only slightly smaller than Union Government's Demon Swamp, but there were considerably fewer monsters in it. There were only a total of 300 million monsters, which was only around a tenth of the total amount of monsters the Demon Swamp had.

Moreover, there were only six virtual god-level monsters. Among them, the two monsters with the highest combat strength were only on Virtual God rank-3. That was the reason why Lin Huang used the hive directly with zero concern.

Some five hours later, the 300 million monsters were cleared by the bug horde. There was no living thing within the range of Bloody's observation.

Lin Huang checked the time after watching the bug horde return to the hive. It was only past 2 p.m., and it would take another ten hours for the monsters to be reset.

The ruin would take 48 hours to reset each time, which was shorter than the Demon Swamp's 72-hour window. However, Lin Huang clearly did not plan to stay.

It was boring enough for him to wait for ten hours, and he could only kill time by practicing his sword skill. He had no patience to wait for 48 hours. To him, he could do many things within those 48 hours.

The change in light was the other difference between the Hunting Garden and the Demon Swamp.

The Demon Swamp always looked like dusk before the night fell, but the Hunting Garden had clear changes between day and night. It was almost the same as the outside world.

Approximately four hours later, the sky dimmed when it was 6.30 pm.

In reality, no sun could be seen in the ruin. Lin Huang had no idea what the source of light was in there. There was no light source at all in the dark blue sky above.

The sky finally turned completely dark when it was almost 8 p.m. However, that did not affect Lin Huang practicing his sword skills at all.

Soon, another three and a half hours passed. A Virtual Eye appeared rapidly in the sky just when the needle on the clock passed midnight.

Lin Huang looked confused when he saw the Virtual Eye that had just risen in the Hunting Garden.

Next to him, Bloody smiled. "I can't believe that we finally get to see the colorful Virtual Eye that we've only seen in records."

"It's my first time seeing it too," Lin Huang responded while smiling.

The Virtual Eye hanging in the sky was colorful with nine different colors. Although it looked strange, it gave him an odd sense of comfort.

Just when Lin Huang was discussing the color of the Virtual Eye with Bloody, the colorful Virtual Eye stabilized. A stream of various monsters began rushing out like a pouring waterfall.

Lin Huang had not put the galactic hive away since earlier. Seeing monsters rushing out now, he gave his orders to the four Queen Mothers again without hesitation. He told them to kill all of the monsters coming out of the Virtual Eye.

Almost the next second he gave his order, endless bugs rushed out like dark clouds, heading towards the Virtual Eye.

This time, Lin Huang did not observe the battle at a close distance. He watched the battle through Bloody's Leech Pods from far away.

Due to the restriction as a result of the difference in combat strength and the speed of monsters being sent out from the Virtual Eye, the battle was one-sided from the beginning. The monster horde was completely oppressed and annihilated

The same thing happened to the virtual god-level monsters. They were killed by the Superbrain Worms and the rest just when they showed up from the Virtual Eye.

The one-sided massacre only ended some three hours later. All of the monsters that emerged from the Virtual Eye were killed. There was no exceptions.

Watching the colorful Virtual Eye disintegrate in the sky while the bugs returned to the hive one after another, Lin Huang could not help but smirk as he recalled the hive back to his body.

"The Hunter Association's Hunting Garden is completed! So, what's next?"

It was almost 3.30 a.m. when Lin Huang returned from the Hunting Garden to Emperor City.

The first thing he did was sort out the loot as soon as he returned to the Emperor Palace.

They killed almost seven billion monsters from the two grade-6 ruins throughout the few days, namely the Demon Swamp and the Hunting Garden.

Among the monsters killed, there were 58 virtual god-level monsters. Lin Huang had also obtained a total of 17 Virtual God rank-3 to rank-4 Godheads.

Apart from the bunch of Godheads, Lin Huang also obtained almost 20,000 complete Monster Cards throughout the two days. Most of the Monster Cards were legendary-level. Only three of them were pseudo-mythical-level.

There was also a pile of card pieces. He did not integrate them. Instead, he stored them in the card piece mall as back-up.

The Godheads and cards aside, in reality, the biggest reward he obtained was the seven billion monster carcasses. The carcasses were breeding material for the Bug Tribe Queen Mothers.

According to Bloody's calculation, the four Queen Mothers should be able to breed 200 million imperial-level purple gold-rank Bug Tribe fighters with the seven billion monster carcasses.

Initially, there were only over 30 million Bug Tribe fighters in the galactic hive. Throughout the round of breeding, the number of bugs would be increased by a few more times.

Apart from that, Bloody also obtained 40 Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 Parasitic Puppets. She experienced a boost in her abilities.

One could say that this round of kills gave Lin Huang's overall abilities a substantial boost.

After sorting out the loot, he tossed the 17 Godheads that he had just obtained into his body and began to practice his sword skills.

Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring began vibrating all of a sudden when it was almost 11 in the morning.

In the midst of practicing his sword skills, he picked up the video call immediately upon seeing that it was Huang Tianfu calling.

"What's up?"

"Misery sent us a message. They've come to an agreement with the Union Government. But the Union Government got Misery to join anonymously because of their reputation. Moreover, to avoid future inconveniences, Misery will sign an agreement with Dynasty instead. If they do that, when Misery is exposed of being in the circle, the Union Government can pretend that they know nothing and push the responsibility onto us." Huang Tianfu knew the Union Government's plan very well.

"Isn't that what we want?" Lin Huang grinned when he heard that.

"But are the people from Misery reliable?" Huang Tianfu asked, feeling concerned.

Lin Huang fell into silence for a moment and thought about it carefully. In reality, it was unnecessary for him to hide the truth from Huang Tianfu any longer. "Misery is already an affiliate organization under me."

"Do you mean they're under Royal now?" Huang Tianfu did not expect that. He was clearly stunned when he heard what Lin Huang said.

"Yes, I've registered them under Royal," Lin Huang acknowledged.

"I get it now. Dynasty will give our all no matter what Misery needs in the future," Huang Tianfu soon accepted the truth.

"Dynasty is Dynasty, and Misery is Misery. Both organizations will develop individually. You don't have to worry about the development on Misery's side as they won't interfere with us either," Lin Huang added, "There's no need for you to treat Misery as competition. Dynasty's competition will forever be Dynasty."

"Your humble one understands," Huang Tianfu replied without any change in his expression.

"Anything else?"

"Shadow Killer set an appointment two days ago. They'll visit tomorrow at 9 a.m."

"I'm around tomorrow," Lin Huang confirmed.

"Also, the remaining demigods have elevated to virtual god-level successfully throughout the past two days with Mr. Fu's help," Huang Tianfu added, "I'm thinking of announcing about the demigods elevating to Virtual Gods after we've come up with an agreement with Shadow Killer."

"Sounds great. We'll do as you say." Lin Huang did not raise any objections.

After hanging up on Huang Tianfu's call, Lin Huang recalled that Shadow Killer's grade-6 ruin was the only one left that he had yet to visit.

"It's time to leave the gravel world after signing an agreement with Shadow Killer in these few days. Let's visit the last grade-6 ruin."

It was in the middle of the night. Lin Huang practiced his sword skills until approximately midnight. Figuring that he was meeting Shadow Killer the next day, he quickly washed up and went to bed.

The next morning, he entered Dynasty's office after breakfast.

Although Shadow Killer was a giant, they had always been low-profiled no matter what they did. They did not announce their visit to Dynasty this time. Otherwise, the Internet would have been stirred early in the morning, and Dynasty would have definitely trended again.

In reality, within Dynasty, only the three Grand Dukes and a few Dukes knew about this. The rest of the members had no idea about the visit.

When it was around 8.50 a.m., the people from Shadow Killer arrived.

Everyone gaped at the group of 11 people as soon as they walked into Dynasty's office.

Lin Huang welcomed them at the entrance with Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan. They brought the people from Shadow Killer to the meeting room on the highest floor.

The people in the office discussed excitedly among themselves after they left. They were guessing who those people in the black robes were. They seemed to be so honorable that the Emperor had welcomed them himself.

In reality, Shadow Killer's leader was not the demigod Ying Shisan who the outsiders knew about. Instead, it was Yue Shen who led the team to Dynasty this time. His combat strength was on Virtual God rank-3.

Among the ten people behind him, there was one Virtual God rank-3 and another Virtual God rank-4 while the rest were demigods.

The one with the highest combat strength on Virtual God rank-4 was a lady. She wore a black veil on her face and even blocked her Divine Telekinesis function.

Lin Huang merely stole a glance and figured that Shadow Killer must have found a way to elevate demigods straight to virtual god-level because a Virtual God rank-3 Godhead was the most a person's body could bear.

After entering the meeting room, Yue Shen from Shadow Killer went straight into the subject after they chatted for a while and introduced themselves.

"What we want from working with Dynasty is very simple. We want the same privileges as the Union Government and the Hunter Association."

The first response Lin Huang had was, 'Has our intel been exposed?' when he heard that. However, he soon realized that was not the case.

"No offence, but do you know what's the collaboration we have with the two union organizations?" Huang Tianfu could not help but ask.

"We've no idea what exactly it is, but the condition must be too hard to resist for you guys to be work with the Union Government," Yue Shen said while smiling.

"So, how are sure that what the Union Government wants is also what you guys want?" Lin Huang asked.

"We're not sure. That's why we're visiting to ask what exactly that is. If that's what we, Shadow Killer, want as well, we'll proceed with the discussion. If not, there's no need to go any further," Yue Shen said like everything made sense.

Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan looked at Lin Huang. They seemed to be asking for Lin Huang's permission to tell the truth.

Lin Huang nodded lightly. "There's no harm to tell you guys. What we offered the Union Government is access to Royal's trial zones."

The discussion between Dynasty and Shadow Killer went well the next two days.

Misery also signed the agreement the same day when Shadow Killer signed theirs. They joined the circle anonymously. The circle that Dynasty and the Union Government built became the most powerful alliance in the entire gravel world.

With the five giants, including the Union Government, the Hunter Association, Misery, Shadow Killer, and the Mystic Butterfly together with the soon-to-be giant Dynasty, this alliance was invincible.

The heretics, which was a top organization, became the weakest one in the circle. They could only play the position as a dependant party.

The heretics' upper echelons were surprised to see the Hunter Association, the Mystic Butterfly, and Shadow Killer joining the circle recently.

They were in a meeting when they heard about Shadow Killer joining.

"Holy sh*t! Four out of the five giants have joined them!" the Vice Presiding Judge, Zhou Tong, forgot to remove his little finger from his nostril when he heard about Shadow Killer joining.

"Don't forget that Dynasty is the soon-to-be giant. We, the heretics, are the weakest among the entire circle," added the hunk, rubbing his feet.

"Luckily, we joined early and managed to butter Dynasty up. Had we only joined now, I guess Dynasty would've just kicked us out," Cao Ya said while biting her nails.

"I don't think we're that bad…" the Presiding Judge, Sun Zhuo, shrugged helplessly.

However, Sun Zhuo was completely ignored. They proceeded with the next topic on their own.

"Exactly which organization has joined us anonymously?"

"It's most probably an underground organization."

"Do you guys think it might be Misery?" Cao Ya said, still biting her nails.

"Boss, the application from the anonymous organization should pass through you. You should know which one is it, am I right?" the hunk rubbing his feet turned his head and asked Sun Zhuo.

Sun Zhuo hesitated for a moment and nodded, figuring that it was only a matter of time that they would find out. "Yes, it's Misery. Keep this within ourselves, and don't spread it around!"

"It's really Misery?! Now, all five giants have gathered. It's insane!" the Vice Presiding Judge Zhou Tong explained out loud in his thick nasal voice.

"I've always thought that we weren't bad, but now I feel like we're just trash!" Cao Ya felt like she had just received a slap on her face.

"Five giants and one soon-to-be giant… So, it's six dragging one on. I think that's pretty good. There's always one that's slowing the team down. Why can't we be it?" Vice Presiding Judge Zhou Tong proceeded to dig his nose, appearing like he did not care.

"Don't you have any humiliation in you?" the hunk rubbing his feet scoffed while glaring at him.

"A salted fish should have a salted fish's awareness. We're salted fish. Why should we waste our efforts pretending that we're seafood?" Zhou Tong spoke in his nasal voice while proceeding to dig his nose.

"Because seafood is more expensive," answered Cao Yao who was sitting next to him.

"Xiao Ya, it was only a rhetorical question," said Zhou Tong while glaring at her.

"Oh."

"Let's continue our meeting. Stop the irrelevant topic right now!" Sun Zhou was getting more and more upset as he listened to them speak. He ended the topic after slamming the table.

…

After signing the agreement with Shadow Killer, Lin Huang followed the team back to their headquarters in Silhouette City in foothold No. 1A11.

He spent half the evening downloading the documents in Shadow Killer's library and archives. The next morning, he headed straight to the last grade-6 ruin opened to the gravel world.

The grade-6 ruin under Shadow Killer's jurisdiction was called the Shadow Land.

Day did not exist in the entire ruin, only night.

Apart from many dark creatures, there was a unique monster in this ruin called the Shadow Beast.

The Shadow Beast was an evil spirit that possessed the ability to control its shadow.

Such an ability was actually mediocre. However, it would turn its body into a shadow to be immune to physical attacks.

Fortunately, among the Queen Mothers' Bug Tribe army, there were bugs that could handle such a monster. Lin Huang was prepared ahead thanks to Bloody's reminder.

After summoning the galactic hive, Lin Huang did not get all of the bugs to attack. Instead, he only got the bugs that could fight Shadow Beasts to battle.

Throughout the few days, the four Queen Mothers were done with approximately a third of the breeding from the monster carcasses. The 30 million-strong bug army was boosted to 100 million. Among the 100 million Bug Tribe army members, only around ten million of them could harm the Shadow Beasts. It slowed down the hunting speed of the Bug Tribe army by heaps compared to before.

From 8 a.m, the Bug Tribe army spent some 15 hours killing the 400 million-odd monsters in the ruin.

There were a total of ten virtual god-level monsters among them. Three of them were on Virtual God rank-3 while the remaining seven were either on Virtual God rank-1 or rank-2.

The ruin refreshed in the middle of the night when they had rested for less than an hour.

The Virtual Eye that was opening in the Shadow Land was completely black.

Once again, Lin Huang led the galactic hive to block the entrance in order to kill the monsters coming out of it.

When it was around 1 p.m, they finally cleared the Shadow Land to decimate it into a land of nothingness.

Since it would take 48 hours for the Shadow Land to refresh, Lin Huang did not stay and wait in the ruin. Instead, he left in satisfaction and returned to Emperor City.

He began sorting out the loot he obtained this round as soon as he returned to the Emperor's Palace.

"Six Virtual God rank-3 Godheads, a total of 14 Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 puppets, over 800 million monster carcasses — enough for the Queen Mothers to breed close to 30 million Bug Tribe fighters, two complete pseudo-mythical-level Monster Cards, over 2,200 complete legendary-level Monster Cards and over 800 million card pieces…

"Now that I've downloaded everything in all the libraries and archives as well as clearing all the grade-6 ruins available, it's almost time to leave," Lin Huang mumbled softly after sorting out the loot.

"I think it's best that you don't announce your departure. Just tell people that you're going into closed-door cultivation," Bloody suggested.

"I think so too," Lin Huang agreed.

The reason why Dynasty was currently in the limelight was mainly that people followed what was happening to Lin Huang. Even though he did not participate in the exact management and operation of things, he was influential in Dynasty's development of the people in the cultivation world. At least, many new members joined Dynasty because of him.

If Lin Huang were to announce his departure, many people would think that he had left Dynasty entirely. According to Bloody's data analysis, if Lin Huang left Dynasty, there would be at least an 83% drop in new Dynasty members. That was something that Lin Huang did not want to happen.

"How about your friends? Will you bid them farewell?" Bloody reminded, "Or will you lie to them that you're going into closed-door cultivation too to prevent them from leaking it unintentionally?"

In reality, Lin Huang was almost done with everything before his departure. The only thing that he had yet to do was inform his old friends such as Yi Yeyu.

Hearing Bloody's questions, he went into silence for a moment and shook his head. "There's no need to hide it from them. I'll spend some time meeting them and bidding them farewell these few days."

Lin Huang looked at the time after chatting with Bloody for a while. It was almost two in the afternoon.

He spread his Divine Telekinesis range out and realized that the three Grand Dukes were there. Furthermore, most of the Dukes who were at the agreement-signing ceremony with Shadow Killer were there too.

He left the Emperor's Palace in a flash and appeared in Huang Tianfu's office.

Huang Tianfu was chatting with Huang Wunan and Huang Tufu. They were surprised to see Lin Huang's sudden appearance.

The trio greeted Lin Huang as soon as they saw him, "Master Emperor!"

"Tufu, you're still here. Is the headquarters busy today?"

"We announced the news about demigods elevating to Virtual Gods this morning and created a stir on the Internet. The Union Government, the Hunter Association, the Mystic Butterfly, and Shadow Killer called to ask if the news is real," Huang Tianfu explained with a candid smile.

"No wonder everyone is here…" Lin Huang recalled that Huang Tianfu had asked for his opinion on whether to announce the news after signing the agreement with Shadow Killer. "I almost forgot about that."

"Go ahead with this. Tianfu, help me gather everyone for a meeting tomorrow morning. It's best that everyone can attend. There's something that I want to announce."

"I'll inform them later," Huang Tianfu agreed directly without asking what the matter was.

Huang Tufu was more straightforward, so he asked directly, "What's the matter, Master Emperor?"

Lin Huang, who was turning around to leave, stopped. He turned his head and looked at Huang Tufu. "All of you will find out tomorrow."

Lin Huang did not interrupt them seeing Huang Tianfu and the rest were busy.

He called Zhi Ji from Misery when he returned to the Emperor's Palace. He got him to arrange the meeting that would take place the day after tomorrow.

Zhi Ji did not ask about that any further.

After hanging up the call with Zhi Ji, Lin Huang thought about it and called Yin Hangyi.

The call was picked up after ringing less than twice. Fatty's round face occupied the entire screen.

"Can you not stick your face so close to the screen every time?" Lin Huang grumbled.

Fatty moved his face a little further away from the screen and argued, "It's not like you've no idea that I have short arms. It's more troublesome to put my face a distance away."

"You're complaining about moving your hands, but how come you never complain when you're eating?"

"Of course, it's different when I eat. Eating can replenish my energy!" Fatty always had odd theories of his own.

"Replenish your energy? It's no wonder you're so fat!"

Lin Huang finally got down to business after messing around with Fatty. "How's home?"

Fatty hesitated for a moment after hearing that. He then nodded and said, "Not bad. Same old, same old."

However, his hesitation was undoubtedly like slow motion to Lin Huang who saw through it crystal clear.

"What happened? Stop messing around with me," Lin Huang probed further.

Fatty only told the truth after realizing that he could not hide it from Lin Huang.

"Nothing much. It's just that the people in town heard about me coming back alive and said that my family is bad luck. It's just conflict among neighbors. There's nothing to worry about."

In reality, Lin Huang expected such a thing to happen. The reason being, Fatty looked exactly the same as he was two years ago. People who knew him from the past could definitely discern it. Especially because he lived in such a small place like Nanmu Town, everyone had seen each other and they all basically knew one another. They recognized each other's faces even if they did not know each other. Moreover, the entire town would find out about something as soon as it happened no matter how minor it was. There was no way of hiding anything in that town.

Lin Huang advised Fatty to move in order to prevent trouble like that. Fatty was just concerned about his old lady who had been living in the town for over a decade. He was afraid that the old lady was unwilling to move because she had gotten used to her life.

"So, how's business?" Lin Huang asked again when he realized Fatty was reluctant to talk more about his family.

"Business has been affected slightly." Fatty shook his head, feeling helpless. "There's a high-end restaurant close to the main outlet in Baqi City. They've been competing with us. The people in town found out about that and sold the news about me coming back alive to them. They hired people to make up rumors when they dined at our restaurant. They said that a dead person made the food and that people would have bad luck after eating it. Apart from that, they said the reason why our food is so delicious is that we use human meat… Many people in Baqi City heard the stories they made up, and some of the regulars did not dare to dine in our restaurant any longer."

"People are clearly making things up. Can't you get the Union Government to handle this?" Lin Huang frowned slightly.

"I did, but it didn't work. They said it was the customers who said that. There's nothing that they can do since it came from the lips of the customers. The Union Government ran their checks for a while and found those people who made up the rumor. Those people said that someone else told them that. They didn't want to tell who told them that, so that was the end of it," Fatty updated.

"I'm just complaining and venting to you, so don't worry about it. You're the Emperor. Take care of your own stuff. This is just something insignificant. You don't have to worry about this." Fatty was unwilling to get Lin Huang involved in this.

"Oh yeah, is there anything that you want to tell me?" Fatty changed the subject upon noticing Lin Huang fall into silence.

"I'll have a gathering on the 18th. I invited some old friends over, and Yi Yeyu will be there too. Come join us. Treat it as a getaway to clear your mind." Lin Huang invited Fatty with a smile.

"The witch examiner will be there too?" Fatty widened his eyes and revealed a lecherous smile. "Are both of you…?"

"You should use your brain capacity to figure how to be a better Food Hunter instead," Lin Huang interrupted Fatty instantly, "On the morning of the 18th, I'll get someone to pick you up."

"Oh yeah, get the old lady and the rest to come too. Just treat it as a vacation. I'll arrange the food and accommodation. I can send someone to be your tour guide if there's somewhere you'd like to go," Lin Huang added.

"That's too much to ask for."

"Don't worry. Emperor City is my territory. Of course, I have to give you guys the best," Lin Huang assured, "Tell the old lady that if she doesn't want to come, I'll knock on her door myself."

"Sure, I'll treat it as a holiday then," Fatty a grin.

After hanging up on the call with Yin Hangyi, Lin Huang called Yi Yeyu, Yi Zheng, Leng Yuexin, Li Lang, Chan Dou, and his senior brother, Liu Ming to invite them to the gathering.

They agreed to come without hesitation.

These friends were close to Lin Huang. Furthermore, some of them had helped him throughout his journey of growth.

Apart from bidding them farewell, Lin Huang actually got each of them a gift.

Lin Huang opened his contact page after calling his friends one after another. He called Jiang Shan from the Union Government when he found his number on the contact page.

He spoke expressionlessly when the call was picked up, "Chief Jiang, I need a favor. I have a friend in Division 7's Baqi City who's encountered some trouble."

All the upper echelons of Dynasty gathered on the 16th of March.

Naturally, Huang Baiyu, Huang Haoyang, and the three Grand Dukes were there, and so were the 12 virtual god-level Dukes.

Everyone had their eyes on Lin Huang as soon as he arrived.

Apart from Huang Tianfu who had a rough idea of what the purpose of the meeting was, the rest were unsure why Lin Huang would call for a meeting so early in the morning.

Lin Huang glanced at the time after he took his seat. He did not bother to wait any longer upon seeing that it was almost 9 a.m. and announced directly, "I called this meeting today mainly to inform all of you that I'm leaving this gravel world."

Everyone was stunned to hear that.

Even though Huang Tianfu speculated that since the beginning, he could not help but feel emotional when he heard Lin Huang saying it out loud.

"When are you leaving?" Huang Tufu was the first to ask.

"I'll leave in a few days when I'm done handling some stuff. If everything goes as planned, I should be able to leave before the 20th."

"So soon?!" Everyone was more than a little shocked.

They thought Lin Huang would only leave at least one to two months later after his announcement.

"Dynasty's development is on track now, so it doesn't make too much of a difference whether I'm here or not. All you guys will have to do is follow the plan that I've prepared. It's just a matter of time for Dynasty to become a giant as long as all of you follow the plan.

"Moreover, it's not that I'll never come back after I leave this time. I'll only be gone for a year. By then, I hope to see Dynasty develop better than I can ever imagine."

Lin Huang only projected the one-year plan Bloody came up with after giving his farewell speech.

"This is the one-year plan that I've come up with for Dynasty. There's no need for you guys to carry it out strictly. Nothing will go wrong if you follow the main direction," Lin Huang said and forwarded the plan to the three Grand Dukes who then forwarded it to the rest of the Duke. "Take a look. Ask whatever questions that you might have. We'll discuss this today."

The meeting took almost the entire day. Everyone only finished discussing Lin Huang's plan after eight at night.

From the questions the people raised and the depth of the discussion, Lin Huang was sure that Dynasty would be in good hands for the coming year.

Bloody's plan almost involved every aspect in detail. She provided solutions for any possible situation.

As long as they followed this plan, Dynasty had the certainty of becoming a giant in the coming year.

After the meeting ended, Lin Huang returned to the Emperor's Palace, not tired at all. Instead, he was filled with anticipation for Dynasty's future.

The next morning, Lin Huang arrived on time in Nirvana City where Misery's headquarters was.

Zhi Ji and everyone in red robes was prepared for his arrival at the top floor of the Sky Pagoda.

"Master Emperor!"

Zhi Ji led the bunch of them in red robes to welcome Lin Huang.

Lin Huang also noticed that there were a few unfamiliar faces among the people in red robes. They were all on Virtual God rank-1, so they must have elevated from demigod-level not long ago.

Entering the meeting room, Lin Huang glanced through the 15 people in red robes and told them the purpose of meeting up.

He then presented them with the one-year plan that Bloody came up with.

However, Misery's attitude was clearly less enthusiastic than Dynasty's.

When Lin Huang got Zhi Ji and the rest to ask questions, most of them asked things that were unrelated. Only two or three of them raised some questions that Lin Huang was happy to hear after looking through the plan thoroughly.

The meeting ended when it was past 1 p.m. Everyone from Misery soon left after that.

Lin Huang gestured for Zhi Ji to stay.

"Zhi Ji, I had the same meeting with Dynasty yesterday. Do you know what time the meeting ended?" Lin Huang leaned back against the chair and asked Zhi Ji while lifting his head.

"Your humble one doesn't know." Zhi Ji roughly figured what Lin Huang was going to say, but he dared not speculate.

"The meeting also took place at 9 a.m., then we discussed the plan until 8.20 p.m. All 17 of them from Dynasty participated in the discussion and studied the plan that I provided. Above 80% of the questions raised were related to Dynasty's future development.

"The plan I gave Dynasty isn't exactly the same as the one I gave Misery. However, it's about 70% is the same, and the direction of development is almost similar. However, among the 15 of them who joined the meeting, only ten participated in the discussion. Including you, only three people really studied the plan."

"I'll get them to study the plan thoroughly later," Zhi Ji said immediately.

"Whether or not you guys follow the plan I provide, I want to see Misery's improvement in a year. If Misery's development isn't satisfactory, I'm sorry but I'll remove your organization from Royal's affiliate organization list." Lin Huang gave his last warning.

Although Misery's response was within Lin Huang and Bloody's expectations, he was upset when it really happened. After all, he had Dynasty to compare to Misery which needed tons of improvement in terms of loyalty.

However, Lin Huang's gloomy emotion soon turned into joy when he returned from Nirvana City to Emperor City.

He sensed Yi Yeyu and the rest's aurae as soon as he returned. He spread his Divine Telekinesis out and found out that apart from Chan Dou, Yin Hangyi, Yi Yeyu, Yi Zheng, Leng Yuexin, Li Lang, and Liu Ming were all there. Furthermore, they seemed to have settled their accommodation.

Lin Huang was in a jovial mood after sensing his bunch of old friends.

Although the gathering would only take place on the 18th, Lin Huang appeared in the courtyard they gathered in a flash after sensing their location.

The Yi siblings were in the courtyard while Leng Yuexin and Li Lang stood by the side. Fatty and his family were there too.

Lin Huang could tell that it should be the compound Fatty was staying in. The Yi siblings must be visiting while Leng Yuexin and Li Lang must have been dragged by the siblings to visit.

At that very moment, Yi Yeyu was staring at Fatty in the courtyard.

"Didn't… you die?"

"I faked my death," Yin Hangyi, who was also known as Fatty, recounted the story that Lin Huang came up with immediately.

"But Lin Huang told me that…" Yi Yeyu was interrupted by Lin Huang before she could ask any further, "Fatty encountered some trouble earlier. He had to fake his death to avoid trouble. For his own safety, I had to lie to my friends that he was dead."

"Lin Huang!" Everyone looked cheerfully at him.

"Why does he look exactly the same just like three years ago?" Yi Yeyu raised her doubt.

"That's the side effect of the elixir. It stunted his growth for a few years. However, the side effect only continues for around two to three years. His growth will normalize again in the future," Lin Huang told them the excuse that he came up with earlier again.

"How is it possible that there's such an elixir?" Yi Yeyu mumbled in doubt.

Yi Zheng, who was next to her, changed the topic. He stepped forward and shook Lin Huang's hand while smiling. "It's been a while."

"Yes, it's been a while," Lin Huang acknowledged with a smile too.

After they eased the attention off Fatty and chatted for a while, Lin Huang looked at Yin family's old lady in the wheelchair.

She was old after all, so it was inconvenient for her to walk. She thought she might as well use a wheelchair to go out.

The old lady was in high spirits. Clearly, she did not travel often. After chatting with Lin Huang for a while, she started telling him how great Emperor City was and the things that she saw along the way.

Yi Yeyu and the rest giggled to see how the old lady would not let go of him.

After chatting with the old lady for a while, Fatty took the initiative to interrupt them, "Grandma, you didn't take a snooze today because we were traveling. Let's take a nap. Lin Huang still has some stuff that he has to handle. Don't bother him."

"Alright then. You young people should catch up while I take a nap." The old lady only let go of Lin Huang then.

Lin Huang turned around and walked towards Leng Yuexin and Li Lang seeing Fatty pushing the old lady in the wheelchair into the house.

"Long time no see. I met Brother Zheng and the rest in Division 3 last year, but I've never seen both of you since I left Division 7."

"Yeah, it's been more than a year," Leng Yuexin confirmed.

"I never expected you becoming so famous so soon," said Li Lang, who was standing next to her, while chuckling.

After chatting with them, everyone returned to their compound one after another.

On the other hand, Lin Huang arrived in Liu Ming's courtyard in a flash. He began chatting with his senior brother who he had not seen for a long time.

The afternoon flew by quickly. Chan Dou finally arrived past 8 p.m.

Lin Huang had a rough idea of the Chan Clan's situation from the Mystic Butterfly. He knew how Chan Dou's family had been treating him for the past month.

However, Chan Dou did not mention his family's situation despite chatting for a while, and Lin Huang decided not to ask him about it. Chan Dou still had amnesia, so they fell into an awkward situation after the banter since they had nothing much to talk about.

Noticing that, Lin Huang patted Chan Dou's shoulder. "Why don't you stay at Dynasty? You can decide whether to go home after you get your memory back."

Chan Dou fell into silence for a long time before lifting his head to look at Lin Huang. "Give me some time to consider."

Lin Huang nodded. "Since you have no idea how you were like in the past, you should plan your future now. There's no need to make it complicated. Go for things that are beneficial to you now."

Lin Huang left in huge strides after saying that while Chan Dou stared into space while staying in the courtyard alone.

It was a sunny day on the 18th of March.

The temperature in Emperor City was getting warmer since it was the break of spring. People no longer wore their thick coats and cotton-padded jackets. They regained their spirits like before.

The sun had just risen in the morning. It was sunny, and there were no clouds in the blue, blue sky.

A faint glow came from basking in the sun.

Lin Huang dragged his old friends to the fat aunty's dumpling stall early in the morning.

In reality, at Dynasty, there would be professional Food Hunters taking turns to make breakfast every day. The delicious dumplings at the fat aunty's stall were not the main reason why Lin Huang frequented it. Taste-wise, Food Hunters could definitely make better ones. Lin Huang loved going there for breakfast because there was warmth and kinship there. In reality, such warmth was what most ordinary people in this gravel world experienced every day. It was such warmth that made Lin Huang realize that he was only human after all.

They combined two tables at the dumpling stall and took their seats around it.

The fat uncle served the dumplings while chuckling. "They're freshly made. Eat them while they're hot!"

Fatty Yin Hangyi was the first to pick the chopsticks up. He could not stop complimenting how tasty they were after taking a bite.

The rest began eating one after another.

"They have some really sick skills!" Fatty gushed after finishing a serving of dumplings. "The dumpling skin and filling are close to perfection, and the control of heat was great too."

"Master also said that their dumplings are the most perfect ones that ordinary people can make. Many Food Hunters might not even be able to make better ones with the same ingredients," Lin Huang reiterated what Mr. Fu said while smiling.

After breakfast, Lin Huang became a tour guide and brought them to visit a few tourist attractions in Emperor City. They had a lot of fun going around.

Lin Huang only had countable occasions of such relaxed times throughout the four years since he traveled to this world.

They toured around until dinner time. Lin Huang then brought them to Dynasty's headquarters.

He invited all of his friends to the Emperor's Palace. Naturally, apart from Yi Yeyu and the rest, Lin Xin, Mr. Fu, and Xiao Mo were there too.

They all gathered at the big dining table. Lin Huang sat at the main seat with Mr. Fu on his left and Lin Xin on his right.

To talk at ease, Mr. Fu set up a voice shield to shroud the dining table to avoid their voices from being heard.

The chefs were working happily in the Emperor's Palace kitchen. It was their first time entering the Emperor's Palace. Before the dishes were served, the bartender began preparing the drinks that each of them ordered.

Lin Huang picked up the glass before him after everyone had been served their drinks.

"Everyone, it's been almost three to four years since I met you all. Some of you fought monster hordes with me, some of you killed monsters in ruins with me, some of you grew with me along the way, some of you gave me help and love, and some of you went through life and death with me. I'm lucky to have friends like all of you. It's destiny."

"Lin Huang, you're making me bashful by saying that," Fatty scratched his head and said rather shamelessly.

"To me, it's my honor to have seen you grow," Yi Zheng said in all seriousness.

"I knew that you'd succeed back then, but never had I thought your growth would be so tremendous. You've only spent less than four years getting to where you are now." Yi Yeyu was emotional thinking about how Lin Huang had been only a rookie under her when they met.

"You've saved my life twice," Leng Yuexin said while smiling faintly, "I'm the lucky one, no matter what."

"I owe you my life too." Xiao Mo pumped his chest.

Chan Dou reminisced with a smile. "You told me that I took care of you before, but I don't remember that. All that I know is that you took care of me when I lost my memory."

Li Lang, who was dressed in a white suit as if he was getting married, raised his glass high. "We've fought together more than once, and we've risked our lives for each other. Let's not get emotional and drink up!"

Liu Ming spoke to Mr. Fu through voice transmission while looking around the crowded table, "They're all great kids."

Mr. Fu nodded and smiled. He picked his glass up and downed it.

Besides Lin Huang and the rest, even Lin Xin, who had never touched alcohol, picked up her fruit cocktail and drained it.

"This is actually a farewell." Lin Huang only spoke slowly after drinking, "I'll leave the gravel world in two days. I'm going to the great world to find a solution to solve the gravel world's disaster."

Apart from Mr. Fu, everyone was stunned.

"Are you going into the virtual zone?" Liu Ming was the first to respond. He subsequently turned his head to peek at Mr. Fu. He seemed to be confused about why Mr. Fu would allow Lin Huang to go on a suicide mission.

"Must you go into the virtual zone?" Yi Zheng frowned and asked.

Lin Huang nodded lightly. "At the moment, the virtual zone is the only way known to get to the great world."

"I heard that none of the people who entered the virtual zone came back alive." Yi Yeyu was concerned too.

"In reality, not everyone who entered the virtual zone is dead. From what I know, only two survived," Lin Huang explained, "One is a Master God from God Bless. He came from this gravel world and went to the great world through the virtual zone. Another one would be the demigod, Qi Muxiong. I found out from his inherited memory that he's been to the virtual zone too."

"I personally speculate that the reason why nobody survived the virtual zone isn't that all who entered it is dead. It's most likely that the virtual zone is a one-way street. There's no turning back as soon as one enters."

