Monster Paradise

by LightNovels

343-

11. Chapter 11

Chapter 1251: Night and Shadow

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After a while of chatting, the duo soon began working on their own.

Bloody began coming up with a detailed plan for the coming year following the information and documents she had.

Lin Huang, on the other hand, created a message with his communication device and sent it out.

"Old Yang, I'm Lin Huang. I've just arrived in the God Territory of a great world today. Are you still doing what you were before? I'm in a hurry for three fake identities; the sooner, the better. It's inconvenient for me to make video calls and phone calls to you here, so we can keep in touch by text."

Although there was a shield-like restriction in the guest room, theoretically, the outside world would not find out about whatever that was happening in the room. However, it was Whale13's territory after all. Nobody knew if the room was bugged, so Lin Huang thought it was better to err on the side of caution.

He got a reply within ten seconds the text was sent. "Send me the names and photos. Come up with your identities. I can make Protoss identities too, but they are easily exposed in a God Territory above grade-5, thus I don't suggest doing that. Also, no matter what identities you're counterfeiting, you'd better disguise yourself properly and not expose any flaws."

"I'll send you the identities right away. Give me a minute. Can I ask approximately when I'll get them?" Lin Huang replied as soon as he saw Yang Ling's reply.

Yang Ling responded again a moment later, "It doesn't take long to create fake identities. It can be done within half an hour at the most. However, it takes time for the logistics of the identity rings. If you're in human territory, tomorrow will be the latest you can get them. However, since you're in a God Territory, there'll be a transfer in logistics. They'll only reach at least three days later.

"Moreover, not all God Territories have goods receiving points in the Shelters. All Shelters of grade-5 and above undoubtedly have receiving points, but only approximately 10% of grade-3 Shelters and around 30% of grade-4 Shelters have receiving points.

"Send me your Shelter code. I'll check the closest receiving point for you. I'll send the goods to the receiving point then, and you'll have to pick them up yourself."

Lin Huang had never expected a God Territory's logistics system to be so backward.

"Sure, I'll pick them up myself. I'll send you the documents soon."

Lin Huang began discussing with Bloody again after exchanging messages with Yang Ling for a while.

"I've come up with a rough identity, but I'm not sure which tribe to use. I'll get Yang Ling to make one up for me. You should think of an identity to disguise as. Come up with one for Kylie too."

After all, they were in Whale13's territory. For safety purposes, Lin Huang did not summon Kylie directly.

"The both of us will use our real identities," Bloody replied almost without hesitation, "We're going to stay in the core zone for a long time after all, and we might need to talk to people often. It might backfire easily if we disguise as other people, so we'll just use our names and tribes."

"It's too risky to use your real identity." Lin Huang frowned slightly when he heard her suggestion.

"There's no harm actually. Kylie's and my characteristics will stand out even more if we use our identities. Under normal circumstances, if something were to happen, it's easy for one's real identity to be tracked. Then, it'll be more difficult for one to get away. It might be troublesome to others, but you can recall us back into card form which can wipe all trails immediately. If something really were to happen, all I need is to send you a message to get you to recall us back into card form." Bloody seemed to be adamant about using her own identity.

"Besides that, they don't lack powerhouses with high access in the core zone of the God Territory. There'll be even more trouble if they find out about our fake identities. By using our real identities, even if they discover something wrong, we can say that we're from a mini world. To avoid trouble, we bought fake identity rings, but we registered our authentic details. Even if the Protoss contacts our tribe to verify, there won't be any problem at all."

Lin Huang thought Bloody's explanation made sense indeed.

Although Yang Ling had superb skills when it came to creating fake identities, this was the great world after all. Moreover, just like Bloody said, the core zone of the God Territory had many powerhouses with high access. If someone's access was high enough to track their fake identities, that would spell trouble for them. However, if they were to register their fake identities with genuine information, even if the Protoss was to expose them, the most they could prove was that their identity rings were fake but their identities were authentic.

Even if Bloody could not find the exact tribe, other wisdom-types would definitely come forward to vouch for her. Meanwhile, Kylie was a pure God's Blood herself who belonged to the Nephilic Judge Tribe which belonged to the superior bloodline among the Protoss. Among the superior bloodlines, there were only a few of them. As soon as she was exposed, the Nephilic Judge Tribe would definitely come forward for her.

Bloody only made the decision after some careful consideration and concluded that it would be safer to use their real identities.

Lin Huang stopped disagreeing with Bloody's decision after some careful thoughts to himself.

After creating the three identities, Lin Huang sent them together with the Shelter code to Yang Ling.

Yang Ling soon replied with two messages, "Your location is really remote. I've checked. There are two receiving points that are closest to you. One is the Start Shelter (grade-3) and the other would be the Jupiter Shelter (grade-4). While the grade-4 Shelter is slightly closer to you, it doesn't make much difference. So, which receiving point do you want me to send them to?

"Also, I've told you that fake Protoss identities are easily exposed in the God Territory. Are you sure you want your summoning beast, Kylie, to disguise as a Protoss? I'm not responsible for any after-sales service if there's any problem with that."

Lin Huang replied while smiling after reading Yang Ling's message, "Send the goods to the grade-3 receiving point then. As for Kylie's identity, it's alright to disguise her as a Protoss. I won't force you to take responsibility if something goes wrong."

Two words popped up within three seconds Lin Huang sent the message. "Got it!"

After sorting out the fake identities, Lin Huang opened the Royal trading page and began looking at disguise god rule relics.

Soon, he saw two relics that he desired.

One was a black mask named Night. The mask was pure black and was adorned with golden droplets so tiny that one almost could not see them with their naked eye. They were like stars that lit up the night sky. Apart from that, there was a white precious stone the size of a thumb mounted on the forehead, resembling a full moon.

The effect of the mask's rule could isolate any energy from penetrating from the outside. Not only did it block Divine Telekinesis and Divine Power, but it could also block a majority of energy impact, creating a certain level of defense.

The second relic was a cloak with a hood named Shadow. The cloak was pure black without any decoration or patterns. The effect of the rule was disappearing, including blocking one's aura from being detected by the outside world.

In the beginning, Lin Huang struggled a while as he wondered which one to purchase. In the end, he decided to purchase both of them.

The starting price of a god rule relic was up to a million Divine Stones. Both god rule relics were expert-grade, so their price exceeded ten million Divine Stones. To be exact, both of them cost 46 million Divine Stones. It was not a small figure even to the wealthy Lin Huang.

He happened to only have just over ten million Divine Stones. He would have to sell lots of his resources to gather 46 million Divine Stones. That was the reason why he was struggling with which to purchase in the beginning.

However, after some consideration, he eventually decided to splurge on both the god rule relics for safety purposes.

In order to get money to purchase god rule relics, Lin Huang only left behind a couple of demigod and god relics that he usually used and sold the rest on the Royal trading market.

To sell all those demigod and god relics, he set them at a rather low price. They were even slightly cheaper than the market price. However, the speed of the goods being sold was much faster than Lin Huang expected.

Within less than ten minutes, up to a hundred demigod and god relics were sold.

"I thought I'd need at least two to three days to gather the remaining 30 million or so Divine Stones despite selling them cheaply. I can't believe I made close to 10 million Divine Stones within ten minutes!" Lin Huang said as he checked the buyer record. However, he began to appear doubtful after doing so.

"What's wrong?" Bloody noticed his expression immediately.

"This person seems to be the only one who bought up to a hundred of my goods just now," Lin Huang said through voice transmission while grinning, "The buyer record shows that it comes from the same account with the username 'Money Boss'."

"One can tell from the username that the person is loaded," Bloody said amusedly, "In reality, it's not strange that this person bought so many things. You priced them slightly lower than the market price since you're in a hurry. Anyone would know that they'd be sold at a much higher price if they were sold at an auction. This Money Boss has most probably bought so many demigod and god relics for reselling purposes.

"Of course, there's another possibility. He might happen to have an underling who's lacking equipment, so he desperately needs demigod and god relics. He bought the equipment for his underling without hesitation as soon as he saw what you were selling.

"The second possibility is too much of a coincidence. Moreover, this person has the username 'Money Boss'. There's a higher chance that he's a businessman…"

As Lin Huang was chatting with Bloody, a message popped up on the Royal trading page all of a sudden. Lin Huang looked closely to see a message from Money Boss that he was discussing with Bloody.

"Why's that guy looking for me?"

Skeptically, Lin Huang tapped open the message that the person sent through the Royal trading page.

"Hi, Mr. Lin, I saw that you're selling many demigod and god relics today. They're slightly cheaper than the market price. I suppose you're in need of money, aren't you?"

Lin Huang did not create a username on the Royal trading page and only showed his family name which was the default setting. He could not help but raise his brows upon receiving such a message coming from Money Boss out of nowhere.

"Why do I have a feeling that this is an usury advertisement? Is this guy offering me usury?"

Though skeptical, Lin Huang decided to chat with him to see what exactly this buyer wanted. He did not answer the person's question. Instead, he gave a straightforward reply, "Give it to me straight and don't beat around the bush."

Money Boss's message came one to two minutes later. "Well, I'm a businessman. Apart from doing some middleman business to make some commission, I do loans too to make some money from interest. I'm sending you this message to see if there's a chance if we can come up with a business deal, Mr. Lin."

As expected, it was an usury advertisement!

Lin Huang chose to reject decisively, "I won't take a loan from you."

"Usury isn't what I'm doing. The annual interest is only 4% as long as you pay it off within three years. You can consider it, Mr. Lin." Money Boss had yet to give up.

Lin Huang did not expect the rate to be even lower than the housing loan on Earth. "What if I fail to pay everything back within three years?" he asked curiously.

"The interest will be doubled for payback within three to ten years, which is 8%. It will double again for payback ten to 20 years, which is 16%…"

'And you said it isn't usury..,' Lin Huang thought to himself secretly.

"I was just asking out of curiosity. Neither do I have the habit of borrowing money, nor do I have any interest in your usury business."

Lin Huang thought the person's hopes would be killed and he would stop clinging onto him after his reply. Never did he expect another message to pop up just when he was going to turn off the trading page.

"Since you aren't interested in taking a loan, we can talk about another business, Mr. Lin."

Lin Huang frowned slightly and replied with a question mark.

"I've looked through the number of goods and prices that you are selling this time. I speculate that you're in need of money, Mr. Lin. The price of goods you're letting go is 30 million Divine Stones. To be exact, it's over 35 million Divine Stones. No offense, but may I know if you're going to purchase something with the money?"

"I think that's none of your business!" Lin Huang thought the person was nosy.

"I don't mean to disturb you. Perhaps I can help you get a bargain if you're using the money to purchase goods. I'll apologize for disturbing you if the money is for something else and I'll no longer disturb you."

"Get me a bargain?" Lin Huang was skeptical. This person's way of making business was clearly out of the ordinary.

"Yes, I'll get you a bargain. I'll take 30% of the difference while you'll enjoy 70% of the discount."

Money Boss seemed to be worried that Lin Huang might not understand and soon sent another message. "Let me give you an example. If an item's original price is 10 million Divine Stones, I'll save two million for you if I manage to bargain for eight million instead. You'll pay me 30% of two million as commission, which will be 600,000. That means you only pay 8.6 million for something that was originally 10 million."

"You mean you'll purchase the goods at a bargain and resell it to me? How can I trust you not to sell it to me at a higher price? It's totally possible for you to purchase a 10 million item at eight million and sell it at 12 million to me. If I'm desperate for the item, I suppose I'll have to accept the price you offer, wouldn't I?" Lin Huang voiced his doubt.

"I've considered such risk and doubts in trust for my clients' sake. Therefore, I'll only be responsible for getting the bargain for you. You'll have to complete the purchase yourself as I won't be participating in the deal. After the purchase is done, you'll pay me the commission as agreed," Money Boss replied.

"Do you really trust your clients? What if I take my word back and refuse to pay you the commission after the deal is done?" Lin Huang thought the person was pretty naive.

"I've encountered clients who've backed out on their words. However, they died soon after the deal was done without exception."

Lin Huang did not think that the person was boasting after hearing what sounded like a threat. After all, the person dared to trust his clients. It proved that the person had a high possibility of being able to control the risk of his clients breaking their promise.

"What's the confidentiality of the deal like?" Lin Huang was a little tempted now. After all, the two items would add up to 46 million. Even if the person only managed to get a 10% discount and take the 30% commission, he would save over three million which was quite a significant figure.

Clearly, Money Boss came to Lin Huang upon noticing that he was purchasing something expensive.

"I'm just a businessman who wants to do business. I won't reveal a word about the business of all of my clients to anyone. There's nothing to worry about, Mr. Lin."

"Alright, there are indeed two items that I'd like to purchase. I'll need to discuss the collaboration details with you to decide if we have a deal." Lin Huang finally agreed to discuss more with the person since Bloody, who had been sparing a portion of her attention to observe the conversation, nodded.

Within two hours, close to 40 million Divine Stones worth of items that Lin Huang was selling in Royal's market were almost sold. In reality, over 90% of them were purchased by Money Boss.

Lin Huang was finally relieved to have gathered enough money to buy god rule relics during his trip to the God Territory this time.