"If that's the case, even if you manage to survive the virtual zone and enter the great world, when exactly will you be back?" Leng Yuexin asked.

"At the moment, I'm thinking of finding another way to get back. That's the second thing that I need to do when I get to the great world apart from finding the source of the disaster. I must come back before the disaster arrives!"

"I personally think that you should stay and spend one to two years developing the alliance between Dynasty and the Union Government, Junior Brother. We might be able to survive the disaster then," Liu Ming offered his personal opinion.

"I've considered what you said too, but that's not going to eradicate the issue. The civilization of our gravel world has been destroyed over and over again because the disaster comes over and over again. To eradicate the problem, finding the source in the great world will be the only way. Our world will only be safe if we've found the source of the problem." Lin Huang thought further.

"Can't Grandpa Fu seal the crack in the Abyss Brink again?" Lin Xin could not help but ask softly.

"Silly girl, it's not as simple as you think." Mr. Fu shook his head while forcing a smile to soften the blow of the truth.

"In reality, the seal at the crack isn't to seal the crack. I can't even seal that crack with my current combat strength. We told the people that the seal works just to give them relief. The true function of the seal is just to prevent some weak monsters from entering our world through the crack. The thing that's really blocking armies from invading is the will of this gravel world. When the will of the world can't stop the crack from expanding, the True Gods from outside will enter from the crack. The seal won't be able to stop them."

In reality, Lin Huang learned about the truth about the crack from Wu Mo. Mr. Fu aside, even a seal combining some True Gods from the ancient era could not do anything to the crack.

"I'm going to the great world this time to find out why the crack appeared. As soon as I find the reason the crack has appeared, then I can find a solution to prevent it from cracking again."

"But there are just too many uncertainties. We're not sure if the virtual zone can really bring one to the great world. Even if you make it to the great world, returning is a problem. Also, we don't know whether you can find the reason why the crack formed and whether it can be stopped from cracking again." Liu Ming raised more doubts.

"These unknown matters will remain unknown forever if nobody finds out." Everyone fell into silence for a long time as soon as Lin Huang said that.

Someone must take the first step to find out more about the uncertainties. Even if Lin Huang did not do that, someone would in the future.

"In reality, there's another reason for me to go to the great world," Lin Huang added, "My cultivation method is rather unique, so it's difficult for me to elevate my combat strength if I stay in the gravel world. If I stay, I might not be able to elevate a rank within a year. However, I might be able to elevate to virtual god-level in the great world within a year."

At the moment, Mr. Fu finally spoke to mediate the situation, "A man should have ambitions. I agree that Lin Huang should venture into the great world. This gravel world is too small for him. Just like that saying, 'shallow water can't feed a dragon'. I think the great world is Lin Huang's stage, and I believe that he'll succeed in the great world!"

"I think so too," Lin Huang said shamelessly while smirking, "Alright, let's not talk about me. Let's talk about something else."

The heavy atmosphere was lifted much more after the master and disciple said that.

Although the atmosphere was nothing compared to the beginning, it was much better than before. They continued to chat.

It was almost 8.30 p.m. when dinner ended. The chefs and bartenders had left the Emperor's Palace over half an hour ago.

Seeing that almost all the dishes were finished on the table, Lin Huang stood up while raising his glass. "This is the last toast. There's a gift for everyone after we drink."

Everyone stood up with their glasses raised, and they finished their drinks.

The dinner finally came to an end officially.

"Alright, it's time for presents." Lin Huang walked to Yi Zheng and pointed a finger to his forehead.

Almost at the same time, he contacted Xiao Hei. "Use a Flawless Card. The target is Yi Zheng."

As a Flawless Card penetrated Yi Zheng's body with a golden glow, he sensed the changes in his body immediately. He quickly sat with his legs crossed.

The rest looked at Yi Zheng in confusion. They did not see the golden glow from the Flawless Card. All they saw was Lin Huang pointing at Yi Zheng's forehead.

Subsequently, Lin Huang walked to Yi Yeyu and pointed a finger on her forehead. He used the second Flawless Card.

Later on, Lin Huang used a Flawless Card on Leng Yuexin, Li Lang, Liu Ming, Chan Dou, Xiao Mo, Yin Hangyi, and Lin Xin respectively.

In the Emperor's Palace, apart from Lin Huang and Mr. Fu, the rest sat with their legs crossed while sensing the changes in their bodies.

Chan Dou and the rest woke up one after another around midnight. They gaped at Lin Huang in surprise.

"Lin Huang, what did you do? I sense that my talent and qualification have gone through a massive boost!" Yi Yeyu asked while widening her eyes.

"Nothing much. It's just a trick, but I can only do it once." Naturally, Lin Huang was unwilling to explain further.

"All of you are on immortal-level, so you can cultivate ancient methods instead," Lin Huang said to Yi Yeyu and the rest, "Master will examine which cultivation direction you guys are more suited for throughout the next two days and teach you guys the methods ]then."

Lin Huang had spoken to Mr. Fu a few days before. He had also shared the methods he obtained and those that Bloody created with Mr. Fu.

"Xiao Mo, although your body has been modified by the Crow God whereby it's close to perfect-stage demigod-level while your combat strength is on imperial-level purple gold-rank, there's no Life Palace in your body. Just continue to cultivate the set of methods that I gave you earlier.

"As for Boss Chan, you seemed to have elevated to imperial-level by cultivating the ancient methods that I gave you earlier. I think you might have lost consciousness when you were taken by God Bless while your subconscious mind cultivated the methods on its own. With your firm base, you've managed to build your foundation naturally and elevated to imperial-level. Just continue to cultivate the methods. You don't have to cultivate other ancient methods," Lin Huang said and looked at Liu Ming.

"Senior Brother, you've elevated to imperial-level and consolidated your Life Palace. You only have two choices if you'd like to elevate to virtual god-level. You either break your Life Palace and rebuild a new foundation or you get Master to help you to break through to virtual god-level when you get to demigod-level. Both ways are similar whereby breaking and consolidating Godheads is required. It's your choice."

"How about me? I feel that my qualifications have been boosted too," Fatty asked immediately after seeing that Lin Huang had a plan for everyone.

"It depends on where you want to go." Lin Huang turned around and looked at Yin Hangyi. "If you'd like to cultivate, you can learn from Master. If you'd like to become a Food Hunter, you can establish a restaurant in Emperor City.

"No matter what you choose, I personally suggest that you stay in Emperor City with the old lady. Bring your aunty and the rest. As for the restaurants, sell them. Baqi City is just a grade-C foothold after all. It's nothing compared to Emperor City. Keep your house, so you can stay there when you visit the city again. Settle the rest of the properties."

Fatty was encouraged when he heard the advice but he hesitated. "Give me some time to think about it."

In reality, Lin Huang knew that Fatty was uncertain because he was concerned about his grandmother.

However, he knew the old lady's character well enough. She definitely would not do anything that would slow Fatty down. She might even ask him to stay in Emperor City.

After he was done planning for his friends, Lin Huang walked to Lin Xin. "Silly girl, learn from Master properly. Read more, play less."

"Mm-hmm." Tears were flowing from her eyes. "Brother, you must come back!"

"I definitely will within a year!" Lin Huang patted Lin Xin's head with a grin. "I can't leave such a cute sister like you behind."

The 20th of March was the day the entrance to the virtual zone was opened.

Lin Huang rushed to the third layer of the Abyss Brink after bidding farewell with Mr. Fu and Lin Xin.

This time, the virtual zone would be opened at the deepest part in the third layer of the Abyss Brink.

Lin Huang only found the entrance after summoning Bloody to spread her Leech Pods all around the third layer of the Abyss Brink.

There was a black whirlpool two meters in diameter that looked like a mini black hole in the cave. Powerhouses who managed to get to the third layer of the Abyss Brink would basically know what this cave was. If one really saw this, one would definitely avoid it. However, Lin Huang summoned Thunder and headed straight into the whirlpool after confirming its coordinates.

Lin Huang grinned and leaped when he arrived above the whirlpool. After recalling Thunder and Bloody into their card forms, he stepped into it.

…

After a moment of blurred vision, Lin Huang had a barren land in his field of sight when he snapped back to his senses.

He looked far away. There was not even a single plant on the cracked and burned land. The land that he was standing on was not a complete continent. It was more like an island floating in mid-air.

There were many islands of all sizes floating around the island. The only similarity they shared was that they were all charred.

As he observed his surroundings quietly, Lin Huang recalled returning to the gravel world all of a sudden. He turned around and looked to notice that the dimensional entrance earlier had vanished.

"Just like what I speculated, the virtual zone is a one-way street. There's only going in, no going out. No wonder so many people never returned after they entered."

However, Lin Huang could not understand why would the entrance vanish after one entered the virtual zone. So, how did demigod Qi Muxiong return to the mini world?

He thought about it and since he could not come up with anything, he spread his Divine Telekinesis all over in a wave.

After elevating to imperial-level, the radius of his territory had expanded to a hundred kilometers. Now that he had arrived at imperial-level rank-3, the radius had grown to 300 kilometers.

Meanwhile, the search range of his Divine Telekinesis had increased ten times more than the radius of his territory, whereby it went up to 3,000 kilometers. It was even farther than the search range of Grimace's Divine Telekinesis despite the fact that he was already on Virtual God rank-2.

However, Lin Huang only sensed a couple of monsters within 3,000 kilometers after a round of searching.

There were less than 30 monsters combined within over 28 million square kilometers. Most of them were on either holy fire-level or immortal-level.

Lin Huang was puzzled. "Such monster density and combat strength… Did I enter a fake virtual zone?"

One must know that to the gravel world, the virtual zone was the No. 1 forbidden area known to the public. Legend was that it was filled with god-level monsters, thus even a virtual god-level powerhouse's life would be at risk after entering.

However, now it seemed like this was completely different from the legend.

Apart from little monsters and floating islands of all sizes, Lin Huang did not find out anything else within the range of his Divine Telekinesis. He was unsure where he should head to.

Feeling helpless, he summoned Bloody. "I found nothing, so I can only rely on you."

Bloody nodded and began spreading her Leech Pods out. A sea of invisible Leech Pods spread everywhere.

Lin Huang took two chairs out from his storage ring and sat down. He waited patiently for Bloody's search results while chatting with her.

His Emperor's Heart Ring lost all of its functions in this virtual zone, including the ability to take out and store items. Fortunately, Lin Huang prepared ahead, so he moved everything into the ring from the great world.

Many storage rings that he had obtained from the Royal Trials came from the great world. Before his departure, he picked one which material and model was inconspicuous to avoid grabbing attention from people when he arrived in the great world as he did not want unnecessary trouble.

Lin Huang was not afraid of the trouble that might come. However, he only had one year, so it would be best to have less trouble. Avoiding unnecessary trouble would give him more time to deal with important matters.

Around half an hour later, Bloody finally had news.

"I cast parasites on a few local monsters and obtained the rough situation and map of this virtual zone. To confirm the accuracy of the map in their heads, I got the rest of the Leech Pods to look around. The preliminary check has verified that the maps in their heads are accurate."

"This virtual zone we're currently in is very vast. It's almost 1/40 to 1/30 the size of a gravel world. We're currently in the barren area in the west of this virtual zone. You will see Shelter No. 1that's closest to us around 30,000 kilometers to the east.

"The so-called Shelter is similar to a human foothold the monsters created in the virtual zone. In reality, the name 'Shelter' came from the cities the Protoss built in the great world. These monsters borrowed the name and applied it in the virtual zone.

"There are approximately a million monsters in Shelter No. 1. There are three virtual god-level monsters guarding in it, but I'm unsure about their exact combat strength."

"How do monsters in this Shelter feel about humans?" Lin Huang asked.

"I'm not too sure. The few monsters that I cast parasites on are refugees wandering in a farther area. They've limited information about the Shelter.

"At the moment, we only know that the fighting and killing monsters outside the Shelter is allowed. Furthermore, the monsters outside out the Shelter are very aggressive when they see humans. Humans are practically their No. 1 prey. In other words, the preliminary speculation should be that monsters aren't too friendly towards humans even in the Shelter."

Lin Huang nodded lightly and then looked at Bloody. "According to the total size of the virtual zone that you obtained, there should be many Shelters like this, shouldn't there?"

"There are at least a hundred of them in all sizes. The largest one is the Central Shelter located in the central area of the virtual zone. I heard there are over 30 million monsters and there seems to be true god-level monsters guarding the area."

"It's almost similar to a slightly larger grade-B foothold in the gravel world." Before entering, Lin Huang never expected the virtual zone to have cities. Besides that, a city would have tens of millions in population. "These monsters must have intelligence nothing lower than humans to be able to build such large Shelters."

"According to their minds, do they have a way of heading to the great world?" Lin Huang asked again.

"No. I intentionally looked for related information in their heads, but there's nothing." Bloody shook her head. "However, if this virtual zone really connects to the great world, the people who know the way would most probably be in the Central Shelter."

"How far is the Central Shelter from where we are?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"Over 400,000 kilometers away," Bloody answered, "But I suggest that we should familiarize ourselves with other Shelters first and get the basic information. We'll only go to the Central Shelter when we're more prepared."

"Sure!" Lin Huang nodded in agreement.

Since Lin Huang was unsure about how humans would be treated at the Shelter, he used a Transformation Card before entering to avoid unnecessary trouble. He transformed himself into Grimace.

However, he changed what Grimace was wearing.

The exquisite and sophisticated black robe with golden patterns did not have any more golden patterns on it. It was pure black now while the bottom of the robe was longer. It hung all the way to his ankles, covering his entire body.

At first, the black gentleman's hat on his head had a circlet of diamonds mounted on it. Lin Huang removed the adornment so that only the hat remained.

He also took off the golden mask that Grimace usually wore on half of his face.

The same happened to the white gloves that Grimace wore on his hands. Lin Huang removed them, revealing his fair hands. The pair of hands had long, slender fingers that looked like a pianist's.

The black walking stick in his right hand was changed into a normal wooden one.

Bloody, who was with him, also changed into a heavy, red robe. She covered her beautiful figure entirely and wore a mask on her face to cover her features.

They disguised in such a low profile to avoid unnecessary attention.

However, Lin Huang and Bloody never would have thought that all their efforts would be in vain.

There were at least 30 monsters of all kinds that seemed like humans queuing obediently at the entrance. It was a long queue at the entrance of the Shelter.

Seeing those monsters lining up, Lin Huang and Bloody naturally joined the queue at the back.

They did not expect the scorpion monster that was queuing before them to give up its queue upon seeing both of them. It went behind them instead.

Later on, the second and third monsters before them gave up their spots to them one after another.

In confusion, Lin Huang and Bloody stepped ahead of the queue.

At the moment, the four guards at the entrance came up to them. The leading one was a spider monster with human heads with a combat strength only being on immortal-level rank-4 or rank-5.

This spider monster with legs that were seven to eight meters long had a few capsules that resembled human heads. It ambled to them slowly. "I never expected both Masters to arrive. Please enter!"

The four guards retreated to the sides after the leader said that to show them the way to the entrance.

Lin Huang glanced at Bloody. Noticing that she was in deep thoughts, he did not ask her anything. Instead, he turned his head and nodded at the leading spider monster with human heads. He then walked into the Shelter in long strides.

Bloody followed him into the Shelter.

Lin Huang only asked Bloody through voice transmission after they entered the Shelter, "What was that?"

"The few guards only had immortal-level combat strength. Theoretically, they shouldn't be able to sense our combat strength. Those monsters that were queuing had even lower combat strength," Bloody explained, "I'm guessing they must have guessed our levels. To monsters below mythical-level, a quadruple mutated mythical-level monster would have a certain level of suppression against them. They can clearly sense such suppression on their souls."

As the duo chatted through voice transmission, Lin Huang discerned many monsters of all forms around observing him and Bloody.

He studied the monsters further to realize that Bloody and he were the only two creatures on two feet.

The other creatures in the Shelter were either flying in the sky or crawling on the ground. Almost none of them walked on both feet like them.

"I thought we wouldn't be noticed if we changed, but it seems like I was too naive," Lin Huang whispered embarrassedly.

"It isn't a bad thing," Bloody replied with a smile, "Since we can't stay low-profile, there's no need for us to spy around. We can just speak to the Shelter guardians."

"I guess that's the only way. We must've stepped into the sights of this Shelter's guardians now. They'd think that we're up to something if we proceed with sneaking around." Lin Huang nodded in agreement with Bloody's suggestion.

He soon found the guardians' location after he spread his Divine Telekinesis. They stepped out and appeared at the building where the guardians were.

The building was clearly built by humans judging from its style. Lin Huang could not help but raise an eyebrow.

The building before them was a ruin. Only about 30 floors that were close to the ground was all that remained. Lin Huang did not think too much about it before this. Now that he had seen the building, he realized that this Shelter was built on a human ruin.

A voice came all of a sudden when the duo peered up. "I didn't expect VIPs to visit us today."

As the voice rang out, three silhouettes came out of the building almost at the same time. They landed slowly on the ground.

The leader was a human monster with a grimacing mask. Its body was covered in a loose, black robe, so nobody could tell if it was a male or female. It had a long, black tail behind and the body of a monster with many legs. Furthermore, its body was separated into segments. The tip of its tail was a spear-like sting.

The second monster was a white-haired ape. It looked weak with slender limbs, and it held a black walking stick that looked like a branch in its hand.

The third monster was a fish monster. It had the body of a human but a head that looked a little like a catfish's. Although it had human limbs, its clearly exposed hands had scales on them.

Among the three monsters, the fish monsters and the ape monster had Virtual God rank-3 combat strength. The black-robed monster in the mask that had spoken earlier was on Virtual God rank-4.

Although one could not determine its gender under the black robe, one could distinguish that it should be a male from the voice.

"We're sorry to disturb you." Lin Huang chose to respond courteously seeing that the three monsters had no hostility although they had their guards up. He nodded slightly at the three of them.

"I wonder what's the purpose of your visit. Pray, tell." The monster in the mask was still cautious and did not get any closer.

"We actually fell into this place unintentionally. We thought we could ask for information seeing there's a Shelter nearby. We have no other intentions. All we want to know is the way to get back to the great world."

The three monsters glanced at each other after hearing Lin Huang say what sounded somewhat truthful. They put their guards down gradually.

"So, you guys are the new people who just entered the virtual zone. I can only say that it's unfortunate for you guys to have fallen into the virtual zone."

"What do you mean?" Lin Huang asked while frowning a little.

"This place is called the virtual zone. It's a land where the Space Rule is messed up. There are always space tunnels of all sorts opening here, but it's very difficult to figure out where exactly they lead to. Moreover, even if it's the tunnel that leads to the great world, nobody knows where in the great world it would send you to," the monster in the mask explained while smiling. "In other words, for you guys to return to where you came from is as difficult as reaching the stars."

Lin Huang and Bloody would never have thought that the virtual zone was such a place.

Lin Huang asked again after falling into silence for a moment while frowning, "Is there really no way for us to go back?"

"It's not that there's no way. In this virtual zone, there's only one person that can send you to the place you desire in the great world. The thing is, it's hard to say if that person is willing to help."

"Who is that?!" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"The Butterfly Sovereign at the Central Shelter!"

After chatting with the three guardians, Lin Huang left Shelter No.1 with Bloody.

In reality, he secretly got the Nightmare Tapir to read the trio's minds as they chatted. With the Nightmare Tapir's ability that was comparable to a True God's, everything was practically invisible. The monster in the mask and the rest did not notice that they were dragged into the Nightmare Tapir's dreamland at all.

With the three guardians' memories, the duo had no reason to stay at the Shelter to spy around anymore.

After they left up to 10,000 kilometers away from the Shelter, Lin Huang summoned the Nightmare Tapir again and got it to share the trio's memories.

Lin Huang smiled after scanning through the trio's memories. "Although those three fellas kept something a secret, at least, what they told us was the truth. That's actually considered not bad. Judging from this, monsters are more trustworthy than humans."

"Naturally, there's no need for them to lie since there's no conflict in benefits." On the other hand, Bloody expected this.

Lin Huang grinned and refused to comment further. He then shifted the subject to the serious matter. "According to the three guardians' memories, there are three sovereigns in the central zone. They are the rulers of the entire virtual zone, whereby they're true god-level powerhouses. Among them, the Butterfly Sovereign has the weakest ability. She's only a first-rank True God. However, she's an expert in the Space Rule. She has set coordinates leading to the great world and is the only powerhouse that can send people out of the virtual zone. The other two monsters are second-rank True Gods. Due to the lack of resources in the virtual zone, the three of them aren't on peaceful terms. I'm guessing the Butterfly Sovereign won't let us go easily if we go to her."

"We can always make a trade." Nonetheless, Bloody was not worried. "There must be something she desires that we can give her. I believe she won't decline our business if there's something she wants that we have."

"That's true, but something that a True God desires must be difficult to obtain." Lin Huang forced a grim smile while shaking his head. "If it's really something that she can get easily, she would've gotten it already. There's no need for her to beg from others."

"That makes sense." Bloody nodded.

"But we can't make her send us away by force. There'll be even more trouble if she sends us to a barren mini-world." Lin Huang had thought of solving the issue with violence, but he was afraid that the Butterfly Sovereign would do something nasty to them.

"Let's see what exactly she wants. We'll think of other ways if the condition that she suggests is really too much," said Bloody, turning her head to look at Lin Huang. "Do you want to look for Qi Muxiong's ruin first? Or do we go to the Central Shelter first?"

"Let's go to the ruin first. We'll find the Butterfly Sovereign after we get our stuff." Lin Huang thought about it and said, "If we go to the Central Shelter first and the Butterfly Sovereign agrees to send us away directly, we might not have the time to go to the ruin by then."

"You're being too optimistic." Bloody faked a smile on her face.

"I mean, what if. After all, we can't rule out such a possibility." Lin Huang mumbled after he said that, "The Butterfly Sovereign is female. It's possible that she becomes easygoing if she falls in love with Grimace's disguise. Grimace's face is considered the most handsome male creature in the world."

Bloody pouted and muttered softly, feeling annoyed, "I don't think he's that handsome."

"What did you say?"

"I mean, what if the Butterfly Sovereign really falls in love with Grimace and is unwilling to let us go?" Bloody changed her words immediately.

"Then, I'll get Grimace to stay. Since I have 30 summoning authorities, losing him doesn't matter. If I really need him one day, I'll summon him back," Lin Huang said casually.

Grimace had absolutely no idea that he had become Lin Huang and Bloody's subject of discussion. Furthermore, the discussion revolved around ideas to sell him off.

After the duo chatted, Lin Huang simulated the map projection of the virtual zone with his Divine Power. He retrieved the 3D map from the three guardians' heads. It was undoubtedly more detailed than the one that Bloody obtained through the Leech Pods earlier.

"We're currently here." Lin Huang pointed at the western region on the map as it formed. He marked an 'X' and an 'O' all the way down on the right at the border close to the southern region. "According to Qi Muxiong's memories, the ruin should be around here. It's in the southeastern of the entire virtual zone close to the southern border, close to the bottom region."

"According to the monster's memories, the south of the virtual zone is in ruins. There are broken floating islands everywhere with no signs of humans." Bloody studied the location Lin Huang pointed at. "That might be the reason why he chose to stay there."

"Can you roughly calculate the distance?" Lin Huang asked.

"It's around 530,000 kilometers, a little farther than getting to the Central Shelter," Bloody estimated after merely peeking at it.

"Then, let's go!" Lin Huang nodded and summoned Thunder.

With its indigo feathers and golden patterns on its body, Thunder saw the mark on the map that Lin Huang circled with its purple-golden eyes.

"Let's go if you've familiarized yourself with the map." Lin Huang and Bloody hopped onto Thunder's back.

He only disintegrated the map made of Divine Power in the air after Thunder flapped its wings.

Thunder gave this flight across over 50,000 kilometers its all. They finally arrived two hours later.

However, Lin Huang could not help but frown when they were thousands of kilometers away from the coordinates. With his Divine Telekinesis, he could sense that the area of the coordinates had been sealed with a shield.

Lin Huang and Bloody finally saw the crystal shield when they arrived close to the coordinates.

The sphere covered a large space around the area. It was like a planet made of semitransparent crystals floating mid-air.

"They knew about the ruin." Lin Huang frowned deeply. To him, the virtual zone locals finding out about the ruin was bad news.

"This is clearly done by a True God." Bloody knew that she could not break the shield just by scanning it with her Divine Telekinesis.

"This should be the work of the Dragon Sovereign," Lin Huang concluded directly.

There were only three True Gods in the virtual zone. Among the three, the one that was expert in the Ice Element God Rule would be the Frost Dragon which was also named the Dragon Sovereign.

"They'll definitely notice us if we break the shield by force." Bloody turned her head to look at Lin Huang. "The best thing to do is not to alert our enemy."

"Don't worry. I'm not that impulsive," Lin Huang said expressionlessly, "The Frost Dragon is a quadruple mutated dragonkin while his combat strength is second-rank True God. It'd take a lot of effort if I were to fight him."

"Let's go to the Central Shelter instead. Let's ask around about the shield and see if there's any way for us to get in," Lin Huang said and patted Thunder which let out a soft hum and flapped its wings. With the duo on its back, iIt flew at a high speed to the Central Shelter!

Although Lin Huang had retrieved tons of information about the Central Shelter from reading the monster in the mask's mind, he could not help but exclaim when he saw the real thing, "Is this the Central Shelter?!"

The rest of the Shelters were just isolated islands in the virtual zone.

However, the Central Shelter before them was not an island, but an archipelago connecting islands of all sizes and heights. There were at least hundreds of them within their field of vision.

Lin Huang who had witnessed the Wu Tribe's floating land experienced a different feeling when he saw the connecting floating islands at that moment. Nevertheless, it was breathtaking.

Among the 300-odd islands of all sizes, Lin Huang scanned through them and eventually set his sights on the mini floating island not far away.

There was only one structure on that floating island — a gate.

"That's the Southern Heaven Gate." Lin Huang was almost chuckling when he mentioned that name out loud. The reason being he had seen the name "Southern Heaven Gate" in dramas on Earth many times before. According to the folktales, this was the gate to heaven.

When he learned about the name, Lin Huang even thought it might be travellers who had given these few gates such a name as a prank.

However, he soon eliminated that thought. 'That should be just a coincidence.'

Although there were over 300 islands of all sizes in the Central Shelter, there were only four gates in the east, south, west, and north of the archipelago that one could enter through.

The archipelago had a gigantic defensive formation set up by the powerhouses who came into the virtual zone in the early days when the Central Shelter was built. Apart from the four gates through which one could enter and exit, nobody could enter from the other islands.

The guards at the Southern Heaven Gate were two imperial-level monsters.

One was a giant rock monster that looked like a mini hill. Another was a black, gigantic monster with three dog heads which was a mutated monster.

Both of them had only stepped into imperial-level and were only triple mutated.

The two guards sensed suppression deep in their core as soon as Lin Huang and Bloody appeared. They stepped aside to let both of them go.

They were relieved to see the duo vanish into the Southern Heaven Gate.

"Did you feel it?" One of the heads on the three-headed monster turned its left head towards the other two heads on the right.

"That's the petrification that comes deep from one's soul. They're definitely on mythical-level," the head in the middle said.

"We don't see a mythical-level boss everyday and here comes two today. That's pretty rare." The third dog head picked up the conversation immediately.

"Don't you guys think that the two masters earlier are unfamiliar? I don't think I've ever seen them before," the rock monster spoke all of a sudden.

The three-headed monster was stunned when it heard what the rock monster said.

"I think I've ever seen them before." The dog head in the middle was the first to react. It looked to its left and its right.

"I don't think I've seen them before either. Theoretically, I'd remember masters of such human form even if I've only seen them once," the dog head on the right said with its tongue hanging out.

"Now that I think about it, not only I've never seen them, I've never even heard of them." the dog head on the left looked rather serious. "In the entire virtual zone, there are a total of 103 virtual god-level powerhouses below the Three Sovereigns. We've seen most of them. We roughly know how the few that we've never met look like. However, the duo who just entered are on virtual god-level, but they don't match the list of the 103 Virtual Gods."

"Do you mean…" the dog head on the right interrupted before the rock monster could finish speaking.

"The two fellas who just entered came from outside of the virtual zone!"

The rock monster glared at the dog head since its line was stolen. It continued to speak, "It's a serious matter for new Virtual Gods to be coming into the virtual zone."

"We must report it to the bosses!" The dog head in the middle stole its line again.

"Can you guys not steal my line every time?" The rock monster glared at the three-headed monster.

"No!" the dog heads in the middle and the right exclaimed in unison.

…

Lin Huang and Bloody, who had entered the Central Shelter, had no idea that their identities as outsiders had been exposed.

"According to the monsters' memories, the information transaction mainly takes place at Shelter No. 7." Lin Huang was turning around when he had his eyes locked on an island far away. "It should be that island!"

He flew towards the floating island that he had his eyes on as soon as he was done speaking. The duo landed on the island one after another a moment later.

The monsters looked at them following their sudden appearance.

Bloody smirked, an invisible wave flashing through her eyes without anyone noticing. She grabbed Lin Huang's arm and pulled him aside later on.

The monsters around only snapped back to their senses by then.

"I hypnotized the monsters that were watching earlier and retrieved some information," Bloody said to Lin Huang through voice transmission calmly, "The Secret Loft isn't far ahead. Apart from that, there's an underground information channel called Silence. However, one can only obtain common information from the two channels. It's not that we can't get the core information, but there's a limit to that. Many bits of information about the Three Sovereigns are above the limit. The Three Sovereigns will be alerted as soon as we touch that part of the information."

"Are there any loopholes?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"There're no good solutions to that." Bloody shook her head while frowning a little. "It's useless to disguise ourselves. The Three Sovereigns will be alerted as soon as we ask anything above the limit. It'll only take one moment to target us by spreading Divine Telekinesis, then there'll be no way for us to run."

Bloody thought about it and suggested, "The only way is to try our best not to ask anything sensitive when we talk to them. If there's something that we really want to ask, try beating around the bush."

"I hate beating around the bush," Lin Huang grumbled.

"Do you have any better suggestions?" Bloody turned her head to look at Lin Huang.

"Never mind. We'll do as you suggested."

…

In the three different Shelters hundreds of kilometers away, the Butterfly Sovereign and the rest heard the news coming from the Southern Heaven Gate.

"They might be quadruple mutated mythical-level? And there are two of them?! Haha, these two mythical-level powerhouses must be dummies then!"

"Both of them are on virtual god-level. Whether they're really on mythical-level or not, I can definitely boost my abilities if I recruited them!"

"They're so unfortunate to be walking into the virtual zone. I'm sure they'll come to me really soon to get me to send them out. Let me think what I should ask from them…"

Lin Huang and Bloody turned into the third alley on their left after they walked over a kilometer along the main road.

The alley was so narrow that only one person could barely slip in.

Lin Huang and Bloody walked in with one leading in front of the other. The deeper they went, the darker it got.

They finally saw a dark sign when they walked 100 meters into the alley. 'Secret Loft' was written in dark red on the sign.

Lin Huang looked up. The little building with the sign was only two floors high, and it looked small. Judging from a rough estimation, one floor should be 80 square meters at the maximum.

The little building soon matched the one that Lin Huang had in his memory. He was sure that he had gotten the correct place.

He opened the door and walked in after a mere hesitation. Bloody followed him into the little building.

He was rather puzzled when he walked into the building and saw everything before his eyes.

The building that had seemed like it was less than 80 square meters outside was endless.

"Such a ridiculous replicating technique. It's amazing!" Lin Huang could not help but exclaim upon seeing the real thing although he had seen it in memory.

The 80 square meters had expanded at least a hundred times. There were at least ten floors inside with each floor being higher than the two floors he had seen from outside combined.

It was crowded in the building. There were many stalls selling all sorts of items inside.

In reality, the Secret Loft sold more than just intel. The little building that looked inconspicuous on the outside was one of the biggest markets in the Central Shelter.

"It's pretty crowded. Do you want to take a look?" Bloody turned her head to look at Lin Huang.

"Let's finish our business first. We have plenty of time for shopping when we're done," Lin Huang said and turned to his left to go up the spiral stairs.

The spiral stairs was actually a ladybug. It opened half of its shell and treated it as a flight of stairs, bringing everyone to the floors that they desired to go.

The ladybug was a bug monster with many legs and extremely small brain capacity. Its head looked a little like a centipede's, giving it a terrifying appearance. However, it was actually very gentle and generally would not attack other creatures as long as nobody triggered it.

Though double mutated, the ladybug had low intelligence. It ranked almost the last among the double mutated monsters.

As it was tame and gentle as well as obedient, it liked chasing their own tail and did not mind people climbing onto its body, so it was usually treated as an elevator in the monster world.

However, ladybugs were more than happy to be at their service. They thought having people climb on their bodies was like having people play with them, so they did not despise such a job at all.

Lin Huang and Bloody stood on the ladybug's shell and arrived on the 12th floor of the Secret Loft within some ten seconds.

The 12th floor of the Secret Loft was a place where intel of all sorts were sold.

A succubus with a voluptuous figure came as soon as Lin Huang and Bloody arrived.

The succubus looked 70% human. She had fair and clear skin while her body was semi-transparent. She wore a white dress on her body, and there was a layer of faint, white mist lingering around her. She looked like a fairy.

"May I know if both of you are here together?" The succubus peeked at Bloody and had her eyes on Lin Huang when she asked the question. Her voice was elusive and sounded completely different from the voice a human would make.

"We're together," Lin Huang responded.

"That's great. There's only one room that's vacant now which is the Secret Room No. 13. I'll bring both of you over," the succubus said and turned around with her feet hovering above the ground. She led the duo to the vacant secret room.

The succubus stopped when the three of them arrived at a room with the number '13' written on it a moment later.

"Please go in."

Lin Huang nodded and flicked a Divine Stone at the succubus. He then went in with Bloody.

The succubus held onto the Divine Stone and became stunned, "This is… a Divine Stone?"

The Secret Loft did not force their customers to pay tips to the attendants. However, most of the customers who were generous or held a high status would tip.

The succubus had been working for some ten years at the Secret Loft. She had received hundreds of tips, but it was her first time getting a Divine Stone.

One must know that a beginner-grade demigod relic would cost about 100 to 300 Divine Stones.

It might be nothing to people above demigod-level. However, to an immortal-level succubus, it was undoubtedly a hefty tip. It was almost her three-year salary working at the Secret Loft.

However, Lin Huang had no idea about that. All he knew was that the monster in the mask and the rest would tip the attendants whenever they come to the Secret Loft.

The basic currency that the virtual zone used was different from the currency used in the gravel world and the great world. They used a type of energy crystal that was called the White Crystal which was produced locally in the virtual zone.

Lin Huang did not have such a thing with him. He felt bad not tipping, so he thought he would give a Divine Stone instead.

After all, the Divine Stone containing Divine Power was used in the virtual zone and the great world as it was a strong currency.

He had no idea that the succubus would mistake him as a tycoon unintentionally. He would not bother even if he knew.

Lin Huang and Bloody could not help but peer around when they entered Secret Room No. 13.

There was nothing else in the room apart from a counter and a black-robed man sitting behind the counter.

The man had his entire body shrouded in the black robe. Nobody could tell what he was since he had a white plain mask on his face. There were only four tiny holes revealing his eyes on the mask. The rest of the mask was pure white.

Two bar stools appeared out of thin air before the counter when Lin Huang and Bloody walked in.

The black-robed man only asked slowly after waiting for the duo to take their seats, "May I know what both of you would like to know?"

The voice sounded like it came from far away instead of from before them.

Lin Huang did not find it odd since he had slightly gotten used to this world where there were more monsters than humans.