"I've got you a bargain. It will be a 22% discount for Night. The original price was 25 million and now it's 19.5 million. You get 25% off for Shadow, which was originally priced at 21 million and is 15.75 million now. In other words, you're only paying 35.25 million for something that was 46 million. The difference is 10.75 million. I'll be taking 30%, which is 3.22 million. Let me round it up for you. Just transfer me 3.2 million after you've paid the buyers."

"So, how do I trade with the sellers?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"You'll have to send the sellers a personal message. Tell them that you're the buyer Money Boss mentioned. After that, just follow the steps they teach you."

"Sure, I'll transfer you the commission after the deal is done."

Just when Lin Huang was done messaging Money Boss, he contacted both sellers immediately. The sellers changed the price of the items without hesitation as they changed their privacy to be visible to Lin Huang's account.

The Royal trading system was very unique. Product logistics on the page did not matter, whereby the products would be transferred to the storage equipment the buyers set up directly as long as the purchase was successful.

The next official trade was completed smoothly within a minute. Lin Huang was finally relieved to see two extra god rule relics in his storage space.

He scanned through his storage equipment with his Divine Telekinesis and checked properly, confirming that both god rule relics were fine. Lin Huang then clicked Money Boss's account and transferred the 3.2 million Divine Stones in commission over.

"I've transferred the Divine Stones to you. Please check."

"Got it. It's a pleasure working with you! Please get me to bargain for you again if you're getting more god rule relics or business that's more than 10 million Divine Stones in the future," Money Boss replied almost instantly.

Lin Huang could not help but smirk when he saw the message. "I'll definitely look for you next time."

"Is it done?" Bloody had been sparing a portion of her attention to Lin Huang's progress.

"I've gotten both of the god rule relics. I've checked them and all are good." Lin Huang nodded.

"I'm basically done on my side too, but it's a little inconvenient to finish the master plan now." Bloody was also cautious. After all, they were in someone else's territory now. "Let me give you a rough idea. We'll discuss the details after I'm done with the master plan and I'll send it to you tomorrow.

"First of all, you'll have to summon Kylie after leaving this Shelter. The three of us will head to the Start Shelter to pick up our identity rings. Later on, Kylie and I will head to the core zone of the God Territory. You'll disguise yourself and head to the next grade-3 Shelter.

"I've given a good thought about your identity. It's best that you aren't a lone ranger. The great world is different from the gravel world, and you'll encounter plenty of trouble since you have no organization background. Although Royal is a huge organization, its headquarters is in a human territory that's too far away from the God Territory. Distant water cannot quench the present thirst, thus it's best that you join an organization in the God Territory.

"There are a couple of major organizations in the God Territory, but currently there are only two that are recruiting and are suitable for you. One would be the Combat God Temple while the other would be the Death Sickle.

"The Combat God Temple is the best choice for your need to kill a great number of virtual god-level monsters alone. The Combat God Temple is the biggest mercenary troop in the God Territory, whereby they take on all sorts of group hunting missions all year long. If you join them, not only can you hunt all sorts of monsters, but you'll be given mission rewards from the Combat God Temple too.

"However, the biggest disadvantage of joining the Combat God Temple would be the lack of freedom. The reason being, all members will be put into a small troop and they'll have to move as one unit. Although the troop can choose their own missions most of the time, sometimes there are some compulsory requisitions that you can't say no to."

Lin Huang frowned a little upon hearing this point. "Tell me about the Death Sickle then."

"The Death Sickle is the biggest assassin organization and its main business is all sorts of assassination missions.

"The Death Sickle is very lax on their member recruitment. Almost all tribes can register as their reserve members regardless of their ability. The reserve members have all the freedom they want, and they can even reject all the missions. Of course, that would mean not having benefits at all.

"As long as the reserve members complete three assassination missions within a year or accept three specific missions within ten years, they'll become an official Black Sickle Assassin."

"So, there are ranks among Death Sickle members?" Lin Huang could not help but interrupt to ask.

"Yes, the ascending order of ranking in the Death Sickle would be the reserve, Black Sickle, White Sickle, Golden Sickle, and Blood Sickle. There are only seven Blood Sickle Assassins, all of whom are on heavenly god-level. The seven of them control all of Death Sickle's decision-making."

"So, what're the benefits of the higher ranks?" Lin Huang asked again.

"The higher the ranking, the higher the grade of mission one gets and the better the reward. Reserve, Black Sickle, White Sickle, Golden Sickle, and Blood Sickle correspond with the grade of the mission. Reserve members can only take missions below virtual god-level, Black Sickles can only take missions below true god-level, White Sickles can only take missions below heavenly god-level missions, and so on and so forth…

"Not only are there mission rewards for completed missions, but there're also accumulated points. One will earn a place on the Death Leaderboard when they have sufficient points. There are three leaderboards for the Death Sickle, which are the Black Sickle Leaderboard, the White Sickle Leaderboard, and the Golden Sickle Leaderboard. There are only 100 names on each leaderboard which will be renewed every day at 00:00. Throughout the month, those who manage to rank the top ten will receive a handsome reward.

"Those who are usually on the Black Sickle Leaderboard are top virtual god-level powerhouses. Those who rank the top three will receive a reward that is at least comparable to a god rule relic each month. The rewards for the White Sickle Leaderboard and the Golden Sickle Leaderboard are even better."

"One per month would mean that one will get 12 god rule relics in a year. I've only gotten two god rule relics after my hard work in the gravel world and spending most of what I had. Meanwhile, the few of them on the leaderboard can earn that within two months! So, what's the disadvantage of joining the Death Sickle?" Lin Huang turned his head to ask Bloody immediately.

"You must complete at least three missions each year if you become a Black Sickle. You can pick the missions within your own level. If you fail to complete a few of them in a year, you'll be given a few specific missions in the next year. The specific missions are usually those that basically nobody is willing to do because they're very risky."

"Secondly, the number of hunts will definitely be lesser than those in the Combat God Temple if you join the Death Sickle. After all, the killing in the Combat God Temple is done in battles with many enemies. It's more suitable for you to elevate your combat strength."

"I'll join the Death Sickle. I can go to battles on my own when there's no mission. I just won't get the reward that the Combat God Temple will be giving," Lin Huang shared his thoughts, "To me, the Combat God Temple's restriction is too much. Besides that, I'll have to fight in a team, so there'll be many techniques that I can't use. I think the Death Sickle is better for me since I can fight on my own."

"I figured you'd choose that." Bloody shrugged helplessly.

Lin Huang and Bloody bade farewell to Whale13 early the next morning.

While Whale13 was surprised, he said nothing. All he did was pat Lin Huang's shoulder heartily. "Go if something has come up. Don't delay your business. Please come play at my Dust Shelter anytime when you're free. I'll welcome you with open arms at all times!"

Lin Huang summoned Kylie after bidding farewell to Whale13, and as soon as they left the Dust Shelter, he disguised himself using the two god rule relics.

The three then headed to Start Shelter at ease.

According to Yang Ling, the identity rings would need at least three days to reach the receiving point. Therefore, they were not in a hurry.

Under normal circumstances, they would need to transfer at only five Shelters to get from the Dust Shelter to Start Shelter. However, there were two grade-4 Shelters among them. For safety purposes, they decided to take a longer en route whereby they transferred 11 times at grade-3 Shelters along the way.

Fortunately, none of their identities were suspected at all. Bloody would even request the Shelter guardian for permission to read at their archives at each Shelter. None of the 11 Shelters rejected her, which allowed her to gain access to more documents and information.

Apart from asking about the mission at the beginning, Kylie was cold and arrogant as usual. She did not even ask about the details of the mission, and Bloody was the one who took the initiative to tell her.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang spent most of the time shopping at underground black markets and auctions. Whilst familiarizing himself with the market prices, he was trying his luck with worthy items.

His new disguise was a man in a black robe that was transformed from his god rule relic, Shadow. It was completely different from earlier and was adorned with a simple golden pattern from the pure black before.

Meanwhile, his mask was transformed from his god rule relic, Night. The delicate mask was now pitch black. It was so black that it could even absorb the diffused reflection of the light. Apart from that, there was a layer of black mist lingering around it.

The hoodie of the cloak would hide whatever that was beneath it even during the day as long as the light did not shine directly on one's face. After putting on the mask, even if the light were to shine directly, one could only see a black silhouette.

Three days later, the trio arrived at the Start Shelter.

Lin Huang was a little shocked to see skyscrapers and crowds when they arrived. "Why's this Shelter so crowded? I suppose a grade-4 Shelter isn't as crowded as this!"

"Although Start Shelter is only a grade-3 Shelter, it has the top standard among grade-3 Shelters. The crowd is even larger compared to some remote grade-4 Shelters," Bloody explained through voice transmission.

"I heard the guardian of Start Shelter, whose name is Start, is a pure Protoss. His father is a rather famous Heavenly God who's also the guardian of a grade-5 Shelter.

"Due to his background, many guardians of grade-3 and grade-4 Shelters nearby are willing to be his friends, and they have trade agreements with Start Shelter. When Start Shelter was newly built, many neighboring guardians brought businesses and immigrants to them, making Start Shelter develop quickly. After Start Shelter elevated to a grade-3 Shelter, Start's father used his connection in the God Territory to get him the privilege of a receiving point. Since then, the Shelter prospered completely."

"A pure Protoss whose dad is a Heavenly God…" Lin Huang frowned slightly. "We don't even have identity rings now. If we visit him, we might expose ourselves."

"We don't have to visit him this time. There are up to a million people coming in and out of Start Shelter every day. There are always True Gods and Protosses coming in and out. If Start has to host those guests every day, I guess he'd have to host at least a hundred times throughout the year.

"I heard that he's arrogant whereby he looks down on ordinary Protosses and True Gods, and he doesn't care to befriend them. Moreover, we're only staying for a day or two to pick up our stuff. There's no need to embarrass ourselves by visiting him."

"So, you're not going to their archive?" Lin Huang asked.

"Although Start Shelter is crowded, it's just a grade-3 Shelter after all. I'll have many opportunities to visit grade-4 and grade-5 Shelters in the future."

"Then, let's look for a place to stay. We'll leave right after we pick up our stuff. Let's not have any contact with him." Lin Huang began browsing for hotels as soon as he was done speaking.

The receiving point of Start Shelter was located in the central zone of the entire Shelter which was also where the guardian residence was. They were only less than a kilometer apart from each other.

It was the most crowded place in the entire Shelter. Above 90% of the luxury hotels in the Shelter were located in this area, making up more than 70% of the Shelter hotels that were in the central zone.

Although they had no identity ring in the God Territory, Lin Huang picked a small hotel where registration was unnecessary. He got them the biggest three-room suite in the hotel.

When they opened the door to the suite, Lin Huang realized it was the crudest room that he had ever stayed in since he traveled to this world.

Although the three rooms were close to 100 square meters large, the walls were all white and the ceilings were made of plaster. Apart from a bed, a wardrobe, a table, and a chair, there were almost zero decorations.

Although there was a fabric couch in the living room, it looked like it had been there for at least 20 years. The coffee table before it seemed to be made of glass, but there were four to five cracks on it.

Lin Huang thought that the glass coffee table might crack entirely if he were to put an ashtray on it.

"Let's change hotels." Lin Huang did not mind the place, but he felt bad for the two ladies, Bloody and Kylie, to be staying at such a place.

Kylie glanced through the living room quickly. "We'll stay here since it's only for one or two days."

"We don't have identity rings now. I suppose hotels that accept frauds like us would have similar conditions. It doesn't really make sense to change to another hotel. Let's just stay here then," Bloody agreed to stay too.

"Alright then. Let's tidy up our rooms. It might be slightly bearable if we clean it up a little," Lin Huang suggested.

Both ladies nodded in agreement.

The trio spent half an hour to tidy the rooms completely. Although it did not look like it had been renovated, at least, it was more pleasing to the eye than before.

Lin Huang thought he would let the ladies stay in the bigger rooms while he occupied the smallest one.

However, Bloody realized that the smallest was only six or seven square meters large. The entire room was cramped with the bed and a wardrobe. Not only that, there was not even a tiny window for ventilation. Therefore, she suggested staying in the same room with Kylie while Lin Huang took the bigger room.

Kylie did not reject the suggestion.

The man and the two ladies then stayed in the StartAfter a night at the small hotel, Lin Huang's communication device vibrated all of a sudden before dawn came.

He tapped it opened and realized that it was an unknown number.

"Your stuff should arrive at the Start Shelter in the afternoon today. If you guys aren't there yet, please get there as soon as you can to pick them up. There are plenty of flaws in the God Territory's logistics system. It's very common for some Shelters to lose parcels. The longer the parcels are left at the receiving point, the higher the chances of them being lost."

Lin Huang knew it was Yang Ling who sent the message without even looking at the signature.

"We arrived yesterday." Lin Huang turned off the communication page after the brief reply. He peeked at the time. It was only 4.51 a.m. Through the window, he could see that the sky was still dark, so he turned around on the bed and pulled the blanket over himself, shutting his eyes again.