"I want information about the ruins and sites that are opened ever since 1,000 years ago. It's best if it's detailed. The more detail, the better," Bloody spoke directly before Lin Huang could say anything.

The black-robed man turned his head to look at Bloody, feeling confused. He thought Lin Huang was the one who would be speaking.

However, the confusion only lasted for a moment before he named his price. "30,000 Divine Stones."

"So much?" Bloody raised her brow.

"It's inevitable that it's expensive since some of them involve the Three Sovereigns," the black-robed man gave a short explanation.

"Is it detailed?" Lin Huang asked.

"Everything that should be included is there. If there's none, it's something that shouldn't be included," the black-robed man affirmed while staring at Lin Huang.

Lin Huang and Bloody glanced at each other. He then turned his head back and nodded at the black-robed man. "Sure."

"Secondly, we want ways to leave the virtual zone. It has to be a viable way. The more detailed, the better." Bloody gave her second request.

The black-robed man was quick to name his price. "One million Divine Stones."

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Lin Huang frowned a little upon hearing the price.

"Don't be mad, sir. Let me explain," the black-robed man said calmly.

"In reality, everyone in the virtual zone knows the way to get out of the virtual zone. This piece of information is worthless. The reason why I asked for one million Divine Stones from you is that the Secret Loft can contact the person who can send you guys out directly.

"The one million Divine Stones is just the recommendation fee for the person so that you guys can meet her. However, the kind of price the person asked to send you guys out is out of our range. It has nothing to do with us whether you guys can come to an agreement with that person eventually.

"Of course, we can provide you the information if you guys don't want the Secret Loft's recommendation. It will be free for the first request. It's complimentary."

Lin Huang and Bloody looked at each other and secretly discussed it through voice transmission.

The black-robed man did not rush them and waited for their answer patiently.

Two to three minutes later, Lin Huang finally turned around to look at the black-robed man. "Alright, we'll pay you one million Divine Stones then!"

Lin Huang and Bloody checked into a hotel in Shelter No. 7 after leaving the Secret Loft.

Apart from trading markets, there were also hotels in the virtual zone where monsters dominated.

Those were clearly borrowed from humans. The overall business model had no difference from the human world.

If one had to distinguish the difference, the size of the hotel rooms differed from the human world.

As monsters had various body sizes, each hotel in the virtual zone had rooms of different sizes on each floor. Not only were the sizes different, but even the heights varied.

The biggest room might go up to 100 meters high and tens of thousands square meters wide. Meanwhile, the smallest room might be less than a square meter.

The hotel room that Lin Huang and Bloody were staying in was similar to a room in the human world. The difference was that the room was simple without many decorations and miscellaneous items like the hotels in the human world. To be exact, apart from the living room, the bedroom, and the bathroom, there was no other room with a fourth function. There was not even a couch, chairs, a table or a bed, let alone other decorations.

The image that appeared in Lin Huang's head was the sharing apartment which was less than ten square meters that he rented when he had just graduated from university upon seeing the setup in the hotel room. Although it was much bigger, it was almost as simple as this. The sharing apartment even had a bed and a wardrobe.

"It seems like they didn't grasp the essence of the hotel industry," Lin Huang could not help but joke.

"Humans enjoy life but not monsters. Apart from a minority of them who have outstanding intelligence, most of the monsters lived by instinct. Only killing and hunting for food make them happy, not staying in a small, enclosed place and enjoying services from others," Bloody explained.

"After all, the direction of the human evolution was different from other beings since the beginning. Since they found out that they could tame other lives, humans began to grow crops and keep animals to feed themselves. They no longer needed to kill and hunt. As for houses, the function of it at the beginning was to take shelter from rain and protect themselves from wild beasts. Therefore, a house has been carved in our genetics since the beginning of time for the security that it provides," Lin Huang voiced his understanding.

"Indeed, it's just like what you said. Monsters love killing and hunting. It stems from their genetics. The reason being they would die from hunger if they don't hunt or kill." Bloody nodded in agreement.

Both of them soon shifted the subject to a more serious matter after chatting for a while.

"Looking at the information the Secret Loft provided, the ruin called the Miracle should be the ruin Qi Muxiong left behind. It was discovered over 200 years ago and is also located in the southwestern region in the entire virtual zone. It was the Dragon Sovereign who sealed it himself, so everything matches. The photos of it since being healed is basically the same as the one that we saw before."

Lin Huang nodded in response. "Only people below virtual god-level can enter. This limitation matches Qi Muxiong's character too."

"This ruin is currently under the Dragon Sovereign's jurisdiction. It only opens once every year, and the opening period this year happens to be in five days. However, only a 100-person quota is given each time it's opened. It's the Dragon Sovereign who hosts it, so I'm afraid it's difficult to get in." Lin Huang frowned slightly as he analyzed the situation.

"It's not difficult to get in. Just find a monster that's already on the list and substitute it." Bloody had come up with a plan since the beginning. "Since your card disguise can't be seen through even by True Gods," she added

"That's a great idea!" Lin Huang nodded while smiling.

"The Butterfly Sovereign, on the other hand, isn't that easy," Bloody proceeded to speak, "Looking at the information provided by the Secret Loft, that lady lacks nothing. She usually has many conditions whenever she sends someone out of the virtual zone. She's fickle-minded. Compared to the Dragon Sovereign, such an unfathomable behavior is more difficult to handle."

"Let's meet her and see if she's willing to discuss. If it doesn't work, we can resort to using violence."

In reality, Lin Huang was most afraid of people of such character. He had done sales on Earth in the past and got to know all kinds of people. The most difficult one was not those customers who had many requests. Instead, it was those who were fickle-minded and always changing their minds.

Those who had many requests were, at least, sure of what they wanted. All you had to do was what they requested. However, those who were fickle-minded and always changing their mind would want this today and something else tomorrow. They would snap the day after tomorrow and ask for something else. Moreover, the things that they asked for were of low standards. Those people were the most difficult to deal with.

A commotion erupted outside the hotel all of a sudden as they were chatting.

Just when Lin Huang was going to see what happened with his Divine Telekinesis, he sensed two silhouettes moving at a high speed within his sensing range. They stopped before his room.

Subsequently, someone knocked on the door and a voice came later.

"Dear Masters, the honorable Dragon Sovereign wants to see you!"

Lin Huang raised his brow upon hearing that, and he looked at Bloody.

In reality, Bloody expected someone to ask for them but she never thought it would come so soon. Somebody had come to them less than ten minutes they checked into the hotel.

Lin Huang used his Divine Telekinesis to open the room door.

The two monsters at the door were gigantic. They could not get in, so they could only squeeze their heads in to look at Lin Huang and Bloody. They were eager to see exactly how the duo looked like to have the Dragon Sovereign invite them personally.

On the other hand, Lin Huang and Bloody also studied the two inviters.

They were a gigantic double-headed boa and a toad. Both of them were demigods that were clearly triple mutated.

Just when Lin Huang was going to speak after observing the two monsters for a while, another bout of commotion came from outside.

He sensed another two monsters approaching at a high speed within his territory range.

Bloody clearly noticed changes in the expression of the two monsters at the door.

A moment later, a human and dog appeared at Lin Huang's door.

It was a seductive lady with a fluffy, white tail under her white dress. The other dog beast looked like a husky with a white crystal between its brows.

"Masters, our honorable Master Lion Sovereign wants to see both of you!"

They seemed to be selling like hot cakes whereby both the Dragon Sovereign and the Lion Sovereign sent people to invite them within a minute the first invitation arrived.

It was a no-brainer for Lin Huang to figure that their quadruple mutation grade had been found out. The reason being there were only over a hundred Virtual Gods in the entire virtual zone. They were only on Virtual God rank-2. Theoretically, they were unworthy of being approached by two True Gods at all.

"Hu Xiaobai, how dare you jump the line? What are you trying to do?!" the toad monster asked immediately.

"We can fight if you're not happy about it." The husky glared at the giant toad with a side-eye in disdain.

"Let's fight. I'm not afraid of you!" the boa monster's left head shouted while its right head had steam coming out of its nostrils. "You take Husky No. 2's words too seriously. He was just barking."

"Boa No. 2, you've got the wrong dog. He's Husky No. 1," said the lady in the white dress, smiling while covering her mouth.

The toad and double-headed boa became silent. They looked a little scared when they looked at the husky now.

In her white dress, Hu Xiaobai looked at Lin Huang and Bloody cheerfully. "Masters, who would you like to meet first?"

"The Dragon Sovereign first then. His people came first after all, so we must follow the sequence when we do things," Lin Huang answered while smiling.

In the virtual zone, the Shelters where the Three Sovereigns lived had no codes to avoid unnecessary competition. Codes would only be given to the Shelters after the Shelters of the Three Sovereigns were assigned.

The Shelter where the Dragon Sovereign lived was called the Dragon Sovereign Shelter. The same applied to the Shelters where the remaining two sovereigns lived. They were named after the Three Sovereigns' titles as a rule in the virtual zone. If any of the sovereigns resigned and the new heir was enthroned, the Shelter would be named after the new sovereign. Such a system was simple and easy to remember whereby one would not get the name wrong.

The Dragon Sovereign Shelter was situated in the eastern region of the Central Shelter.

The surface of the Shelter was the biggest Lin Huang and Bloody had ever seen since they entered the virtual zone. The entire Shelter was floating mid-air like a floating continent.

In reality, the Dragon Sovereign Shelter covered 63 million square kilometers. Indeed, it was considered a continent. It was even a little bit larger than the biggest Eurasian Plate on Earth.

However, residency in the Shelters where the Three Sovereigns lived was hard to obtain. Even entry was restricted. There were over five million monsters staying long-term in the massive Dragon Sovereign Shelter, but less than 10,000 monsters were permanent residents.

Meanwhile, compared to obtaining residency, seeing the Three Sovereigns was even more difficult. Monsters below virtual god-level almost had no eligibility to apply at all. Even virtual god-level monsters that were eligible would need to pass the assessments set by the advisors around the Three Sovereigns even if they had submitted their applications.

The assessment would only usually go through when the advisors thought it was necessary for the monsters to see the Three Sovereigns. However, one could not see them immediately even if they passed the assessment. It depended on whether the Three Sovereigns were free. If it was not urgent, determining an appointment with the Three Sovereigns depended on their moods. It was plausible for one to only see the Three Sovereigns one to two months later even if they passed the assessment.

That was the main reason why Lin Huang and Bloody were willing to pay a million to meet the Butterfly Sovereign. They could only stay in the great world for a year and could not afford to wait for one to two months.

However, this time, the Dragon Sovereign had invited them, hence naturally, they did not have to go through the regular process.

The boa monster and the toad monster brought the duo to the Dragon Sovereign Palace directly.

The Dragon Sovereign Palace that was located in the central zone of the entire Dragon Sovereign Shelter was a massive golden palace. Lin Huang and Bloody could tell that it was a god relic by just looking at it.

The double-headed boa monster and the toad monster stopped when they sent them to the entrance of the palace.

The palace door opened automatically. A thick and deep voice came from inside. "Come in."

It was clearly meant for Lin Huang and Bloody. The duo stepped right in without any hesitation. The palace door closed slowly as they walked in.

Lin Huang ignored the door shutting behind them and lifted his head to peer around.

The Dragon Sovereign Palace was like the Emperor Palace, whereby the surface inside was much greater than it looked like outside. Even the decoration inside was even more sophisticated.

The ceiling in the Dragon Sovereign Palace alone looked much higher than that in the Emperor Palace. It was at least 100 meters. Meanwhile, the ice crystal pillars were as thick as old trees that were 10,000 years old. They connected the ground and the ceiling.

Each pillar had a different dragon carving on it. Those carvings writhed like they were alive when Lin Huang and Bloody looked away from the pillars.

They were looking around while walking deeper into the palace.

However, they did not see the Dragon Sovereign when they arrived at the deepest part of the palace a couple of minutes later. All they saw was a massive ice wall.

Just when Lin Huang and Bloody were puzzled, the ice wall experienced a tremor all of a sudden. They lifted their heads to look and saw a massive head checking them out in a condescending way. The ice wall was just a part of his body.

Lin Huang looked a little solemn now. He realized that his territory and Divine Telekinesis had not sensed the Dragon Sovereign's existence at all. Although Bloody had no expression standing next to him, she fell into silence.

The massive dragon head only mumbled to himself after staring at the duo for a while, "That aura… You're really quadruple mutated!"

The Dragon Sovereign spoke again a moment later before waiting for Lin Huang and Bloody to respond, "I'm Bai Bing, a pure dragonkin that's quadruple mutated and a second-rank True God. Everyone calls me the Dragon Sovereign in this virtual zone. Both of you just came into the virtual zone, am I right? Can you tell me what happened?"

Lin Huang and Bloody nodded and gave a simple self-introduction one after another.

"Grimace, a mysterious-type of quadruple mutated on Virtual God rank-2."

"Bloody, a wisdom-type of quadruple mutated on Virtual God rank-2."

"Mysterious-type and wisdom-type?!" The Dragon Sovereign's eyes lit up when he heard that. The two types of monsters were rare tribes.

The Dragon Sovereign spoke again as his eyes rolled around. His tone was gentle like never before. "It's my first time seeing a mysterious-type monster, but I've seen a few wisdom-type of monsters in the great world. They're extremely intelligent. We dragonkin are close to wisdom-type monsters, and we've worked together many times in the wars."

"Lady Bloody, you guys can stay at our Dragon Sovereign Shelter temporarily if you'd like to stay in the virtual zone. You can also stay for a long time if you like it. I'll welcome you with all of my heart."

Lin Huang wanted to ask, "How big is your heart?" but he thought about it and decided not to. It would be unwise to create trouble at such a time.

"Master Dragon Sovereign, thanks for your kindness, but we're not interested in staying in the virtual zone." Lim Huang declined the offer directly. "We walked into the virtual zone unintentionally this time. All we want now is to return to the great world."

"Since you've already come in, why don't you stay a little longer? You can treat it as a vacation," the Dragon Sovereign said while smiling.

"We would love to do that too, but we really have something important that we need to deal with in the great world and we must complete it within a year. We can't even waste a week in this virtual zone," Lin Huang replied helplessly.

"If that's the case, I won't trouble you guys." The Dragon Sovereign could tell that Lin Huang was not lying. He thought of recruiting them under him, but since they clearly had no intention to stay, it was meaningless to force them. With that, he decided to let them go.

At least, according to what Lin Huang said, it was pretty impossible for them to join another team. Since nobody would get them, he would not lose anything by letting go.

"But let me warn you guys," the Dragon Sovereign added while smiling, "I'm afraid it's not that simple a task for you guys to leave the virtual zone. I'm sure that you guys should know by now from asking around throughout the day that you can only look for the Butterfly Sovereign, Cai Yi, if you want to leave the virtual zone. But be warned that she won't let you guys simply leave."

"Do you have any tips, Master Dragon Sovereign?" Bloody asked immediately.

The Dragon Sovereign peered at Bloody and shook his head amusedly. "You guys are on your own. That lady is fickle-minded, so I can't deal with her either. The only thing that I can say to your guys is 'good luck'."

Lin Huang and Bloody went speechless right away after hearing the Dragon Sovereign's answer.

When they left the Dragon Sovereign Shelter, Lin Huang and Bloody saw the human and the dog waiting at the entrance.

Hu Xiaobai and Husky No. 1 clearly had been waiting for a while.

Seeing Lin Huang and Bloody walk out of the Dragon Sovereign Shelter, they did not ask anything. Hu Xiaobai expressed, "Let's go to the Lion Sovereign Shelter."

A black spider the size of a palm appeared in Hu Xiaobai's palm as soon as she was done speaking.

Its eight little beady eyes looked at the four of them once it was summoned. It then spat four threads out all of a sudden, tying the four people's wrists.

Lin Huang and Bloody did not dodge the threads and allowed its spider threads to tie them up because they knew what the spider was doing.

The spider was called the Dragnet Spider which was a unique dimensional monster that was an expert in dimensional transportation for short and long-distance. They could construct space tunnels and made them into webs. They used such a web to transport itself wherever it desired.

Nonetheless, the Dragnet Spider held no threat. Its timid characteristic whereby it always ran away from fights made them the main source of transportation in the monster world.

The Dragnet Spider lifted both its front legs after tying its four customers up. A black whirlpool soon appeared automatically, revolving around in the air.

The spider leaped from Hu Xiaobai's palm and dragged the four of them into the whirlpool.

When Lin Huang snapped back to his senses a couple of seconds later, they had arrived above the Lion Sovereign Shelter.

The Lion Sovereign Shelter was located in the western region of the Central Shelter. Just like the Dragon Sovereign Shelter, it was also a massive floating continent. Its surface was almost 61 million square kilometers, slightly smaller than the Dragon Sovereign Shelter.

Hu Xiaobai recalled the Dragnet Spider, then led Lin Huang and Bloody into the Lion Sovereign Shelter.

The style of houses in the Lion Sovereign Shelter was similar to those in the Dragon Sovereign Shelter. Even the appearance of the Lion Sovereign Palace looked no different than the Dragon Sovereign Palace.

However, they realized the style of the decoration inside was different when they walked into the Lion Sovereign Palace.

The overall decoration in the Lion Sovereign Palace had warm colors. The pillars and ceiling were gold with white accents. Naturally, there were far fewer pillars compared to the Dragon Sovereign Palace.

Lin Huang and Bloody finally saw how the Lion Sovereign looked like when they arrived at the deepest section of the Lion Sovereign Palace.

To be honest, Lin Huang thought he saw an animation character when he saw the Lion Sovereign.

The Lion Sovereign wore a dark blue suit and stood on both feet. Apart from his massive lion head, the rest of his body looked completely the same as a human man. He was a lion-man without a tail.

As Lin Huang and Bloody observed the Lion Sovereign, so was the latter. A gleam of surprise flashed through his eyes as he could tell that the duo was both on quadruple mutated mythical-level.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Leon, and I'm the Lion Sovereign of this virtual zone. Quadruple mutated, second-rank True God."

Unlike the Dragon Sovereign who proudly announced his pure dragonkin identity, Lin Huang and Bloody noticed that Leon did not tell them his tribe and type. The Lion Sovereign did not talk about it. Either it was a secret whereby he could not tell which tribe he belonged to or he had no sense of belonging to his tribe, hence he was unwilling to talk about it.

The duo did not ask further. Instead, they shared their identities.

"Grimace. Mysterious-type, quadruple mutated, Virtual God rank-2."

"Bloody. Wisdom-type, quadruple mutated, Virtual God rank-2."

Another gleam of surprise flashed through Leon's eyes again. However, he became collected again and said to them with a grin, "I heard from Xiaobai that you have met the Dragon Sovereign?"

"We did," Lin Huang replied.

"Didn't you guys come to an agreement?"

"No." Lin Huang shook his head.

The Lion Sovereign laughed when he heard the answer. "Seems like the Dragon Sovereign's offer isn't attractive enough. Why don't you tell me what you want?"

"We want to leave the virtual zone."

The Lion Sovereign was stunned to hear Lin Huang's answer. He finally understood why the Dragon Sovereign had failed to convince them.

The Lion Sovereign asked again after a moment of silence, "Aren't you considering staying for a while?

"Although the virtual zone isn't big, it's connected to many worlds and there aren't many competitors. If you join any of the Three Sovereigns' teams, you would obtain resources so much more easily than joining most of the organizations in the great world.

"There are many Virtual Gods in the virtual zone that are like you guys, whereby they came in by accident. They were eager to return to the great world in the beginning, but most of them decided to stay after living in the virtual zone for a while.

"It's too competitive in the great world. Those major organizations aren't interested in ordinary Virtual Gods. Only top virtual god-level powerhouses who have an ability on par with True Gods would have the eligibility to be selected and trained. For other Virtual Gods, lacking resources aside, they're not even eligible to enter some of the trial spaces."

The Lion Sovereign said sounded sincere, but it was actually half-true.

In the great world, indeed, the top organizations had no interest in ordinary virtual god-level powerhouses. However, a quadruple mutated mythical-level powerhouse would be trained seriously no matter which organization they went to.

Lin Huang and Bloody knew about that since the beginning. They did not expose the Lion Sovereign's lie nonetheless.

"Master Lion Sovereign, the Dragon Sovereign told us similar things. In reality, if not for our urgent matters, we'd hope that we could stay and only leave when we've cultivated up to true god-level," Lin Huang responded, sounding regrettable.

"The Dragon Sovereign even told us that we could stay at the Dragon Sovereign Shelter for a few months if we want. If we're not happy staying there, we can leave anytime we want and he won't stop us.

"However, there's something urgent on our plate now, hence we must return to the great world as soon as we can. Don't talk about a few months; we can't even afford to wait for a week."

The Lion Sovereign finally understood why the Dragon Sovereign failed to convince them as he listened to this point. The duo had no intention to stay, so no amount of benefits could entice them.

"If that's the case, then I won't force you. Go handle your stuff in the great world. You can visit the virtual zone again when you have time in the future. Our Lion Sovereign Shelter welcomes both of you at all times."

"Thanks!"

Lin Huang and Bloody had just stood up when the Lion Sovereign spoke again, "But it's best that the both of you are mentally prepared for the Butterfly Sovereign Cai Yi not to just let you go," the Lion Sovereign said the same thing as the Dragon Sovereign did.

Lin Huang and Bloody did not look comfortable when they left the Lion Sovereign Shelter.

The Lion Sovereign's last reminder was almost the same as the what the Dragon Sovereign warned them. It was inevitable that it concerned them.

They would not be so worried if only one person said that. After all, the Three Sovereigns were not at peace, so any comment might be biased.

However, the Dragon Sovereign and the Lion Sovereign had made the same comment on the Butterfly Sovereign. Lin Huang and Bloody basically confirmed that the Butterfly Sovereign was most probably incredibly difficult to deal with.

In a hotel room at Shelter No. 7, Bloody who had her eyes closed opened her eyes all of a sudden.

"Finally, one has sent itself to our doorstep!"

Lin Huang, who was refining the Godheads in his body, opened his eyes too. "You found a monster on the list?"

"Yes," Bloody confirmed while projecting the Thousand-Legged Centipede's image, "It's a Thousand-Legged Centipede, a giant worm monster."

Its gigantic dark purple head seemed gravely ferocious. Its body was separated into segments. There was a thick, black exoskeleton covering its back and thorns of different lengths on it. Dense, bloody legs sprouted out of its body.

This Thousand-Legged Centipede ranked the top three ugliest among all of the monsters that Lin Huang had ever seen before.

"The Thousand-Legged Centipede…" Lin Huang was secretly reluctant when he saw Bloody picking out such a monster for him to disguise as.

He was no stranger to the Thousand-Legged Centipede. It was a giant worm monster with a body that spanned over 1,000 meters long. This monster was called the Thousand-Legged Centipede because it possessed at least 1,200 pairs of legs. A small minority of them even possessed more than 3,000 pairs of legs.

He knew this monster was ugly since the beginning. However, the image in the monster guide was rather small. He could not see the details, so he did not have a clear picture of how it really looked like.

Now that he saw the full image Bloody projected, the spots and the tiny bulges on the thorns of its back were clearly visible. Even the internal structure of its ugly mouth could be seen crystal clear.

Lin Huang only had one thought flashing through his mind. 'It's so ugly. Can I get another monster instead?'

Bloody saw Lin Huang's odd expression and explained, thinking that he figured the major transformation would make him lose control of his own body, "Although the Thousand-Legged Centipede has a major difference with a human's physical structure, different creatures have different ways of controlling their bodies. As long as the brain gives the instruction, the body will carry out the order automatically. There's no need for you to worry about the details. After all, you're not using this Thousand-Legged Centipede's body to battle. You just need to disguise as this form to enter Qi Muxiong's ruin."

"Let's see." Lin Huang really could not accept such a gigantic centipede's form.

"Among the 100 monsters that are given passes into Miracle this time, there are over 20 of them who have taken on a human form. There are also many monsters that aren't in human form, so they are easier to control. There're still a few days until the ruin opens. Let's see if we can find any monsters that are more suitable."

Bloody did not argue when she heard Lin Huang's analysis. She still thought that he was worried about body control and had no idea that Lin Huang was bothered by how he would look.

However, Lin Huang did not let go of the Thousand-Legged Centipede which was a back-up and got Bloody to cast parasite on it because he was worried they would not encounter any other monster who was on the trial list. If they gave up on this one, it would mean that they had lost their eligibility to enter Qi Muxiong's ruin.

However, unbeknownst to Lin Huang, when Bloody and he were busy looking for monsters on the ruin trial list, the Butterfly Sovereign was asking around about him too.

The Butterfly Sovereign added the Dragon Sovereign and the Lion Sovereign to a group chat.

"Did you guys meet those two newbies? Are they really on mythical-level?"

"Why? Are you interested in them too, Xiao Cai?" The Dragon Sovereign did not answer her question and asked another question instead.

"Finding out whether they're really on mythical-level or not isn't important. They don't plan to stay in the virtual zone anyway." The Lion Sovereign too did not answer her question. Instead, he concluded directly.

"Can you guys pay attention to my question before answering me?"

"Alright then. The answer is that it's true," the Lion Sovereign responded immediately, "But don't waste your time trying to recruit them since hey just want to return to the great world."

"Indeed," the Dragon Sovereign confirmed.

"They must pass me by to be able to return to the great world! Thank for your tips. Now, I know what I should ask for." The Butterfly Sovereign asked again, "Oh yeah, can you tell me which tribe do they belong to?"

"No!"

"It's a secret!"

"Just tell me, handsome!" The Butterfly Sovereign did not type that. Instead, she used a voice recording. Her voice was so sweet that one's heart would have melted.

"One is a wisdom-type monster while the other is a mysterious-type," replied the Dragon Sovereign in a straightforward manner.

"The female is a wisdom-type monster while the male is mysterious-type. Please call me handsome again."

The Butterfly Sovereign gave a short response right after the Lion Sovereign replied. "F*ck off!"

A notification from the system that said 'a message has been deleted' popped up almost at the same time the Butterfly Sovereign responded.

The duo checked to see that the sweet voice message that was sent earlier had been deleted.

"Damn, woman! ヽ(#`Д´)ﾉ┌┛" The Lion Sovereign sent another message.

"She burned the bridge right after she crossed it," the Dragon Sovereign lamented.

However, the Butterfly Sovereign seemed to have blocked the group chat as she was not replying at all.

"Did that woman leave just like that?" the Lion Sovereign asked.

"I guess she's thinking of ideas to trap the two newbies," the Dragon Sovereign responded.

"Such poor things. I'm already seeing images of both of them working for that woman like slaves."

"I can only say good luck to them then…"

Lin Huang and Bloody had no idea that this chat happened between the three of them.

Time flew by, and it was time to see the Butterfly Sovereign. Lin Huang and Bloody rushed to the Butterfly Sovereign Shelter early in the morning.

The Butterfly Sovereign Shelter's surface was much smaller than the Dragon Sovereign and Lion Sovereign Shelters. It was even tinier than many other Shelters at only over eight million square kilometers.

If they did not know the reason why the Butterfly Sovereign had picked the Shelter earlier, Lin Huang might be confused why would one of the Three Sovereigns pick such a small Shelter.

In reality, the reason was that this Shelter had the most plants occupying it in the virtual zone. It also had the most varieties of flowers.

Within the over 8.3 million square kilometers of the Shelter, 7.2 million square kilometers of it was covered in all sorts of plants and over 4,000 types of flowers.

Apart from the many plants and greeneries, there was another characteristic of the Butterfly Sovereign Shelter. There was a smaller population.

There were only over 10,000 long-term monsters in the Butterfly Sovereign Shelter while only 10,000 monsters were given residency permits. Most of the rest of them were tourists.

This Shelter had no business district. Apart from the necessary materials, they refused business from outside. When it came to tourism, they would only open once a year for outsiders to visit, and only 1,000 tourists would be picked. A year was the longest the tourists could stay.

Just like Lin Huang and Bloody, it was rare for them to visit the Butterfly Sovereign.

Other than spending a hefty amount to buy the opportunity to see the Butterfly Sovereign, the main reason they got to visit was that the Butterfly Sovereign wanted to see them.

Otherwise, based on her character, it was possible for the Butterfly Sovereign to drag the meeting to the next year.

Lin Huang and Bloody looked around along the way. Almost all of the houses in the entire Shelter were made of plants. Lin Huang saw that most of the houses were built on thick and short giant trees, and there were more than 30 houses on one.

When they arrived at the Butterfly Sovereign Palace, Lin Huang finally recognized the Butterfly Sovereign Palace in his memory.

It was a massive white palace that looked like a blooming flower. It floated in the middle of a huge lake, appearing like a blossoming lotus sitting calmly in the water.

Lin Huang and Bloody walked to the entrance Butterfly Sovereign Palace and projected their invitation directly after glancing at the two guards.

The guards must have learned about their arrival beforehand. They opened the palace doors after merely peeking at the invitation. They did not even check it.

Lin Huang noticed that and put the invitation away before walking into the palace door with Bloody in long strides.

The Butterfly Sovereign Palace looked like a white lotus outside. The structure inside was no ordinary setup of a common palace, but a massive, endless space.

There were flowers, plants and huge trees of all sorts looming tall inside. There was no palace ceiling above their heads, but blue sky with clouds floating around.

Lin Huang had a faint illusion as if he had stepped into an ancient jungle. Even Bloody was clearly stunned when she saw the scenery. At first, both of them could not find how the Butterfly Sovereign Palace looked like from all sorts of channels.

'This Butterfly Sovereign really loves plants,' Lin Huang thought to himself.

As Bloody and he were exploring around, a slight tremor made the ground shake all of a sudden. A little path appeared in the ground before them that was initially covered.

The path was less than half a meter wide. Only one person could walk on it each time.

Lin Huang and Bloody glanced at each other, then walked onto the little path into the dense jungle in one file.

After walking on the little winding path for a few minutes, they could clearly feel that the dimension would shift by over 100 meters with each step they took. On the surface, it would seem like they were taking normal steps. Clearly, the path had a dimensional shift effect.

Approximately five to six minutes later, they finally arrived at the end of the path.

The other side of the dense jungle was an endless sea of flowers. There were colorful flowers everywhere as they looked across.

Among the sea of flowers, there was a young lady in a white dress who looked 15 or 16 years old standing on a little slope barefooted. The tiny flowers drowned her ankles.

She looked almost exactly like a human lady. The only difference was that she had a pair of massive wings made of colorful rays on her back.

The form of the wings was different from any bird's. They were massive butterfly wings that were almost as tall as she was.

Lin Huang and Bloody could tell that she was one of the Three Sovereigns, the Butterfly Sovereign.

Although they already knew what she looked like, they thought she looked even more harmless than in photos when they saw her at that second.

'Is this girl really as difficult to deal with as what the Dragon Sovereign and Lion Sovereign said?' Lin Huang could not help but doubt the two other Sovereigns.

The young lady standing on the slope waved at them like she was meeting friends that she had not seen for a long time.

Lin Huang and Bloody walked towards the slope. They only stopped when they arrived two to three meters before her.

The young lady observed them while smiling before introducing herself, "My name is Cai Yi, and I'm a fairy monster. Quadruple mutated, my combat strength is first-rank True God."

Although the young lady did not reveal her identity as the Butterfly Sovereign, Lin Huang and Bloody confirmed that as soon as they saw her. They also gave a simple self-introduction about themselves.

The Butterfly Sovereign smiled and nodded after hearing their self-introduction. "Let's sit down and chat."

Lin Huang and Bloody sat across her among the flowers while she took out a tea table and a tea set.

The Butterfly Sovereign spoke again seeing the duo take their seats, "Actually, I've noticed your existence as soon as you entered the Central Shelter. I also know about the Dragon Sovereign and the Lion Sovereign recruiting you. I've been waiting for the day when you guys would visit me."

"We wanted to visit you sooner, Master Butterfly Sovereign, but we only managed to get an appointment today. We didn't want to break the rules," Lin Huang explained while smiling.

"The Dragon Sovereign and Lion Sovereign have higher combat strength and seniority than me. It's appropriate for you guys to visit them first," the Butterfly Sovereign said while smiling lightly, "But you said that you guys wanted to visit me sooner, so what is that about?" she asked a question that she already knew they were curious about.

Nonetheless, Lin Huang finally found the opportunity to go straight into the topic.

"We're visiting you today in hopes that you can help us get back to the great world, Master Butterfly Sovereign."

The Butterfly Sovereign smiled when she heard the plea.

"It's easy to send you guys back to the great world. However, there's a price to pay."

"We know that," Lin Huang replied to the Butterfly Sovereign while looking at her. "What do you need from us?"

The Butterfly Sovereign smirked so faintly that it was almost unnoticeable. However, it went away merely a moment later. "I don't think I lack anything at the moment. I really can't think of anything that I want now."

"How about this? I won't ask anything from you. All you'll have to do is to work three years for me. I'll send you guys away as soon as the three years are up."

Lin Huang forced a smile while shaking his head when he heard the Butterfly Sovereign's offer. "Master Butterfly Sovereign, we can't agree to that condition. Give us another one."

The Butterfly Sovereign fell into silence for a moment and straightened a finger slowly a while later. She said while staring at Lin Huang, "One year, that's my best offer."

However, Lin Huang still shook his head. "There's something really urgent that we must get back to in the great world. To be honest, we can't even wait a week, let alone a year. Master Butterfly Sovereign, please give us another condition."

The Butterfly Sovereign fell quiet for a moment again. She only spoke a while later, "I won't ask you guys what exactly is it that's so urgent. I'll step back again. She'll stay and work for me for a year while I send you back to the great world first." The Butterfly Sovereign pointed a finger at Bloody. "I guarantee you that I'll send her back in one piece as soon as one year is up!"

Seeing that Lin Huang and Bloody had fallen silent, the Butterfly Sovereign spoke again, "If there's really something urgent, you can go back to the great world to deal with it. There's no need for you to bring her with you. Even if the matter needs two people to deal with, you can get other partners to help you when you get back there."

Lin Huang did not hesitate to reject, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I can't agree to that condition."

"Wait!" Bloody interrupted Lin Huang's rejection all of a sudden. She turned her head to say to the Butterfly Sovereign, "Master Butterfly Sovereign, can you give us some time to discuss this?"

"Please do." The Butterfly Sovereign picked up her tea cup and sipped the flower tea.

Lin Huang and Bloody soon communicated on the conscious level. It was a communication built through Monster Cards. Unlike voice transmission, there was no way to eavesdrop when they talked in that channel.

"I think we can agree to that. Get her to send you out first and recall me back to card form when you've confirmed that the teleportation coordinates work."

Lin Huang stayed quiet for a long time after hearing that. "Is there any other way?"

"There's one more…"

Lin Huang squinted lightly hearing the second idea.

He snapped back to his senses a moment later and lifted his head to look at the Butterfly Sovereign. "Master Butterfly Sovereign, Bloody and I can't decide just yet. Can you give us a few days to discuss it properly?"

The Butterfly Sovereign smiled while nodding to give her permission. "There's no rush. Take your time."

The group chat among the three True Gods in the virtual zone was usually quiet. Basically nobody would talk if nothing happened on the daily.

It was active for a while two days ago because of Lin Huang and Bloody's appearance.

Although there were over a hundred virtual god-level powerhouses in the virtual zone, throughout the past century, there would only be a new Virtual God coming in every three to four years on average. Now that two had come in at once and they were suspected to be quadruple-mutated, it was only natural for the three True Gods to want them.

The group chat was active again since Lin Huang and Bloody visited the Butterfly Sovereign that day.

The Lion Sovereign Leon sent a message all of a sudden. "Sister Cai Yi, how did talking to the two newbies go? ButterflySovereign."

"Have you been watching me? It's been less than three minutes since the duo left my Butterfly Sovereign Palace," the Butterfly Sovereign could not help but question.