He slept all the way past seven in the morning, only stirring calmly upon hearing the chatter between Bloody and Kylie.

Lin Huang walked to the living room to see both Bloody and Kylie there. He said through voice transmission, "Yang Ling said the stuff will arrive around the afternoon. We'll have breakfast soon and walk around. In the afternoon, we'll head there straight to pick up the stuff."

After washing up, the three of them put on their black robes again and headed out.

Lin Huang was already disguised as a man in a black robe. Meanwhile, as Bloody and Kylie looked exactly like Protosses, they would definitely attract unwanted attraction if they were to check into such a small hotel in their own forms. Therefore, they put on a cloak and a mask just like Lin Huang did when they checked into the hotel. Both their cloaks and masks were god relics. However, the small hotel was located in the central zone of Start Shelter which was close to the guardian residence. Not many True Gods would step on Start's feet and pry with their Divine Telekinesis as they wished.

Moreover, most people who would stay at such a small hotel were usually problematic. They were either fugitives or were hiding something embarrassing. They knew where they stood, so they would not pry to avoid any unnecessary incidents.

It was only 8 a.m. after spending some 20 minutes eating their breakfast.

The auctions and markets at the Shelter had yet to open. However, the underground market was already opened for business.

The Start Shelter black market was in an alley somewhere next to the guardian residence. In reality, the guardian, Start, was the mastermind behind the black market. Most of the people in the Shelter knew that, but nobody dared say it out loud.

Start had a Heavenly God supporting him, and as a Protoss himself, nobody dared to report his business. Everyone knew that the most that would happen to the black market would be it closing down even if someone were to report it. With Start's background, it was basically impossible for him to be punished.

The three of them took a stroll at the black market. They spent over two hours to look at all the shops and stalls. Since they did not see anything they wanted, they left the black market alley empty-handed.

After getting out of the black market, they casually strolled through the auctions and markets that had been opened for a while.

It was past 1 p.m. when they were done shopping. Figuring that he had yet to receive any notification about their parcel, Lin Huang took Bloody and Kylie to a restaurant with a good reputation for lunch.

As they began eating after the dishes were served, Lin Huang's communication device vibrated all of a sudden. Again, the message still came from an unknown number. Lin Huang knew it was Yang Ling who sent it as soon as he tapped it open.

The message was brief with only two sentences. "The logistics system on my side shows that the stuff has arrived at Start Shelter. If you're not busy, it's best that you pick them up today. I took some time to check the God Territory's receiving point, and I found out that the Shelter always loses parcels."

Naturally, Bloody and Kylie saw the contents of the message since Lin Huang's communication device messages were set to pop up.

"Let's go there right after we finish lunch," Bloody said instantly as she was concerned that the stuff might get lost.

Lin Huang nodded and turned off the communication page. He then proceeded with lunch. It was not even 2 p.m. when they exited the restaurant and headed straight to the receiving point immediately.

The receiving point was on a main road. The shop was pretty large, and there were two lines queuing at the entrance. The longer line was for the delivery of mail with some 20 people there. The pick-up line was shorter as there were only six people queuing.

Lin Huang and the other two queued quietly behind the pick-up line and waited for the people before them to collect their stuff patiently.

The first of the six picked up their stuff and left successfully. When it was the second person's turn, he began arguing with the shop owner.

"My stuff should've arrived last night! The pick-up details on my communication device clearly state that my stuff arrived at 11.21 last night. Now, you're telling me that you didn't receive them?!" It was a muscular elephant-person who was yelling loudly.

"Why are you screaming?! I told you that we didn't receive it. Isn't it normal to lose parcels? You're not the only one whose parcel is lost," responded the shop owner who was a skinny and short human-faced monkey around 1.4 meters tall. Although he was almost a meter shorter than the elephant-person, the latter was nothing to him.

"You guys are doing logistics as your business. Does it make sense for you guys to lose stuff?!" The elephant-person was enraged to hear such a nonchalant answer.

"You should ask around and see which receiving point in the God Territory never loses their parcels." The human-faced monkey did not intend to apologize at all. "I can only say that you have shoddy luck to lose your parcel. There's no one to blame. Stop blocking my way and interrupting my business."

"I won't leave if you don't give me my stuff! I'll block your entrance and paralyze your business!" The elephant-person began throwing a tantrum.

"Are you sure you want to block my way?!" A cold gleam flashed through the human-faced monkey's eyes. Almost at the same time, a terrifying aura came out of his body for merely a second.

Even the pupils of Lin Huang and the other two who were queuing at the back shrank. The human-faced monkey's aura was clearly at peak virtual god-level. They could tell by the intensity of his aura that he was but a step away from stepping to true god-level.

The elephant-person who was supposed to collect his parcel peed in his pants then and there. He only had imperial-level combat strength and had never come in such close contact with a Virtual God before.

Fortunately, the aura was fleeting. If it really suppressed him, losing control of his bladder might not be the only thing that would happen; his soul might collapse shortly.

"Get lost!" The human-faced monkey scoffed. In turn, the elephant-person turned around and ran away while shuddering. He dared not stay even for a moment.

The expression of the people queueing at the back became complicated when they looked at the human-faced monkey again.

"Next!" The human-faced monkey pretended like nothing happened as he called out to the next person.

The pick-up queue was moving fast. It was Lin Huang and the rest's turn within three minutes. Not one of the next five people after the elephant-person lost their parcels, much to their relief.

"Pick-up code: 0618," Lin Huang stated his pick-up code directly.

The human-faced monkey lifted his head to peer at Lin Huang and subsequently glanced at Bloody and Kylie who were wearing masks and cloaks. He spoke a moment after lowering his head, "I can't find your pick-up code here."

Shelter's small hotel.

Lin Huang could not help but frown a little when he heard the human-faced monkey announce that he could not find the pick-up code. However, nobody could see the expression on his face since he wore a mask.

Next to Lin Huang, Bloody spoke up first, "Do you mean that our parcel is lost?"

The human-faced monkey squinted at Bloody. "Since we can't find the pick-up code, it's usually stolen. Smaller items are susceptible to that."

Bloody turned her head to look at Kylie next to her after hearing that. She nodded at her imperceptibly.

Kylie stretched her arm out and took off her mask, revealing her cold face. At the same time, she released her pure God's Blood aura and recalled it immediately.

The human-faced monkey was stunned when he saw Kylie's human features. Subsequently, his expression changed dramatically when he sensed the fleeting pure God's Blood aura of the Protoss.

One must know that they were in a God Territory, thus it was Protoss territory. Among Protosses, pure Protosses were the most arrogant and bossiest. Moreover, most of them had a terrifying background.

Whilst the human-faced monkey was unsure about what to do, Bloody, who was standing aside, spoke again, "Boss, why don't you look for it carefully again?"

The human-faced monkey nodded immediately. "Perhaps I missed it just now. Let me check again."

Kylie glared at him coldly and said nothing. She put on her mask again.

The bunch of people queuing behind did not see Kylie's face. Only a handful of them sensed her fleeting Protoss aura and knew what happened while the rest of them were confused.

"Isn't the owner all high and mighty? Why is he giving in now?"

"Yeah, he always calls the shots whenever the parcel can't be found. Whoever questions him would normally be chased away. Why is he looking for the pick-up code for the second time today?"

The human-faced monkey held his head down and checked again. Soon, he lifted his head and passed Bloody a little carton the size of a palm.

"I found it. Indeed, I missed it earlier."

The trio did not trouble the human-faced monkey further after taking the parcel. They turned around and left immediately.

The human-faced monkey was relieved when he saw them leave without saying anything. Although he was confident in his ability, he dared not offend any Protoss. It was the Protosses' territory after all.

Lin Huang and the other two did not expect such an incident to happen. Fortunately, they managed to get their identity rings in the end. They returned to the small hotel as soon as they received the parcel.

After they got into the hotel room, they opened the parcel. The three rings had different styles, but there was a little label on top of each ring. Among them were Bloody and Kylie's names while another one had 'Xie Lin' written on it.

The name of the label was correct. Lin Huang used a fake name of Xie Lin, switching around the name Lin Xie that he had used in the past.

They removed the label after retrieving their identity rings. Then, they began claiming ownership by dripping their blood onto the rings. After the ownership claiming was done, the three of them began familiarizing themselves with the identity rings.

Although the identity ring in the great world had many features that were different from those in the gravel world, most of the functions were similar. The functions on the page were just slightly more complicated with different interfaces.

Lin Huang merely spent a few minutes to learn all the functions of the new ring.

Bloody had used Lin Huang's identity in the past under his authorization, so with her intelligence, her speed of picking up the information was even faster than Lin Huang. She spent less than half a minute to familiarize herself with the identity ring completely.

Kylie spent a little more time on it since she had never used an identity ring before. Under Bloody's guidance, she only learned how to use the identity ring roughly half an hour later.

At the same time that the trio picked up the identity rings, a piece of news reached Start Shelter's guardian residence quietly.

"There were three people who are suspected to have disguised as Protosses at the receiving point earlier. We've confirmed them one of them is a female pureblood Protoss. The other two were disguised, so we failed to detect their real identities. We speculate them to most probably be Protosses too. The three of them have a combat strength of beginner-stage virtual god-level."

Half-naked, Start, who was revealing his muscular body, raised his brows slightly as he read the message while sitting in a cultivation room with his legs crossed.

"Three beginner-stage virtual god-level Protosses…Why bother to disguise themselves just to pick something up?"

A ring of waves reverberated behind Start just when he mumbled as if he was talking to himself. A rather husky voice came slowly, "There are three possibilities. The first one is that the goods are extremely important. Secondly, the goods are shady. Thirdly, the three of them are shady. There's a certain chance that the three possibilities overlap one another.

"They probably don't want to attract any attention picking up their stuff at your territory. After all, Start Shelter is just a grade-3 Shelter."

"Interesting…" Start smirked.

…

In the small hotel, the trio who were familiarized with the identity ring's applications were preparing to leave Start Shelter when someone knocked on the hotel room's door all of a sudden.

Their expressions changed.

"Who is it?!"

A thick male voice came behind the door slowly, "Your humble one is Start. I heard that there are three Protosses of the same kind staying here, so I thought I'd make a trip to visit."

The three of them were stunned to hear that. Never had they thought that the Shelter guardian would come to them when they were leaving.

Lin Huang merely hesitated for a moment before he walked forward in big steps and opened the door. "It's the Master Guardian. What a pleasure!"

Start glanced at the three of them. With his True God's vision, he saw through Bloody and Kylie's disguises.

Although he was not sure if Bloody was a Protoss, a glimpse was all it took for him to confirm that Kylie was the pureblood Protoss who had revealed her face at the receiving point earlier.

He shifted his attention and his gaze landed once more on Lin Huang who had opened the door. However, he could not see what was hiding under his disguise, so he could not help but feel doubtful.

"You sure are uptight with your attire, little brother."

"I've been scared of the cold since I was born, so I wore a bit more," Lin Huang responded while smiling, "Please come in, Master Guardian."

Start nodded and walked into the room. He could not help but shake his head after looking around. "I suppose the three of you didn't have to stay somewhere so crude even if you don't want anyone to know that you're in my Start Shelter, did you?"

"We just don't want unnecessary trouble," Lin Huang responded, "May I know if there's anything that we can do for you, Master Guardian?"

"Nothing, I just heard my people say that they saw Protosses of my own kind. I thought I should meet you guys and make friends." Start turned around and looked at Lin Huang with a smile.

"That's all?" Lin Huang asked while frowning a little.

"That's all!"

"We're just here to pick up a parcel. We'll leave today," Lin Huang said clearly. He did not want any trouble or to be friends with the guardian.

"You're leaving so soon? I thought of getting you guys to stay at my residence if you're staying for a few days more. This is my territory, and I should be a good host since it's a rare occasion to meet Protosses of my own kind," Start invited, grinning.

"Thanks for your kindness, Master Guardian, but we can't take it. There's something that we need to handle as soon as possible, so we won't be staying. If we have the opportunity to come to Start Shelter again, we'll definitely stay longer and make it a proper visit." Lin Huang's rejection was very cordial. He was mentally prepared to attack if Start insisted on him staying.

However, Start seemed to really have no ill intentions. He nodded and said warmly, "I shan't get you guys to stay since there's something that you must deal with. Let's exchange contact numbers to keep in touch. If you guys are free to come to Start Shelter again, just come straight to my residence. I'll welcome you guys at any time!"

Then, he bade farewell to Lin Huang and the other two after they exchanged numbers.

Lin Huang thought it was strange when Start left. "What was that guy thinking? Did he come all the way here just to get our number?"

However, Bloody had seen through Start's trick. "He wants to check our identities through our contact."

"So what if he finds out about our identities?"

"After all, Kylie exposed her pureblood Protoss identity. Perhaps he has the intention to keep in touch with us because of that. If Kylie's tribe is from a major organization among the Protosses, having her contact would create the possibility to be in contact with a major tribe. If he finds out that we're insignificant among the Protosses, he'll just delete our contacts and cut ties. All he did was waste a couple of minutes to meet us."

At Start Shelter's guardian residence, a shirtless Start sat in the middle of the cultivation room. The communication ring on his finger vibrated all of a sudden. He opened his eyes slowly and tapped on the message that just came in.

"I've identified the three of them. Among them, the man isn't a Protoss. According to the archive records, he's a quadruple-mutated mysterious-type. The two females are Protosses, the tribe of one of which isn't recorded, so she should belong to an insignificant tribe. The other one is a pureblood Protoss. According to the records, she's from the Nephilic Judge Tribe."

"From the Nephilic Judge Tribe?!" Start could not help but raise his brows.

Although the Nephilic Judge Tribe was considered a rare tribe due to the number of Protosses

whereby there were only some 100 people in the entire tribe, many of them ranked high among the Protoss. Moreover, more than one of them that were Heavenly Gods.

In other words, Kylie was much more powerful than Start when it came to their background.

Although Start's father was a high-level Heavenly God, among the Nephilic Judge Tribe, there were three high-level Heavenly Gods that were known to the public at the moment. It was said that even one of them was going to be lord-level.

"It seems like it's necessary for me to get closer to them," Start nodded lightly.

After some thought, Start decided to speak to his father to give a brief description of Lin Huang and the other two. He sent his father a text.

A moment later, a reply came. "Give me their contact numbers."

Start then sent all three of their contact numbers over.

Within half a minute, another text came. "You're being deceived. The three identities are fake. It's a heavy offense to disguise as a Protoss. I've reported the two fake Protosses to the related organization."

Start was stunned to see the message. 'They're fake?! But I sensed a pureblood Protoss's aura from one of the ladies clearly.'

Although he was secretly doubtful, Start did not suspect his own father, so he did not ask further. All he did was reply, "Alright, Father. I know now."

'Since Father has found out that their identities are fake, there must be something wrong with them. Perhaps the pureblood Protoss's aura that I sensed was the disguise of that lady's god rule relic…"

Start squinted slightly after exiting the communication page. He spread his Divine Telekinesis quickly so that it covered the entire Shelter immediately. However, he could no longer sense Lin Huang and the rest.

…

After sending the guardian, Start, off at the hotel, the trio left Start Shelter right away, going on their own ways.

Bloody and Kylie took the effort to head to the grade-4 Stop Shelter.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang passed through a couple of grade-3 Shelters consecutively. Following the route that Bloody planned, he headed to the grade-3 Shelter, the Iron Fist Shelter.

After getting out of the Iron Fist Shelter's dimensional portal, he headed straight to where the Death Sickle was.

Among grade-3 Shelters, the Iron Fist Shelter was considered the top in terms of how it was modeled. It was even more crowded than Start Shelter. The main reason was that this Shelter happened to be located among some ten grade-4 Shelters, so it naturally became an interchange point.

Apart from its fortunate location, the Iron Fist Shelter had existed for over 30,000 years, thus it was considered one of the oldest grade-3 Shelters left behind in the God Territory at the moment.

The Iron Fist Shelter would have been upgraded to a grade-4 Shelter if not for the fact that there was no inhabitable planet close to it. However, although it was only a grade-3 Shelter, the Iron Fist Shelter was considered to best even grade-4 Shelters when it came to its population. Many organizations made it their stationary point for the convenience.

Lin Huang was there for the Death Sickle.

Although it was a major organization, the Death Sickle was rather low-key on their conduct. Their stationary point was located in an alley of the Iron Fist Shelter black market.

Lin Huang found the place soon according to the coordinates Bloody found.

The Iron Fist Shelter black market was crowded even during the day. It was packed like the morning market with people going in and out of the nine intersecting alleys in the black market.

There would even be shouts of bargains from time to time on both sides of the road. Lin Huang felt suspicious that he might be in the wrong place.

Fortunately, he found the two-story building in the picture that Bloody gave based on the coordinates that she marked. The short building only had two floors. The tiles on the top floor were dark-green while the door was black. A red lantern was hung at the entrance, its illumination adding a tiny bit of liveliness to the entire building.

Lin Huang shook his head while smiling. Although low-key, this building was out of place compared to the other houses around it. The houses around were basically three stories high with tall roofs, and they were at least five meters taller than the short building. All of the roofs had red tiles. None of them were of any other color.

After making sure that he got the right place, he strode in confidently. He glanced around quickly as soon as he stepped in.

The lobby was rather dim. There was a long counter just across the entrance, but it was unattended. To be exact, there was nobody in the entire lobby.

"Anybody here?!" Lin Huang shouted since nobody came to greet him.

A silhouette walked out of the shadows not far from Lin Huang as soon as he spoke.

His pupils shrunk a little because he did not sense the person coming at all.

"You look like a stranger. I guess it's your first time here. Are you here to delegate a task or to pick something up?"

The man who walked out of the shadows was skinny. There was a scar that was close to five centimeters long under his left eye which looked a little like a tearstain. With a black tail on his back, Lin Huang could not tell what kind of monster it was.

This person's aura was very well-preserved whereby one could not tell his combat strength at all. However, judging by his appearance out of nowhere, Lin Huang could tell that he was at least a high-level Virtual God. There was a high possibility that he could even be a True God.

Lin Huang observed the man for a while and quickly looked away, announcing, "I would like to join the Death Sickle. What should I do?"

"Give me your contact number. I'll send you the registration form to fill in," Scarface said expressionlessly.

After sending his contact number to Scarface, Lin Huang received the registration form almost instantly. Scarface turned around directly without waiting for Lin Huang to tap open the form and said stonily, "Send it back to me when you're done."

"What do I do with the parts that I don't know?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

"Leave it blank," Scarface replied without even turning his head.

Lin Huang scanned through the registration form roughly after opening it. In reality, there was nothing much to be filled. He did not bother to ask Scarface further, so he filled up the form after skipping a few questions which involved his privacy. He then sent it back to Scarface.

Within a minute, Scarface appeared out of nowhere again.

"Should I fill in those that I left blank?" Lin Huang had come up with a story himself. Never had he thought that Scarface would toss him a wooden token immediately.

Lin Huang held his head down to look at the token after catching it. It was only the size of half a palm and seemed to be made of ordinary wood. There was the character 'reserve' written in the middle of the token. He realized that it was the Death Sickle's reserve token.

"Enter the code on the token on the page that you've just registered on. You'll be an official reserve member when the binding is completed."

After performing a surprisingly simple registration at Death Sickle's base, Lin Huang soon left the black market and found a nearby hotel to use as a temporary residence.

Only when he was at the hotel did he begin to study Death Sickle's website in earnest.

As Bloody had said, it was easy to join the Death Sickle organization. All he had to do was fill in an incomplete form and he immediately became a reserve member.

However, reserve members had extremely limited access.

On the official website, apart from public messages that could be found on the internet, the forum only contained a section for reserve members and a section for missions. There were also access restrictions in the missions section; he was only able to look at reserve-level missions.

As for the forum itself, there were access restrictions on even the message and trading sections.

"That's what you get for being a reserve member. It's no different from being a passerby," Lin Huang could not help but exclaim after giving the website a general once-over.

Not long after though, Lin Huang found a sticky that was pinned to the reserve members' section. The post was entitled Rules and Regulations For Promotion of Death Sickle Members.

He clicked on the post immediately, which took him less than a minute to read. Now he finally had a complete understanding of how Death Sickle's ranking system worked.

Just like what Bloody had found earlier, Death Sickle members were ranked in the order of reserves, Black Sickle, White Sickle, Gold Sickle, and Blood Sickle.

A normal registration would make one a reserve member straight away.

Reserve members only needed to complete three assassination missions within a year or take on three designated missions within ten years to become official Black Sickle members.

In actuality, there was also a real-name registration process that would allow one to bypass the reserves level and directly become a Black Sickle member.

However, this particular process required a recommendation from an official Death Sickle member. Not only that, the person would need to register their real name; their combat strength and ability had to be above virtual god-level as well. They would also have to pass an actual combat assessment. They could only skip over the reserves level and become a Black Sickle member if they passed their identity checks as well as their combat assessment.

Two conditions had to be fulfilled for Black Sickle members to be promoted to White Sickle members.

The first was to be in the top three places on the Black Sickle Leaderboard's monthly rankings for three consecutive months.

The second was to complete a True God assassination mission, which was a trial mission assigned when the promotion was requested.

The conditions for White Sickle members to be promoted to Gold Sickle members were similar.

Apart from being in the top three spots on the White Sickle Leaderboard monthly rankings for three consecutive months, one also needed to complete a Heavenly God assassination mission.

The conditions for Gold Sickle members to be promoted to the highest rank of Blood Sickle were even stricter.

The basic condition for promotion was to maintain the number one spot on the Gold Sickle Leaderboard monthly rankings for three years consecutively without missing a single month.

They had to carry out three trial missions, each to assassinate a half-step Lord.

"Judging by that last condition, although on the surface it seems as if there's no lord-level guardian in Death Sickle, the seven Blood Sickle members should at least be at the level of half-step lord instead of the ordinary peak-stage Heavenly God," Lin Huang exclaimed, unable to restrain himself, "If these seven Blood Sickle powerhouses have the ability to kill half-step Lords, the power of seven of them combined might be on par with a Lord."

After Lin Huang had finished reading this pin, he checked out other pins on the forum as well as the stickies with the most comments.

He only returned to the main page after scrolling over the reserve members section for over three hours.

"The access for reserve members is too limited. I must get promoted to Black Sickle level as soon as possible so I can take on missions to assassin Virtual Gods." Now that he had a rough understanding of Death Sickle's organization and hierarchy, Lin Huang was able to come up with a plan very rapidly. "I don't think I'll be able to go the route of using the identity check, so I can only be promoted through normal channels. That means I'll need to complete three reserve missions."

Once he had considered things to this point, Lin Huang clicked on the missions page and began looking for missions that suited him.

Due to the restrictions, Lin Huang could only access the reserves missions listed in the missions section. Despite that, he found plenty there

to occupy him.

After giving the matter some thought, Lin Huang chose to sort these missions by distance.

He wanted to be promoted as soon as he could, so naturally the closer the mission was, the better. He did not bother to take into consideration the difficulty level and the reward points.

"Mission: Assassinating Ai Yun"

"Location: Iron Fist Shelter"

"Target's Details: Son of Ai Rong the Iron Fist, combat strength: imperial-level"

"Mission Reward Points: 10,000 points"

Lin Huang was stunned when he saw the first mission that popped up according to distance.

The location was the Iron Fist Shelter, which was the Shelter that Lin Huang was currently in. In addition, it was worth 10,000 mission reward points. The points were comparable to those awarded for killing a new first-rank True God.

Lin Huang had never heard of Ai Yun. However, the name Ai Rong was familiar to him because it was the name of the Iron Fist Shelter's guardian.

According to the information that Bloody provided earlier, Ai Rong had been a ninth-rank True God since time immemorial. No one had yet been able to measure the extent of his abilities.

Lin Huang then looked through Ai Yun's information again. He discovered that not only was the boy Ai Rong's youngest son, he was also Ai Rong's only remaining son.

However, Ai Yun was only imperial-level in combat strength—or at least the combat strength that he demonstrated to the outside world was only imperial-level, and he did not seem to harbor any potential for cross-ranking battles.

Perhaps it was because Ai Yun was only imperial-level that the mission was also open to reserve members.

However, Lin Huang skipped the mission without hesitation and went straight to the next one on the list.

This mission was nearby, but it was not worth offending a top True God just to get promoted to be a Black Sickle member.

After spending some ten minutes doing simple filtering, Lin Huang selected three missions that he deemed suitable.

"Kill the Boa Seal Shelter guardian Vine Boa."

"Kill Violet Rat Shelter guardian Lumi Rat."

"Kill a Poisonous Swamp Frog to retrieve venom."

Both Boa Seal and Violet Rat Shelters were grade-1 Shelters. Moreover, they were both on the same planet and near the Iron Fist Shelter.

The reason nobody was willing to take on these two missions was not that both Shelter guardians were so powerful, but because both Shelters had a massive number of monster tribes in them. Though they were merely grade-1 Shelters, they housed about a million members of the same tribe. The population alone was comparable to that of a top grade-3 Shelter.

Meanwhile, both of the missions were only published in the missions section for reserve members for a reward of 100 points, respectively.

Given these missions were high risk and low return, it made sense that nobody was willing to take them on.

The Poisonous Swamp Frog was located on a miasmic planet close to the Boa Seal Shelter and the Violet Rat Shelter. The entire planet was covered in toxic mist, and almost all living things in its ecosystem were poisonous.

The layer of toxic mist alone could affect most living beings below virtual god-level.

Given that the reward points were low—only 300 points—it was only natural that nobody was willing to take such a risk.

All three of the missions happened to be in the same area and they were not far away from the Iron Fist Shelter. Lin Huang selected them without hesitation.

Less than an hour after deciding on his missions, Lin Huang arrived on Kraft Planet, the location of his intended target.

The entire planet seemed to reek of rot and decay. Murky raindrops fell from the gloomy sky. There were no plants to be seen, and faint traces of animal claw marks and snake trails were visible in the muddy soil.