"You're overthinking. I'm not that free to be getting people to guard the Butterfly Sovereign Palace," the Lion Sovereign Lion explained immediately, "Xiaobai happened to pass by and saw them getting out of the Butterfly Sovereign Palace, so she told me."

"Alright then. I'll pretend you're telling the truth."

"What do you mean by pretend? I'm telling the truth!"

The Dragon Sovereign could not help but interrupt in the conversation after seeing they had deviated from the original subject. "Cai Yi, what was the condition that you gave?"

"I asked them to work for me for three years at first, but they rejected me directly. They say there's something urgent in the great world that they need to handle, so they can't even wait for a week. So, I suggested getting the girl to stay and work for me for a year while I send the guy out first."

"Did they agree?" the Lion Sovereign asked immediately.

"Not yet. They say they can only decide after considering it," replied the Butterfly Sovereign, "However, it's basically a done deal. I was clear with them whereby the condition that I gave was the best on the table. There won't be any amendments to that. They can only accept my condition if they want to go back to the great world. There's no second alternative."

"Smart! You won an underling for nothing, and it's a wisdom-type monster on mythical-level," the Lion Sovereign gushed enviously.

"You promised them a year, so what do you plan to do a year later? Will you release the girl as you promised?" The Dragon Sovereign raised a question, looking further into the future.

"Of course, I won't let her go! She's a wisdom-type mythical-level monster. She alone can support an entire tribe's future." The Butterfly Sovereign laughed when she heard that question."I have a year to convince her to be my partner!"

"What if you fail to convince her?" the Lion Sovereign asked again.

"Then, I'll carry out some unique tricks." A ferocious gleam flashed through the Butterfly Sovereign's eyes. "No matter what, I'll do whatever it takes to make her stay."

…

Time flew by, and two days passed.

Lin Huang put aside the discussion with the Butterfly Sovereign.

Bloody and he knew very well that the Butterfly Sovereign was plotting something to make Bloody stay. They already had their own plan.

Throughout the two days, they did not discuss the Butterfly Sovereign's offer at all. Instead, they had been looking for the members who were eligible to go into Qi Muxiong's ruin. However, their effort was to no avail.

"It's been two days, but we didn't find the second monster on the list apart from that giant centipede." Lin Huang looked helpless.

"The ruin will officially open tomorrow. Most of the members on the list should be at the Dragon Sovereign Shelter now," Bloody responded.

After all, the central zone was the Three Sovereigns' territory. Now that both of them had gotten the Three Sovereigns' attention, they should stay low-key. Therefore, they did not go around for the past few days. Instead, they waited for the members on the list to come to their doorstep at Shelter No. 7 throughout. Never would they thought they would not get any monster after two days had passed.

"Forget it. We'll use the Thousand-Legged Centipede then. Although it's kind of ugly, it's better than having nothing." Lin Huang shook his head while forcing a wry smile. He had no other choice.

He crushed two cards the next morning at past 6 a.m. They were a Cloning Card and a Disguise Card.

He used the Cloning Card to clone himself. The goal was to avoid suspicion in the virtual zone during his stay. After all, he came in with Bloody, so people would find it strange if he were to disappear all of a sudden.

Meanwhile, the Disguise Card was naturally for him to disguise as the Thousand-Legged Centipede that was eligible to go into the ruin.

Since the Thousand-Legged Centipede was parasitized by Bloody, it had been staying in the same hotel with Lin Huang the past few days. With Bloody's help, Lin Huang completed the identity exchange without putting any effort in.

The real Thousand-Legged Centipede did not die. Instead, Bloody put it away in her God Territory.

After the identity exchange was completed, Lin Huang, who had transformed into the giant centipede, dared not waste any time. He controlled the body and flew towards the Dragon Sovereign Shelter.

The Thousand-Legged Centipede's body was not difficult to control. It was even much easier than Lin Huang imagined. In reality, his body would move on its own as soon as the brain give the order. There was no need to think about the detailed maneuvers at all.

However, Lin Huang could not really get used to it in the beginning, so his flying mode was a little peculiar.

Fortunately, his strange flying mode did not attract too much attention. Almost everyone had the same thought when they saw him. 'How much did he drink to be so hungover?'

The alien flying sensation only lasted for three to four minutes. Lin Huang soon familiarized himself with the control of his new body, and he was finally flying normally now.

"Interesting. So many legs are moving together but they don't touch each other." Lin Huang used his Divine Telekinesis to observe the many legs beneath his body.

He could not help but have goosebumps when he saw those many legs in the beginning. However, now that he saw them on his own body while they were listening to his command, he got over it.

This Thousand-Legged Centipede's body had a different structure from the human body. It was his first time transforming into a monster that had such a major difference with his own body. The different body structure sparked his interest, thus he began studying it closely.

He flew towards the Dragon Sovereign Shelter as he familiarized himself with the body.

Approximately half an hour later, Lin Huang finally arrived at the Dragon Sovereign Shelter. He was studying the body along the way, so he almost managed to control the gigantic form completely. He could even control this body to perform many poses that humans could not do.

Lin Huang rushed to the Dragonkin Square as soon as he arrived at the Dragon Sovereign Shelter. According to this Thousand-Legged Centipede's memory, the Dragonkin Square that was not far away from the Dragon Sovereign Shelter was the meeting point of the trial this time.

He thought there should be fewer trial participants who would gather so early since it was not even 7 a.m. However, he realized there were already over 20 monsters of all forms gathered when he arrived at the Dragonkin Square. He sensed from their aura that they should be the members whom the Dragon Sovereign had picked to enter Qi Muxiong's ruin.

Lin Huang was relieved to see so many company. He landed slowly and blended into the monster crowd.

Including Lin Huang, all the 100 participants on the list were there around 8.30 a.m.

Lin Huang glanced through the participants and realized that all of the monsters which came in various sizes and forms only had imperial-level combat strength. There was not even a single demigod.

Theoretically, the restriction of this ruin should be virtual god-level, whereby anyone below virtual god-level could enter. The 100-participant quota that the Dragon Sovereign gave did not even have a demigod. Clearly, he thought demigods had drained their talent and were not worthy of being trained.

However, no matter whether they were imperial-level or demigod-level, they made no difference to Lin Huang now. The 99 participants and he were on a totally different level.

Although he had no competitors in the journey into the ruin this time, Lin Huang was pretty excited about the setup in the ruin. The more he learned about Qi Muxiong, the more he thought that the guy was not an ordinary demigod. He even suspected that Qi Muxiong was not a demigod at all.

A flirtatious voice pulled him back to reality as his thoughts flew around and he was evidently distracted. "Hey, is that Wu Fei?"

Lin Huang was stunned for a moment and he recalled that that was the name of the Thousand-Legged Centipede that he was disguised as. He turned his head immediately to look at the source of the voice.

A giant spider with 12 long legs was crawling toward him at a high speed.

Based on the Thousand-Legged Centipede's memory, Lin Huang soon found information about the spider. However, he became speechless after sifting through the portion of the information in his head.

"Didn't you say that you were going to leave the virtual zone and head to the great world?"

The Spider Queen was completely black with purple spots and thorns on her body. Her legs were hundreds of meters long. At that moment, her 16 black eyes glared at Lin Huang with melancholy.

This Spider Queen was the Thousand-Legged Centipede's old fling, and they had been lovers for close to a hundred years. However, when the Spider Queen asked to confirm their relationship all of a sudden, the Thousand-Legged Centipede backed out immediately because he knew that the Spider Queen would breed as soon as they confirmed their relationship and he would become her meal by then.

Lin Huang did not find it strange that the Spider Queen was attempting to breed with the Thousand-Legged Centipede. In the monster guide, he read that monsters of different types could reproduce together. There seemed to be countable creatures that practiced reproductive isolation in this world.

Clearly, reproductive isolation was out of the picture for the Thousand-Legged Centipede and the Spider Queen in this virtual zone.

However, without reproductive isolation, the spider still insisted on devouring her husband. Lin Huang was speechless about that. The Thousand-Legged Centipede should not have been blamed for backing out.

Lin Huang's four bloody eyes rolled around and he quickly found himself an excuse when he saw the Spider Queen arrive before him.

"The application assessment on the Butterfly Sovereign's side took some time and it was only approved earlier. I was going to leave, but the Dragon Sovereign Palace informed me that they've assigned me a place in this ruin trial. I thought of waiting for a few days and only leaving when I'm done exploring the ruin."

The Queen Spider did not seem to suspect the Thousand-Legged Centipede, but she was still complaining, "So, why didn't you contact me these days?"

"Can't you see that I'm busy preparing for the trial?" Lin Huang came up with another excuse casually.

"You're going to the great world after the trial ends. We don't know when we'll meet again. How about we team up in this trial?" the Spider Queen suggested.

"Sure." Lin Huang hesitated for a moment hearing the suggestion but he agreed anyway. However, he began planning his next excuse to get away from her.

The Spider Queen held onto Lin Huang's front leg with her long leg happily upon hearing Lin Huang's agreement to team up. She was afraid that he might run away again.

Lin Huang looked far ahead, unable to bring himself to look upon the Spider Queen's 'beauty'.

With a human's sense of beauty, an insect that had been enlarged countless times would give one goosebumps just by looking at it. Although Lin Huang was not afraid, he truly could not appreciate it.

He peeked at the memory of the Thousand-Legged Centipede having intercourse with this Spider Queen. He could not unsee the image of the two giant insects intertwined together.

'Damn my curiosity!' Lin Huang felt goosebumps rise all over his body.

The Spider Queen next to him thought that Lin Huang experienced some reaction while tangling her front leg with his, so she felt shy. Lin Huang experienced another round of goosebumps even before the previous one subsided. He shook the Spider Queen's leg away.

Just when the Spider Queen was coming at him again, the Dragon Sovereign finally arrived.

"The Dragon Sovereign is here!" Lin Huang warned her through voice transmission.

Upon seeing the Dragon Sovereign, the Spider Queen dared not cross the line again. She maintained some distance from Lin Huang with her head down.

The rest of the monsters stopped talking and turned around to face the Dragon Sovereign with their heads down to show their respect.

Lin Huang also lowered his body. However, he was not showing his respect. Instead, he was afraid that the Dragon Sovereign might see through him.

The Dragon Sovereign glanced at the many participants beneath him quickly as soon as he arrived. He nodded in satisfaction after seeing that all 100 of them were present with zero absence. Clearly, he did not see through Lin Huang's disguise. He did not even stop and glimpse at Lin Huang.

Although the Disguise Card clearly stated that it could deceive true god-level powerhouses, Lin Huang was relieved that the Dragon Sovereign did not notice him.

The Dragon Sovereign only spoke slowly after taking a glance around, "I've organized over 200 searches in this ruin Miracle ever since I found it. However, nobody has found anything every year. Nobody remembers exactly what happened in this ruin, and even all the recording techniques are wiped automatically.

"Among the 100 powerhouses who are entering the ruin this year, more than half of you are seniors who've entered the ruin while a part of you are newbies who've never entered the ruin. I hope your search this time won't disappoint me. Bring me useful information!"

Although he said that, the Dragon Sovereign had no expectation. After all, none of the 200 or so searchers were successful. He had already gotten used to failure. However, he still had to say that as a courtesy to the participants.

After a simple speech, the Dragon Sovereign did not bother to speak further. He waved his hand directly and released ten Dragnet Spiders.

"I'm done talking. Go into the ruin now!"

The Dragnet Spiders spat ten threads out each as soon as the Dragon Sovereign commanded. Each of the threads looped around ten different monsters and pulled them into the black whirlpool respectively.

After the 100 participants were sent away, the Dragon Sovereign summoned another Dragnet Spider and leaped into the whirlpool with it.

The 100 participants walked out of the dimensional gateway. What they saw before their eyes was a space covered in alpine white ice.

The spherical ice shield was like a giant ice planet hovering mid air.

Lin Huang finally confirmed upon seeing the scenery before him, 'It really is Qi Muxiong's ruin!"

Although most of the information that he had found before stated that this ruin, Miracle, was the one Qi Muxiong had left behind, and he had even seen the photos and video recordings, he was completely relieved after confirming the coordinates when he arrived at that very moment.

Although many among the 100 participants had been to this ruin, it was the first time for a minority of them to be here. They were astonished when they saw the gigantic ice shield.

It was the Spider Queen's first time being there.

"What a massive shield!" she exclaimed while approaching Lin Huang as if there was a magnet pulling her closer.

Lin Huang was about to dodge, but the Spider Queen extended her front claw and held on his front leg. It was so natural as if she had done it countless of times before.

'What does the size of the shield have anything to do with you holding onto my leg?' Lin Huang thought to himself. However, he remained calm on the surface and said nothing.

He knew his current situation very well. If he messed up his relationship with this Spider Queen, a conflict might explode as a consequence. From the Thousand-Legged Centipede's memory, he knew that this Spider Queen had a hot temper. As soon as he messed up their relationship, there might be a high possibility that she might throw a fit on the spot. By then, it would definitely catch the attention of the rest of the participants and even the Dragon Sovereign.

If the Dragon Sovereign was upset and kicked him out of the ruin, it would mean trouble. Nonetheless, he could only tolerate the Spider Queen's flirting temporarily.

The Dragon Sovereign was sent in not long after the 100 participants entered.

After seeing the Dragon Sovereign's appearance, Lin Huang seized the opportunity to get the Spider Queen off him.

The Spider Queen held her head down as soon as she saw the Dragon Sovereign. She dared not fool around, but her 12 eyes were still staring at Lin Huang, who was not far away, in sadness.

The Dragon Sovereign glanced at the participants again. Realizing that all 100 of them were there and nobody was stuck in any technical difficulties, he then turned around to look at the ice shield that he had set up.

He hovered slowly to the shield and scratched a point on the shield by extending a claw. In the next second, circles of waves rippled on the ice shield like it was the surface of water.

As the invisible waves spread out, the ice shield melted at a high speed. It seemed to have turned into a liquid but was still white in color.

It was Lin Huang's first time seeing ice flowing like water and not melting.

Besides Lin Huang, the rest of the participants stared at the shield with all of their focus. They were watching the transformation of the shield without blinking.

However, there was one exception. The Spider Queen still had her eyes on Lin Huang who was not far away.

As the shield on the surface of the ruin turned into a flowing form, the transformation still went on. It shrunk slowly and turned into thick icy chains.

The chains were like the lines on a chessboard. They intertwined on the surface of the ruin, sealing the entire ruin within.

The people finally saw how the entire ruin looked like. It was a gigantic white light sphere like a star hanging in the sky.

Lin Huang was slightly stunned as he stared at the white sphere. There was no other reason than a part of Qi Muxiong's memory playing in his head.

However, the information coming from the part of the memory shocked Lin Huang.

'This ruin… is Qi Muxiong's God Territory? But a God Territory is a product that stems from the Godhead in territory. Only a Virtual God who has a Godhead can form a God Territory. Qi Muxiong has God Territory, which means his actual combat strength isn't demigod-level, but virtual god-level!'

Lin Huang thought everything made sense when he came to that conclusion. He thought it was a little strange why Qi Muxiong failed to elevate to Virtual God and stayed as a demigod with his ridiculous talent and abilities.

Now, it seemed like Qi Muxiong was a total virtual god-level powerhouse but due to some reason, he had disguised himself as a demigod.

However, Lin Huang could not help but frown when he saw the intertwining chains sealing the entire ruin completely.

The memory that Qi Muxiong had left behind suggested that it was best for the successor to take the God Territory away.

However, the Dragon Sovereign had found out about the God Territory and sealed it with the True God technique. In other words, taking the God Territory away became something that was impossible to fulfill.

The technique that Dragon Sovereign had used to seal the God Territory was an Ice Law. Such an elemental rule was also one of the rule powers. Therefore, only rule powers could be used to tackle it.

'It seems like I can only enter the ruin and get Qi Muxiong's Goldfinger. Whether I can take this God Territory away or not depends on the situation then.'

As Lin Huang was thinking of putting the God Territory matter aside, another transformation occurred in the ruin.

Nearby, the Dragon Sovereign's eyes turned frosty white.

The thick icy chain on the surface of the ruin began flowing slowly. They looked like living gigantic ice boas swimming on the surface of a star.

A moment later, the God Territory that was initially sealed by the iced chains revealed a hexagon that had no icy chains covering it.

The eyes of the Dragon Sovereign, who was standing aside, faded back to black. He turned his head and said to the participants including Lin Huang slowly, "The entrance to the ruin has opened. The opening duration for this ruin will only be seven days. If any of you don't make it out within seven days, you'll have to stay for a year until the ruin opens again next year.

"There's something that I have to clarify. None of those who didn't make it out within seven days in the past were found dead, so decide carefully if you want to stay longer than seven days.

"Since everyone forgets about their experience in this ruin every time they come out, I've no idea exactly what is in this ruin. I can only speculate from the loot the participants brought out that there should be many giants in there. You guys should've learned about this before coming here, so I shan't waste any more time.

"The ruin has opened. You may now enter!"

As the Dragon Sovereign roared his command, the 100 participants rushed into the hexagonal entrance like madmen.

Lin Huang followed behind the people as the last to go in. He only entered a few monsters after the Spider Queen on purpose to avoid her from tackling him again.

Never would he expect the Spider Queen's 16 eyes not to have any blind spots at all. She noticed him being left behind, so she slowed down as well, allowing the monsters at the back to overtake her. Soon, she was standing on the same row as Lin Huang was. She did all she could to crawl horizontally to go closer to him.

Lin Huang thought of accelerating to get rid of the Spider Queen. However, he noticed the Dragon Sovereign watching him. He seemed to be noticing Lin Huang because of the Spider Queen's actions. Feeling helpless, Lin Huang could only move forward at his initial speed, allowing the Spider Queen to approach him.

The ruin called Miracle was unique. Anyone who came in would forget everything that happened in this ruin whenever they got out.

Whatever monsters they encountered in the ruin or caves they invaded and the type of battles they experienced… There would be zero trails left behind as if someone had removed their memories.

Of course, although there would not be any related memory, basically every participant who entered the ruin would bring back loot as long as they made it out alive. Some of them even experienced a boost in combat strength.

Therefore, many monsters in this virtual zone would still go mad for this ruin. As for Lin Huang, he had heard about this before he came in, but he was not terribly concerned.

No matter how powerful Qi Muxiong's technique was, it was just a Virtual God's technique. Due to the faulty rule of the gravel world, it was impossible for him to have made it to True God level.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang had three God Figurines whose ability could fight True Gods. He did not think that his memory would have been erased.

He looked around as soon as he passed through the dimensional portal and began observing his surroundings. However, he was stunned as he looked around.

"What the hell?!" Lin Huang lifted his head immediately. "Those are weeds?"

The weeds before him were lush and gigantic, standing tens of meters tall.

Lin Huang controlled the Thousand-Legged Centipede to lift the first half of his body up and peer further away. All he saw were taller and bigger plants.

He felt like he had entered a world of giants where all the plants were enlarged by hundreds of times. What surprised Lin Huang even more was that those plants were just ordinary plants. They contained no cultivator's aura.

"The ordinary plants are already so big. It's no wonder that there are many giants in here."

Although no useful information had ever leaked out about this ruin, many of the participants had brought all kinds of giant monster carcasses out. Almost everyone knew about that.

"The plants here are massive!" Just when Lin Huang was figuring how to explore this ruin, the Spider Queen's voice came all of a sudden. He recalled that he had yet to handle this problem.

Seeing the Spider Queen approaching, Lin Huang peered around and did not dodge. He allowed her to twist her long leg around his front leg.

"Where do we go now?" the Spider Queen turned her head to ask Lin Huang.

"There's no rush. Let's see where the rest are going." Lin Huang stood watching the remaining participants leaving one after another.

The Spider Queen grinned when she heard his response. "Are you planning to go where most of the monsters are so we can kill them from behind?"

Lin Huang glared at her and said nothing.

This spider seemed to be thinking that both of them were a couple. However, Lin Huang clearly did not share the same sentiment.

No matter how pretty she was, Lin Huang would stay as far away as he could from a girlfriend who treated him that way, let alone a giant spider that completely defied his sense of beauty.

He only turned his head to look at the Spider Queen after waiting for the remaining 98 monsters to leave and were no longer in his territory range.

"Are you sure you want to follow me?"

"I won't believe your nonsense this time and let you go." The Spider Queen's claw that was holding onto Lin Huang's front leg gripped even tighter now.

"Alright then." Lin Huang crushed a Monster Card as soon as he was done speaking.

In the next second, Grimace appeared before the Spider Queen quietly in a black robe with golden patterns.

The Spider Queen was stunned to see Grimace. Before she managed to react, a black wave rippled in Grimace's eyes.

The Spider Queen's 16 black eyes shut immediately. At the same time, she let go of her claw that was clutching onto Lin Huang's leg. She had fallen into a deep sleep.

Then, Lin Huang removed the effect of the Disguise Card and recovered his own appearance.

"Why didn't you get me to kill her directly?" Grimace asked.

"It's unnecessary."

Lin Huang did not think that the Spider Queen was a threat to him at all since the beginning. She was just a little irritating.

After getting rid of the Spider Queen, Lin Huang soon found the location where Qi Muxiong had hidden the Goldfinger in his memory.

The part of the memory only unsealed automatically just when he entered the ruin.

"33,000 kilometers towards 1 o'clock…"

After confirming the coordinates, Lin Huang turned around to look at the direction of the coordinates and subsequently summoned Thunder.

He waved at Grimace, and both of them hopped onto Thunder's back. Flapping its wings, Thunder flew towards the 1 o'clock direction after turning into a bolt of purple lightning.

It spent less than three minutes flying 33,000 kilometers away.

However, Lin Huang, Grimace and Thunder clearly sensed that the closer they got to their destination, the more monsters there were. In addition to that, the monsters' combat strength got higher the closer they were.

Most of the monsters in this ruin seemed to be giants. As their proximity to the area where Qi Muxiong's Goldfinger was, the larger the giants were.

They were over ten meters at first and grew to tens of meters, hundreds of meters, thousands of meters, and even tens of thousands of meters…

Eventually, there were giants that looked like mountains when they arrived at their destination. All of them had virtual god-level combat strength. Although they were only beginner-stage virtual god-level, there were hundreds of them.

The gigantic monsters noticed Thunder from far away and attacked them directly when it was still in the air.

Thunder flapped its wings lightly and dodged those giants' attacks easily. Although the attacks were powerful, the monsters were too dumb for Thunder. They could not even touch a single feather.

Since Thunder's action had attracted so many monsters' attention, Lin Huang patted Thunder's back all of a sudden. "Stop playing. Let's land."

Thunder asked nothing and flew down quickly after flying around in the sky.

The gigantic monsters that were attacking Thunder with all of their might frozen all of a sudden. Subsequently, they walked away one after another as if they did not see Thunder.

After Thunder landed on the ground safely, Lin Huang and Grimace leaped from its back. So did the Nightmare Tapir with tiger stripes on his body.

Lin Huang looked at the Nightmare Tapir after recalling Thunder and Grimace back into their card forms. "Is there any news about the Goldfinger?"

The Nightmare Tapir frowned and shook its head. "Although these monsters were hypnotized, I can't read their minds. Their memories seem to be locked by a shield."

Lin Huang squinted slightly upon hearing that. "It must be the Goldfinger doing that."

"So, what do we do now?" the Nightmare Tapir asked.

"It must've found out that I'm here." Lin Huang peered around. "Judging by the giant monsters' crazy attacks, it seems to be rejecting outsiders from approaching. If I'm not mistaken, it'll attack us later in an attempt to chase us out of this area."

Three powerful aurae appeared out of nowhere just when Lin Huang was done speaking. They cornered and surrounded Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir in the middle.

The three powerful aurae clearly had a combat strength of Virtual God rank-9. They were even a rank higher than the Nightmare Tapir.

Lin Huang was surprised to sense the three monsters' combat strength. 'Qi Muxiong shouldn't have been on Virtual God rank-9 when he was alive. How is it possible that a monster that's guarding his Goldfinger has a combat strength of Virtual God rank-9? And there are even three of them?!'

As Lin Huang was analyzing the facts, the Nightmare Tapir began fighting with the three guardians. It dragged them into his dreamland before Lin Huang could see how they looked like.

Although the Nightmare Tapir's combat strength was only on Virtual God rank-8, which was a rank lower than the three guardians, he had a higher grade that enabled him to overcome the difference in combat strength like a piece of cake. It only took a moment for the three guardians to be dragged into his dreamland without realizing it at all.

Noticing that the battle had begun, Lin Huang split a tiny bit of his consciousness into the dreamland. He became an audience of the battle. He finally saw how the three guardians looked like after entering the dreamland.

"They aren't giants?!"

The largest one among the three guardians was only over ten meters tall while the smallest one was only two meters tall. They were completely different from the other monsters in the ruin.

The smallest one looked like a feline but was made of silver metal.

Each metal piece on its body had the flexibility and extensibility like muscles and bones did. They allowed the monster to twist its body like a cat and beyond.

Its claws seemed to be made of steel as they shone like glaring white glows under the sun.

The second largest was only eight meters long. It was a huge white bear creature with golden armor covering its body. The armor covered its head and a majority of its body including parts of its limbs. It appeared powerful.

Although it was nothing compared to the size of the giants, Lin Huang never doubted its strength. He guessed that not many virtual god-level powerhouses were powerful enough to fight with him head-on. Most of the Virtual Gods might not even stand a slap from it.

Meanwhile, the largest guardian was a huge tree with a human face. It was approximately 15 to 16 meters tall but was nothing compared to a strand of grass in this ruin.

Apart from the human face on its main branch, this tree looked no different from an ordinary tree whereby its leaves had fallen in the winter. It looked 60% to 70% like a rubber tree with its branches stretched in a distorted way. It took pride in its form although it had no leaves.

The battle started almost instantly in the dreamland.

The feline monster was extremely agile. Compared to the Ninetails Lynx's teleportation, it was just pure high speed. Almost each of its movements reached the limit a Virtual God could achieve.

No matter whether it was its movement or its attack, it was done almost in the blink of an eye, as if the middle process was skipped entirely.

What was more terrifying was that such a speedy physical agility came with the same speed of quickness and neutral response, giving it a scary dodging ability.

Fortunately, the Nightmare Tapir who was in his dreamland borrowed the Ninetails Lynx's ability. Its speed was no slower than the insanely quick guardian.

The duo collided tens of thousands of times within a moment.

The big tree with the human face soon joined the battle. Its branches looked like little snakes that were wriggling alive. They went full swing like a flood of snakes at the Nightmare Tapir.

In mid-air, some of the branches were as thin as spider threads. They turned into a web in an attempt to restrict the Nightmare Tapir's movements. Some of them turned into arrows and shot into the sky with a whistling noise. Some turned into long whips, sweeping towards all directions.

The single attack alone included a few different attack modes. It almost held nothing back.

The Nightmare Tapir was pretty calm while fighting and did not panic at all. It moved in a flash in the air again and again to dodge the opponent's restrictive techniques. It would rip the unavoidable attacks with his claws directly. The opponent's fancy attacks seemed to be child's play to him.

The giant golden-armored bear was the third to attack.

In reality, it attacked at the same time as the two other guardians but was just slow.

The giant golden-armored bear's attack only struck when the Nightmare Tapir was almost done with the first round of battle with the other two guardians.

It slapped the Nightmare Tapir from 100 meters away. A gigantic golden bear paw appeared in the air, covering an area within tens of meters in diameter, which included the Nightmare Tapir.

Its attack mode was out of Lin Huang's expectations. He initially thought the giant golden-armored bear was a monster expert at close combat.

"Judging by its physical structure, it should be a monster expert at close combat. Perhaps it chose to perform a ranged attack from a distance away because it knows that with its speed, it's impossible to catch up with the battle rhythm."

Lin Huang proceeded to watch the battle with little doubt.

The Nightmare Tapir fought the three on his own at ease in the middle of them.

Although its combat strength was a rank lower than the three guardians, its grade was higher than theirs. Besides that, it was close to invincible in the dreamland. The reason being it could perform any skills that it had seen before and copy them perfectly.

One could even say that fighting with the Nightmare Tapir in its dreamland was just as difficult as fighting Lin Huang's ten God Figurine's Combat Souls all at once.

After spending some ten minutes to familiarize itself with the three guardians' attack mode and learning many battle techniques secretly, the Nightmare Tapir was finally going to give its all.

The metal feline monster shot out from a single collision. The Nightmare Tapir's claw attack sent it flying 100 kilometers away.

The big tree with the human face's branches were torn and crushed by the Nightmare Tapir's claws. Its body was broken instantly and it was the first to die on the spot!

Meanwhile, the giant golden-armored bear had its armor crushed from the Nightmare Tapir's claws. Bleeding non-stop, it turned around and ran for its life!

However, the giant golden-armored bear that was fleeing and the panting metal feline monster were killed one after another in less than half a minute.

Lin Huang glanced at the three monster carcasses on the ground after getting out of the dreamland. He then turned his head to look at the Nightmare Tapir. "Did you read their memory?"

The Nightmare Tapir shook its head. "I can't. Just like those monsters before, their memories are blocked."

Lin Huang went silent like he had fallen into deep thought for a moment. He only spoke again a while later, "It's actually alright. The three guardians' appearance means that the Goldfinger is close. We just need some time to look for it."

Three powerhouse aurae came out of thin air when Lin Huang was speaking halfway. His pupils shrunk upon sensing the strange phenomenon that came out of nowhere while he was in shock.

"That's… True Gods' aurae?!"

'What's this? It's impossible that Qi Muxiong could've made it to True God. Why are there True Gods in his ruin?!'

While Lin Huang had this doubt in his mind, he summoned the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth while having his guard up.

He was a little relieved to see the Ninetails Lynx that had shrunk sitting on his shoulder. He peered far away towards the source where the three aurae were coming from and soon saw three silhouettes appearing slowly.

"Humans?!" Lin Huang was shocked when he saw the trio's silhouettes.

As the three people eventually became clearer, the Nightmare Tapir was the first to attack.

It activated his dreamland at full swing in the attempt to pull the three True Gods in. However, its effort was like an ocean wave that swept through three rocks when facing the True Gods.

The Nightmare Tapir had a slight change of expression and spoke to Lin Huang through voice transmission after recalling its dreamland quickly, "I can't pull them into my dreamland!"

"Is it because of your combat strength?" Lin Huang frowned slightly.

"No," replied the Nightmare Tapir while shaking its head lightly, "If I'm not mistaken, they're God Figurine's Combat Souls too, but they only have battle consciousness left."

"God Figurine's Combat Souls?! Are you sure about that?" Lin Huang was in shock. "Qi Muxiong is already dead. How are his God Figurine's Combat Souls still working?!"

"I'm sure that they're God Figurine's Combat Souls!" The Nightmare Tapir gave a firm answer.

The reason why Lin Huang was so astonished was that under normal circumstances, the death of the God Figurine's owner's soul would also spell the death of the Combat Souls. Without a Combat Soul, the God Figurines would regain their idle mode, which was a sculpture the size of a palm.

However, the three God Figurine's Combat Souls in Qi Muxiong's ruin were still functioning as normal.

The gears in Lin Huang's brain were turning and he soon came up with three possibilities.

The first possibility was that Qi Muxiong was still alive. Therefore, his God Figurine's Combat Souls were still functioning as normal.

The second possibility was that the three God Figurine's Combat Souls belonged to someone else, and not Qi Muxiong.

The third possibility was that Qi Muxiong was like Lin Huang whereby he had mastered unique visualization, allowing the Combat Souls to exist as individuals. Therefore, his death would not affect the God Figurine's Combat Souls from functioning.

As the silhouettes revealed themselves slowly, the three God Figurine's Combat Souls' faces were getting clearer. They were two men and a lady.

The lady's features were close to perfection. Apart from her breasts that were almost completely flat, the other parts of her body were close to flawlessness. The long, black dress she wore revealed her waspish waist and long legs.

She had boyish, short hair that made her seem androgynous but also gave her an experienced vibe.

Meanwhile, one of the men had a clean-shaven, fair face. He was short and looked very young and decent. Another one looked over 30 years old with tanned skin. He was skinny and tall but his arms were muscular.

As Lin Huang was analyzing where the three God Figurine's Combat Souls came from, the battle began.

The Ninetails Lynx replaced the Nightmare Tapir in the battle as soon as the latter's attack was to no avail.

In its shrunken form, the Ninetails Lynx disappeared from Lin Huang's shoulder without any sign. It had transformed into a feline monster that was thirsty for blood when it appeared again in the next second.

The monster that was over a meter long with leopard prints on its body arrived before the first God Figurine's Combat Soul like a streak of lightning.

It mauled with its claws without touching the opponent. Without checking the outcome, it proceeded to attack the second God Figurine's Combat Soul.

However, at the same time it attacked, the young man who was struck fought back. He pressed his palm in the air, and the air slices that the Ninetails Lynx performed were crushed one after another.

The Ninetails Lynx's air slices that were usually invincible were dismissed like a piece of cake.

Lin Huang's pupils could not help but shrink when he saw that. The Nightmare Tapir's expression also looked grim.

"Rule power…"

The Ninetails Lynx had a slight change of expression since its attack had missed. However, it did not choose to dwell on a fight with the decent, young man. Instead, it passed him in a flash to attack the other two targets.

It mauled the air a few times consecutively. Crescent-like black air slices appeared quickly and shot through the air like lightning bolts.

The tanned man stretched his hand into the air again, and a transparent wall formed before him immediately.

The air slices collided against the wall one after another. Circles of ripples were created before they were engulfed by the transparent wall completely, as if they were stones that had drowned in the water.

The Ninetails Lynx's attack was easily defeated again.

The lady did not have to fight at all. The wall that the tanned man created had blocked all of the attacks.

Lin Huang could not help but frown when he saw the two true god-level God Figurine's Combat Souls perform rule power abilities consecutively.

"What exactly was Qi Muxiong thinking? Only participants below virtual god-level can come in, so why did he set up a true god-level defense in the ruin? Nobody will be able to obtain the inheritance at all!"

Lin Huang could not understand what Qi Muxiong's exact goal was. If he wanted someone to obtain his inheritance, putting three true god-level God Figurine's Combat Souls here undoubtedly killed the possibility for everyone to get their hands on it.

Even for him, there was a certain difficulty to kill the three God Figurine's Combat Souls.

'Perhaps it's a technique to prevent powerhouses such as the Dragon Sovereign from stealing the inheritance. Or maybe I activated it accidentally for some reason.'

Lin Huang thought about it carefully. He was even suspecting whether he had accidentally activated the ruin's defense system.

The Destructive Divine Mammoth finally joined the battle as Lin Huang's thoughts were flying!

Surprisingly, it did not attack any of the three True Gods. Instead, it stepped forward and arrived before the transparent wall that the tanned man had just created.

Lifting both of its legs after staring at the tanned man and the lady in the black dress behind the wall, its feet landed on the transparent wall.

Circles of waves rippled across the transparent wall again and again as the Destructive Divine Mammoth that had absolute strength stepped hard on it with both its legs.

Compared to the Ninetails Lynx's attack earlier, the Destructive Divine Mammoth's attack this time was not engulfed by the transparent wall. Instead, there were circles of waves rippling as it inserted Divine Power. As the waves rippled, intense waves swept across the walls.

Layers of waves could not stop overlapping under the Destructive Divine Mammoth's control. They were getting more and more intense. At first, they looked like normal ocean waves. However, they turned into a scary tsunami within a minute.

The transparent wall was crushed in less than five seconds after the tsunami was created as it could not take such immense tearing. The wall disintegrated into transparent pieces and faded into the air.

The Destructive Divine Mammoth looked at the tanned guy in mockery after breaking the defense wall made of rule power.

At that moment, a silver glow lit up in the air all of a sudden. It was coming at the Destructive Divine Mammoth at a high speed.

The silver glow shone like lightning and was extremely quick.