"The stench in the air is terrible," Lin Huang could not help frowning a little under his mask.

A moment later, a Bug Tribe army appeared in front of him.

The Bug Tribe army was made up of two pseudo-mythical-level Bug Servants and 20,000 imperial-level purple gold-rank Bug Tribe fighters.

"Both of you take 10,000 fighters each, head to the two respective Shelters on this planet and wipe them out. Bring me both of the guardians' bodies and make sure they're intact, then handle the rest of the carcasses yourselves. Don't forget to look for loot while you're at it."

Both Bug Servants selected 10,000 fighters each and went their separate ways after the order was given.

Perhaps the massive tribes of the Boa Seal Shelter and Violet Rat Shelter intimidated other people; for Lin Huang, that proved no obstacle to his hunt.

No matter how many boas and rats there were, their numbers were child's play compared to his Bug Tribe armies.

The Bug Tribe army produced by the four Bug Tribe Queen Mothers had exceeded 300 million from very early on. Not only that, the weakest Bug Tribe fighter was at imperial-level purple gold-rank in combat strength. Any random fighter sent into battle would be no less powerful than either of the guardians, Vine Boa or Lumi Rat.

Besides, apart from the Bug Tribe fighters, there were two pseudo-mythical-level Bug Servants and seven mythical-level bug beasts that were on the same level as the Queen Mothers.

Two Bug Servants and two 10,000 Bug Tribe armies were definitely sufficient to handle two grade-1 Shelters.

The reason the Shelters had to be wiped out was to prevent news spreading to Protoss about the appearance of the Bug Tribe, which would attract unnecessary trouble.

After the Bug Tribe armies had departed, Lin Huang activated Divine Telekinesis and was very soon able to observe the battle situation.

Within ten minutes of their departure, both Bug Tribe armies encountered hunting teams that were outside of the Shelters.

Both hunting teams comprised over ten elite members of their tribe. However, the poor things were killed almost as soon as they discovered the Bug Tribe armies. As for the Bug Tribe armies themselves, this did not slow them down at all as they advanced towards their targets.

A little over half an hour later, both of the Bug Tribe armies arrived at the Shelters they had been assigned to and commenced a one-sided massacre.

Although the members of both of the Shelters outnumbered the Bug Tribe armies by a hundredfold, the battle was one-sided, as was to be expected. Attacks from countless beasts and rats could not break the defenses that the Queen Mother had so painstakingly drilled into her troops.

Within ten minutes, both of the Shelters were completely wiped out. No lives were spared.

After leaving behind a small team to search for loot, both Bug Tribe armies separated into 100 individual small teams respectively to search for other hunting parties that might still be outside the Shelters.

The 200 Bug Tribe teams spent around two hours combing the entire planet and killing several hunting teams in the process. After making sure that there were no survivors, the Bug Tribe teams reformed their squadrons then returned to Lin Huang in a collective army along with all the beast carcasses and loot.

Lin Huang only collected the loot and both of the guardians' bodies. The rest of the carcasses he gave to the army to bring back to the Queen Mothers as raw material.

Having successfully killed two birds with one stone, Lin Huang immediately headed to his second destination – the Misty Toxin Planet.

Just as its name suggested, the Misty Toxin Planet was a planet covered in poisonous mist.

The entire planet was shrouded in gray mist all year round. Powerhouses below virtual god-level and even imperial-level powerhouses were not immune to the lethal poisons that were to be found within the mist itself.

As Death Sickle only published this mission in the reserve members section and the reward points were a measly 300 points, it was perfectly natural that nobody was willing to take the risk.

Lin Huang had been willing to attempt this mission because it was close to the location of the previous two. Another reason was that since he had Divine Fire within his body, he was not afraid of the toxins on the planet.

However, the moment he set foot on the Misty Toxin Planet, Lin Huang found he could not take the stench of the poisonous mist.

"This toxic mist reeks a hundred times worse than the air on that other planet. It's making me sick…"

He felt disgusted as soon as he inhaled, so he had to stop breathing and put his body into breath-circulation mode.

With his imperial-level combat strength, although he could not keep up this internal breathing mode indefinitely, he could maintain it for three to five days.

The mission for the Misty Toxin Planet was to kill a Poisonous Swamp Frog and retrieve its venom.

It did not take long for Lin Huang to locate the Poisonous Swamp Frog's toxic swamp on the missions map. He summoned Thunder and set off for his destination at a furious gallop.

Thunder took less than two minutes to travel over 8,000 kilometers

and galloped faster than the local monsters on the Misty Toxin Planet could see with the naked eye. As a result, Lin Huang and Thunder encountered no obstacles along the way.

Lin Huang could not help frowning a little under his mask as they arrived above their destination—a bubbling purple-black swamp with steam rising from it. Before setting out, he had read from the mission details that most of the toxic gases on this planet came from the huge swamp currently below him.

The swamp covered close to a third of the entire planet. It was 500 million square kilometers, which was comparable to the earth's entire surface area.

According to data records, there were less than 100 Poisonous Swamp Frogs in this entire swamp.

Apart from Poisonous Swamp Frogs, the swamp was also home to other monster species; at a count, these ran into tens of thousands. Taken altogether, the various monster tribes added up to at least billions in number.

Finding a Poisonous Swamp Frog in this swamp was definitely like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Fortunately, Lin Huang had a solution. He gestured with his hands and summoned Grimace.

"What the hell is this evil-smelling sh*tty place?!" Grimace complained the moment he materialized. Subsequently, he shut down his breathing system immediately.

"A toxic swamp on the Misty Toxic Planet in God Territory within the great world," Lin Huang informed him before continuing, "I accepted a mission to find a Poisonous Swamp Frog…"

Lin Huang projected the Poisonous Swamp Frog's likeness as he spoke, "Capture one for me, I don't care if it's alive or not."

"In this swamp?" Grimace asked.

"That's right."

"How big is the swamp?" Grimace enquired again.

"Approximately 500 million square kilometers."

"That's not exactly easy," Grimace smirked.

"A set of god relic flying daggers or a god relic puppet, take your pick." Lin Huang knew that Grimace was looking to get some benefits for himself.

"I'll go for the flying daggers then," Grimace gave his answer after some consideration.

"Sure. Off with you now," Lin Huang nodded without hesitation.

"Alright!" Grimace seemed to be in a good mood since he had managed to get what he wanted. He activated his God Territory directly, covering the maximum radius of 20,000 kilometers.

A moment later, all monsters within the Territory fell under an illusory spell.

Grimace turned his head and asked Lin Huang, "Is one enough? Do you want a few more?"

"No, one is fine." Lin Huang did not expect Grimace to be so efficient.

Lin Huang had almost finished speaking when a gigantic silhouette suddenly thrashed out of the swamp.

Lin Huang scrutinized it closely. The Poisonous Swamp Frog was a gigantic frog monster five meters tall, weighing at least three tonnes. Its body, wreathed in toxic black mist, was bound by Grimace's telekinetic thread. Yanked out from deep within the swamp, it hit the ground hard in front of Lin Huang and promptly fell unconscious.

Lin Huang did not hesitate as he used the telekinetic thread to pick up a flying dagger and slit open the Poisonous Swamp Frog's chin. He retrieved its venom as if he had done it many times before…

Lin Huang had spent less than a day completing three fairly difficult reserve missions.

He headed straight to Death Sickle's base in the Iron Fist Shelter as soon as he completed the missions, and handed both over both the beast carcasses and the Poisonous Swamp Frog venom.

The reception staff was a lady with hair that was permed into large, loose waves. She was rather surprised when she received the mission items.

"These three missions have been sitting there for ages. Nobody was willing to accept them, and we never expected that anyone would be able to complete them either," the lady muttered softly as she processed the promotion paperwork for Lin Huang.

Very soon, the formalities were completed. The lady looked up at Lin Huang.

"It's Xie Lin, am I right? I've submitted your mission results and proceeded with your promotion formalities. It usually takes around three minutes to update your level. If nothing changes after an hour, come back and we'll handle that for you."

Lin Huang headed straight back to the hotel after leaving Death Sickle's base.

He clicked on Death Sickle's official website and saw that his level had indeed been updated. It had been upgraded from the initial 'reserve' to 'Black Sickle' now. Apart from that, the default image changed from the word 'reserve' to a pair of crossed black sickles.

Not only that, there was a change in his access authorization too.

The previously locked trading and forum exchange sections were accessible now. The missions section no longer showed only the section for reserve members; there was a Black Sickle section as well. The message section now gave him access to Black Sickle level information.

Lin Huang could finally see Death Sickle's Black Sickle, White Sickle, and Gold Sickle Leaderboards.

Apart from the code names used by Death Sickle members, the leaderboards recorded combat strength, the number of completed missions, the number of failed missions and total reward points.

"Code Name: Fallen Star"

"Combat Strength: Virtual God rank-9"

"Number of Completed Mission: 1361"

"Number of Failed Mission: 33

"Total Reward Points: 6071518"

…

"Code Name: Destiny"

"Combat Strength: Virtual God rank-9"

"Number of Completed Mission: 1368"

"Number of Failed Mission: 59"

"Total Reward Points: 5712623"

…

"Code Name: Twin"

"Combat Strength: Virtual God rank-9"

"Number of Completed Mission: 1281"

"Number of Failed Mission: 88"

"Total Reward Points: 5112513"

…

Almost all of the top 30 names on the Black Sickle Leaderboard were at Virtual God rank-9.

Lin Huang looked through the Black Sickle Leaderboard for a while before turning his attention to the White Sickle Leaderboard.

"Code Name: Virtuoso"

"Combat Strength: Seventh-rank True God"

"Number of Completed Mission: 768"

"Number of Failed Mission: 0"

"Total Reward Points: Access denied due to low authorization"

Lin Huang was shocked when he saw the details of the No.1 name, Virtuoso.

"His combat strength is only at the level of seventh-rank True God and he's taken on very few missions, but he's still on the top spot?!"

The person listed after Virtuoso was a ninth-rank True God who had completed 3,619 missions. Although he failed 78 missions, he was still ranked No.2. Clearly, the missions that Virtuoso took on were more difficult so the reward points had to be very high.

"He didn't fail at any of those 700-over difficult missions?" Lin Huang's attention was drawn to this particular point.

Obviously, this person with the codename Virtuoso was very powerful.

On the White Sickle Leaderboard, the person in the No.2 spot failed 78 missions while No.3 completed over 3,700 missions and failed 126 missions. The next person in line had over 200 failed missions.

It was obvious that White Sickle-level missions were not easy to complete.

After browsing the White Sickle Leaderboard for a while, Lin Huang proceeded to look at the higher-ranked Gold Sickle Leaderboard.

The person who ranked No.1 there was no other than Buried Heaven who was famous in the entire God Territory. Even Lin Huang, a recent arrival to the God Territory, had heard of him.

"Code Name: Buried Heaven"

"Combat Strength: Ninth-rank heavenly god-level"

"Number of Completed Mission: 5128"

"Number of Failed Mission: 13"

"Total Reward Points: Access denied due to low authorization"

…

After checking out Buried Heaven's statistics, Lin Huang was convinced that Virtuoso, the top rank on the White Sickle Leaderboard, was a genius. Buried Heaven ranked No.1 on the Gold Sickle Leaderboard and had ninth-rank heavenly god-level combat strength—yet he had failed 13 missions.

Meanwhile, the people who ranked second and third after Buried Heaven had failed more than 50 missions.

After a general look through the three leaderboards, what impressed Lin Huang most was not the Gold Sickle Leaderboard, nor Buried Heaven who was ranked the most powerful. It was Virtuoso who ranked No.1 on the White Sickle Leaderboard.

Unfortunately, as a Black Sickle member, Lin Huang did not have the authorization to access details of White Sickle and Gold Sickle members.

Interest piqued, Lin Huang tried hunting for information on Virtuoso over the internet but found nothing. In contrast, information on Buried Heaven could be found easily; there were even many videos of him killing his targets.

Buried Heaven's modus operandi was different from other assassins; one might even call him an anomaly. He never bothered with sneak attacks— in every assassination he appeared before his targets in full sight and made no attempt to disguise or hide his face. He would confront his targets directly, kill them, and leave.

He had also never prevented any spectators from recording his battles, nor did he care about the consequences that might ensue after his videos were posted on the internet.

As for the storm of mocking and teasing after the videos of his two failed missions went viral on the internet, he had never responded to any of it.

"This Buried Heaven is quite an interesting guy."

After closing the page, Lin Huang reined in his curiosity and began to look through the forum's message section.

Before beginning anything, the most important step was to retrieve information related to the task at hand. This was the advice that Bloody had given to Lin Huang.

As a result, Lin Huang thought he would check out the message section to see if he could find anything useful before he officially took on any missions.

Reserve members were denied access to the message section. It was Lin Huang's first time checking it since his promotion to Black Sickle level.

Based on popularity, the top thread was one entitled 'The Top 10 Most Deceptive Missions (Black Sickle Version)'.

Lin Huang could not help clicking on the thread after seeing the title.

"The No.1 Most Deceptive Mission:"

"Mission: Killing the Wine Ant Queen."

"Target Information: Bug Tribe Wine Ant Queen, mythical-level, Virtual God rank-9 combat strength (might elevate to true god-level anytime). Has four pseudo-mythical-level bug guardians whose combat strength is also peak Virtual God rank-9. She has over a hundred million Ant Tribe fighters under her, all of them at virtual god-level. The Wine Ant Queen can produce up to 1,000 Ant Tribe fighters every minute when she has sufficient resources…"

"Mission Reward Points: 300,000 points (Excluding points for selling bug carcasses and pseudo-mythical-level bug guardians. Extra 10,000 points for each kill.)"

"Challenges of the Mission:

1. The Wine Ant Queen has at least a hundred million Ant Tribe fighters, all of which are at virtual god-level. Not only that, she does not stop producing Ant Tribe fighters along the way. Even a beginner-stage true god-level powerhouse would find it hard to go deep into the colony. As soon as one's Divine Power is exhausted, a True God would die in the colony.

2. The four pseudo-mythical-level bug guardians are individually almost as strong as True Gods. Not only that, all of them have different abilities. Some are good in long-distance attacks, some excel at close-range combat, while others specialize in control and defense. The four bug guardians have been fighting together for years. When they join forces, even a second-rank True God might not be able to defeat them.

3. The Ant Queen is mythical-level herself. Her ability might be comparable to a first-rank True God were she to go into battle.

4. The star zone where the Wine Ant Queen resides is a battleground in itself. Apart from the Ant Queen, there are also other powerful Bug Tribes around.

…

Lin Huang was all fired up after reading the mission's description, instead of being discouraged.

Perhaps to other Black Sickle members, this mission seemed impossible; it was practically going to one's death even. Lin Huang, however, was not at all afraid of these sorts of Bug Tribes with a Queen Mother.

The numbers of the Ant Queen's troops were merely numbers as long as their ability was below Nightmare Tapir.

The incredibly high 300,000 reward points were very tempting as well.

After all, for Black Sickle members, ordinary missions to kill Virtual Gods were only worth between 100 to 10,000 points. Only limited, difficult true god-level missions would have reward points over 10,000.

The 300,000 reward points awarded for killing the Wine Ant Queen were because the difficulty was much higher than assassinating ordinary beginner-stage True Gods.

If this mission was posted in the missions section for White Sickle members, most of the beginner-stage True Gods might be afraid to accept it; only medium-rank True Gods would dare to take the risk. After all, although True Gods had Divine Fire within their bodies, as soon as the drain on Divine Power surpassed the speed by which Divine Fire could produce Divine Power, one's Divine Fire might be exhausted too.

This mission deserved to be called the No.1 Most Deceptive Mission.

After reading through the mission's full description, Lin Huang considered it for a little, then proceeded to check out other missions on the leaderboard…

Lin Huang had an odd expression on his face after reading the thread.

Among the Top 10 Most Deceptive Missions listed, there were three that suited him very well.

Apart from the Wine Ant Queen mission that ranked No.1, there were two other similar missions.

One was the Spider Empress mission in the No.2 spot, while another was No.4, the Tyrant Bug King mission.

The situation with the Spider Empress was more or less the same as that of the Wine Ant Queen. However, the tribe that the Empress produced was smaller. Despite that, preliminary estimation put the number of the tribe at about 50 million spiders.

Not only that, there were countless spider web traps all over the Spider Empress' lair. Many of the spider fighters harbored deadly toxins in their bodies. Overall, hunting the Spider Empress was no easier than hunting the Ant Queen.

The Tyrant Bug King on the No.4 spot was a male Bug King which could not reproduce.

However, this Bug King possessed powerful abilities and could face off in battle against a first-rank True God when it went into berserk mode.

It had conquered dozens of powerful Bug Kings on its own and formed an army with over 30 million bugs.

Although it could not reproduce to replenish its army, this Bug King had the tyrant's divine ability. Under its God Territory coverage, all Protoss fighters would go into berserk mode. Their combat strength would elevate at least two ranks higher, while some could even elevate three ranks higher.

Apart from the Tyrant Bug King itself, the 30-over bug kings under it were all high-level Virtual Gods, including seven first-rank True Gods.

Other people had no second thoughts about skipping over these three missions. After all, bug hordes were no joke. Even a True God would die on the spot if he was smothered in the bug horde with his Divine Power exhausted.

However, Lin Huang was secretly elated.

His main goal in coming to the great world was to hunt a great many virtual god-level monsters so he could retrieve Godheads and refine a sea of them to elevate his combat strength. At the same time, the spiritual energy that he gained from killing Virtual Gods could be given to the Combat Souls of the God's Figurines within him.

"I'm imperial-level grade-3 now. I'll need at least ten Virtual God rank-4 monster Godheads to elevate to imperial-level grade-4, which means I need 10,000 Virtual God rank-1 Godheads. If I calculate it like that, even if all Bug Tribe fighters are on Virtual God rank-1, 100 million Bug Tribe fighters are sufficient to get me to imperial-level grade-8…"

The reason Lin Huang calculated things this way was not because of the 1,000-fold difference in power between Virtual God rank-1 and Virtual God rank-4 Godheads. It was because the effectiveness of the conversion rate for lower-level Godheads would drop each time his combat strength elevated a rank.

If not for the conversion rate, the most that could happen was that he experienced threefold more Godheads exhaustion each rank he elevated, instead of the current tenfold.

Naturally, Lin Huang based his calculations on the most conservative estimate possible.

It was unlikely that all the Bug Tribe fighters under the Bug Queen and Bug King would be at Virtual God rank-1. It was even more unlikely that they were all at beginner-stage virtual god-level. There must be at least quite a few mid-level Virtual Gods and a lesser number of high-level Virtual Gods among them.

Lin Huang only needed a few preliminary calculations to realize that he would be able to elevate to imperial-level grade-9 as long as he completed all three of these missions.

Having considered things to this point, Lin Huang went into the missions section again. It did not take him long to find the three missions, once he had accessed the Black Sickle section.

After making sure that everything was alright, he accepted the three missions without hesitation.

Once he had done this, the number of times these missions had been accepted was updated on the missions list.

Very soon, people noticed the unusual activity and a heated discussion broke out on the forum.

"I remember the Wine Ant Queen mission. There used to be 13 acceptances before, why is it 14 now? Could someone have accepted this mission today? I also seem to remember that the number of acceptances for the Spider Empress was 21, but it's 22 today…"

"What's happening? Someone has fallen into the trap of the No.1 Most Deceptive Mission, the Wine Ant Queen one again?! I wonder if some rookie was tempted by the reward points and took it."

"It's not just the Wine Ant Queen mission, even the Spider Empress and Tyrant Bug King missions have been taken! Three of the most deceptive missions taken on the same day! It's impossible that the same person accepted them all, right?"

"Newborn calves are not afraid of tigers, rookies nowadays are very bold! Best wishes to him, so he comes back in one piece to give up on those missions, hahaha…"

"The ID of the poster above is rather familiar…"

"I think he's the one who took on the Tyrant Bug King mission last year. He was the guy who ran out of the battleground in only his underwear after the bug horde ripped his clothes to shreds."

"Hey! It's been over a year since that happened, why do you have to bring it up in so much detail?!"

…

The forum aside, even some of Death Sickle's upper echelons were discussing Lin Huang.

"Someone accepted the Wine Ant Queen mission on the Black Sickle missions list? I suppose it's a rookie again?" The question came from an old man with a gray beard. He wore a red robe and sat at the head of a long table.

"It's a kid named Xie Lin. He just registered a Death Sickle account today and took less than half a day to complete three reserve missions. He's been promoted to Black Sickle level," an alluring lady in a red dress responded. She wore a black hat with a veil, and through the veil, one could see her faint smile.

"There's nothing so impressive about completing three reserve missions within half a day. The most I can say is that he is highly capable," answered a grim-looking man sitting opposite the lady in the red dress. His face was expressionless.

"Out of curiosity, I looked at this kid's mission record. The three reserve missions that he took on were rather difficult. What's more interesting is that not only did he take on just the Wine Ant Queen mission after being elevated to Black Sickle, he took on three missions at once. The other two are the Spider Empress and Tyrant Bug King ones," the lady in the red dress commented.

"He picked the missions with the highest reward points. That only indicates he's a person who is greedy for points," the grim man said after a moment of silence.

"Haven't you noticed? The targets of the three missions he accepted have the ability to control bug hordes," the lady in the red dress said with some emphasis.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence, it doesn't prove anything." The grim man's face remained expressionless.

"I think he picked them intentionally."

"You're overthinking this."

"Alright, let's end this discussion here. We'll start the meeting," the old man with the gray beard interrupted. Seeing that the pair were going to continue bickering, there was nothing much that he could do except to halt the discussion.

…

Lin Huang had no idea that he was being discussed by the Death Sickle's upper echelons, neither did he check out the heated discussions he had caused on the forum.

This was primarily because he had departed right away as soon as he had accepted the three missions, heading straight for the Wine Ant Queen's colony.

After traveling for a night, it was past 10 the next morning when Lin Huang finally arrived at the area where his intended destination lay—the Bloody Battleground!

To avoid unnecessary trouble, he did a temporary identity registration at the garrison of the Combat God Temple.

"Name?"

"Xie Lin."

"Combat strength?"

"Virtual God rank-3." This was the answer that Lin Huang gave, having used his god rule relic to camouflage his combat strength,

"Organization that you belong to?"

"Death Sickle."

The Bloody Battleground was one of the rare low-grade battlegrounds in the God Territory.

Ever since Protoss won the war in the great world, the God Territory had entered into a time of peace. On unanimous agreement from all the tribes, a few battlegrounds were left behind for army training.

The main reason why all the tribes had agreed to set up temporary battlegrounds like this was so they could train their tribe armies there as well.

The Bloody Battleground was one of the few battlegrounds that the God Territory and Bug Territory had agreed to set aside for Virtual Gods to train their armies.

The battleground had a Great Dao Barrier that had been set up by both the Protoss and Bug Tribe Lords. Only powerhouses under true god-level could enter the area. If someone happened to elevate to True God in the battleground, they would instantly be teleported out.

Initially, the Great Dao Barrier was supposed to restrict Virtual Gods from entering the battleground. However, the God Territory figured that young geniuses below virtual god-level might need to cultivate in there, so they conferred with the Bug Tribe to relax the combat strength restrictions a little.

The purpose of relaxing this particular condition was to benefit people from the God Territory, which now gave Lin Huang his opportunity.

After completing his temporary identity registration, Lin Huang officially became a non-permanent member of the Combat God Temple.

The Combat God Temple had many battlegrounds under their jurisdiction, but they did not restrict non-permanent members' activities.

After registering himself, Lin Huang purchased a set of battleground maps at the Temple. He then donned light battle gear and headed straight for the territory of the Wine Ant Queen.

The Wine Ant Queen had come to the Bloody Battleground more than a decade ago and had soon become an overlord of the area. Since her elevation to Virtual God rank-9 during recent years, it was only natural that she became the No.1 overlord of the entire battleground.

Countless people in the God Territory had tried to kill her, to the point where various powerful organizations had allotted high rewards for such assassination missions, but nobody had succeeded yet.

Nobody below True God level, not even the elites among the Protoss, had managed to withstand the Wine Ant Queen's bug horde attack.

Lin Huang encountered a few God Territory members and some Bug Tribe monsters while he was on his way to the Wine Ant Queen's territory. However, he did not stop at all and headed straight for his destination.

Just as he was entering the Wine Ant Queen's territory, Lin Huang ran into two other Virtual God rank-9 God Territory members.

Upon seeing that Lin Huang was heading in that direction, the duo shouted, "Don't go any further, you'll be in the Wine Ant Queen's territory if not!"

Lin Huang smirked under his mask, "That's where I'm headed!"

He passed the duo before he was done speaking, continuing on his way.

"Another guy who is full of himself. I think his combat strength is only Virtual God rank-3."

"Every now and again, there're always reckless fools who think they're the chosen ones, trying to complete missions that ordinary people can't. We warned him but he refused to listen, so if he wants to go to his death, who are we to stop him?"

Naturally, Lin Huang could not hear the duo's discussion.

After passing the duo, the number of ant beasts increased visibly as he headed some 100 kilometers deeper into the area. Not only that, all the ant beasts possessed virtual god-level combat strength.

Without needing to look at the map, Lin Huang knew that he was almost at his destination.

He then summoned the Combat Soul of his God's Figurine, Nightmare Tapir. Instantly, all the ant beasts ignored them both.

Just like that, Lin Huang led Nightmare Tapir in without encountering any interference along the way. There were more and more ant beasts the further they went, and the distribution of the ant beasts became denser.

Lin Huang finally saw the ant colony's entrance when they arrived in the inner area that was marked on the map. It was a gigantic sinkhole, like a huge crater made by a fallen meteorite.

Hovering above the sinkhole, Lin Huang looked down but darkness was all he could see; he could not tell what lay in the depths of the sinkhole.

However, he did not hesitate at all but headed straight into the sinkhole with Nightmare Tapir.

Only when he was inside did Lin Huang realize that the walls were densely covered with holes.