It struck the Destructive Divine Mammoth's left eye within the blink of an eye. The Destructive Divine Mammoth did not manage to react at all.

However, the silver glow pierced through the Destructive Divine Mammoth's body in the next second and crashed into a hill far away. Not only was the entire hill wiped out, but it also left a giant sinkhole that was over 1,000 kilometers wide.

Many virtual god-level monsters were impacted by the attack. At least 20 to 30 of them were crushed into dust immediately.

Meanwhile, the Destructive Divine Mammoth's body disintegrated slowly and appeared a few meters away.

Lin Huang was stunned for a moment. He subsequently peeked at the Nightmare Tapir before him. He knew that it was the Nightmare Tapir's doing earlier. He made the Destructive Divine Mammoth an illusory substitute to dodge this attack.

Although he could not pull the opponents into its dreamland, the Nightmare Tapir had illusion and spiritual attack techniques. Despite not being able to use them to fight the enemies head-on, it could be used as solid support and control.

The Nightmare Tapir looked at the lady in the black dress who attacked earlier from a distance after solving the crisis for the Destructive Divine Mammoth.

"A sword cultivator!"

"Can her attack harm the Destructive Divine Mammoth?" Lin Huang asked through voice transmission while frowning.

"A sword cultivator's attack power together with rule power can harm us if they attack our weaker parts," the Nightmare Tapir confirmed, "After all, our combat strength has yet to reach true god-level while our body only comes with a God Figurine's basic defense power. As long as the intensity of their attack can hurt a true god-level powerhouse, it can basically harm our flesh. The female sword cultivator's attack earlier could've killed a first-rank True God."

Lin Huang just realized that the God Figurine's Combat Souls' invincibility was just a matter of relativity. In the gravel world, they were naturally invincible since there were no True Gods.

The Destructive Divine Mammoth that was almost hurt on the battlefield was completely enraged. It swung its trunk and attacked the lady in the black dress who had secretly attacked it earlier in a frenzy.

Upon seeing that, the Ninetails Lynx took the initiative to block the other two God Figurines.

The Nightmare Tapir also joined the battle, supporting both of them as a team.

Theoretically, God Figurine's Combat Souls that had no consciousness should only have battle instinct and not the ability to strategize battles. However, the three God Figurines were in sync when they fought as if they were alive.

Lin Huang was frowning deeper and deeper as the battle went on for over ten minutes.

Among the three God Figurine's Combat Souls, the lady in the black dress had the highest attack capability. She was a sword cultivator and she must have mastered Sword Dao. Her attack could even tear and crack the Destructive Divine Mammoth's body that was supposed to be invincible in defense.

Even the Ninetails Lynx was scared of being hit by her. A God Figurine might bleed if they were hit. If their vital parts were hit, they might be severely injured.

The tanned man's defense technique was pretty difficult to defeat too. Besides creating a defense wall with the rule power, he could even create armors and shields at the very last minute. The defense techniques coming from the rule power could basically block over 90% of the impact of the Ninetails Lynx and the rest's attack.

Furthermore, the three of them were God Figurines. Their defense was nothing below the Ninetails Lynx's. In fact, it was even more powerful.

Meanwhile, the fair, young was mainly an expert in the Wind Element Law.

Not only could he control wind element attacks, but he could also even play a cameo in aid to speed up his partners' attack or restrict the Ninetails Lynx and the rest's movements.

The trio were the perfect team. The upper hand coming from the rule power created a great restriction to the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth.

Over ten minutes had passed, but the Ninetails Lynx and the rest had done almost nothing to the God Figurines.

Killing any one of the God Figurines aside, they could not even harm the three of them at all.

Lin Huang held back his urge to use a Combat Strength Upgrade Card. After a moment of reflection, he summoned his fourth God Figurine's Combat Soul, the Shackle Serpent!

Although it was only on Virtual God rank-7 while its sealing ability might not be able to really seal True Gods, it should make a difference.

The victory of a battle between compelling powerhouses usually happened within split seconds.

If the Shackle Serpent's sealing managed to create that split-second effect, it was sufficient for the Ninetails Lynx and the rest to kill their opponents.

It twisted its black body that was approximately a meter long around Lin Huang's left arm. Then, it lifted the upper half of its body high.

Its black pupils scanned through the three God Figurines, and it soon targeted its prey.

"Both of you will work with the Shackle Serpent for the kill. You guys will attack whoever that it seals. When both of you are attacking, the Nightmare Tapir will be responsible for stopping the other two God Figurines." Lin Huang was not afraid that his voice transmission would be heard by the three God Figurines.

The three God Figurines that took on human forms had no consciousness, so they would not react at all even if they heard what Lin Huang said.

The Shackle Serpent had its eyes trained on the tanned man just when Lin Huang was done speaking. Its pupils turned golden.

Almost at the same time, black shackles began growing on the tanned man's body at a high speed while his aura was plummeting.

At the moment, the Ninetails Lynx took the lead to attack.

It turned into a light stream of light while its sharp claws turned into a golden glow. The claws went through the tanned man's neck like an electric arc.

The Destructive Divine Mammoth's attack came subsequently. It lifted both its legs high, and a golden giant foot soon arose in the air.

The three God Figurines panicked a little as the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth changed their targets out of nowhere.

The lady in the black dress and the fair, young man attempted to save the tanned man, but the Nightmare Tapir created two silhouette illusions to block their way.

The golden giant feet above the tanned man's head came down just when the duo was stalled for a second.

Bang!

Knowing that it was an opportunity that was hard to come by, the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth did not hold back on their attack. They released almost all of the Divine Power in their bodies.

The tanned man's body turned into a black silhouette that shot through the sky. It looked like black lightning that crashed straight into the ground.

The flat land seemed as if a nuclear bomb had been thrown into the sea. A huge chunk of the soil vanished while the land further away had circles of waves ripple like ocean waves. Intense winds that were stronger than a storm blew furiously.

Meanwhile, the place where the tanned man landed had turned into a giant sinkhole that spanned over 3,000 kilometers in diameter. Almost all of the giant gods nearby were killed by the impact.

Lin Huang stood where he was without being harmed at all. The credit belonged to the Shackle Serpent that was twisted around his wrist as it set up a sealed area, blocking all of the impact outside the seal.

"Is he dead?" Lin Huang hovered mid-air while peering into the deepest part of the sinkhole from far away. However, the hole was too deep. Apart from darkness, he could see nothing.

The Nightmare Tapir nodded. "His spiritual aura is gone, so he should be..."

It had a dramatic change of expression before it was done speaking. Its tone became gloomy now. "The aura that vanished earlier seemed to have transformed into another aura. It seems even more powerful than before."

Soon after the Nightmare Tapir spoke, Lin Huang also sensed the tanned man's aura. Indeed, it was completely different from before.

He looked at the sinkhole beneath cautiously, unable to figure out what Qi Muxiong had in mind.

The tanned man's aura soon stabilized in the sinkhole.

Meanwhile, the lady in the black dress and the fair, young man, who were fighting not far away, retreated from the battle all of a sudden. They ceased fighting.

The Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth wanted to go on, but Lin Huang got them to stop. They retreated back to him and stopped dwelling on the battle.

The lady in the black dress and the fair, young man stood where they were quietly and froze entirely. They did not look like they were alive any longer. Instead, they were more like two puppets that had lost their marionettist.

Meanwhile, an aura rose from deep in the sinkhole.

Approximately two to three seconds later, the tanned man's silhouette shot up into the sky. He only stopped when he arrived at the same height as Lin Huang and hovered less than 100 meters away from Lin Huang.

Around Lin Huang's arm, the Shackle Serpent's eyes soon experienced a change of color again.

However, this time, the tanned man extended his arm to block Shackle Serpent's seal directly.

"Don't worry. You've passed my test. My God Figurines won't fight any longer."

Lin Huang stopped his God Figurine's Combat Soul from fighting and asked in a testing manner, "Qi Muxiong?"

"You know my name. It seems like you've obtained the inheritance I left behind in the grave world." The tanned man then observed Lin Huang closely. "I can sense the inheritance in you."

He only spoke again after observing Lin Huang, "To be exact, I'm not Qi Muxiong. I'm just a sliver of consciousness that he left behind. I'm not even considered a soul remnant. My current condition is just a soul remnant living in a God Figurine."

"Young man, how do I address you?" Qi Muxiong asked after giving a simple explanation about his identity.

"Lin Huang."

Lin Huang asked again before waiting for Qi Muxiong to speak again, "How can you prove that you're Qi Muxiong?"

"Prove?" The tanned man was stunned to hear the challenge and laughed subsequently. "The inheritance I left behind in the gravel world was incomplete. Even some of the information is fake. Now, I can give you my complete inherited memory. That should prove that I'm Qi Muxiong, am I right?" said the tanned man as he pointed his finger from where he was.

A golden glow formed at his fingertip and hovered slowly, then it stopped before Lin Huang.

Lin Huang extended his hand to grab the golden glow the size of a thumb. The golden glow penetrated his palm slowly and disappeared.

The second the golden glow penetrated his body, a steady stream of information was added to Lin Huang's head.

Even some of the information coming from Qi Muxiong was drowned in the new information that came in.

Lin Huang digested the information with his eyes closed slightly for two to three minutes. He finally finished reading the inheritance roughly by then.

He stared at the tanned man in shock after opening his eyes. "Your combat strength is only imperial-level?!"

"Is that surprising to you? Aren't you on imperial-level as well?" The tanned man seemed to act like everything made sense.

Lin Huang was speechless at that moment. He had always thought that Qi Muxiong's real combat strength was virtual god-level. Never had he thought he would have the same combat strength as him, which was merely imperial-level.

"I thought your first question would be what's a traveler or what's a Goldfinger." The tanned man looked at Lin Huang and smiled. "Never had I thought that you'd be more honest than I imagined."

Lin Huang did not respond to that. Neither did he deny that he was a traveler, nor did he admit that he was one.

The reason he did not pretend to not know what a traveler was that he guessed there was a certain possibility that the person already sensed the existence of a Goldfinger in his body. Just like how he roughly sensed Qi Muxiong's Goldfinger.

"Since you had an ability close to True God, why didn't you disguise your combat strength as virtual god-level in the gravel world? Why did you disguise as a demigod-level instead?" Lin Huang changed the topic after falling into silence for a moment.

Fortunately, Qi Muxiong did not plan to dwell on the previous topic.

"While there were a handful of Virtual Gods in the era that we were in, there were many demigods. Disguising as a Virtual God would be too attention-seeking. There were many demigods, so nobody would pay attention to us."

"Is your main body still alive?" Lin Huang proceeded to ask the third question.

The tanned man's expression finally became slightly serious upon hearing that. "I'm not too sure."

"I guess he's dead, but I'm not ruling out the possibility that he's surviving by using some unique methods. It's also possible that he has been reincarnated. I don't know the exact situation."

"What exactly happened to your main body? Theoretically, with your talent, your potential and the help from your Goldfinger, it was only a matter of time for you to elevate to a Lord. Why did you die all of a sudden?" Lin Huang was very curious about that. The inherited memory Qi Muxiong had provided him with had no related memory.

The tanned man only spoke slowly after a moment of silence, "My main body explored an ancient ruin when he was in the gravel world. He accidentally found a clue left behind by a traveler. He was elated to find that clue because he thought someone of his own kind was there. Never had he thought the clue was the beginning of an unfortunate series of events.

"He spent over a year and finally found another related clue in another ruin. He used the clues as his target and headed to the great world. He never thought those so-called clues would lead him into a trap. It was a deadly trap set up by the Raiders."

Lin Huang could not help but frown when he heard that. It was not his first time hearing about the term "Raider".

Yang Ling had mentioned Raiders too. According to his description, Raiders were a bunch of dangerous travelers who hunted other travelers exclusively to take their Goldfingers.

Yang Ling's Goldfinger was taken away the bunch of people, causing him to resort to a low life for hundreds of years.

"In reality, travelers don't only come from the planet where my main body came from. Many of them came from other planets and civilizations, even from different times and universes. Therefore, not all travelers are nice to their own kind.

"The Raiders are a group of people who have ill intentions towards other travelers. They hunt travelers exclusively and rely on the other travelers' Goldfingers to strengthen their own Goldfingers. In order to reach their goal, they use evil techniques.

"My main body encountered this bunch of people in the great world following the clues left behind in the ruins. They appeared very friendly on the surface, but they actually faked it. Fortunately, my main body realized how unusual it was and found the opportunity to escape to where this bunch of Raiders was gathered. However, he was chased because of that. He was severely injured and almost died.

"He only escaped from them when he returned to this virtual zone. However, he was too badly injured at that time and was worried that he could not hold on until he returned to the gravel world. All he could do while he had the ability to was to set up this ruin and leave me behind, which is but a sliver of consciousness. I've no idea what happened after that."

"When exactly did all these incidents that you told me happened?" Lin Huang asked immediately, "Do you know the exact year it happened?"

"Year 5536." The date the remnant of the consciousness revealed was the old era calendar.

"The Virtual Eye opened in Year 5538, which was two years after Qi Muxiong set up this ruin. In other words, Qi Muxiong had no Goldfinger during the war over 800 years ago because he left it in this ruin. Furthermore, there's a great possibility that his body had yet to recover. He might've even been dying back then. Therefore, the rumor that Qi Muxiong had died in the war might be true."

'Qi Muxiong managed to kill Virtual Gods with his imperial-level combat strength without his Goldfinger. He's really a genius!' Lin Huang exclaimed secretly. He admired Qi Muxiong, his senior.

"The information about my main body should be included in most of the inherited memories that I shared with you earlier. Ask whatever questions that you might have. Don't ask trivial questions. A remnant of consciousness like me can't hold on for long." Qi Muxiong's remnant of consciousness that was conversing with Lin Huang for a while could not help but urge him.

"Alright then." Lin Huang nodded and asked in all seriousness after a moment of reflection, "According to your description, Qi Muxiong went to the virtual zone from the gravel world to get to the great world. He also returned to the virtual zone after that and went back to the gravel world. I want to know how he managed to do that."

"He has a god rule relic for teleportation. The god relic records the gravel world and virtual zone coordinates. He depended mainly on that god relic to escape from the great world alive."

"He must've depended on that god relic to return to the gravel world as well. In other words, that god rule relic should've been left behind in the gravel world up till now…" Lin Huang asked the tanned man again after mumbling to himself, "Do you know where he's hiding this god rule relic now?"

"I've no idea." The tanned man shook his head while smiling. "I've no idea what happened after my main body set up this ruin. However, theoretically, there should be related records in the inherited memories my main body left behind for you. He's already given you the inheritance, so there's no reason for him to keep the god rule relic."

"His inherited memories have been sealed by categories. It was unsealed automatically after I elevated to imperial-level. However, there was too much information after it was unsealed, so I didn't look at it thoroughly. I only saw the part on cultivation."

Lin Huang did not rush into checking whether Qi Muxiong left behind the coordinates. He knew that it would be useless for him even if he found it now. The reason being, he could not return to the gravel world within a short period of time. Furthermore, without that god rule relic, it would mean that he would not be able to leave the virtual zone with the same method.

Lin Huang asked again after thinking to himself for a moment, "Apart from that god rule relic, do you know if there's any other way to leave this virtual zone? I could return to the gravel world or head over to the great world, whatever works."

"I've no idea about that either. The memory that my main body has left behind for me only has one method, which is the god rule relic," answered the tanned man, shaking his head.

Lin Huang sighed helplessly after hearing that answer. "It seems like I must get help from the Butterfly Sovereign."

Apart from getting Qi Muxiong's Goldfinger, he actually wanted to learn how to leave the virtual zone. That was the other reason why he entered Qi Muxiong's ruin. However, it seemed like his plan came to a dead-end completely.

"Are there any other questions that you have? I think I only have three minutes left," the tanned man urged again, "Ask any questions that you have now. My main body has something to tell you."

Lin Huang thought about it and asked the question that he had been wanting to ask, "Why did Qi Muxiong make this ruin trial so difficult? I think nobody else apart from me can defeat the three true god-level God Figurines at the very end. Basically, nobody can possibly pass a trial of such difficulty, am I right?"

"There are two reasons. Firstly, as a remnant of consciousness, I can only be activated once. I'll fade automatically as soon as I'm done with my mission. I won't be welcoming the second participant. The reason why the trial benchmark is set so high is that he wanted to choose only the qualifiers to receive his inheritance.

"Secondly, my main body has a high benchmark for the participant's ability because he hopes that the person can avenge him in the future. Therefore, he doesn't expect the participant to have abilities that surpass his, but it has to be, at least, close to his. Otherwise, avenging him would be a suicide mission.

"In reality, he didn't set up the final guardians to defeat the participant. The participant will pass as long as he survives for an hour. Meanwhile, you killed one of the guardians directly, causing the assessment to end ahead of time."

"I see…" Lin Huang could roughly understand why Qi Muxiong set the standards so high.

He proceeded to ask another question that he was interested in after putting aside the matter of avenging Qi Muxiong, "I've got another question. It's about the three God Figurine's Combat Souls. I want to know who was controlling the three God Figurine's Combat Souls since Qi Muxiong isn't around. Was it you?"

"Of course, it wasn't me!" The remnant of consciousness in the tanned man declined directly. "Do you think I could provide the three of them Divine Power with my current condition?"

"Who was it then?!"

"The Goldfinger, of course. It also provides the power in the God Figurines' bodies." The remnant of consciousness did not hide anything. Since Lin Huang had inherited Qi Muxiong's inheritance, the Goldfinger would belong to him sooner or later.

Lin Huang narrowed his eyes lightly. A daring idea soon developed in his mind. "How many God Figurines can that Goldfinger control at the most?"

"Its power is almost endless. Theoretically, it should be able to control countless God Figurines," answered the tanned man to Lin Huang's shock.

Lin Huang's eyes lit up when he heard that.

He had already collected tens of extra God Figurines. He was annoyed that the number of God Figurines his body could contain was full, so he would not be able to use any more. Never had he thought he would find the solution here.

At that moment, he was already thinking of building his God Figurines army in his head…

Seeing that Lin Huang was silent for a while, the tanned man could not help but speak again, "If you've got no more questions, I shall tell you the conditions."

Lin Huang was stunned for a moment and nodded immediately.

"My main body only has two conditions. Firstly, you can't refine his Goldfinger. You can use it, but not refine it to upgrade your own Goldfinger. If you think the function of the Goldfinger doesn't fit you and you don't want to use it, please terminate the contract and let it go.

"Secondly, avenge my main body! Three people attacked my main body and caused him to almost die in the great world. The leader is a Raider called Shentu Zetian. He was already a high-rank True God in Year 5536, but I've no idea what his exact rank is. Meanwhile, the other two were called Wang Ze and Huang Yu. The duo were on medium-rank True God-level back then.

"The three of them were Raiders with Goldfingers. Shentu Zetian's Goldfinger seems to come with the effects of disguising and deceiving. The other two's Goldfingers's effects are unknown. However, it's confirmed that the three of them have techniques to sense others' Goldfingers from a distance away. However, we don't know if such techniques came from one of the Goldfingers."

"I can agree to the first condition." Indeed, Lin Huang was going to refine Qi Muxiong's Goldfinger. However, now that he found out that Qi Muxiong's Goldfinger could control God Figurines, he changed his mind.

"As for the second condition, the traveler was already a high-rank True God over 800 years ago who also possessed a Goldfinger. He might've already broken through to heavenly god-level! Although the other two were only on medium-rank True God-level back then, they might've already broken through to heavenly god-level. I'm speculating that I can only complete this mission when I'm at least a high-rank True God or a Heavenly God."

"There's no rush in that. My main body doesn't want you to go on a suicide mission anyway. Naturally, he only wants you to do that when you have the confidence." The remnant of consciousness's voice faded when it was still speaking. "I don't have any time left. I hope that you can keep your promises."

"I will." Lin Huang nodded lightly.

Just when Lin Huang said that, the tanned man stood where he was without moving. Just like the two other God Figurines far away, he seemed to have become a puppet that had lost its marionette.

A sphere of golden glow came from underground slowly at the moment. The golden sphere that was like a sun looked like the size of a fist, but it had terrifying energy like a star.

The golden sphere rotated around Lin Huang and disappeared after penetrating his chest.

Lin Huang closed his eyes to feel the new Goldfinger. He raised his brow lightly when he opened his eyes slowly a moment later. "Did Qi Muxiong give you the name Eternity Fire?"

The Goldfinger, the Eternity Fire's main function was to provide endless energy.

It could convert include almost all sorts of energy. It also had the ability to absorb and assimilate most of the energies coming from outside.

Not only could it simulate Life Power, but it could even create polymeric substances such as Life Seeds, tinder and energy. That was the reason Qi Muxiong's combat strength managed to be boosted so fast and allowed him to master a suite of abilities at such a young age.

"This Goldfinger is even more ridiculous than I imagined. It transformed Qi Muxiong's body into a pure energy body that was similar to a Virtual God when the Goldfinger was only a baby. It even gave Qi Muxiong the ability to create a suite of Life Seeds and tinders, enabling him to obtain thousands of monster skills!

"No wonder his telekinetic power is close to invincibility. He killed hundreds of types of telekinetic monsters, engulfing and assimilating their Life Seeds as well as tinders, then integrated them into his own body."

Lin Huang was a little envious after scanning through the Eternity Fire's memory of Qi Muxiong roughly.

He thought he had obtained many monster skills, but it seemed like he was far behind compared to Qi Muxiong.

When he was on immortal-level, the limit of monster skills his skill tree could contain was 30. Now that he was on imperial-level, it was only upgraded to 50 skills (excluding derivative skills). Meanwhile, Qi Muxiong might have over 100 skills before he became transcendent. He might have already had thousands of skills when he was on imperial-level.

Lin Huang would be lying if he said he was not envious.

"Qi Muxiong didn't make it to virtual god-level with such a Goldfinger?" Lin Huang mumbled softly.

The Eternity Fire spoke through voice transmission all of a sudden when he was going to look at more memory about Qi Muxiong, "It was I who stopped him from elevating." The voice was thick and loud as it interrupted what Lin Huang was going to do.

"Why?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"His cultivation system is different from the usual system because of me. In reality, there was no Life Palace consolidated in his body when he got to imperial-level, but there was an energy crystal that's similar to a Godhead. Therefore, his imperial-level can also be considered virtual god-level.

"If he wants to get to virtual god-level, he'd have to demote the energy crystal and consolidate a Godhead all over again. However, it's unnecessary to do that. The reason being the energy crystal in his body was made of Divine Power. Its energy density and thickness is no less than a virtual god-level Godhead. Even if he were to consolidate it all over again, it would only be 20% to 30% more powerful than before, whereby there wouldn't be any changes in its nature.

"Therefore, the conclusion we had from the discussion was to simulate virtual god-level, whereby we divided imperial-level into nine steps. We gave the energy crystal nine transformations just like a Godhead. After the nine transformations were completed, he would skip virtual god-level entirely and reach True God after his Divine Fire had been ignited.

"However, he would need some time to digest each energy crystal transformation when he did that. He could only go on to the second transformation when he had completely adapted to the transformed energy to avoid his energy from going haywire. This delayed his time being on imperial-level. When he was setting up this ruin, his energy crystal had only undergone eight transformations."

The Eternity Fire's explanation made Lin Huang recall his own cultivation system. He wondered if he could skip virtual god-level directly too.

"I'll spend some time to discuss with the stone tablet. If I can skip virtual god-level, it'll undoubtedly save me a lot of time."

After putting his personal matter aside, Lin Huang proceeded to ask a few questions that he was eager to know. Since the Eternity Fire started the conversation, he did not bother to look through Qi Muxiong's memories.

"Is this ruin Qi Muxiong's God Territory?"

"Yes."

"How did he consolidate God Territory when he was only on imperial-level?" Lin Huang asked curiously.

"He got it from a virtual god-level monster," the Eternity Fire explained, "The nature of God Territory was actually the reflection and interference of Divine Power on the material world. Naturally, there's a reflection of will on the soul level in between. No matter what, the nature of it would be the reaction of the energy. As long as there's a reaction from the energy, I can assimilate, engulf and convert it. It's just that the assimilation speed will be slower if it's something complicated."

Lin Huang finally understood that Qi Muxiong did not consolidate this God Territory at all. It was the Goldfinger who had created it.

"When Qi Muxiong was building this ruin, he got me to take out a portion of his God Territory. It was approximately a third of his God Territory. Meanwhile, he kept the remaining portion of it.

"I think he must've been dead. Otherwise, it's impossible for him not to come back for me throughout the over 800 years and put away this portion of God Territory."

The Eternity Fire was clearly depressed when it spoke about this.

"Over 800 years ago… To be exact, it was the third year when Qi Muxiong returned to the gravel world that I came from. There was an invasion in the gravel world. According to the historical records, Qi Muxiong participated in the war as one of the main powers and died on the battlefield." Lin Huang provided a simple explanation of what happened in the gravel world. "But that doesn't prove anything. There weren't any True Gods who participated in the war back then, so he might've faked his death. Or maybe he went missing and was recorded dead. He might've gotten the officials to record that on purpose so that he could get out of the public eye."

The Eternity Fire only expressed again after falling into silence for a long time, "No matter whether he's alive or dead, I hope that you can find the trails that he left behind when you return to the gravel world."

Lin Huang nodded to agree to that without hesitation. "No problem. If everything goes as planned, I'll return to the gravel world within a year."

The reason why he could promise that so quickly was mainly that he wanted to look for Qi Muxiong's teleportation god rule relic. Naturally, he respected Qi Muxiong as a senior traveller on the other hand. If Qi Muxiong really was dead, he hoped to bury him properly instead of having his body exposed in the wild.

Qi Muxiong fought the intruders bravely despite missing his Goldfinger while being severely injured just to protect the gravel world. This alone made Lin Huang admire him.

However, Lin Huang recalled something all of a sudden as they talked about the ruin. He then asked the Eternity Fire, "Do you know about the matter whereby this ruin has been sealed by the outside world? There's a second-rank True God-level dragonkin who sealed this ruin with the Ice Law."

"I know that. He kept wanting to come in, but I stopped him." The answer the Eternity Fire gave him went beyond his expectations. "I'm the core of this ruin. Three breaths are all it takes for me to break away from his seal. The reason why I ignored it is that I'm afraid that Qi Muxiong won't be able to find me when he comes back."

"Do you plan to take this ruin away?" the Eternity Fire asked.

"There's no rush. I'll bring this ruin with me when I'm done with my preparation to leave the virtual zone. The Dragon Sovereign might be triggered if I move the ruin beforehand, and it might be a disadvantage towards my plan to leave." Lin Huang did not wish to have any troubles during such a critical time.

If he moved the ruin now, the Dragon Sovereign's first reaction would probably be to seal the entire virtual zone when he found out and prohibit anyone from exiting. As long as he paid his price, the Butterfly Sovereign would give him face and might deny all exit requests within a short period of time.

Although Lin Huang could not bring the ruin away now, the exploration period of the ruin was a total of seven days. He could look for loot in this ruin since he had nothing to do for a couple of days.

Lin Huang could not help but smirk. "Oh yeah, Old Fire, there should be tons of good stuff in this ruin, am I right? Please show me around."

As the Eternity Fire pulled Divine Power out of the three God Figurines, the trio soon turned into three sculptures size of a palm.

Lin Huang waved and put away all three of the God Figurines into his storage space.

Later on, he put away the few God Figurine's Combat Souls including the Ninetails Lynx, leaving only the Nightmare Tapir with him.

"Is there any other God Figurine?" Lin Huang asked the Eternity Fire in his body through voice transmission.

"No, Qi Muxiong only left three behind." The Eternity Fire explained further, "Apart from this ruin that was set up preliminarily, he didn't leave many things behind. Apart from the three God Figurines, the valuables in this ruin are basically influenced by me, whereby they were bred automatically throughout over 800 years."

Lin Huang recalled the gigantic plants when he just entered as he listened to this part. They must have been affected by the Eternity Fire and were mutated into giants.

'Since ordinary plants can be mutated like that, theoretically, monsters and items with Life Power must've gone through an even more significant change.' Lin Huang's eyes lit up as he thought about that.

The Eternity Fire proceeded to speak, "There are a few spiritual volcanoes in the southern part of the ruin. They've elevated into Divine Power volcanoes now. There are a few Molten Divine Crystals mines at the bottom of the volcanoes, and they're considered the richest mines. There's a god item that came out of the biggest volcano. It's a Molten Lotus that has mastered the Molten Law preliminarily.

"At the far northern part of the ruin is a frozen ocean. There's an ice crystal mine deep in the ocean which is also a god-level mine. However, there's an Ice Dragon guarding the place and it's also on true god-level.

"To the east side of the ruin is the Eastern Ocean. There's an isolated island in the middle of the sea with a Buddhist Tower on it. It was initially a torn god item, but it absorbed my energy throughout the centuries. Not only was it repaired on its own, but it has even evolved into a god rule item. It suppresses the monsters in the entire Eastern Ocean, and even become the totem that all of the monsters in the Eastern Ocean worship.

"There's a desert on the west side of the ruin. It used to be the place Qi Muxiong piled his monster carcasses up. I don't know if it's because of me or this ruin's nature, but the monster carcasses and skeletons review one after another throughout these over 800 years. They're even more powerful now than before they died. The most powerful one would be the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon. It's already a True God now.

"Monsters of all sorts in the middle of the ruin and the areas around it have undergone a boost in their size. Those monsters that were regular-sized became giants without knowing why. Some of them even become supreme giants. Even a minority of them got rid of their bodies directly and become pure energy.

"Some of the broken god relics and god relics that are scattered everywhere have gone through all sorts of changes…"

Lin Huang knew he would be busy for the next few days after hearing the Eternity Fire's introduction about this ruin.

"Will it negatively affect the ruin if I hunt god-level monsters?" Lin Huang decided to ask before moving.

"It won't affect much. Their energy will belong to me when they're dead. If the beasts' souls are taken, only a drop of life form will remain in the ruin. However, there aren't many god-level monsters anyway. Even if you killed all of them, it would be less than 1/10,000 of a drop. The number will be remedied soon as long as the monsters in the ruin breed as usual. However, it takes time to breed god-level monsters all over again."

"I'll only hunt for god-level monsters. I won't touch the rest." Lin Huang nodded after he listened and gave his promise.

He then turned his head to look at the Nightmare Tapir after he spoke, "See if there are any god-level monsters around."

The Nightmare Tapir spread his God Territory up to a range of 10,000 kilometers around them. It forced a smile a moment later. "Almost all of them were killed by the impact of the battle earlier."

Lin Huang raised his brow when he heard the update. He paid all attention to using his ocular skill to record the true god-level battle earlier. He did not notice that the spiritual energy filled his body at all.

As he looked into his body, he found out that the clouds of colorful spiritual energy had been filtered into a milky liquid by Divine Fire. They had accumulated into a river.

Lin Huang thought about it for a moment and filled the Nightmare Tapir's body with the spiritual energy that had accumulated into a river directly.

As spiritual energy filled its body, the Nightmare Tapir's aura began growing continuously. It was getting close to achieving Virtual God rank-9. However, its combat strength did not break through eventually after all the spiritual energy was transferred.

"How far away are you?" Lin Huang could not help but ask.

"I still lack five to six Virtual God rank-9 monsters," the Nightmare Tapir answered after checking its condition.

"Then, let's go to the south first. The mines over there are relatively easy to obtain. We'll kill the virtual god-level monsters along the way." Lin Huang soon made up his mind.

Naturally, the Eternity Fire and the Nightmare Tapir had no objection to that.

Lin Huang summoned Thunder and flew all the way to the south of the ruin.

…

The Spider Queen at the entrance of the ruin woke up from her deep slumber.

Her 16 eyes opened one after another while her 12 long legs propped her body up slowly. However, she still felt drowsy. Her sleepiness had yet to fade completely.

"The sky is dark… What happened earlier?"

Night slowly fell in the ruin.

The sky had yet to go into complete darkness at the moment, but it was enough for the Spider Queen to estimate that it had been hours since her last memory.

"We came into the ruin at 9 a.m. Judging by the sky, it's at least 6 pm. or even past 7 p.m. In other words, I've been sleeping at the entrance for close to ten hours…" The Spider Queen recalled what exactly happened carefully.

"I remember coming in with Wu Fei and we waited until everyone left. I felt a sense of sleepiness envelop me all of a sudden." The Spider Queen spread her Territory skill out immediately to see if Lin Huang was around. Naturally, he was not within hundreds of kilometers of her range.

As her sleepiness faded, she started to think clearly. The Spider Queen seemed to realize what happened.

Her 16 eyes glared cruelly while she released a raging shriek far away, "Wu Fei, you bastard! How dare you get rid of me!?"

…

As the Spider Queen was waking up, all sorts of monsters that participated in the trial in the ruin had undergone through close to ten hours of hunting. Some of them even began to familiarize themselves with the environment in the ruin slowly.

They had learned to stay away from dangerous zones as they looked for targets that suited themselves.

Some even reaped rewarding results, but some were struggling to stay alive.

However, nobody could compare to Lin Huang when it came to rewards.

At the moment, he was done digging three Molten Divine Crystal mines and only had one last mine that he had yet to dig.

Lin Huang gazed at the biggest Divine Power volcano far away in the nightlight.

"I wonder how's the Molten Lotus's ability like. I can test it first. If it's too much trouble, I can only give up on the mine temporarily. After all, I only have six days left in here."

The Eternity Fire called the biggest Divine Power volcano in the ruin the No. 1 Volcano.

The volcano was over 9,800 meters tall. The bottom stretched 180 kilometers horizontally and spanned 120 kilometers vertically. The entire volcano had over ten craters, but the biggest one was as wide as 40 kilometers.

Thunder flew above the volcano in circles. Even though Lin Huang was only watching the scene below while standing on Thunder's back, he took in the volcano's majesty and beauty.

He also sensed the wave of energy coming from the Divine Power lava at the bottom of the crater from far away.

Watching the flowing golden lava at the bottom of the crater, Lin Huang did not doubt that any cultivators who had not mastered Divine Power would definitely die if they entered it.

However, that was not what Lin Huang was concerned about. No matter whether it came to himself, the summoning beasts he had in store, or his God Figurine's Combat Souls, all of them had mastered Divine Power successfully. Furthermore, he had obtained the Molten Divine Crystals in the three Divine Power volcanoes.

He stared at the bloody lotus located in the middle of the Divine Power lava lake from far away.

The color of the lotus was extremely vibrant. It was so red that it looked like it was bleeding.

The flower had completely blossomed, and there were layers of petals. The stamens and pistils in the middle were of golden whiskers. It seemed like it would take a long time for its lotus seeds to grow.

There was a faint bloody mist lingering within the striking petals, giving the entire lotus an extra striking vibe.

The three lotus leaves around it were not an ordinary green but an eerie maroon. They were also covered in a layer of bloody mist.

Although it seemed like a plant, in reality, this Molten Lotus was not a plant or a plant-type monster. Instead, it was a god item.

To be exact, it was a fire attribute spirit that came out of the Divine Power Lava. From the Divine Power Lava, it evolved into a god rule item due to the influence of the Eternity Fire.

As Lin Huang was observing the god rule item from far away, the Molten Lotus noticed him too.

One of its purplish-red leaves vibrated lightly while a sea of Divine Power Lava in the volcano shot up into the sky. The gigantic volcano erupted immediately without any warning.

The golden lava seemed to defy gravity at the moment. It rocketed up into the sky like an upside-down waterfall.

It drowned the space where Thunder was earlier almost in the blink of an eye.

However, a purple glow ignited within the explosive golden sparks. Thunder escaped almost the second it was drowned by the golden lava.

Lin Huang stood on Thunder's back while looking in the direction of the crater from far away. Thunder took him tens of kilometers away from the volcano in that split second earlier.