These caves were of various sizes and were irregularly distributed. There were at least several hundred of them.

Hovering in mid-air, Lin Huang turned his head and looked at Nightmare Tapir beside him.

Nightmare Tapir rapidly sorted out the memories that he retrieved from the ant beasts' brains, picked a cave and slipped in. Lin Huang followed close behind him.

Once inside the cave, the path within twisted and turned. Not only that, there were forks every now and then. Sometimes there were two forks, sometimes three or four, and sometimes there were even more than ten forks.

Very soon, Lin Huang was dizzy from the journey. Fortunately, Nightmare Tapir knew the route like the back of his hand.

There were many ant beasts in the road forks. Initially they were merely Virtual God rank-1s and rank-2s; later there were Virtual God rank-3s and rank-4s, even Virtual God rank-5s and rank-6s. The deeper the duo went, the more powerful the ant beasts' combat strength was.

However, the number of ant beasts above Virtual God rank-4 visibly dropped. They only bumped into a few Virtual God rank-6 ant beasts.

Under Nightmare Tapir's divine ability, all of the ant beasts ignored the duo.

Human and beast entered a barren land with no enemies in sight. It did not take them long to penetrate deep into the core of the colony.

The core of the colony was a gigantic underground space. It was like a massive cave, with ant beasts densely crawling all over the ground and the walls.

All of the ant beasts here were at least Virtual God rank-6. At a cursory glance, Lin Huang saw at least 1,000 Virtual God rank-6 ant beasts, up to a hundred Virtual God rank-7 ant beasts and dozens of Virtual God rank-8 ant beasts.

Meanwhile, the ant beasts had cleared a space in the middle that was approximately hundreds of square meters in size.

A huge red Ant Queen was lying there. There were four Virtual God rank-9 bug guardians at each cardinal point, guarding the Ant Queen.

The Ant Queen and four bug guardians were alerted as soon as Lin Huang and Nightmare Tapir appeared.

The rest of the ant beasts were still under the influence of Nightmare Tapir's divine ability; they ignored Lin Huang and Nightmare Tapir's existence completely.

Without waiting for the Wine Ant Queen and the four bug guardians to react, Nightmare Tapir's pupils turned black in the dark cave. The next second, the four bug guardians had been rendered dazed and immobile.

Meanwhile, the Wine Ant Queen only had time for a struggling gleam to flash through her eyes before she was overwhelmed completely, unable to move.

Lin Huang had thought that the Wine Ant Queen's soul and spiritual intensity were extraordinarily powerful since she was mythical-level and had conquered over a hundred million Ant Tribe members. By right she should not fall prey easily to mind control; he had not expected that she would be completely powerless against Nightmare Tapir.

"Retrieve their memories first, see if there's anything useful. Spare no one after that."

Lin Huang was so decisive mainly because he needed a considerable amount of Godheads to elevate his combat strength. Although massacring this Ant Queen's tribe would almost certainly draw the Bug Tribe here for investigation and revenge, there was little difference in the consequences, whether he killed just the Ant Queen or slaughtered the whole tribe.

A moment after Nightmare Tapir's command, the sea of bug beasts lost their vitality without warning. They looked like they had fallen into a deep sleep.

Those that were crawling on the walls fell onto the ground like chips of rock, stirring up waves of dust…

At the same time, Lin Huang could clearly sense a sea of spiritual energy seeping into his body.

Seeing the Ant Queen slowly losing her vitality in front of him, Lin Huang summoned a Queen Mother army immediately to clear the battleground and pick up the bug carcasses…

Having settled the matter of the Wine Ant Queen, Lin Huang did not linger in the Bloody Battleground.

Instead, he retreated from the area immediately and headed straight for his second destination—the Hunter Battleground where the Spider Empress was.

Like the Bloody Battleground, the Hunter Battleground was an area for army training.

The Spider Empress and the Wine Ant Queen were similar in terms of circumstances; both rapidly become overlords after coming to their respective territories.

Although the Spider Empress' abilities were not as powerful as the Wine Ant Queen, the traps and poisons in the spider lair scared off many people. The difficulty of killing the Spider Empress was just as high as that of killing the Wine Ant Queen.

Lin Huang spent almost a whole day getting to the Hunter Battleground.

Although he did not refine Godheads during that time, he had allocated the sea of spiritual energy in his body to the Combat Souls of his God's Figurines accordingly.

Ninetails Lynx and Destructive Divine Mammoth who were initially Virtual God rank-8, as well as Shackle Serpent and Undead Styx who were initially Virtual God rank-7 had been allocated 90% of Lin Huang's spiritual energy. All of them had been elevated to Virtual God rank-9 right away.

Meanwhile, the remaining 10% of spiritual energy had been assigned to the other five God's Figurine's Combat Souls, including Divine Sun Tree. They had elevated from Virtual God rank-7 to Virtual God rank-8.

Although there were no changes in their combat strength, their overall abilities were significantly upgraded.

Upon entering the Hunter Battleground, Lin Huang used the non-permanent member identity from his registration the day before at the Combat God Temple. He was approved immediately.

Although the registration staff saw that Lin Huang had just been to the Bloody Battleground yesterday, they did not find it odd that he was here at the Hunter Battleground today.

In reality, there were many non-permanent members like Lin Huang. Most of them would take on missions in different battlegrounds and then head straight to the next battleground after completing their mission at the first one. It was very common.

After entering the Hunter Battleground, Lin Huang followed the map and headed straight to the spider lair

, where he used the same strategy as yesterday. Under Nightmare Tapir's divine ability, the duo managed to go deep into the spider lair without being discovered.

However, as they had to avoid all sorts of traps inside, they spent a much longer time in the spider lair than they had in the ant colony.

The mission took a total of about two hours, from entering the Hunter Battleground to Nightmare Tapir dragging the Spider Empress into his dreamland.

The population of the Spider Tribe was much bigger than initially speculated. The official figure was around 50 million but in reality, there were some 70 million that perished under Nightmare Tapir's control.

Lin Huang gave this round of spiritual energy to Divine Sun Tree, Enchanted Fairy, and Death Butterfly. The three of them elevated from Virtual God rank-8 to Virtual God rank-9.

After disposing of the bug carcasses, Lin Huang recalled all of his cards and God's Figurine's Combat Souls. He then left the Hunter Battleground right away and headed to his third destination.

The area where the Tyrant Bug King had his territory was called the Mad King Battleground.

In this battleground, although the Tyrant Bug King had conquered the Bug Tribe army with extraordinarily powerful ability, it was not ranked as No.1. Instead, the honor fell to another quadruple mutated prime-grade bug beast – the Horned Beetle.

In fact, the Horned Beetle was also listed in the Black Sickle's mission section as No. 3 of the Top 3 Most Deceptive Missions.

The killing of the Horned Beetle ranked above the Tyrant Bug King because the Horned beetle, a prime-grade bug beast, was protected by a chitinous black exoskeleton. Its defenses were comparable with a god rule relic.

The Horned Beetle's strength and speed were also at true god-level. It could face a first-rank True God head-on with its brute force and thick shell alone.

It was almost impossible even for a first-rank True God to kill it.

Lin Huang had not taken up the mission to kill the Horned Beetle because it was not always in the battleground. It only appeared occasionally, so encountering it would be through sheer coincidence and luck.

Moreover, one could gain a large number of card pieces and complete cards by hunting bug hordes. There was only one Horned Beetle. The chances of getting a complete Monster Card from killing it were almost zero, so this did not interest Lin Huang very much.

After entering the Mad King Battleground, just like before, Lin Huang headed straight to the Tyrant Bug King's territory.

Right as he was about to step into the Tyrant Bug King's territory however, he sensed an intense collision impact from a distance.

The collision impact came from a powerhouse of at least Virtual God rank-9.

"Someone took the mission before I did?!"

Lin Huang could not help but frown as he watched sparks flying into the air from the collision of powerhouses in his target destination.

However, he did not feel troubled. It was not unusual for someone to take up the mission since it had been distributed to all organizations. After all, the Tyrant Bug King was not a Queen Mother. It could not produce a Bug Tribe army, which rendered the mission difficulty much lower.

Despite that, nobody had managed to complete the mission in the two to three years of its initial announcement. Naturally, Lin Huang did not think that the person who had first taken the mission could complete it either.

"Let's just go over and watch, don't do anything yet," Lin Huang said to Nightmare Tapir with a smile.

Human and beast easily made their way deep into the Tyrant Bug King's territory in the presence of countless bug beasts, without being discovered.

Once he was near enough to the battleground to see the situation clearly, Lin Huang's expression was one of great surprise under his mask.

Initially, he thought that the person fighting the Tyrant Bug King would probably be a member of the God Territory, with a high possibility of them being a Protoss. However, now he realized it was actually a Bug Tribe beast that was fighting the Tyrant Bug King.

Meanwhile, the Tyrant Bug King was not fighting alone; it had formed a battle formation with dozens of high-level virtual god-level Bug Kings. They were locked in combat with a black bug beast.

"I guess this is the Horned Beetle? Is it going to usurp the Bug King's place?"

Although Lin Huang had never seen the Horned Beetle before and had not even checked on its mission details, he recognized the bug beast as soon as he saw it.

It was gigantic and covered with a thick, heavy black shell. However, its speed was not affected at all and it was incredibly strong.

The Tyrant Bug King was also a quadruple mutated prime-grade bug beast but even with a battle formation, it could gain no headway over the Horned Beetle. In fact, the Bug King was even at a slight disadvantage.

Lin Huang watched as the Horned Beetle fearlessly collided with the Bug King's gigantic bug beasts and could not help exclaiming, "I'm afraid this Horned Beetle's bodily power and strength might be on par with the Tyrant Bug King. Its explosive force isn't as great, but it's faster and more agile. Monsters with such physique usually have unbelievable stamina. The longer the Tyrant Bug King takes for this battle, the more at a disadvantage it's going to be…"

Lin Huang had only watched the battle for less than ten minutes before he saw that the Horned Beetle was obviously gaining the upper hand. Meanwhile, the Tyrant Bug King's situation was also getting worse.

Lin Huang finally decided to interrupt things when he noticed that the Tyrant Bug King was about to be defeated.

As Nightmare Tapir's pupils turned black, a colorless wave began to radiate outwards over the entire battleground and everything went silent. All of the bug beasts, including the Tyrant Bug King and the Horned Beetle, seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep.

Just as he had done previously, Lin Huang had Nightmare Tapir retrieve all the bug beasts' memories, and send them into eternal slumber.

Lin Huang smirked a little upon seeing the Horned Beetle's carcass, which had lost all of its vitality without the need for a single casualty.

"Seems like I might need to take on the Top 3 Most Deceptive Missions on that leaderboard when I get back…"

Lin Huang returned to the Iron Fist Shelter after he was done with the Tyrant Bug King.

However, he did not hand over the mission items right away upon his return. Instead, after accepting the mission to kill the Horned Beetle on Death Sickle's missions forum, he rented a cultivation room and went into closed-door cultivation.

Once in the cultivation room, the first thing Lin Huang did was to give the Tyrant Bug King's bug beasts' spiritual energy to Fading Petals and Creation Clock.

Although the bug beasts that the Tyrant Bug King had conquered were less powerful than the Wine Ant Queen and the Spider Empress, he had many high-level Virtual Gods under him. He had dozens of Virtual God rank-8 and Virtual God rank-9 Bug Kings; some of them were even mythical-level. The total sum of spiritual energy was not that different from the other two missions.

After this transfer of spiritual energy, the last two God's Figurines' Combat Souls, namely Fading Petals and Creation Clock, finally elevated to Virtual God rank-9.

As of now, all ten God's Figurines' Combat Souls were one step away from elevating to true god-level. Their overall ability was over several times more powerful than before they came to the great world.

After allocating his spiritual energy, Lin Huang checked the cards that he had obtained over the last few days.

Since he used a Double Reward Card every time these days before fighting, he had obtained a total of 450 million card pieces and over 1,200 complete Monster Cards. Most of them were basically triple mutated legendary-level Monster Cards. There were only 52 pseudo-mythical-level cards and 8 mythical-level cards.

There were two Spider Empress cards among the mythical-level cards. The remaining six cards were two bug guardians and a Bug King under the Tyrant Bug King. Since he used a Double Reward Card, the number of complete cards was doubled.

Lin Huang was actually surprised to have obtained the Spider Empress cards; he had not been hoping for much.

After placing the 1,200-over bug beast cards that he had just obtained into the galactic hive, Lin Huang fed all of the extraneous bug carcasses into the hive.

Earlier, Lin Huang had retrieved the Godheads in the bug carcasses when he had summoned the Bug Tribe army to clean up the battlefield. He had since placed them in a corner of the storeroom. Now he brought them out.

Apart from the four Virtual God rank-9 Godheads from the Wine Ant Queen, the Spider Empress, the Tyrant Bug King and the Horned Beetle, there were two Godheads that came from the mythical-level Bug Kings under the Tyrant Bug King.

Lin Huang had finally gathered the main materials he needed, which were the six Virtual God rank-9 Godheads.