"Does a god item have territorial consciousness too?" Lin Huang raised his brow. He did not expect a god item to take the initiative to attack him.

"It attacked not because it has territorial consciousness but because it wants to obtain spiritual energy. Since it has evolved into a god rule item, it obtained a simple consciousness whereby it can sense the spiritual energy in the life forms around it. Its instinct is to kill those living forms to take their spiritual energy to fill its own consciousness for it to become whole. Furthermore, the portion of memory it obtained from the spiritual energy would then become its learning archive," the Eternity Fire gave a detailed explanation.

"It's that powerful?!" It was Lin Huang's first time hearing that god items were like life forms whereby they could learn.

"Do you want to wipe its consciousness out?" The Nightmare Tapir next to Lin Huang lifted his head to look at him. "Its consciousness is very weak, so it's easy to wipe it out."

"It's rare that such a god item would have consciousness growing in it. It'll become more powerful if we retain its complete consciousness," suggested the Eternity Fire.

Lin Huang only made up his mind after falling into silence for a moment. "Retain its consciousness since it can be useful in the future."

Wiping its consciousness would mean killing the growth potential of the god rule item. Meanwhile, Lin Huang had already planned out on whom the god rule item would be used in the future. He did not hope that Charcoal would get a god item with zero growth potential in the future.

The effect of this lotus combined with Charcoal's dragon flame should be great.

The Nightmare Tapir that had gotten the order had no objections. Its pupils turned black immediately.

In the next second, the Divine Power Lava that shot into the sky stopped moving all of a sudden. Subsequently, it seemed to lose its strength and fell. The inverted golden river that was shooting into the sky rained down like a golden waterfall at that moment. A portion of the Divine Power Lava returned to the crater. However, a part of it turned into a storm, attacking the areas around. Everywhere it reached was charred black.

After a long time, the golden waterfall returned to the volcano completely. Everything within the range of hundreds of kilometers regained its peace.

If not for the golden lava that was still flowing in all directions on the ground, nobody might have noticed that the volcano had erupted earlier.

Meanwhile, the Molten Lotus at the bottom of the crater seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep at the moment.

Lin Huang mumbled softly in surprise after sensing the Molten Lotus's aura that had obviously weakened from far away, "You can even pull a god item into your dreamland?"

"As long as it has a consciousness," said the Nightmare Tapir before adding, "Of course, under the premise that it's within my controlling range. I can't do it if its spiritual intensity is much more powerful than mine."

Seeing that the Nightmare Tapir had the extra strength to answer his question, Lin Huang knew that the Molten Lotus's spiritual intensity should not be that powerful.

He could not help but look into the Nightmare Tapir's dreamland to look at the duo's battle.

In the dreamland, there were loud thuds coming from the inside of Volcano No. 1 accompanied by wailing.

Lin Huang got the Nightmare Tapir to help him hide while he looked beneath the crater as he stood there.

Throughout the battle, the Nightmare Tapir struck the Molten Lotus hard. The beautiful and eerie bloody flower was destroyed at the moment as if a tornado had decimated it. Only a few torn petals were all that remained.

The perfect flower was going bald from the Nightmare Tapir's mauling.

Meanwhile, the Nightmare Tapir ripped the few leaves around it into pieces.

Not long after Lin Huang began watching the battle, the Molten Lotus finally could not take it any longer. Under the Nightmare Tapir's harsh assault, its spirit was close to being destroyed. It was left with its last will wanting to survive. In the end, it chose to surrender. It knew that its consciousness might be completely wiped out if it proceeded to be stubborn.

The Nightmare Tapir finally stopped attacking upon noticing that.

It had already achieved what he wanted. It walked slowly to the lotus and extended a front claw, then patted the Molten Lotus's torn petal. Then, it turned around and left the dreamland.

The Molten Lotus was stunned when it returned to reality. It could not help but shiver for a second when it saw the Nightmare Tapir at the crater.

"I need you to give us access to Volcano No. 1 for a moment."

The Nightmare Tapir did not even reveal the reason. The lotus hovered and landed next to the Nightmare Tapir which peeked at it without saying anything.

Lin Huang patted Thunder, signaling it to head over upon seeing that the Molten Lotus had retreated from the volcano. He then summoned Bai and the rest of his summoning beasts to start a new round of digging as he landed at the crater.

At Volcano No.1 to the south of the ruin, Bai and the rest were busy digging the Molten Divine Crystals mine.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang rode on Thunder's back while rushing towards the Eastern Ocean to the east of the ruin.

According to what the Eternity Fire said, there was an isolated island in the Eastern Ocean. On it was a Buddhist Tower that had evolved into a god rule item. The tower controlled the monsters in the entire Eastern Ocean.

Apart from conquering the tower, the objective of Lin Huang's journey there was to use the tower to attract the virtual god-level monsters in the Eastern Ocean to take their spiritual energy so that the Nightmare Tapir could break through its combat strength.

"There are approximately 600 virtual god-level monsters in the Eastern Ocean while close to 500 of them are only low-level Virtual Gods. Meanwhile, among the remaining 100 of them, most of them are mid-level while only four of them are high-level," the Eternity Fire described the situation in the Eastern Ocean along the way as Lin Huang requested.

"Only four are on high-level out of the 600 virtual god-level monsters. I wonder if the accumulated spiritual energy will be enough for the Nightmare Tapir to elevate his combat strength."

Lin Huang had finally arrived at the Eastern Ocean past 6 a.m. on the next day as Thunder flew at its full speed.

Apart from the Nightmare Tapir, the the Molten Lotus that he had just conquered earlier came along.

The main reason why he brought the Molten Lotus along was that he did not want it to interfere with Bai and the rest's mining at the bottom of the volcano.

The Buddhist Island was situated in the middle of the Eastern Ocean. It was a small isolated island.

After arriving at the Eastern Ocean, Thunder spent approximately an hour to finally get to where the isolated island was.

However, Lin Huang was puzzled when he saw the island beneath from far away. "Isn't it supposed to be an isolated island? Why are there other islands around it?"

"Those around it aren't islands. They are some sea kings guarding the island," the Eternity Fire explained, "I've no idea why. They were only some ordinary sea monsters, but they kept growing after they were put into this ruin. Some of them evolved into sea kings directly. I've no idea where they learned the technique to hide their aura and pretend to be islands."

Lin Huang was thinking hard to himself. He just found out that the monsters hid their aura. It was no wonder he did not sense any life forms within the range of his territory.

Meanwhile, the Nightmare Tapir had activated its dreamland into which it dragged the island where the Buddhist Tower was as well as the visible islands around it.

Seeing that the Nightmare Tapir had gotten into battle mode, Lin Huang became a member of its audience immediately.

In the dreamland, over ten sea kings which were even bigger than the Buddhist Island seemed to have woken up from their dream. They emerged out of the surface of the ocean one after another and attacked the Nightmare Tapir that hovered in the air.

Among the sea kings, the one with the lowest combat strength was on Virtual God rank-5. All of the four high-level Virtual Gods that the Eternity Fire mentioned were there. Two of them were Virtual God rank-7 while one was on Virtual God rank-8, and another was on Virtual God rank-9.

The 14 sea kings went into a frenzy while their eyes turned bloodshot.

Seeing that, Lin Huang frowned slightly while gazing out at the Buddhist Tower on the isolated island.

The Buddhist Tower looked no different than an ordinary tower. It had a total of nine floors but it was not even 100 meters tall.

Looking at it from a distance, the tower was black like an ancient building that was dated and worn away by years.

However, Lin Huang faintly sensed from a distance away that the tower was releasing a strange aura. It was a little similar to the Holy Power of a God's Blood monster, yet it was different. Compared to Holy Power, this aura was even more powerful and deterring. It even came with a strange, irresistible feeling.

He understood at the moment why these sea monsters would worship it as a totem.

If he was not a gust of consciousness that came in with the Nightmare Tapir's ability and was being protected by the dreamland, he would be deterred and controlled immediately if he was there in his own body and flesh.

'It seems to have mastered a deterrence rule power,' Lin Huang thought to himself carefully. He was thinking who would be more suitable for using this god item after he conquered it.

On the other side, the Nightmare Tapir had killed the 14 god-level sea kings within an extremely short period of time. It destroyed each of them almost with only one slap.

One must know that although its combat strength was only Virtual God rank-8, its grade was much higher than those sea kings.

Furthermore, in its dreamland, not only did it possess the Destructive Divine Mammoth's strength, but it also possessed the Ninetails Lynx's air slicing ability. Naturally, killing a Virtual God rank-9 sea king that was only a rank higher was a piece of cake.

The vital signs of the 14 sea kings that were killed in the dreamland were fading quickly in reality. They turned into 14 gigantic floating carcasses on the sea like 14 massive islands.

Judging by the instant death of its 14 guardians, the Buddhist Tower soon realized that the fella, who only had a combat strength of Virtual God rank-8, was not an easy one to fight.

Its body that was initially black was turning gold at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye. It was shining in a gentle golden glow every millimeter from the tip of the tower to its base.

Under the shining golden glow, Lin Huang, who was only a gush of consciousness, could feel the warmth on his body as if he was sunbathing in the winter. He felt like doing nothing than indulging in the warmth.

"Roar!" A deafening noise came all of a sudden, waking Lin Huang up from the strange phenomenon earlier.

He did not look well. He could not believe that he was affected even though he was protected in the dreamland. He slowly shifted his focus onto the Nightmare Tapir which did not seem to be affected at all.

"Oh, wow! The Nightmare Tapir is indeed powerful!"

In reality, the Nightmare Tapir was affected. It did not roar earlier to wake Lin Huang up, but to chase away the strange phenomenon that it was lured into.

As soon as the strange phenomenon was removed, the Nightmare Tapir attacked directly without any hesitation. It disappeared and reappeared above the tower in the next second.

Its pupils turned golden like never before.

Just when Lin Huang was in shock, he saw black shackles growing on the Buddhist Tower's surface.

"Did it copy the Shackle Serpent's sealing ability?!"

The golden tower was shaking as though it wanted to break out of the seal. After its failed attempt that went on for a while, the Buddhist Tower changed its strategy in determination. Golden sparks began burning the surface of the tower at an alarming speed.

As soon as the sparks ignited, the speed of the black shackles spreading dropped significantly. It soon fell into a stagnant mode and even showed signs of retreating as time passed by.

At that moment, the hairs on the Nightmare Tapir's body seemed to be alive. They grew into long whips and went after the Buddhist Tower.

The Buddhist Tower could only watch the countless hairs tying it up since it could not move.

Lin Huang was even more puzzled as he watched to this point. Theoretically, the flame coming from the Buddhist Tower should be burning. The Nightmare Tapir tying the tower with its hairs should have been an unwise move.

However, Lin Huang widened his eyes in the next second.

The hair wrapped around the Buddhist Tower swallowed the flame on the surface of the tower quickly. The fire died out within the blink of an eye.

Without the suppression of the golden flames, the black shackles came alive like weeds growing in full swing after a downpour.

The Buddhist Tower attempted to break away from the shackles. However, the tower shivered and everything it did seemed to slow down tens of times.

Although the effect only lasted for a short two to three seconds, the speed of the black shackles growing on it was not affected at all. The result was boosted by heaps, and the entire Buddhist Tower was soon tied up.

Within the short few seconds, the Nightmare Tapir used the Shackle Serpent's seal, the Divine Sun Tree's fire assimilation, and the Creation Clock's slowing down of time. With the three abilities combined, he finally suppressed the Buddhist Tower.

Although the Divine Power within was suppressed to its very limit, the Buddhist Tower was still trying to break away from the shackles.

Noticing that, the Nightmare Tapir turned the Shackle Serpent's shackles into a bell shape, engulfing the entire Buddhist Tower within them. Then, it subsequently hit it hard.

Ding dong…

The heavy sound of a ringing bell chimed like the bell that rang at the old temples in the morning.

The Buddhist Tower that was covered in the shackles trembled as the Nightmare Tapir smirked and struck it again and again.

Ding dong, ding dong…

The ringing echoed on the isolated island over and over again, agitating the air above the entire Eastern Ocean.

The bell ringing only echoed in the Eastern Ocean sky for less than ten minutes before the Buddhist Tower completely surrendered.

Each time the bell rang, its entire body would shake from the base to the tip of the tower. There was a soreness in its entire body as if it would collapse any time.

The Molten Lotus that was dragged into the dreamland to watch the battle was terrified as it watched that. By then, it only found out that the Nightmare Tapir had yet to perform many techniques when they fought earlier.

The Buddhist Tower completely lost its temper when it was released from the dreamland. Under the Nightmare Tapir's request, a circle of black waves spread out of the body of the tower and rippled towards the sea.

Within half an hour, over 600 virtual god-level monsters in the entire Eastern Ocean appeared one after another.

After confirming that all the virtual god-level monsters were present, the Nightmare Tapir activated its dreamland again and pulled all hundreds of the virtual god-level monsters into it.

Later on, Lin Huang saw sea monster carcasses floating on the surface of the ocean around the Buddhist Island one after another.

In less than a minute, more than 600 virtual god-level monsters were killed.

Lin Huang could clearly sense the sea of spiritual energy rush into his body. Then, he quickly transferred the energy into the Nightmare Tapir's body.

The spiritual energy in the Nightmare Tapir's body accumulated immediately. Some five to six minutes later, its spiritual energy had finally reached its limit and began to stabilize. However, it was still one step away from reaching Virtual God rank-9.

"Almost there. I'll get there when I have tens of mid-level Virtual Gods." The Nightmare Tapir could not help but sigh softly while looking at the spiritual energy that was so close to breaking through in his body.

Next to him, Lin Huang smiled while speaking, "Don't worry. There are still many virtual god-level monsters to the west of this ruin. We can continue hunting."

The Nightmare Tapir nodded and turned its head to glimpse at the Buddhist Tower that was not far away. "Do we bring it with us? Or do we leave it here?"

"Bring it along." Although Lin Huang was planning to bring the entire ruin with him eventually, he thought he should bring everything that he could this round.

Although the Buddhist Tower was resistant, it chose to obey since it had witnessed the Nightmare Tapir's techniques. It entered Lin Huang's body after the Molten Lotus did.

After conquering his second god rule item, Lin Huang summoned his dimensional portal immediately. He stepped into the dimensional portal with the Nightmare Tapir and returned to the central zone that he set the coordinates of before. Bai and the rest had finished digging the entire Molten Divine Crystals mine beneath Volcano No. 1.

Lin Huang complimented them and promised to give all the participants three months' worth of snacks. He then summoned all of them back into their card forms.

After putting the Molten Divine Crystals away, he then summoned Thunder.

"Let's go to the Deceased Desert to the west."

As ordered, Thunder flew and rushed all the way to the west of the ruin with Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir.

They finally arrived at the Deceased Desert to the west of the ruin when it was approximately 3 p.m. The Deceased Desert was where Qi Muxiong piled the monster carcasses in his God Territory.

However, since Qi Muxiong divided this God Territory, nobody knew whether they were affected by the Eternity Fire, the monster carcasses came alive one after another and became spirit-type monsters.

There were all kinds of spirit-type monsters wandering in the entire desert.

Only a minority of them had complete bodies whereby most of them had broken limbs and a handful of them had completely turned into skeletons.

"The most powerful monster in this area is a Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon which is a first-rank True God. It was a complete dragon skeleton when Qi Muxiong acquired it. He thought he'd keep it as a piece of art since it was well preserved. Perhaps because it had been dead for too long, this dragon skeleton didn't retain its original consciousness when it came back alive. It was only left with its instinct. Its consciousness only developed slowly throughout the hundreds of years.

"Apart from that, because the monster carcasses that were piled here had rather high combat strength, there are over 1,200 virtual god-level monsters in this area compared to the Eastern Ocean. There are 11 high-level virtual god-level monsters while two are on Virtual God rank-9. There are over 200 of them that are mid-level Virtual Gods."

Lin Huang's eyes lit up after hearing the Eternity Fire's description. All of those monsters were prey to him. However, he spoke to the Nightmare Tapir while remaining calm, "That Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon managed to elevate to True God, proving that it was at least a mythical-level dragonkin when it was alive. Although it has turned into a spirit-type monster, we shouldn't underestimate its ability."

The Nightmare Tapir nodded but it did not see its opponent as a threat. "I'll take note of that. However, since its consciousness is new, the intensity shouldn't be anything much more powerful than the Molten Lotus and the Buddhist Tower. In reality, it's a monster that I'd suppress."

Lin Huang knew that apart from a minority of beings with compelling spirits and consciousness, most of the life forms could hardly resist being dragged into the Nightmare Tapir's dreamland. Beings with weak spirits and consciousness would definitely be suppressed by the Nightmare Tapir even if they had compelling combat strength.

As long as his opponents were dragged into his dreamland, they were basically waiting to be killed. The reason being the Nightmare Tapir was close to invincible in its dreamland.

When Thunder had just gone into the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's sensing range above the clouds, Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir could obviously sense someone was watching them.

Through Thunder's eyes, Lin Huang saw the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon lying on top of the massive mountain from thousands of kilometers away.

It was a dragon skeleton that was at least tens of thousands of meters long. Its body was crystal clear like white jade. This dragon skeleton was preserved close to perfection without any flaws whereby each detail on it was exquisite. The sharp bones that popped up since it was mutated made it look tens of times more ferocious than when it was alive.

What caught most attention were its four charcoal-red pupils. They looked like fire burning in its eye sockets. Meanwhile, the four eyes were fixated on Thunder thousands of kilometers away.

In reality, it did not see Thunder that was above the clouds. However, it sensed Thunder's exact location clearly within its territory range. It could also sense Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir standing on Thunder's back.

The reason why it was looking at Thunder was that it could sense the Virtual God rank-8 monster on Thunder's back with its instinct. The monster was emanating a faint threat.

Doubt showed in its four pupils. It could not really understand why it would feel threatened by a Virtual God rank-8 monster. It was not because he had never encountered such combat strength, but because such a monster was merely food to it.

Naturally, Lin Huang could not see the doubt from this dragon skeleton that did not even have flesh on it. Noticing that the dragon skeleton had noticed him, he did not bother to hide himself and patted Thunder's back. "Approach it slowly, but be careful."

He then turned his head to look at the Nightmare Tapir. "You can do it when we're close enough. No need to wait for Thunder to get very close to it."

The Nightmare Tapir nodded. Thunder, which had received the order, began slowing down and approaching the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon carefully.

8,000 kilometers, 7,000 kilometers… 3,000 kilometers…

The Nightmare Tapir's pupils turned black just when flames were spurting out of the dragon skeleton's four pupils faintly. The flames in the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's pupils extinguished all of a sudden, and it stopped moving completely.

The battle soon commenced in the dreamland.

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's four crimson pupils had sparks coming out of them while it lifted its head to release a ferocious roar.

A sonic boom spread up to 1,000 times faster than the speed of sound. It stirred the entire Deceased Desert immediately.

Countless spirit-type monsters in the desert seemed to have received the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's order whereby they turned around and lifted their heads to look where the Nightmare Tapir was.

Each and every spirit-type monster, including those with complete limbs, broken limbs, the rotten ones, and some that were only left with skeletons without eyes looked at the direction of the Nightmare Tapir as if they were on a pilgrimage.

The scene looked extremely odd. Fortunately, it only lasted less than the span of a breath.

After confirming the Nightmare Tapir's location, countless monsters hovered into the sky one after another and charged toward the Nightmare Tapir was at an alarming speed.

Despite that, the Nightmare Tapir did not panic at all. All it did was give a strange smile and disappear directly. When it reappeared, it had arrived less than a kilometer from the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon.

The Nightmare Tapir's body size looked like an ant when it was standing before the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon. Its dragon skeleton was tens of thousands of meters long while the Nightmare Tapir was less than five meters tall. It was even smaller than the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's nostril.

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon took some time to put its four crimson pupils into focus as the Nightmare Tapir showed himself. It had finally seen how its enemy looked like.

"Surrender or die!" ordered the Nightmare Tapir in an overbearing tone before waiting for the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon to do anything.

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon was stunned when it heard the threat. Its first reaction was not anger but confusion. However, it was enraged completely later on.

"You're seeking death, you little thing!"

Flames went wild in the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's four pupils. The flames even spurted tens of meters away.

However, a crash came before it could finish speaking.

Subsequently, it felt an immense strength slamming into its head. It seemed to have lost its ability to fight, whereby its massive head was slammed deep into the ground directly by the immense strength.

The gigantic mountain that it was initially lying on turned into a sinkhole as if a meteorite had hit.

Not far away, the Nightmare Tapir lifted its right front claw and licked it with its tongue. "So much nonsense."

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon was dumbstruck as its entire head was buried in the ground.

'What happened? Was I attacked? Why didn't I sense anything?' It only dawned on it slowly after it asking itself those three questions.

'Was it that feline monster with the trunk that attacked me? It's only on Virtual God rank-8. How is it possible that it has such great strength?'

Although many doubts popped into its head that was devoid of brain juice, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon decided to put aside those questions while focusing on the enemy that it was fighting.

It retrieved its massive dragon head out of the sinkhole while staring at the feline monster with four of its eyes on fire. It was smarter this time whereby it did not bother with any nonsense while opening its mouth to spit dragon flames directly.

Just when the massive skeleton dragon head opened its mouth from which flames ignited, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon realized that the feline monster had vanished.

In the next second, an intense sense of danger came from above its head. Just when it lifted its head, it felt an immense strength slamming down from the top before it could see the Nightmare Tapir.

This time, it finally knew what had attacked it earlier.

Bang!

As a loud bang exploded, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon that had just lifted its head was slammed back into the ground. It was the Nightmare Tapir that did it.

The mountains around them collapsed from the tremor that came from the attack while the sinkhole created by the slamming of the dragon's head this time was 20% to 30% bigger than before.

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon had no chance of fighting at all, and it was suppressed by the Nightmare Tapir twice in a row.

Lin Huang, who was watching the battle from far away, was a little confused. To him, this dragon skeleton was a true god-level monster after all. Even though they were in the dreamland, it should not be so weak that it would become the Nightmare Tapir's toy.

However, now it seemed like the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon had no chance of fighting back at all.

Lin Huang finally realized something when the Nightmare Tapir slammed the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon into the ground for the third time.

"The movements of the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon seem to slow down whenever it's going to fight back."

The Nightmare Tapir calmly through voice transmission after hearing Lin Huang mumble to himself, "Yes, I used the Creation Clock's ability to control the movement of his body."

Lin Huang came to a realization by then. He kept thinking that the Nightmare Tapir was only using the Ninetails Lynx's teleportation ability and the Destructive Divine Mammoth's Superhuman Strength, but never had he thought that the Nightmare Tapir had been secretly using the Creation Clock's ability to control the flow of time.

With the three combined abilities, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon had no time to react at all. It could only become the Nightmare Tapir's target.

Lin Huang saw it crystal clear on the side, but the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon failed to react so quickly.

It had always thought that it was because the Nightmare Tapir was quicker than it was. Therefore, it always managed to suppress it before it could reach.

After being suppressed for over ten times, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon slowly realized the odd flow of time around it. By then, it had drained half of the Divine Power in its body.

Although it failed to attack even once, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon would drain a sea of its Divine Power to defend each and every of the Nightmare Tapir's attack. It had drained half of its Divine Power after being attacked for over ten times.

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon also realized that it was only a matter of time for it to be defeated if this went on. As soon as the Divine Power in it was completely drained, it would turn into dead meat.

'There's no way that I can win if I proceed with the current battle mode. It's basically winning with its speed and control of time. I might only be able to turn the tables around if I change my strategy.'

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon soon had a plan as it thought about this point.

Glaring flames burst out of its four crimson pupils again. However, its pupils were not the only thing on fire this time. Its entire body was on fire too. Compared to the crimson flames in its eye sockets, the flames that ignited on its body were blue.

The gigantic dragon skeleton was soon covered by a layer of blue flames. It lay there like a massive mountain that was burning blue.

Watching from far away, Lin Huang knew that it was the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's last bet.

Naturally, the Nightmare Tapir noticed that too. Although it pretended not to be bothered by its opponent, in reality, it had been careful and dared not underestimate its opponent at all.

The blue flames soon spread towards the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's entire body. Meanwhile, the crimson pupils in its four eye sockets were burning the brightest they could, like four crimson mini suns.

"Roar!"

As crimson sparks shot out of its pupils, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon lifted its head all of a sudden and released a raging roar that shook heaven and earth.

Roar!

As the deafening cry came, the blue flames on the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's body exploded almost at the same time. Blue sparks spread towards all directions.

The sparks covering hundreds of kilometers in the blink of an eye and was almost 1,000 times faster than the speed of sound.

The blue flames were no ordinary blaze but a Fire God Rule called the Death Flame.

As soon as a life form touched such a god rule, the life energy in one's body would be taken away. One could even say that the power was nothing below true god-level dragon flame.

Naturally, Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir had no idea about that.

Although the Nightmare Tapir had its guard up, it did not expect such a thing to happen. Unable to dodge in time at all, it was swallowed by the blue sparks.

Lin Huang, who was watching the battle from far away, was a little surprised to see that. However, he did not seem to be worried.

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon did not stop at all since its attack worked. It lifted its head and targeted where the Nightmare Tapir was by sensing with its Territory skill. It then opened its mouth directly and spat crimson dragon flames out. The flames completely engulfed the Nightmare Tapir.

As a ninth-rank True God, even a second-rank or third-rank True God-level powerhouse would be severely harmed by the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's attacks that came without warning consecutively.

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon thought that even if the Nightmare Tapir did not die in this attack, it would lose his strength fighting after spurting the crimson dragon flames for a couple of minutes. Since it did not have that much Divine Power left in its body, it then stopped the dragon flames.

However, as the flames faded together with the sparks, the Nightmare Tapir stood where it was proudly without being harmed at all.

Seeing the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon stare at him after the flames faded, it shook his body and lifted its head to look at it with a smirk.

The Nightmare Tapir disappeared again in the next second.

Bang!

Almost the same time when the Nightmare Tapir disappeared, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's gigantic head was flung hard into the ground again.

"Not again…"

All the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon could feel was pain throbbing from the back of its head followed by intense dizziness. It even suspected that it would have a concussion if it had flesh on its body. Although it did not even have a brain now, it would feel its world spin every time it was attacked.

"Why is this happening?! My attack earlier could've harmed a True God of the same combat strength severely. It took the hit entirely without dodging and it's in perfect shape without having the time to perform any defense techniques!"

It was very confused. It could not understand why its attack that could harm and even kill a true god-level powerhouse did not work on the Virtual God rank-8 monster.

As the Nightmare Tapir took over the battlefield again, the fight turned back to how it began.

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's head was slammed into the ground again and again. As it was restricted by the flow of time, it could not find any chance to fight back at all. In addition to that, it could not think of any techniques to break the cycle.

Seeing that the Divine Power in its body was wearing out and soon coming to an end, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon finally made up its mind.

"Stop this! I surrender!"

The Nightmare Tapir finally ceased the attacks as soon as the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon spoke. It appeared above the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's head in a flash and glared at its four crimson pupils without speaking.

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon only peeked at the Nightmare Tapir and held its head down. It had given up on trying to attack the Nightmare Tapir.

Seeing that it really surrendered, the Nightmare Tapir deactivated its dreamland and released the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon from it.

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon that escaped the dreamland was shocked to see everything around it in perfect condition. It realized that the battle earlier did not happen in real life.

Sensing the pathetic Divine Power in its body, it quickly realized that although the battle did not happen in reality, the Nightmare Tapir could have killed it. All of a sudden, it was done with thinking of ways to get back at the Nightmare Tapir.

"Summon all the virtual god-level monsters under your territory. There's no need to summon those under virtual god-level," the Nightmare Tapir commanded directly.

Although the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon was puzzled about why a human below virtual god-level would be standing next to the Nightmare Tapir, it nodded without hesitation and began carrying out his order.

A ferocious dragon roar echoed and the sonic boom spread in all directions like ripples on water.

Soon, virtual god-level monsters that were close by came one after another.

Spirit-type monsters of all forms lay low at the bottom of the massive mountain beneath the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon. None of them dared to venture any closer.

As time passed by, more and more virtual god-level monsters gathered at the bottom of the mountain. Approximately two hours later, there were more than 1,200 virtual god-level spirit-type monsters at the bottom of the mountain.

The Nightmare Tapir did not bother to wait any longer. It activated its dreamland and drowned more than a thousand virtual god-level spirit-type monsters within it.

All of the spirit-type monsters at the bottom of the mountain became silent as if they fell into a deep sleep.

In less than half a minute, the spirit-type monsters that were laying low lost their vital signs one after another. It took less than ten minutes to kill more than 1,200 virtual god-level spirit-type monsters.

After witnessing that, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon that was standing aside jolted secretly. It was even glad that it decided to surrender in time. Otherwise, it might end up the same as these little virtual god-level creatures before it.

A sea of spiritual energy rushed into Lin Huang's body from the death of the over 1,000 virtual god-level monsters. He then transferred a portion of the energy to the Nightmare Tapir immediately.

Since the Nightmare Tapir was breaking through to Virtual God rank-9, it made sense for it to be given the spiritual energy first.

As the aura in his body rose again, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon that was watching the scene unfold could not help but gulp.

Not long later, the Nightmare Tapir's spiritual energy finally reached the brink of breaking through. Its aura began transforming into Virtual God rank-9 at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye.

In less than three minutes, its aura finally stabilized completely.

Upon noticing that, Lin Huang stopped transferring spirit energy to the Nightmare Tapir. He began transferring the remaining spiritual energy to the Ninetails Lynx.

"Where to next?" the Nightmare Tapir asked in excitement after allowing the changes that hummed through his body to sink in for a while.

"To the north of the ruin. Let's find that Ice Dragon." Clearly, Lin Huang was planning to take everything in this ruin before leaving.

"Should we bring this thing?" The Nightmare Tapir glared at Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon.

"Of course, we are," Lin Huang said while grinning.

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon was a legit true god-level fighter, and it would be a waste to not bring it along.

The Nightmare Tapir then turned its head to look at the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon. "Shrink your body a little and bring us to the north of this ruin."

Though unwilling, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon knew that the situation was not in its favor now. The Nightmare Tapir that was on Virtual God rank-8 earlier had defeated it and now it was a rank higher now.

After shrinking its body to over ten meters tall, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon lowered its head, allowing Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir to ride on its back.

It flapped its wings and transformed itself into a white glow as it flew to the north of the ruin.

The Eternity Fire described the Ice Dragon in the northern frozen ocean in detail, "The Ice Dragon in the frozen ocean in the north was a carp that went through evolution twice. There seems to be an extremely faint ancient spirit beast's bloodline in her body. Perhaps because the ruin was affected by me, the purity of her bloodline went through a certain level of boost, causing her to elevate to a True God.

"She's the monster with the most powerful ability in this ruin. Although she has the same combat strength as the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon whereby they're both first-rank True Gods, her ability is much stronger. Furthermore, the frozen ocean is her territory.

"Within hundreds of kilometers around her, almost no life form below virtual god-level can get close to her. Those who have low combat strength will be turned into ice sculptures within a few seconds as soon as they get closer."

Although the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon could not hear the conversation between Lin Huang and the Eternity Fire, it could not help but finally speak when they approached the frozen ocean in the north, "The Ice Dragon has lived deep in the frozen ocean for a long time. She has pretty amazing abilities and the frozen ocean is her territory. I fought her before, but I didn't get anything out of her."

Despite the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's indifferent admission, in reality, Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir could tell that it must have lost really badly. According to what the Eternity Fire said, the Ice Dragon was also on virtual god-level when it was released into this ruin. The intensity of her consciousness and spirit were way above the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's. Furthermore, overall, she had a more powerful ability and the frozen ocean was her territory. One could imagine what happened to the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon for finding fault with her.

"But she won't be able to do anything if the Boss, the Nightmare Tapir, were to fight her." The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon peeked at the Nightmare Tapir carefully. It was secretly anticipating to see how the Ice Dragon would look like after the Nightmare Tapir defeated her.

They finally arrived at the frozen ocean when it was past six in the morning, and the sky had just turned bright in the ruin.

Looking from above, the frozen ocean was black. It was so deep that they could not see the bottom.

However, the surface of the ocean was peaceful, appearing more like a lake.

Before Lin Huang could speak, the Nightmare Tapir hopped off the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's back.

In the next second, the pupils of the Nightmare Tapir that was standing in mid-air proudly turned pitch-black. At that moment, the frozen ocean at dawn seemed deathly silent as night fell.

The Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon was worried that it might be affected by the battle impact, so it flapped its wings and retreated a distance away.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang, who was riding on its back, got the Nightmare Tapir's help to get into the dreamland quietly again, so he became a member of the audience now.

Lin Huang noticed that everything before him was different as soon as he entered the dreamland.

Earlier, they were above the frozen ocean, but now, he dove into the ocean with the Nightmare Tapir.

Piercing cold sent a jolting shock through his body. Although he was protected by the dreamland, Lin Huang clearly felt that the cold surpassed the limit his real body could take.

"There're no monsters below virtual god-level that can approach her within hundreds of kilometers. The Eternity Fire wasn't exaggerating," Lin Huang could not help but exclaim secretly, "This is done by the Element God Rule against the material world. It's unbearable even though the god rule only affects the areas close to her."

Meanwhile, the Nightmare Tapir dove to the bottom of the ocean quickly as if it was not affected at all.

Lin Huang went after it immediately.

Nobody knew how long they swam for. Lin Huang finally caught up with the Nightmare Tapir at the bottom of the ocean. It was then that he finally saw the legendary Ice Dragon.

It was a dragon whose body seemed to be made of ice and snow. It looked like an ice sculpture but was also like a flawless jade sculpture. It was much smaller than the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon.

Lin Huang might have thought she was really a sculpture if the Ice Dragon did not observe the Nightmare Tapir curiously after noticing him.

After studying each other for a while, the Ice Dragon took the initiative to speak.

"You came with that skeleton dragon, am I right? So, did he send his underling to hell because he's a coward himself?"

Clearly, the Ice Dragon misunderstood the Nightmare Tapir's intention. She could tell that the Nightmare Tapir's combat strength was only Virtual God rank-9. Furthermore, she sensed the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's aura earlier from far away and found out that they came together. Naturally, they thought the Nightmare Tapir was Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon's underling.

"I'm not his underling. On the contrary, he's considered my underling now," the Nightmare Tapir explained with a grin.

Clearly, its answer was beyond the Ice Dragon's expectation. She could not help but be stunned when she heard its explanation. She subsequently guffawed.

"Do you think I'll believe that? You're only on Virtual God rank-9 while he's already on true god-level, though he's the weaker one among the true god-levels. Tell me whatever he asked you to say. Stop beating around the bush and fooling yourself."

"Indeed, that big guy has a higher ability than I do, but I suppressed him. He would've been dead if he didn't yield, so he became my underling," the Nightmare Tapir gave a simple explanation and proceeded to speak, "I'll give you two options now. Surrender or die. Pick one."

The Ice Dragon finally looked serious now after hearing what the Nightmare Tapir said.

Initially, the Nightmare Tapir was nothing to her. Although Virtual God rank-9 was only a step away from true god-level, the difference was like heaven and earth. All True Gods mastered the god rule; that alone defeated virtual god-level powerhouses. However, now that the Nightmare Tapir said it had defeated the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon, it did not seem like it made it up. That proved that the Nightmare Tapir should have some special techniques to fight god rules or even master god rules in advance.

The will to kill flashed through the Ice Dragon's eyes as thoughts raced through her head.

In the next second, she opened her mouth directly while white frost rushed out like a river towards where the Nightmare Tapir was.

She even ignored the options that the Nightmare Tapir gave and attacked without hesitation after confirming his intention. She was very decisive!

The spreading of the white frost was up to 1,000 times faster than the speed of sound. It drowned the Nightmare Tapir almost immediately.

The Ice Dragon was relieved to see that her attack drowned the space where the Nightmare Tapir was while it did not seem to manage to escape. However, she was not so naive to think that she had defeated her opponent just like that. Since the Nightmare Tapir managed to defeat the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon, it proved that it had a terrifying ability, so such an attack should not be able to kill it.

The Ice Dragon glared dangerously at where the Nightmare Tapir stood earlier and retreated quickly, intending to pull a distance away. After all, she was an expert in mastering the Ice Element but not close-range combat.

However, a voice came above her head just when she was going to move. "Retreating a distance away? Wise choice."

The Ice Dragon jolted and lifted her head to see where the voice came from immediately. The Nightmare Tapir appeared less than 100 meters above her head, leering at her in mockery.

Although she had many questions in her head, the Ice Dragon did not waste any time to ask. Instead, she flapped her wings directly and began the second round of attack.

Countless iced crystal blades appeared in the air as she flapped her wings. They went after the Nightmare Tapir like a storm.

'I don't believe you can dodge this!' growled the Ice Dragon to herself. She decided to perform a distanced attack on purpose to see how exactly the Nightmare Tapir managed to escape her attack earlier.

However, she did not see the Nightmare Tapir dodging at all this time as well.

After the barrage of crystal blades ended, the Ice Dragon glared where the Nightmare Tapir was, attempting to see what its deal was. However, a voice came from behind this time. "Why are you staring over there?"

The voice came from right behind her. Whipping her head around, the Ice Dragon had no idea when the Nightmare Tapir got behind her so quietly.

At that very moment, the Ice Dragon seemed to have realized something all of a sudden. She squinted a little. "So, it's teleportation!"

In the beginning, the Ice Dragon was curious about how the Nightmare Tapir dodged her attack. After attacking in a testing manner twice, she finally realized the technique the Nightmare Tapir was using.

The Ice Dragon held her head high and looked at the Nightmare Tapir that was beneath her while revealing an expression as if she was winning the battle. "I might be afraid of you if you mastered the Space God Rule, but it's unfortunate that you're only a Virtual God. No matter how powerful your divine ability is, it's not a god rule after all."

The Ice Dragon spread her wings wide as she spoke. In the blink of an eye, she looked like she had turned into an ice sculpture that had existed for tens of thousands of years. A frigid chill was spreading towards all directions.

Compared to the chill that came naturally, this bitter cold clearly contained a god rule.

Even the seawater that would not normally freeze at zero degrees Celsius finally broke its limit at that moment as it began to freeze.

The seawater froze at a speed that was 1,000 times faster than the speed of sound. It swelled to the Nightmare Tapir immediately, so it was frozen into a perfect ice sculpture as if it could not fight it.

Seeing that the Nightmare Tapir was frozen, the Ice Dragon descended to the same level as he was. She was moving freely in the ice crystal like how she had been moving in the ocean earlier.

"Since you're using the Space Rule, I'll freeze the space then. Let's see how you're going to escape this now!" The Ice Dragon stared at the frozen Nightmare Tapir with a smirk.

However, before she could do anything else, a soft cracking came all of a sudden. Almost at the same time, Lin Huang saw the ice crystals around the Nightmare Tapir's body begin cracking.

Never had the Ice Dragon thought that the Nightmare Tapir could break her god rule when he was only a Virtual God. One must know that a god rule was a Rule Bending Power, so it definitely surpassed most divine abilities and skills. The difference between the two was almost like a mountain and a rock. Just like an ordinary person, he could carry rocks of a certain weight with both his arms, but it was impossible for him to carry a mountain.

At the moment, the act of the Nightmare Tapir breaking the ice crystals was almost the equivalent to a person moving a mountain.

As the Ice Dragon was still in shock, the ice around the Nightmare Tapir's body began to break, crushing into bits almost immediately. Even the entire frozen space was cracking and disintegrating to a greater degree.

It only took the Nightmare Tapir a mere flash to get out of the frozen space. Right after that, he slapped the frozen space that had yet to completely collapse in front of the Ice Dragon.

That slap clearly possessed the Destructive Divine Mammoth's Superhuman Strength. An intense bang exploded from the slap, and subsequently, the entire frozen space collapsed like an avalanche.

Witnessing that, the Ice Dragon finally found out how the Nightmare Tapir got out of her Ice God Rule. It was through pure brute strength.

Upon realizing that, the Ice Dragon was not sure whether to laugh or cry. The battle earlier made her think that the Nightmare Tapir was an expert at speed. However, it looked like it was also an expert in strength. Its strength was so great that it was terrifying.

'This guy doesn't seem to have any shortcomings at all. Even the Ice God Rule can't contain him! What do I do now?' the Ice Dragon thought to herself. Initially, she thought she could defeat the Nightmare Tapir by possessing the Ice God Rule. She assumed that it was a sure win. However, now that her trump card was destroyed, she had no idea how to defeat her opponent now.

"Your most powerful Ice God Rule can't defeat me. You're not my match when it comes to close combat either." The Nightmare Tapir did not rush to fight back. Instead, it was advising the Ice Dragon with a grin, "Just surrender. At least, your skin will suffer less if you surrender now."

"You wish!" the Ice Dragon rejected directly without even giving it a thought.

Before the Nightmare Tapir could speak, the icy wings on her back spread open again. Her body turned into a chilly hell once more, freezing everything around her.

Once again, the Nightmare Tapir was frozen into an ice sculpture.

However, the Ice Dragon did not stop after freezing the Nightmare Tapir this time. Instead, she proceeded to charge the Ice God Rule to freeze him in more layers. She only stopped the layering a little unwillingly when she had drained more than half of the Divine Power in her body.

"Let's see how you're going to get out now!" the Ice Dragon recalled her wings and shouted at the frozen Nightmare Tapir in rage. She then glared dangerously at the ice crystal where the Nightmare Tapir was frozen.

Time passed by. Just when the Ice Dragon was secretly relieved that there was no commotion coming from the Nightmare Tapir, a light crack was heard.

The Ice Dragon widened her eyes when she saw a crack on the ice crystal that the Nightmare Tapir was wrapped within again.

The crack was only as thick as a hair in the beginning and less than a centimeter long. However, in a heartbeat, there were up to a hundred cracks like spider webs. Some of them were as thick as fingers while some were a few meters long.

Almost in the next second that the first crack was formed, the ice crystal around the Nightmare Tapir fell completely as it made it out of the ice again. It appeared not far before the Ice Dragon directly in a flash from the frozen space and taunted her with a smile.

"I've told you that it's futile no matter how many times you try. After all, you're only a first-rank True God whereby your god rule is limited. Even if you charge all the god rules you have in your body, the most you can do is to trap me for a few seconds more. It's useless.

"Perhaps you could really hurt me if you combined this technique with a powerful attack skill. Unfortunately, your most powerful attack technique is an Ice Element, so you can't break through my defense at all."

The Ice Dragon knew very well that the Nightmare Tapir was right. Her biggest weakness was that she lacked a powerful attack technique.

She could restrict someone by freezing them and attacking them with elemental divine skill if she encountered an ordinary opponent. The combination of controlling and attacking was a great technique. However, she could not even show a tenth of her upper hand when encountering the Nightmare Tapir who was an expert at resisting elemental divine skills.

"I'm going to give you one last chance: surrender now or surrender later when I beat you up. It's your choice." Nobody knew whether the Nightmare Tapir was showing sympathy or had some other reason for changing his options from surrendering or dying to just surrendering.

Just when Lin Huang was puzzled, the Nightmare Tapir's voice transmission came into his ears. "This Ice Dragon's inherited memory is rather special. She might have a bloodline that's even more powerful than what you see on the surface. You can try training her."

Lin Huang came to a realization when he heard that. It turned out the Nightmare Tapir had retrieved a part of Ice Dragon's memory. That was the reason why he changed the options, he was not showing sympathy at all.

Meanwhile, the stubborn Ice Dragon on the other side chose to fight further.

However, what she received was the Nightmare Tapir's merciless slaps.

The slaps that went on one after another was like a cat playing with a ball. It was having so much fun. Half an hour later, the Divine Power in the Ice Dragon's body was finally drained completely. She lay dying in a sinkhole under the ocean, unable to even get up.

The Ice Dragon then finally made the correct decision.

"I surrender…"

After conquering the Ice Dragon, Lin Huang had basically fulfilled his preliminary goal of entering Qi Muxiong's ruin.

For the next few days, apart from leaving Bai and the rest to dig for treasures on the frozen ocean, Lin Huang had been staying on the isolated island on the Eastern Ocean to digest Qi Muxiong's memory.

Before entering the ruin, Qi Muxiong's memory had a big hole while some of the recollections were even made up. However, since the Eternity Fire penetrated Lin Huang's body, he finally obtained Qi Muxiong's true memory that was close to perfection.

Throughout the past few days, he had been organizing the portions of the memories. He wanted to look for a way to exit the virtual zone, but his effort was to no avail.

Time passed by, and it was the last day of the seven-day ruin being opened.

"The time will be up in two hours. It's time to leave," Lin Huang looked at the time projected from his Emperor's Heart Ring and mumbled to himself softly.

"We didn't miss anything out, did we?" the Nightmare Tapir asked next to him.

"No. Looking at Qi Muxiong's memory, we've basically obtained everything valuable in this ruin." Overall, Lin Huang was satisfied with the reward of this trip.

As soon as he was done speaking, he had his eyes on the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon and the Ice Dragon that were not far away. "How do we bring the two of them with us?"

Lin Huang could integrate god rule relics and god items into his body but not living monsters unless they were pets that he had signed a contract with. They would then be put away in his pet space.

Moreover, the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon and the Ice Dragon were not Monster Cards that were formed after being killed, so they could not be put away in Lin Huang's body.

"I can put them away in my God Territory for a short period of time. However, my God Territory will collapse if they're in there for too long. After all, they're True Gods. Even if they don't activate the god rule, they will affect the God Territory's internal rule. Unless it's a true god-level God Territory, it can isolate the influence of the rule," the Nightmare Tapir explained after hearing Lin Huang's concern.

"I guess we can only leave them in the ruin for the time being." Lin Huang thought about it and chose to leave the two monsters aside decisively. "We'll bring the ruin with us and only release them when we arrive in the great world."

The Ice Dragon and the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon had mixed feelings upon hearing that. On one hand, indeed, they hoped to leave the ruin that had become a prison to them. On the other hand, they would be controlled if they left with Lin Huang. It would be impossible for them to terrorize a place freely like they used to be.

After settling the Ice Dragon and the Crimson-Eyed Skeleton Dragon, Lin Huang put away the Nightmare Tapir, Bai and the rest of the Monster Cards before summoning a dimensional portal. He then returned to the entrance of the coordinates he had set earlier.

As soon as he stepped out of the dimensional portal, he lifted his head and saw a gigantic spider with long legs glaring at him with her 16 pitch-black eyes. There was doubt and confusion in her eyes.

It was the Spider Queen who had had a fling with the Thousand-Legged Centipede!

The Spider Queen was stunned to see a human appear in the ruin out of nowhere. She could not make sense of things at the moment. "A human?! Why is there a human in the ruin?"

On the other hand, Lin Huang reacted immediately. He summoned his imperial monster, Grimace, quickly. While he had considered the possibility of encountering monsters on the way here, never had he thought that he would encounter this Spider Queen.

Initially, his plan was to kill the monsters that he might encounter. However, after realizing that it was the Spider Queen, he decided not to kill her. After all, she had never showed any ill intentions since the beginning.

"Just erase her memory about seeing me," Lin Huang ordered in his deep voice.

Hearing his instruction, Grimace turned around and lifted his head to look at the Spider Queen while raising his brow. "Isn't this that little spider from before?"

Lin Huang had spared this spider's life before and now he was asking Grimace not to kill her this time. Grimace looked at Lin Huang in confusion. However, he did not plan to go against his order.

Before the Spider Queen, who was not far away, could react, she saw a handsome man in black robes appear next to the human. The man in black robes snapped his fingers all of a sudden, sending a clear ringing sound that went into her head. In the next second, the Spider Queen's giant body slumped onto the ground directly and she fell into a deep sleep.

"Let's toss her out of the ruin." Lin Huang looked at the ruin exit not far away and gave Grimace his second order.

With a pout, Grimace stretched the threads from his Divine Telekinesis to tie the Spider Queen up. He then tossed her hard like a basketball, thrusting her into the whirlpool at the exit of the ruin accurately.

The Spider Queen's gigantic body was soon engulfed by the exit of the ruin and vanished.

Spreading his Divine Telekinesis, Lin Huang kept calm after realizing there was no other monster around though a few were approaching at a high speed. After putting Grimace away slowly, he crushed a Disguise Card again.

A moment later, he disappeared and was replaced by a gigantic Thousand-Legged Centipede.

As soon as the effect of the Disguise Card took place, an insect beast with three pairs of wings flew towards him at an alarming speed. However, after spotting Lin Huang, the beast merely glimpsed at him and entered the exit that was not far away.

Sensing that there were still two monsters approaching at lightning speed, Lin Huang did not rush out. Instead, he began chatting with the Eternity Fire. "From what I know, all monsters that come into this ruin will have their memories erased after they leave. Are you the one who does that?"

The Eternity Fire did not hide the truth. "That's right. To prevent Qi Muxiong's inheritance from being stolen, I set a rule in this ruin. Any living form will forget everything that has happened in the ruin once they leave this place. Any form of records will be erased too.

"Indeed, it prevented the ruin's coordinates being exposed at first. A True God from the virtual zone found out about this ruin later on. Such a rule prevented that True God from stealing the ruin. Anyone he sent into the ruin failed to bring any information out of the ruin effectively."

"So, will I be affected once I leave too?" Lin Huang asked immediately. Theoretically, the Rule Bending Power should be applicable to everyone and he might not be excluded.

However, the Eternity Fire denied his question, "Naturally, your memory won't be erased. I was the one who set up this rule, so I'm immune to it. Since I'm hiding in your body, that means that you're immune to the rule."

Lin Huang was relieved to hear the answer.

At the moment, the two silhouettes that he sensed earlier came one after another. Both of them merely peeked at Lin Huang as they got into the exit of the ruin without stopping at all.

Seeing that, Lin Huang controlled the Thousand-Legged Centipede's gigantic body to lumber out of the exit calmly.

Lin Huang looked around as soon as he got out of the ruin.

Over 60 out of the 100 participants who had entered the ruin gathered around the entrance. Most of them were discussing something intensely with their cliques. Many participants had their eyes trained on him after he appeared.

Just when Lin Huang was puzzled, the Spider Queen stretched her long legs and appeared before him.

"You're finally out, Wu Fei! Do you remember what happened in the ruin?"

Lin Huang lifted his head and saw the Dragon Sovereign who was not far away from the corner of his eye. Although the Dragon Sovereign had his eyes shut like he was sleeping, Lin Huang knew very well that he must be watching him and listening to what he was saying at the moment.

"Ruin?" Lin Huang pretended to be puzzled and turned his head to look at the entrance of the ruin behind him.

"Stop looking at it. The ruin will close in an hour. We've already gotten out of it," the Spider Queen said directly.

"How come I don't remember entering the ruin?" Lin Huang showed a confused expression and turned his head to look at the other monsters. He seemed to suspect that the Spider Queen was lying to him.

"Nobody remembers getting in and nobody recalls what happened, but you should check your storage space. You'll realize that you did get in after checking," the Spider Queen explained patiently. She had really forgotten about Lin Huang's douchebag behavior of leaving her behind in the ruin, let alone remember the scene of Lin Huang stepping out of the dimensional portal. "I could only confirm that I really went in after seeing the various loot in my storage space."

Lin Huang said nothing and pretended to check his storage space. He only lifted his head a long time later, looking shocked. "Have I really gotten in?!"

"See, I told you." The Spider Queen groped Lin Huang's front leg with one of her long legs as she spoke.

Lin Huang did not bother to struggle and allowed the Spider Queen to drag him aside. He was a little worried that the Dragon Sovereign would notice something off since he had gotten out. Fortunately, the Spider Queen chatting him up had concealed many of his possible flaws.

Moreover, another monster got out of the entrance of the ruin not long after the Spider Queen dragged him aside. Therefore, the Dragon Sovereign's attention soon shifted to the monster which was a great relief to Lin Huang.

"Do we have to wait for everyone to get out?" Lin Huang asked the Spider Queen softly.

"Yes. The Dragon Sovereign Master said that he'll send us out of here after the ruin is closed," the Spider Queen confirmed with a nod.

Both of them chatted with the occasional silence.

Over an hour had passed, and no more monsters got out of the ruin when 87 of them were finally gathered. The opening window seemed to be finally up.

The survival rate was actually higher compared to before. The main reason was that Lin Huang had killed almost all the virtual god-level monsters in the entire ruin. Without local virtual god-level monsters around, the imperial-level participants undoubtedly encountered less threats. Naturally, as a result, the survival rate went up significantly.

Meanwhile, the Dragon Sovereign did not seem to care how many monsters survived the ruin. He flew to the entrance as soon as the time was up and pointed a claw into the air.

The iced shackles began flowing slowly like they were alive before the Dragon Sovereign did anything. The hexagonal entrance was shrinking at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye.

In less than half a minute, the entrance was sealed completely. The ruin recovered to its sealed condition completely, transforming into an ice planet.

The Dragon Sovereign only turned around after sealing Qi Muxiong's ruin again. He looked at the 87 monsters expressionlessly with his cold, blue eyes. All of the monsters knelt onto the ground as a result of his True God's suppression. They had no will to fight back at all.

Naturally, Lin Huang knelt down on purpose. Although a second-rank True God's suppression would overpower him on a certain level, it was minor. As long as he activated his God's Figurine or god rule relic in his body, he could defend the suppression like a piece of cake. However, he did not plan to reveal any flaws.

The Dragon Sovereign, Bai Bing, only spoke slowly after suppressing all the monsters present, "Who out of the 87 of you here remembers what happened in the ruin? Tell me even if you only remember the tiniest bit of it. I'll reward you handsomely as long as someone can tell me what exactly happened in the ruin! Of course, if any of you were to lie for the reward, you should know very well what the consequences will be."

The 87 monsters held their heads low as none of them spoke.

In reality, apart from Lin Huang, it was impossible for the other monsters to lie under the suppression. The powerful pressure and fear had stolen the possibility of them lying directly.

The Dragon Sovereign glanced through the 87 monsters after he spoke. Including Lin Huang, almost all the monsters felt like the seconds that passed by were years. Naturally, compared to other monsters, Lin Huang was afraid that he might show his flaws.

None of the monsters spoke after they fell into silence for over a minute.

The Dragon Sovereign sighed softly and recalled his suppression power then. He knew that they would definitely tell him whatever happened in the ruin if anyone remembered it under his suppression. Even if they attempted to hide, they would definitely show their flaws. However, none of the 87 participants looked suspicious this time. Clearly, nobody remembered anything just like before.

"Alright. I'll send you guys back to the Dragon Sovereign Shelter and you guys can leave after that." The Dragon Sovereign waved again after he spoke and released ten Dragnet Spiders.

The Dragnet Spiders spat spider threads out immediately as soon as they got the order. The threads tied the monsters up and dragged them into the black whirlpool that appeared out of thin air.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Huang and the rest passed through the whirlpool and returned to the Dragonkin Square at the Dragon Sovereign Shelter where they had been before.

Soon, all 87 monsters were sent to the square without anyone being left behind.

Lin Huang wanted to leave right away, but he decided to wait since all the monsters were waiting patiently at the square. However, they did not see the Dragon Sovereign after waiting for two to three minutes.

At the moment, a guard at the Dragon Sovereign Palace spoke all of a sudden, "The Dragon Sovereign says that you guys can leave now."

Hearing the explicit permission, all the monsters at the square left one after another.

Lin Huang hovered into the air without hesitation when he saw the Spider Queen looking in his direction. He immediately zoomed far away.

The Spider Queen was stunned for a moment and hesitated. However, she soon made up her mind. Just like before, she went towards the direction Lin Huang left in aggressively.

"Wu Fei, don't you dare leave me behind again!"

Lin Huang's clone stood up all of a sudden in the hotel where Bloody was at in Shelter No. 7.

Bloody had a slight change of expression. "Has Master's main body returned?"

"Yes, I'll head over to Shelter No. 11 to meet him to get his body back," the clone responded lightly.

Shelter No. 11 was a large business shelter. There were three guardians, all of whom were on high-level virtual god-level. The most powerful one was an ape monster. Although its combat strength was only on virtual god-level rank-9, it had impressive abilities. It seemed to have a powerful background, whereby even the Three Sovereigns dared not offend it.

One of the reasons why they chose to meet there was because this place was basically the Three Sovereigns' jurisdiction. Another reason was that there were all sorts of monsters coming in and out of this shelter daily.

Since coming out of Qi Muxiong's ruin, Lin Huang's main body headed straight to the Shelter No. 11 following Bloody's arrangement earlier.

Regarding the Spider Queen who was following him, Lin Huang did not worry about getting rid of her. All he did was enter a floating island foothold close to the ruin and transform into a random monster that he saw on the street. He then left the foothold. He had no idea how the Spider Queen would react when she failed to find Lin Huang in the foothold.

After getting rid of the Spider Queen, Lin Huang arrived at Shelter No. 11 safe and sound. He waited for his clone patiently.

When it was approximately 2 p.m., the clone arrived at Shelter No. 11. It walked straight into the biggest trading market in the shelter whereas Lin Huang had been walking around for over half an hour.

Both of them signalled to each other when they met near a stall that they had agreed on earlier. The clone faded quickly in the midst of the crowd and the Surveillance Snail's blind spot.

Lin Huang spent over two hours strolling in the trading market after changing back into Grimace's form. He only left Shelter No. 11 after purchasing two toys.

It was almost 9 p.m. when he arrived at the hotel room.

In a red dress, Bloody was drinking tea on the couch in the living room when he returned. Upon seeing Lin Huang come in, Bloody put the tea cup in her hand down and finally revealed a smile on her face.

"Did everything go well?"

"Pretty much." Lin Huang nodded.

Bloody nodded as well and did not ask further. "Let's have supper at the food street."

"Sure!" Lin Huang agreed right away. It had been a week since he last ate anything proper.

Both of them walked straight to a food street nearby as soon as they got out of the hotel.

Red lanterns were hanging on both sides of the street. Excluding the strange monsters walking all over the street and the stall owners that looked weird, the entire street was basically the same as a food street in the human world.

However, most of the food choices available were weird too. Nonetheless, there were more choices compared to the human world. Most of them were ingredients that Lin Huang could not recognize.

Bloody, on the other hand, did not let her time go to waste throughout the stroll. She introduced him to the food through voice transmission as they walked.

"You can try the drinks at stall No. 16 ahead. They have fruit juices, and the stall owner is a vegan enthusiast. Stall No. 43 further is a barbecue stall. They serve Swine Beast mostly. You'll have to get their special menu if you'd like to try some other meat, but we can go for their normal set menu. Stall No. 67 sells seafood. They have many dishes that are common among humans"

They tasted the foods of the monster world as they strolled along the street. Although many of them were less tasty compared to the food cooked by human chefs, they had their very own style and some of the food were pretty delicious.

"Did everything go well on your side? Did the Butterfly Sovereign come again?" Lin Huang asked seemingly casually through voice transmission while eating barbecued meat.

"No, none of the Three Sovereigns came. Perhaps we seemed to be in a rush in the beginning, we might have calmed them down and they're waiting for us to go to them instead," Bloody nodded lightly.

"We avoided from having our identities exposed by doing that," Lin Huang thought it was something good.

"How about you? Did you get anything from exploring the ruin?" Bloody asked.

"The reward is pretty great. We can take the whole ruin away when we leave but I haven't found the way to the great world. Now we only have one last thing to solve in the virtual zone, how do we go to the great world?" Lin Huang turned his head to look at Bloody after swallowing the barbecued meat in his mouth.

Bloody only replied slowly through voice transmission after taking a sip of the pink juice calmly, "The first option is the one that I suggested before. Get the Butterfly Sovereign to send you to the great world while I stay back. Recall me back into card form when you arrive in the great world. That's the easiest way."

Bloody proceeded to speak before Lin Huang could reject the suggestion, "But the downside of this option is that although the Butterfly Sovereign promised to let us go after we work for her for a year, I'll need to work way more than a year for her. Even if I promise to stay and she sends you away first, she might break her promise and send you somewhere else other than the great world. To prevent you from getting back to the great world, there's a great possibility that she'll banish you or even send you to a land of death where nobody can survive. To her, you naturally won't come back for me as long as you're dead. When the one-year period is up, all she'll need to do is find some excuse to get me to stay. She might play with my emotions or suppress me with her power. No matter what, it's very unlikely that she'll let me go."

"So, we can basically eliminate this option." Lin Huang had figured the downside of the option much earlier.

"The second option is rather complicated to carry out. To put it simply, we will fulfil her wish," Bloody said while smiling after taking another sip of the juice.

"Fulfil her wish?" Lin Huang was a little confused as he listened to this point.

"The reason why the Three Sovereigns want us is simple. All three of them are greedy, including the Butterfly Sovereign. Why don't I stay to make her greed come true? As soon as her greed has grown so big that the entire virtual zone can no longer contain it, she'll be aiming for the great world sooner or later. By then, she'll bring me to the great world at her own will!"

"How would we have time for this?" Lin Huang was almost speechless to hear that.

"Naturally, it'll take hundreds to even thousands of years if we really want to do it. But what if it's just a dream?" Bloody had finished the juice in her hand completely. She tossed the cup into a trashcan by the street and lifted her head. She looked at Lin Huang with slyness shining in her eyes.

"Do you mean that we'll get the Nightmare Tapir…?" Lin Huang came to a realization at the moment. He understood Bloody's plan completely.

"I've already planned out the script of the entire dream. We can carry it out after getting the Nightmare Tapir to read it and prepare what we need."

"Sure, let's do it. I'll pack Qi Muxiong's ruin first thing tomorrow and we'll meet the Butterfly Sovereign at 9 a.m.!"

At 8.50 a.m., Lin Huang arrived at Qi Muxiong's ruin as he stepped out of the dimensional portal. He contacted the Eternity Fire in his body while looking at the ruin that seemed like a frozen planet.

"Put the ruin away."

Soon after Lin Huang spoke, tens of thousands of golden glows shot out of the sealed ruin. It looked as if the sun had been awakened.

As the golden flames shot out of the seal, the white icy crystal wall collapsed like an avalanche. There were also cracks that could be seen by the naked eye appearing on the thick icy chains. On top of that, the cracks were expanding at an astonishing speed. A few seconds later, the icy chains broke into hundreds of sections. They then disappeared into the air.

The entire thing lasted less than ten seconds. Just like that, the seal the Dragon Sovereign Bai Bing set collapsed completely.

As the seal collapsed, Qi Muxiong's shiny ruin was as glaring as a burning sun. However, the sun only shone for less than a second. It shrunk to the size of a sesame seed and penetrated Lin Huang's forehead through a stream of light.

In the next second, Lin Huang summoned the dimensional portal directly without any hesitation. He stepped in right away.

Within half a minute, Lin Huang disappeared. The original area where Qi Muxiong's ruin had been experienced a dimensional turbulence. Slowly, a gigantic silhouette came out of the black dimensional whirlpool.

It was none other than one of the Three Sovereigns in the virtual zone, the Dragon Sovereign, Bai Bing!

His icy-blue pupils glanced at the original position of the ruin quickly. He was clearly stunned when he saw nothing there. Subsequently, he frowned and scanned the area with his Divine Telekinesis.

Naturally, his search was futile as Lin Huang had left through the dimensional portal. Not only had he returned to Division 7, but he had arrived at the Butterfly Sovereign Shelter with Bloody at that moment.

Having found nothing after the Divine Telekinesis search, Bai Bing was enraged. "How dare anyone touch my stuff!? No matter who you are, I swear I'll dig you out of your grave!"

As soon as Lin Huang, who had disguised as Grimace, and Bloody arrived at the entrance of the Butterfly Sovereign Palace, a beautiful lady approached them.

The lady looked like she was only in her early 20s. She wore a long, purple dress. The most unique thing about her appearance was a pair of butterfly wings on her back that was purple as the base color. They were embellished with pastel colors and bright colors such as orange and red. They were a refreshing burst of colors to one's sight.

Lin Huang and Bloody immediately recognized that this lady in purple butterfly wings was the Butterfly Sovereign's personal God's Servant.

"Master, the Butterfly Sovereign has acknowledged your arrival and got me to bring both of you in. Follow me." The lady in purple nodded lightly and did not say anything unnecessary. She turned around and led both of them into the Butterfly Sovereign Palace right away.

Soon, under the guidance of the lady in purple, Lin Huang and Bloody passed through a tiny path and saw the Butterfly Sovereign who was in a white dress once again.

The Butterfly Sovereign looked like a 15 or 16 year old lady just like before. However, she was no longer dressed as casually as before. Her white dress reached the ground like a blooming lily. She had a bloody crown on her head that was adorned with divine patterns all over it. Lin Huang and Bloody could tell that it was a god rule relic. Also, she was no longer bare-footed. Instead, she had a pair of red heels on her feet. Compared to the plain air she carried the first time they met, the Butterfly Sovereign's get-up matched what Lin Huang and Bloody were expecting to see before meeting her.

The Butterfly Sovereign sat on the throne that looked like a giant, white flower. She held her head down as she looked at them with a very subtle smirk on her lips.

"Have you guys decided?"

"We have." Lin Huang, who was disguised as Grimace, nodded while smiling lightly.

"So, your final decision is…"

"We'll stay and work for you for a year. When the contract reaches a year, we hope that you will do as you promised, Master Butterfly Sovereign, which is sending both of us to the great world," Lin Huang shared his decision.

The Butterfly Sovereign could not help but raise her brows when she heard him. To be frank, Lin Huang's decision was out of her expectations. Initially, she thought only one of them would stay. However, both of them were staying now.

"Aren't you guys in a hurry? How come the both of you are staying now? Don't you need me to send one of you away to handle your matter?" The Butterfly Sovereign could not help but fire the few questions at once.

"We've discussed it in detail in the past week and we've come to a decision that we'll both stay. We actually lied about only being able to stay for a week at the most so that we could leave the virtual zone as soon as possible. In reality, we can stay much longer than a week in the virtual zone," Lin Huang explained.

All the Butterfly Sovereign's suspicion dissolved. "Alright, we'll sign a contract then. From today onwards, both of you will be under me for a year. You'll follow my orders. A year later, when the contract expires, I promise to send you away!"

"Sure!"

…

Lin Huang was finally relieved when he saw the contract signing go smoothly in the dreamland. "The contract has finally been signed!"

"Yeah, we're pretty fortunate that we succeeded on the first try. I was worried that she might spot something off and struggle out of the dreamland!" Bloody could not help but exclaim.

The Nightmare Tapir, who was next to them, could not help but add, "You guys don't actually have to worry. She only has a combat strength of first-rank True God. The intensity of her spirit is common among True Gods, so it's still within my range of control. Even if I fail the first time, I can still do it again by resetting the dreamland. Although the possibility of her finding out about the strange occurrence will increase every time I reset the dreamland, judging by the intensity of her spirit, it shouldn't be a problem to do it within three attempts. There'll only be a small possibility of her noticing it if I were to do it more than five times."

Although the Nightmare Tapir only had a combat strength of Virtual God rank-9, his rank was higher than the Butterfly Sovereign's. Apart from that, since the Butterfly Sovereign's spirit intensity was mediocre, she was dragged into Nightmare Tapir's dreamland without noticing. That was how Lin Huang and Bloody witnessed whatever happened earlier.

A year had passed in the dreamland in the blink of an eye.

With Lin Huang's disguise and Bloody's assistance, the Butterfly Sovereign developed much more than the Dragon Sovereign and the Lion Sovereign. Her growth could be described as prosperous.

Although the Butterfly Sovereign was still the weakest among the Three Sovereigns, the gap between her and the other two sovereigns had undoubtedly shrunk significantly. With the two capable warriors, the Butterfly Sovereign almost went all out and finally convinced the duo to stay.

Years had passed in the dreamland.

With Lin Huang and Bloody's help, the Butterfly Sovereign's organization only spent 12 years catching up with the Lion Sovereign. She even surpassed the Dragon Sovereign in the 18th year, becoming the number one organization in the entire virtual zone.

In the 78th year, the Butterfly Sovereign finally elevated to a second-rank True God.

In the 99th year, she successfully took over the Lion Sovereign's organization. Later on, she spent two years taking over the Dragon Sovereign's organization. She was the overlord of the virtual zone by then.

In the 102nd year, the Butterfly Sovereign finally agreed to let her capable warriors, Lin Huang and Bloody, leave to the great world under their persuasion.

In reality, it had only been less than ten minutes in the real world.

The moment when the Butterfly Sovereign was going to activate the dimensional gateway, the Nightmare Tapir projected what the Butterfly Sovereign was doing in the dreamland into the real world, putting her into a mode as if she were sleep-walking.

As the Butterfly Sovereign activated the dimensional portal in the dreamland, she also activated the same gateway in the real world.

Lin Huang and Bloody looked at each other and smiled when they saw the dimensional portal forming. The duo brought the Nightmare Tapir into the gateway.

We're finally out!"

A black whirlpool consolidated midair in a wilderness from nowhere, before a man and a woman stepped out of it.

The young man in a black trench coat could not help but smirk as he lifted his head to look far ahead, bracing the strong wind that swept up the dust that covered the wilderness sky with weed.

"If I'm not mistaken, we should be somewhere close to the grade-1 Shelter No.1245."

"According to Butterfly Sovereign's plan in the dreamland, the destination we've been teleported to should be close to Shelter No.1245. However, we still can't confirm our current coordinates before seeing Shelter No.1245." The lady in red next to him hovered midair as she turned her head and looked at the young man.

Naturally, the two people who appeared out of thin air were Lin Huang and Bloody that the Butterfly Sovereign had just teleported to the great world by means of the Space God Rule.

The Butterfly Sovereign had set the coordinates close to Shelter No.1245 when she was in the great world back then. Due to Lin Huang and Bloody's persuasion, the Butterfly Sovereign who ruled the entire virtual zone was intending to return to the great world growing in her. The Butterfly Sovereign would occupy Shelter No.1245 as her first plan before stealthily expanding and developing her influence.

Shelter No.1245 was just an inconspicuous grade-1 Shelter, and the most powerful guardian was only a demigod. If there were not millions of them, there were at least hundreds of thousands of such shelters throughout Protoss territory. No powerhouses would give attention to such a place at all.

With the Butterly Sovereign's capability, it would not take her long to elevate this shelter to a grade-3 shelter once she took over. Eventually, she would make it into a significant organization. Later, she would apply to be a grade-5 shelter's affiliate and with a grade-5 shelter's protection, the organization would have their feet planted in the great world. She would develop it further later on and attempt to breakthrough to the heavenly god-level, and as soon as she broke through, the shelter's grade would be elevated to grade-5. By then, she would also consider an overlord in the great world.

That was the plan Bloody came up with for the Butterfly Sovereign in the dreamland.

Even if the Butterfly Sovereign had no interest in the beginning, her greed grew significantly after ruling the virtual zone in Bloody's dreamland.

No matter how big the virtual zone was, it could no longer contain her greed.

The black whirlpool behind Lin Huang and Bloody began to fade and disappeared gradually as the duo chatted.

Lin Huang peeped at the gateway's exit that was disappearing. He raised his brows slightly. "I thought she'd come after us. That lady is much calmer than I imagined."

However, it seemed to be in Bloody's expectation, "No matter what, she's the overlord of the virtual zone. If she can't even handle such a situation, she can't be the Butterfly Sovereign of the virtual zone."

"If it was me, I might even bomb Butterfly Sovereign Palace if I found out I was tricked in the dreamland and was being used to activate the gateway toward the great world." Lin Huang chuckled softly.

"She must be secretly crushed but she knew very well that she's no match for Nightmare Tapir. She'd most probably die if she came after us. After all, she fell into the trap earlier without even noticing. There's a high possibility that she'd fall into the trap for the second and third time. No matter how upset she is, she can only tolerate in silence." What Bloody said seemed to reflect the Butterfly Sovereign's current mood.

…

At the Butterfly Sovereign Palace in the virtual zone, Butterfly Sovereign Cai Yi clenched her fists tightly while watching the dimensional gateway fade slowly in rage.

There were a few times when she attempted to rush in. However, she decided to be rational and finally gave up on that thought.

"Grimace! Bloody! I'll remember both of you! I'll definitely kill the both of you in the future!"

Although she said that while clenching her teeth, Cai Yi had little faith in succeeding in that endeavor.

Until this moment, she was still unsure of when she fell into the trap and got dragged to the dreamland. That aside, she also knew full well that she stood little to no chance of a victory should she see the duo again despite them both only having the combat strength of people at the virtual god-level.

She began recalling everything that happened in the dreamland over ten minutes as she calmed herself down. All of a sudden, a strange expression could be seen on Cai Yi's face.

"Although it was just a dream, the development strategies, and combat skills that girl Bloody provided seem to really work… What if I carry them out in reality…"

Cai Yi's eyes lit up, she seemed to have completely forgotten that she was tricked…

…

However, Lin Huang and Bloody who was, at this moment, far away in the great world knew nothing about that.

The duo rushed along their path and soon arrived at the protoss shelter that was closest to their sensing range.

Lin Huang and Bloody attracted the shelter guards' attention just as they were descending from midair. There was fear in their eyes.

"Are both you masters entering the city?" the monster guard with crocodile head asked carefully.

A protoss would have three forms and would usually appear in their mortal form, which was a human form. The reason was that their original form was usually gigantic, making it inconvenient for them to move around. Meanwhile, their immortal form would drain their energy at all times since energy was the main source of retaining that form.

Clearly, the complete human forms had proved that the duo were legitimate members of the Protoss. The grade suppression from Bloody and Lin Huang disguising into Grimace alone was enough to make the guards tremble just from standing there. It was the kind of suppression that a human could not fake.

"What's the code of this shelter?" Lin Huang asked coldly. He even only peeped at the two guards coldly.

Since he disguised into a Protoss, he should naturally portray a Protoss' arrogance as well. Courtesy was unnecessary when asking questions.

"Master, this is Shelter No.1245." The two guards did not find Lin Huang's question odd. The reason was that most of the shelters below grade-3 only had codes but not names. Hardly any members of the Protoss would visit shelters below grade-3, so it made sense that they did not know of the shelter's code.

Lin Huang and Bloody turned their heads and looked at each other after hearing the guard informing the code. The duo was finally relieved, as the Butterfly Sovereign sent them to the correct coordinates.

"Let's take a look at the shelter," Bloody signaled to Lin Huang.

This was the first shelter that the duo discovered in the great world. Naturally, the first thing to do was to collect some basic information.

"Masters, do you want to see the master guardian?" the crocodile-head guard asked softly.

"I hope that isn't too much… I mean, lead the way," Lin Huang was about to say 'I hope that isn't too much' by habit. However, recalling that he was a snobbish Protoss, he scrapped that immediately.

Clearly, Bloody who was next to him heard. She could not help but smirk, she almost laughed out loud.

Soon, the duo arrived at the guardian residence under the crocodile-head's guidance.

The Shelter's guardian was a dog-headed person with blonde hair. Although he only had combat strength of imperial-level while he was approximately two meters tall, Lin Huang was tempted to pat its head since his golden hair was shining like a purebred Golden Retriever under the sun.

It was not Lin Huang's first time seeing a dog-headed person. In reality, he had seen such a monster in the wild zones more than once during his first year of travel to the gravel world.

However, the dog-headed person that Lin Huang saw back then looked like a strange, mixed breed. They were ugly with messy hair and looked many times filthier than most strays on earth. Most importantly, their intelligence was lower than most dogs on earth. All they could do was bite and eat.

It was Lin Huang's first time seeing a dog-headed person that was of pure Golden Retriever breed at that moment. This made him think back to the Golden Retriever he had as a child back home before traveling to the gravel world.

The dog-headed person did not mind Lin Huang being out of the zone at all. He greeted them passionately.

"Let me know if there's anything that both of you masters need. I'll definitely help if I can."

Bloody took over the conversation after noticing that Lin Huang was distracted.

"If that's the case, we won't hold back. We need maps of the nearby areas along with access to this Shelter's archive. The more versions we have of the map, the better. Also, the higher the access level granted to us for the archive, the better."

A surprised expression flashed through the dog-headed person's eyes when he heard Bloody's requests. However, he agreed directly without much hesitation.

"Sure, I'll arrange accommodation for both of you first. After that, I'll bring both of you to the archive, sort out the maps and send them over to you."

"There's no need for accommodation, it won't take long for us to read the documents. Just send the maps to the archive directly."

The Divine Telekinesis Virtual Gods possessed the ability to retrieve various information at a blinding speed. With Bloody's Supreme Intelligence, her speed of retrieving information was hundreds of times faster than ordinary virtual god-level powerhouses, and probably only required less than half an hour to read all the archives in a grade-1 shelter. Naturally, this made it unnecessary for them to stay in this shelter.

"Alright then, I'll lead both of you to the archive now." The dog-headed person nodded immediately.

The archive was located at the back courtyard of the guardian residence. The dog-headed person led Lin Huang and Bloody through a graveyard with various creatures' carcasses buried and stopped when they arrived at a small house.

Lin Huang could not help but frown slightly as they were walking here.

He knew about dog-headed people's bad habit of burying carcasses a few years back. He never thought that the spotless golden retriever he saw before him had the same bad habit as the mixed breed dog-headed people.

The dog-headed person seemed to be embarrassed by himself as he kept his gaze low while they walked through the backyard, walking faster than before. He only spoke again when they arrived at the little house in the backyard.

"This little house isn't the real archive. There's a red worm guarding it in there, and only people that I bring in won't be attacked. The real archive is underground. To be exact, in the maze built by the red worm, only the red worm and I knew the correct route."

Although Lin Huang had never seen a red worm, he was not a stranger to it. He remembered a monster with that name when he saw it in the monster guide for the first time because it looked like an earthworm that had been enlarged countless times. Apart from the difference in size, the red worm had sharp teeth that looked like spikes all over its mouth and a long tongue that could be shot out rapidly.

It could burrow underground like an earthworm and enjoyed setting up mazes in its territory. The red worm mainly eats rotten flesh and would also attack creatures that trespasses into its territory.

However, to Lin Huang and Bloody, the red worm's maze was nothing to them no matter how difficult it was. They could see everything in the maze clearly by just scanning it with Divine Telekinesis.

The dog-headed person could only defend against imperial-level enemies at most. After all, the red worm that was hiding under the little house only had combat strength of an imperial-level. It would be killed immediately as soon as it encountered a virtual god-level powerhouse.

"Hong Hong, I brought some people here." The dog-headed person took a step forward and knocked on the little house's metal door three times.

A humming sound soon came from the house in response to the knock.

Then, the dog-headed person turned his head around to nod at Lin Huang and Bloody. "You may now enter, masters. Please follow behind me, and try not to make a sound."

The dog-headed person extended his hand and opened the metal door as soon as he was done speaking before entering hastily.

Lin Huang and Bloody followed him immediately.

As Lin Huang expected, the inside of the house was small — only less than 30 square meters. However, there was a big, four-meter diameter hole in the middle of the house that had a gigantic monster extending its head from the hole.

The dog-headed person took out a rotten beast carcass from his storage space and tossed it at the monster. It opened its mouth, caught the carcass, and began eating it happily.

Lin Huang took this opportunity to observe the monster.

According to the monster guide, the highest combat strength ever recorded for a red worm found in the gravel world was only at the holy fire-level. There were no immortal-level red worms ever found.

However, the one before him had a solid imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength despite its size that did not look much different from what the monster guide described. It was just an earthworm that was enlarged countless times with a mouth full of sharp teeth. The only thing that was different from the description in the monster guide was there were many faint, tiny purple spots on its wrinkled, red skin.

In less than ten seconds, the red worm ate and swallowed the beast carcass that weighed hundreds of pounds. There was not a single bone or anything left over.

The dog-headed person only spoke again when the red worm was done eating.

"Please send these two masters to the archive. There are errands that I need to run. I'll come back later. Send them off for me if these two masters need to leave before I return."

The red worm released a hum like it was responding to the dog-headed person.

The dog-headed person then said to Lin Huang and Bloody in relief, "Please ride on its back, masters. It'll bring you to the archive. I'll go on to sort out the map. I'll return later."

"Sure!" Lin Huang swallowed the 'thanks' that almost slipped out of his lips.

Both of them rode on the red worm's back, it then turned around to the ground and crawled towards the destination quickly.

After seeing both of them off, the dog-headed person only looked away a while later. He seemed like he was in deep thought.

"The two Protoss came out of nowhere, they requested to look at our archive and maps… Judging by the duo's responses, there must be precious treasures close to the shelter!"

"But I've looked through all of the areas that are open around the shelter throughout the decades here. I didn't find anything valuable, let alone items that are attractive to two Protoss… There should be something that's happening if it's something that only appeared during recent decades. Still… I don't recall anything happening during the past decades.

The dog-headed person shook his head feeling helpless after failing to come up with anything. He left the little house with a head full of doubts.

The reason Lin Huang and Bloody wanted to read everything at the archive and attain the maps were actually very simple. All they wanted was to learn more about the great world.

After all, it had been over 300 years since the Butterfly Sovereign was last in the great world. The world that she remembered must be different from how it was now.

After more than 300 years, the shelter that the Butterfly Sovereign remembered may no longer be there, let alone the accuracy of the coordinates.

Moreover, it was not only the Butterfly Sovereign, but most of the convicts that Lin Huang met in the Royal Trial were also imprisoned for up to a hundred years or more. Their impression of the great world too were from hundreds of years or even up to a thousand years ago.

Lin Huang and Bloody rode on the red worm's back and waited for it to crawl for some ten minutes patiently. Finally, the duo arrived at the cave where the archive was.

The red worm turned around and left after dropping them at the cave entrance.

Lin Huang and Bloody chuckled out of surprise as they stepped into the cave and saw what was inside.

The cave was pretty big. However, the so-called archive was just merely a couple of crude shelves.

The shelves were built out of some animal skeletons, were over three meters tall and approximately two meters wide. However, in the huge 'archive', there were less than eight such bookshelves. Not only that, only two-third of them had documents while a third of them were empty.

Lin Huang walked closer and realized that they were beast skins of assorted colors and thickness.

He also noticed the texts used to record the documents on the beast skins. He was familiar with them.

"Fortunately, the documents were recorded in divine words. Otherwise, we would need to spend some time to familiarize with them." As Lin Huang was observing the beast skins on the shelves, Bloody had scanned through dozens of beast skins with her Divine Telekinesis and confirmed the recorded texts.

The so-called divine words were the official universal text used among the Protoss organizations.

The reason why Bloody said that was because apart from divine word, the more significant tribes in the great world would have their own languages and scripts.

Bloody spent less than three minutes reading everything recorded on the beast skins in the archive. It was much faster than what she expected before coming here.

"There's not much useful information in this archive. Fortunately, the news documents throughout the recent decade are well maintained. They basically have everything major that happened in the God Territory for the past ten years."

"They have so many news documents in store?" Lin Huang was a little surprised.

The so-called news documents were the newspapers and magazines on earth.

However, what differentiated the Protoss' news documents was that there were up to a thousand pieces of news media available. There was all sorts of news around daily.

There was only one clan who owned the right to publish news in the God Territory – the Nius Clan of the Protoss. Not only that, under normal circumstances, they would only publish one edition per month.

Although most people in the God Territory were using the communication devices invented by humans, the news subscription from the Nius Clan was growing.

The reason was that there was only one edition per month. Moreover, it was usually a cover with a piece of beast skin. Therefore, the news that were published was basically major news. Given that the Nius Clan brilliantly added the entertainment section and electronic version of their news realizing the information impact on the internet, their sales were growing instead of dropping.

Initially, people read the news documents for information. Nowadays, reading news documents was more like entertainment to pass time.

The news documents stored in the shelter's archive were totally a request from the Protoss.

To guarantee their sales, the Nius Clan had signed an agreement earlier with the Protoss' upper echelons that required shelters within the God Territory to subscribe to their news each month. Not only that, they would have to keep the news for at least a decade untouched.

That was the reason why the shelter where the dog-headed person lived had so many news documents in store.

Naturally, Lin Huang and Bloody had no idea of the secret. They thought the blonde dog-headed person had the habit of collecting news documents.

"Judging by the news documents, the internal conflicts between the Protoss have been getting worse throughout the years. This matches the Butterfly Sovereign's memory in the dreamland," Bloody said while sorting the content that she put together and shared them to Lin Huang.

Lin Huang only managed to digest the information after a good ten minutes before he spoke again with a smile.

"It makes sense that there are internal conflicts between the Protoss. After all, they're the top tribe in the great world where they've been living in peace for over 5,000 years. As soon as a person gets comfortable, they'd naturally have more desires, let alone those clans and organizations among the Protoss that are already greedy. They'd always want more of what they already have."

The duo chatted about the God Territory for a while before the blonde dog-headed person returned riding on the red worm.

Seeing Lin Huang and Bloody, he took out two beasts skins from his space storage immediately.

"This is the map of our planet, the latest version that was released 13 years ago. The Shelters and the danger zones' coordinates are marked clearly," the dog-headed person spread open the two beast skins one after another and explained while pointing at them. "This is the detailed map of the areas close to our shelter. It included the seven shelters around, with clear pictures of the mountain terrains."

"Do you have the star map?" Lin Huang asked.

"I only have one simplified version of the star map with me," the dog-headed person replied as he spread another beast skin open.

The information on the piece of beast skin was much simpler than the previous two maps.

"Only the Dust Shelter has a detailed version of the star map."

Lin Huang and Bloody read a little bit about the Dust Shelter at the archive. The Dust Shelter was a grade-3 Shelter that dominated this planet. There was a branch on this planet with a Virtual God rank-8 guardian at the moment.

Meanwhile, the Dust Shelter's headquarters was on another planet close by. The guardian was only a second-rank True God. There was only one True God in the entire Shelter, whereby there were only three planets under their territory including the headquarters. It was considered the weakest grade-3 shelter among the rest.

Lin Huang could not help but frown as he recalled everything he knew about the Dust Shelter. The Butterfly Sovereign must have her own intentions for choosing to send them here.

"Give me this star map as well." Lin Huang took over the three maps from the dog-headed person's hand and put them away into his storage ring. He then patted the dog-headed person's arm, "Thanks for your hard work."

"It's my responsibility to provide such services to both of you, masters." The dog-headed person held his head down a little fearfully.

Lin Huang turned his head to look at Bloody, "There's no need for us to stay, am I right? Should we head straight to the Dust Shelter?"

"Sure," Bloody nodded.

"Thanks for your service." Lin Huang could not help extending his gratitude again before he left.

The dog-headed person held his head down again with a little more fear now.

All of a sudden, he felt a hand pressing on his head. The dog-headed person was dumbstruck at the moment.

"It's a little tangled, you should wash your hair," Lin Huang patted his head twice and commented.

He used to have a golden retriever at home when he was younger and was eager to pat the dog-headed person's head as soon as he saw him. He finally got to pat his head now.

Before the dog-headed person managed to respond, Lin Huang pressed onto Bloody's shoulder and they took their leave from the underground in a flash.

The duo who returned to the ground did not stay there at all. Instead, they headed directly toward where the Dust Shelter's branch was.

The dog-headed person who looked shocked was the only person left behind at the archive. "What just happened?!"

The Dust Shelter's branch was over 20,000 kilometers away from the Shelter where the dog-headed person was.

Moving at a hundred times faster than the speed of light compared to usual Virtual God powerhouses, Lin Huang and Bloody merely spent ten minutes to travel close to half of the earth's perimeter before they arrived at their destination.

The guardian at the entrance of the shelter was respectful as usual as they were invited into the city.

Although this particular shelter was only a branch, it was much more crowded than the shelter where the dog-headed person was at.

However, Lin Huang and Bloody stood out in the crowd as they appeared in human form. Many of those who were there were checking them out secretly.

The duo did not stay at all. Instead, they headed straight to the guardian residence.

As soon as they arrived at the guardian residence, a person in the form of a fish welcomed them with a group of people.

"It is the pleasure of the Dust Shelter to welcome both of you masters."

Clearly, the fish-person was the guardian of this branch.

Lin Huang and Bloody sensed the aura on him, his combat strength was indeed the rumored Virtual God rank-8.

Although Lin Huang had read about the fish-person on the monster guide, it was his first time seeing a real one so he began observing him a little.

The fish-person looked like a human with a muscular body that was over two meters tall. He had a sea blue beard all over his face and looked like some 40-year-old middle-aged man.

If one must differentiate him from a human, he had a few tears that looked like shark gills on both sides of his chin to his neck. They were covered partially by his thick beard so only a few fears were faintly visible.

After the person chatted with Bloody for a little bit, Lin Huang was done with his observation.

"We just happened to pass by this planet. We need to borrow your shelter's dimensional portal."

"Sure, I'll bring both masters over." The fish-person agreed to that without hesitation.

In the God Territory, Protoss members held a high position. Apart from powerhouses on the true god-level, most of the tribes only held affiliate positions. The same applied to the Virtual God rank-8 fish-person.

Although Lin Huang, who disguised himself as Grimace and Bloody were not of pure God's Blood, they were in their complete human form. Given their quadruple-mutated mythical-level aura, these two factors alone were sufficient for people to believe they were Protoss. Even the Virtual God rank-8 fish-person guardian before them suspected nothing about their identity at all.

Although Lin Huang and Bloody only had combat strength of Virtual God rank-2, the fish-person guardian dared not slow down at all. He led the duo to the dimensional portal directly.

Lin Huang and Bloody took this kindness at face value and stepped right into the dimensional portal, disappearing from where they were.

When they walked out of the dimensional portal, both of them had arrived at another planet

"Even the energy density in the air of this planet is much denser than the previous one."

Lin Huang sensed the significant difference between the two planets as soon as he stepped out of the dimensional portal.

"It makes sense. A grade-3 shelter's headquarters that was picked out by a true god-level powerhouse would have more minerals and resources of all sorts. It's only natural that the energy density is higher." Bloody nodded lightly.

As they were chatting through a voice transmission, they got a clearer picture of the environment around them.

There were two guardians next to the dimensional portal with imperial-level combat strength. Both of them were aquatic monsters, with aquatic monster heads.

"Welcome, masters!" the two monsters bowed and spoke at the same time as soon as they saw Lin Huang and Bloody.

Lin Huang and Bloody nodded lightly and hovered into the air before heading to where the shelter was.

The duo headed straight to the guardian residence as soon as they entered the shelter.

Shelters of grade-3 and above would have at least a true god-level powerhouse (except branches) guardian. Even in a God Territory, the guardian's position was no different than a member of the Protoss. As a courtesy, it was necessary for both Protoss juniors to visit the guardian since they came to the grade-3 shelter.

Lin Huang and Bloody knew that so they decided to visit the Dust Shelter's guardian as soon as they got here.

A merman welcomed them just when they arrived at the guardian residence.

What differentiated them from fish-person was all mermen and mermaids had fishtail, including this one before them. Not only that, they had handsome faces with blonde hair. They would be the top boy toys if they were on earth.

Lin Huang saw mermaids at the Peaceful Ocean in the gravel world before. He knew that this tribe was beautiful no matter male or female, so he did not find that odd.

However, this merman before them was not the shelter's guardian. Lin Huang and Bloody could tell that by just looking at him. The reason being he only had combat strength of Virtual God rank-7, which was too far away from true god-level.

The merman observed them quietly from far away. He only welcomed them with a smile when they arrived at the entrance.

"The governor has been waiting, please follow me, masters."

Clearly, this merman was just a butler of some sort.

Lin Huang and Bloody nodded while smiling, they then followed him.

They did not find it strange that the guardian knew that they were coming. The guardian was at the true god-level after all, his sensing range of the God Territory should be wide enough to cover the entire planet. Their quadruple mutated aura and human form should attract the guardian's attention right away.

After all, it was rare to have Protoss members to visit a grade-3 guardian residence.

This grade-3 shelter was much bigger than the previous grade-1 guardian residence.

The merman led Lin Huang and Bloody through the courtyard for five to six minutes and finally arrived at a palace.

The palace was mainly blue and gold in color, with a faint, white mist lingering around.

The merman pressed his palm on the palace door that was tightly shut, causing a faint blue wave to spread on the door before it opened slowly.

'This palace is a god rule relic?! This is really a great world, whereby some grade-3 shelter's guardian would have an expensive collection of his own. I would love a palace god rule relic too!'

Naturally, it was impossible for Lin Huang to say that out loud. He was only thinking that to himself secretly.

He could not help but look at Bloody who was next to him, he wanted to see her reaction. However, she seemed very calm. Noticing his glare, she turned her head to lock eyes with him. She subsequently smiled, clearly guessing what Lin Huang had in mind at the moment.

As the palace door opened completely, the mermaid only stepped foot into the palace hall before leading the duo in.

The three of them passed by a few rooms, and the mermaid only stopped walking when they arrived before a blue and silver metal door. He pressed his palm on it and pushed it open.

"Please wait in this lounge, the master governor will be here later."

"There's no need, the master governor can go ahead with his errands first," Bloody responded while smiling.

This lounge was similar to a human lounge with a similar setting. Clearly, the God Territory had significant influence from humans. The only difference was that the room was over five meters tall. Moreover, there was a gilt chair that was two to three times bigger than a normal chair placed in the middle.

As Lin Huang and Bloody were looking around, the mermaid began pouring them tea at ease.

Just when the tea was served and the duo took a sip, the lounge door was opened. A thick voice came.

"It's Dust Shelter's pleasure to welcome both distinguished guests! Hahahaha…"

As the deep voice boomed, a majestic silhouette stepped into the lounge after the door was opened.

Even Lin Huang and Bloody could not help but lift their heads because the person who came was at least 3.5 meters tall. It was a giant indeed.

When looked closely, one would notice that he only looked 90% like a human. There was something that differentiated him from a human. There were four almost invisible tiny holes on each side of his neck under his chin.

However, the detail alone made Lin Huang and Bloody realize who the person was. The human form, the gigantic body, and the breathing holes on his neck were clear descriptions of those in the monster guide. The person was definitely a member of the Whale-man Tribe under the Fish-man Tribe.

"I'm Dust Shelter's guardian, Whale13. Welcome both distinguished guests here!"

"I'm Grimace. This person next to me is Bloody," Lin Huang shared the identity of his current disguise, "Both of us passed by this wonderful place by accident. We thought we have to pay you a visit since there's a Fish-man Tribe senior guarding the Shelter."

Although he was disguised as a Protoss member, the person was a True God after all. He deserved to be called a senior.

Whale13, on the other hand, was over the moon when he heard what Lin Huang said. It was not that he had never met a Protoss before, but those that he met were arrogant. Even those juniors who were not even on virtual god-level were rude when they met him, a True God. However, these two juniors who were not even on virtual god-level before him kept calling him a senior, so he was pleased to be speaking with them.

'How wonderful would it be if all Protoss juniors are as courteous as them,' Whale13 could not help but think to himself.

"Haha, this Shelter is quite a crude and remote one. Apart from my few best friends and tribe people, there are usually very few guests on normal days, let alone Protosses like both of you. It's destiny that brought you here today. Give me a minute. Let me get people to arrange a banquet to welcome both of you."

Whale13 treated the duo passionately. The level of his friendliness made Lin Huang and Bloody suspect that he might have some ill intentions.

Fortunately, nothing unpleasant happened.

The three of them chatted while drinking tea. Soon, a fish-man came to inform them that the banquet was ready. Whale13 then dragged Lin Huang and Bloody to the table.

On the dining table, Whale13, who was tipsy from the drinks, finally revealed how Lin Huang and Bloody were different from other Protoss. At the same time, he criticized what he was unsatisfied with.

Lin Huang and Bloody were not sure whether to laugh or cry when they learned why Whale13 was so friendly to them.

After they were done with the brunch and made sure that Whale13 was treating them out of genuine kindness, Lin Huang asked for the star map and the request to access the archive calmly.

"I can provide the star map for you guys for free, but there's no way that I can give you full access to the archives. Grade-3 Shelters are guarded by Protoss, and there are some documents that only the guardians can access since they're confidential to the outside world. There's no exception for Protosses like the both of you," Whale13 spoke in all honesty.

"Then, give us the access that's opened to us," Lin Huang nodded while smiling.

"Don't mind me asking this. My Dust Shelter is remote, and you should be able to find most documents available at Shelters above grade-3 in the Protoss archive. What are you guys looking for to be coming to our archive intentionally?" Whale13 could not help but raise a question.

In the God Territory, ever since humans helped build the Internet and archives, all sorts of documents and information in grade-3 and above Shelters were stored in a copy in the Protoss's great archive that was similar to a cloud system. The Protoss members could read up within their access limit at all times.

Lin Huang and Bloody knew that too.

Just when Lin Huang was thinking of how to answer Whale13's question, next to him, Bloody spoke, "Well, I've loved reading stories since I was young. I would collect local stories wherever I go, including local folklores and historical information since they're also in my reading range. Moreover, there are some folklores and history that can't be found in the archives. Therefore, I always request to go to the archive whenever I go to a Shelter, no matter the size."

Clearly, Whale13 suspected nothing from Bloody's explanation."Oh, I see. Ms. Bloody, you sure are knowledgeable. This whale is embarrassed."

After the banquet, Whale13 made a copy of the star map and sent it to Lin Huang. He left after leading the duo to the archive.

The Dust Shelter was a grade-3 Shelter after all. Its archive was much bigger than the grade-1 Shelter earlier, and the documents were much more complete.

As Bloody was reading the documents, Lin Huang was checking the star map that Whale13 had sent him.

After a while, having browsed through the star map thoroughly, Lin Huang spoke to Bloody through voice transmission, "This star map still has no coincidental points in the star map in Qi Muxiong's memory. However, we can basically confirm where we are now."

"The star zone that we're currently in is called the Dust Zone. It's under the Northern Desert Star Zone, under the territory of grade-5 Shelter, the Golden Sand Shelter. The Northern Desert Star Zone is rather remote, almost at the northwestern border of the God Territory.

"Although the Golden Sand Shelter is considered the weaker one among the grade-5 Shelters. They have over 24 grade-4 Shelters and some 120 grade-3 Shelters under them. As it's rather remote, the management guardians are pretty weak. Most of the Shelters are quite dangerous. Besides that, there are many fugitives who escaped here.

"Also, there is almost zero humans in the Northern Desert Star Zone. The God Territory isn't a friendly place for humans, and the discrimination is even worse in the Northern Desert Star Zone. If I appear as myself, I'm afraid there would be people who are eager to beat me up.

"However, the problem is that my Disguise Card can only last for a day. It would mean that if I'd like to stay in this grade-3 Shelter, I would need to use one Disguise Card every day. My cards are my trump card. This would mean that I would have to use a trump card that could save my life even if I did nothing everyday. That's not going to work in the long run."

Although Lin Huang had disguise skills, given his imperial-level combat strength, he could not even deceive Virtual Gods, let alone true god-level powerhouses.

Bloody multitasked while giving Lin Huang a solution directly after hearing what he said, "There are actually two solutions to your situation. The first solution is to use a disguise god rule relic. You won't expose yourself and you'll save on your cards. If you're still concerned, you can even use two god rule relics.

"The second solution is to appear as my God's Servant. If that's the case, you can use your human identity in public without a disguise.

"I'd recommend the first one of the two solutions. I think it's better that you don't expose your identity and appearance. This is the great world after all, and powerhouses are everywhere. It's better to be cautious before you have definite confidence.

"However, true god-level is the most a god rule relic can deceive. There's a chance that you might be exposed when you meet heavenly god-level powerhouses or top True Gods. All grade-4 Shelters have top high-rank True God guardians and Heavenly Gods in Shelters above grade-4. If you go for the first solution, you won't be able to enter Shelters that are grade-4 and above.

"However, if we don't go into the God Territory's core zone, the information we get will be very limited, so I'm thinking that it's best that we go our separate ways for our next journey. You're a human, so you'll encounter trouble everywhere you go in the God Territory. However, it's a different case for me. Although I'm not a God's Blood, it's easy for me to join the Protosses with my quadruple-mutated wisdom-type complete human form. The Protoss is different from before; it's not a world full of pure God's Bloods any longer. All monsters of quadruple-mutation and above with complete human forms can join."

"I'm worried about letting you go into the God Territory's core zone alone." Lin Huang thought about it for a moment and said while shaking his head, "I'll go for the second solution, which is to go into the core zone with you as your God's Servant."

"If you decide to be my God's Servant, you'll need to spend most of your time with me. There will be a significant restriction on your mobility. If that's the case, it's very difficult for you to elevate your combat strength as you planned. After all, we only have a year. Moreover, your combat strength level will affect mine directly. You'll have to seize every second to elevate your combat strength.

"If you're still worried, you can summon Kylie to be with me. Kylie is a pure God's Blood. Not only does she have powerful combat ability, but she also has her own army, as well as her speed and spatial divine abilities. My safety should be guaranteed since I have her with me.

"That's the best solution that I can think of. Let's go our separate ways. Kylie and I will get intel at the core zone while you'll have to do everything you can to elevate your combat strength."

Lin Huang nodded eventually after falling into silence for a long time. He knew that Bloody had indeed come up with the best solution available.

Half an hour had already passed when Lin Huang and Bloody left the archive.

In reality, Bloody spent less than ten minutes reading all of the documents. She spent the rest of the time discussing the year-long plans and arrangements with Lin Huang.

As the duo walked out of the archive, Whale13 appeared before them in a flash. "I just recalled there's a Mr. Shu in this Shelter who loves telling all sorts of stories. Since, Ms. Bloody, you love listening to stories, both of you can stay a few days at my guardian residence. I'll get someone to bring Mr. Shu over."

"There's no need for the trouble…"

Bloody took over the conversation just when Lin Huang wanted to reject him, "There's no harm staying a day or two."

Lin Huang peered at Bloody in doubt. He did not ask more since Whale13 was still standing next to them.

Bloody only explained through voice transmission after Whale13 left with their confirmation, "We only discussed the rough steps at the archive. I'll need a little bit of time to prepare and arrange the detailed plans for this year. We can avoid interruption and being spied on if we stay at his guardian residence for now. Moreover, both of us don't have authentic Protoss identities yet. We'll expose ourselves if we stay at a hotel.

"Now, the priority is to have someone to get us an alternate identity. Also, you'll need a disguise god rule relic. Get it as soon as you can."

"An alternate identity…I've already figured who to get that from." A person's face soon appeared in Lin Huang's head. "I'll check out the disguise god rule relics in the Royal Market."

Under the arrangement of Whale13's butler, Lin Huang and Bloody soon checked into the guest room in the guardian residence.

The butler had arranged for a suite at the top floor of the guardian residence. Apart from the great view, it was connected straight to the little garden at the rooftop.

Lin Huang and Bloody could not help but look at each other when they saw the garden.

"The design of this garden is pretty unique. It seems to be the work of a master," Bloody exclaimed to Lin Huang. She clearly wanted the butler to hear that.

As expected, the butler revealed a faint smile on his face. "Your humble one designed this garden. I learned gardening from a human master when I was younger, so I know a little bit about it."

"No wonder…Humans indeed are brilliant in some aspects," Bloody responded with a smile.

In reality, Lin Huang and Bloody could tell that the garden was designed by a human as soon as they saw it.

"That's right. There are actually many humans that are very talented—" The butler stopped speaking all of a sudden. He seemed to have realized that the duo was Protosses, so it was inappropriate for him to compliment humans before them. He changed what he was going to say immediately, "However, no matter how talented humans are, they're no match for the Protoss geniuses in our God Territory."

Noticing that he was being inappropriate, the butler dared not speak nonsense again. He left right after he arranged their accommodation.

"It seems like not everyone in the God Territory discriminates against humans." Lin Huang felt consoled about that.

"Indeed. However, the butler's response earlier proved even more that it's normal for humans to be discriminated in the God Territory." Bloody, on the other hand, recognized the different perspective of the incident.

They talked about serious business after a brief chat on the humans' position in the God Territory.

"Did you find anything useful from all of the documents that you read in the archive?"

"Yes, it's much more detailed than the grade-1 Shelter earlier which only had official news documents. They only recorded the major incidents in the God Territory. Apart from news documents, the Dust Shelter archives have many other documents. They even have some recordings of incidents outside the God Territory.

"That organization Royal that you joined earlier…they have quite some information recorded here too. The latest news was from seven years ago when a Prince elevated to heavenly god-level. One of the Prince's positions has been vacant ever since then."

Lin Huang was stunned to hear that news.

A Prince of Royal was different from that from Dynasty. The lowest qualification for being a Royalty was a supreme genius. As long as they were alive, almost all members had the potential to elevate to true god-level.

That applied to normal members too. The criteria for the candidate was much stricter for a Prince of Dynasty.

Dynasty's royal court would first vote among the candidates to be Prince. The royal court would then send the chosen candidates' detailed documents to one of the Lords of Dynasty. After the Lord looked through the documents, he would have to approve the candidate himself to make the candidate a Prince.

As soon as one was awarded the Prince title, he would become one of the Lords of Dynasty's nominal disciples. He might even be taught by the Lord himself.

In reality, for those who managed to enter the royal court list, they were basically guaranteed of their potential and quality in elevating to lord-level by the royal court.

However, the greater difficulty in achieving the title as Prince was that there was only a quota for 12 Princes of Dynasty in the entire great world.

The quota was almost always full and was hardly vacant.

Under normal circumstances, there would only be two situations when there was a vacancy. One was when a current Prince was dead while the other would be when a current Prince had elevated to heavenly god-level.

Lin Huang knew what the position of a Prince of Dynasty was as soon as he joined Royal. However, he did not care about that because it was too far away from him.

Although he was named the No. 1 genius of the era in the gravel world, he knew that the great world was much greater. To him, there must be many young people who had greater talents and gifts compared to him in the great world.

He did not think much about it even though he just heard about a vacant Prince position at the moment.

"This news was from seven months ago. There's no more news about Royal deciding on a Prince since then. It means since seven months ago, they probably have yet to find a suitable replacement for the Prince of Royal. I think you stand a chance." Bloody turned her head and looked at Lin Huang connivingly while smiling.

"Royal picks most of the candidates who are already on virtual god-level as their Prince. Before cultivators achieve virtual god-level, there are many unstable factors. No matter how powerful a genius is, they might be no different than an ordinary person as long as he doesn't find the correct way to elevate to virtual god-level. I don't even qualify the first basic condition with my imperial-level combat strength, so stop fooling around with me." It was not that Lin Huang had no confidence, but he never believed in blind confidence.

"There are only two possibilities why Royal has yet to have a Prince since seven months ago. The first one would be that there's no one suitable one among the candidate list who deserves the position. There's even a high possibility that the Lord has rejected the candidate lists submitted by the Royal court many times. The second possibility would be there are many suitable candidates, but they can't decide on one due to internal differences.

"If it's the first possibility whereby the Lord hasn't seen anyone that he likes and keeps rejecting the Royal court's list, you'll elevate to virtual god-level or even straight to True God if that drama drags out for a year. Won't you be qualified by then?" Bloody shared the possibility in all seriousness.

'You wish!' Lin Huang could not help but scoff to himself at the moment.