Meanwhile, he had over 200 million Godheads for supplementary materials. Naturally, he had sufficient materials now.

Without hesitation, he tossed a Virtual God rank-9 Godhead into his Divine Fire as the main material. Subsequently, he tossed in the sea of Godheads as the supplementary materials.

The Godheads turned into meteors, colliding straight into his Life Palace. Very soon, they were surrounded by ten golden Life Wheels resembling suns. Each Life Wheel spurted dark-red Divine Fire, enveloping the Godheads entirely.

When Lin Huang was still imperial-level rank-1, he needed a full month to refine a Virtual God rank-9 Godhead. Now that he was already at imperial-level rank-3, the refinement period was shortened by almost a third, which meant he would only need 20 days for refinement.

The refinement time would accelerate after level elevation. This was because the Divine Fire's refinement power was restricted by Lin Huang's combat strength.

In the cultivation room, Lin Huang closed his eyes to focus. He concentrated all his attention on activating the Divine Fire.

After being refined by Divine Fire, the sea of Godheads was transformed into a white stream that penetrated his Life Palace.

The stream was merely the thickness of a hair and flowed slowly at first. As the Godheads were refined, the stream grew. Some one to two hours later, it was flowing like a great river in the Life Palace.

Time flew by; 12 days passed. All of the supplementary materials were refined and the Life Palace began to stop absorbing supplementary energy. Lin Huang began focusing on refining the single remaining Virtual God rank-9 Godhead in his body.

Eight days went by just like that. The main material, the Virtual God rank-9 Godhead, had been refined completely, turning into a white river that flowed into the Life Palace.

A moment later, Lin Huang's inner universe experienced a period of upheaval. The Divine Fire retreated back into the Life Lamp while the ten Life Wheels returned to their original positions.

Lin Huang could clearly feel the Divine Power in his body undergoing another transformation.

However, this was just a minor transformation. It was not powerful enough to trigger a fundamental change in the Divine Power's nature, but the Divine Power's intensity was certainly a bit stronger than before.

At the same time that this Divine Power transformation was taking place, Lin Huang's physical body and soul were strengthened too.

Although once again no fundamental change took place, he could clearly feel that he was more powerful now.

"I've been elevated to imperial-level rank-4!"

After observing the transformation in his body for a little, Lin Huang then looked at the Monster Cards in his body.

Bai and the others had had their combat strength elevated to Virtual God rank-3.

Lin Huang was at peace again after calming himself down. He took out two Virtual God rank-9 Godheads and a large number of supplementary Godheads. Without any hesitation, he tossed them into his inner universe again.

…

While Lin Huang was focusing on refining Godheads to elevate his combat strength, the forum exchange on the Death Sickle's website was a stirring hive of activity.

One of the threads had over 10,000 comments.

The title was, 'Where Did The Bug King and the Bug Queens Go?!'

The thread described the sudden disappearance of the overlords of three battlegrounds, the Wine Ant Queen, the Spider Empress, and the Tyrant Bug King. There were verification photos and videos too.

Before the thread was posted, people had originally been speculating on the internet about the disappearances of the Bug King and the two Bug Queens. It was just that most of them thought this was a rumor started by trolls. Even though there were videos and photos, people still thought they were faked.

However, as rumors continued to spread like wildfire for the next few days, people witnessed a couple of major organizations sending their elite virtual god-level teams to investigate the three battlegrounds, while more videos and photos were posted. Only then did people start to believe that this was the real thing.

More and more discussions about the disappearances of these three Bug overlords mushroomed up on the forums of every organization.

However, basically, everyone on the forums had come to the same conclusion.

All of them assumed that the two Queen Mothers and the Bug King had retreated by choice from the battlegrounds, which explained why there were no traces of battle left behind at the scenes. Not only had the Bug King and the Bug Queens disappeared, but even the Bug Tribe armies had also vanished.

If it were only the Bug King and the Bug Queens that had died, people might have speculated that powerhouses from the God Territory had invaded the core of each bug lair and assassinated the overlords. There was certainly a possibility that this could have happened.

However, a hundred million over Bug Tribe troops disappearing without a trace could not possibly be the work of human agency. Most importantly, there were no traces of battle at all.

Even the upper echelons of a few major organizations in the God Territory were discussing the matter, including Death Sickle. All of them were asking if anybody had taken up the missions recently.

Death Sickle's upper echelons even discussed Lin Huang in their meeting. However, it was merely someone mentioning in passing, "I think that rookie Xie Lin took those missions recently but as I recall, he's only a Virtual God rank-3."

Everyone merely shook their head and smiled before skipping over the subject. Nobody thought Lin Huang could possibly be responsible for the mysterious disappearances.

In a flash, almost two months went by.

Within this period, Lin Huang elevated from imperial-level rank-3 all the way to imperial-level rank-9 by consecutively using six Virtual God rank-9 Godheads as the main materials and a sea of Godheads from various ranks as supplements.

Initially, he took 20 days to elevate from imperial-level rank-3 to imperial-level rank-4. However, as his combat strength rose, the speed at which he refined Godheads accelerated, as did the speed of his level elevation.

Subsequently, it took him only 14 days to elevate from imperial-level rank-4 to imperial-level rank-5. After that, he merely spent 9 days elevating from imperial-level rank-5 to imperial-level rank-6 and 6 days to go from imperial-level rank-6 to imperial-level rank-7…

Altogether it took Lin Huang a total of 56 days to elevate from imperial-level rank-3 to imperial-level rank-9.

Perhaps for others, such rapid elevation might have resulted in a weak foundation. However, Lin Huang's imperial-level was different from the rest. Refining one Virtual God rank-9 Godhead was the equivalent of building his foundation all over again. In other words, it was making his Life Palace sturdier, which made his foundation all the more stable.

Given that his physical constitution and spiritual resilience were already at Virtual God level, he was able to handle the stress that such elevation methods invariably put his body through. Two months of continuous rapid elevation had no side-effects on him whatsoever.

Naturally, Lin Huang was very careful. Every time he elevated up a rank, he would check his body over very carefully to make sure nothing had gone wrong. He only refined the next round of Godheads after making sure that everything was fine.

He finally stopped refining Godheads after he elevated all the way to imperial-level rank-9.

He did not get out of cultivation immediately either. Instead, he began checking his body carefully again.

"My body is already close to peak-stage Virtual God rank-9 while my strength and speed are at Virtual God rank-9 level already…" Lin Huang examined himself with care, finally turning his attention to his Life Palace.

His Life Palace, which was originally black, was now faintly imprinted with a dark-red divine pattern.

"Life Palace: Monster Paradise"

"Life Palace's Territorial Range: Radius of 10,000 kilometers from the Life Palace possessor (potential for expansion)."

"Life Palace Ability 1: Within the Life Palace's territorial range, the dead summoning beast's soul will return to the Life Palace with its body reconstructed and revived. Those with a broken soul will have their broken soul pieces recalled and recovered."

"Ability Restriction 1: Each summoning beast can only be revived 30 times within 24 hours. Their soul will disintegrate after 30 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 9 times within 24 hours. Their soul will disintegrate after 9 times and they won't be able to return to the Life Palace (potential to grow)."

"Derivative Ability: If the Life Palace possessor dies within the coverage range, he can choose to use a summoning beast as a substitute in death. The summoning beast chosen as a substitute won't be able to be summoned for 24 hours (potential to grow)."

"Remarks: The Life Palace possessor can only be substituted 9 times within 24 hours. He can only be substituted 3 times if his soul has disintegrated (potential to grow)."

…

"Life Palace Ability 2: Within the Life Palace's territorial range, the Life Palace possessor and his summoning beasts would have a nine-fold boost in strength, speed, and spirit. The other summoning beasts would have a 30% drop in their strength, speed, and spirit (potential to grow)."

"Remarks: The Life Palace possessor can turn off the boost and the undermining effect as and when he wishes."

…

Lin Huang's Life Palace abilities had seen great improvement since its elevation from imperial-level rank-3 to imperial-level rank-9.

Not only were the territorial ranges widened, but there was also a significant improvement in the summoning beast's number of revivals, substitution abilities, and ability boosts.

"My Life Power is much more powerful now but it still doesn't seem to be at its peak…" Lin Huang sensed clearly that there was still room for improvement in his Life Palace.

It did not matter if he were elevating to virtual god-level or elevating directly to true god-level in future; he was still not at his maximum potential for elevation.

"Don't tell me I need to elevate to imperial-level rank-10 to go any further?" Lin Huang mumbled softly.

"You should try and see if you can continue to elevate," the stone tablet's thick voice sounded all of a sudden, "Since you feel that your Life Palace isn't at its peak yet, it's definitely possible to elevate further."

"But my Life Palace has stopped absorbing the remaining energy coming from the Godheads. Right after I elevated to imperial-level rank-9, I had a small amount of Godhead energy left behind. I tried making my Life Palace absorb it but there was no response as if it were already full," Lin Huang raised his doubt.

The stone tablet fell silent for a moment, before suggesting, "Since you feel that it hasn't reached its peak, it's very unlikely that it's full. I think you can try refining Godheads from Virtual God rank-1 to Virtual God rank-9. If that doesn't work, then there are only two possibilities. One is that your Life Palace can still elevate further but there's a specific condition attached to it. The other possibility would be there's something wrong with your senses. However, the chances of the second possibility are fairly small. After all, you're not a rookie who has just stepped onto the cultivation path."

Lin Huang nodded. From the storeroom, he took out Godheads from Virtual God rank-1 to Virtual God rank-9 and tossed all of them into his body. He activated Divine Fire and proceeded to refine them.

Time flew by; two days passed. After the Godheads had been refined, Lin Huang repeatedly activated his Life Palace to absorb the energy. However, there was no response from the Life Palace at all.

"I've tried Godheads from Virtual God rank-1 to Virtual God rank-9, it doesn't absorb any more energy…" Lin Huang looked helpless.

"Then there's a high chance there's a specific elevation condition. You'll have to figure out exactly what it is on your own." The stone tablet was out of ideas as well.

"Forget it, I'll leave things alone for now." Lin Huang set the issue aside decisively. He began discussing questions about further elevation with the stone tablet.

"I should have two choices for elevating to the next level when my Life Palace is fully elevated. One is to consolidate Godheads to get to virtual god-level. Another is to refine Divine Fire to directly get to true god-level. Which do you think is better?"

"If you would like to elevate your ability in a short period of time, elevating to True God would naturally be faster. However, if you're considering development for the long run, I personally suggest elevating to virtual god-level first," the stone tablet answered after thinking about it for a while.

"Given the stability of your Life Palace, you can certainly use it as a Godhead and refine your Divine Fire directly. However, think about it this way for a moment. Although you would save time by skipping virtual god-level and going to true god-level directly, it would waste what you've been accumulating for the past few years. Your elevation to true god-level would be no different from other True Gods."

"However, if you go through virtual god-level before getting to true god-level, you would be the top powerhouse among the True Gods. Not only that, in the long run, you would have a higher chance of elevating to Heavenly God or even Lord-level in the future."

"There's another reason why I don't suggest elevating to true god-level directly. The gravel world that you were in before had incomplete rules and denies True Gods from entering. For you, the difficulty of returning to the gravel world after elevating to true god-level would be very high. Even if you managed to return, you would be hindered by the rules of the world everywhere you go, unless you seal your combat strength below true god-level."

Lin Huang fell silent for a long time after hearing what the stone tablet had to say.

He had considered those issues before as well. However, the gravel world's impending crisis was getting closer; there were less than nine months left now. Naturally, he was anxious, which had resulted in him wanting to elevate his ability as soon as possible and thus neglect many details.

He had a sudden epiphany regarding the stone tablet's words.

"I know what I should do now…"

My name is Ji Bai. I am a male, demonic plant species. To be exact, I belong to the Charming Flower Tribe.

Our tribe members are beautiful no matter male or female. In the God Territory, our tribe members are responsible for reception tasks in all organizations. For instance, I'm working as a mission receptionist at Death Sickle's branch in the Iron Fist Shelter.

The Iron Fist Shelter is a classic grade-3 Shelter. Although it's only grade-3, in reality, it's more crowded and hectic than some grade-4 Shelters. The Death Sickle estate that I'm working at is one of the most crowded places in the entire Shelter. Therefore, our daily tasks aren't easy at all…

I shouldn't chat anymore, someone is here to submit his mission.

What, you're asking how do I judge if a person is here to submit his mission, taking a mission or announcing a mission?

That's easy, one can announce and accept missions on Death Sickle's website. Submitting missions is the only time one needs to submit proof. Therefore, they would have to come to the estate in the Shelter.

There are only a handful of people who do not know how to navigate our website, hence we would remember them after they visit us once.

Alright, I really can't chat anymore. I need to work now.

"Sir, is there anything that I can help you with?" I smiled at the man dressed in black robe before me.

His black robe was big and loose, no details could be seen from the coverage. Even his face was hidden under his hoodie. I could vaguely see a black mist lingering in the shadow of the hoodie. I could not judge what race or tribe he belonged to.

"I'm here to submit my mission," the man in the black robe replied with his extremely deep and husky voice.

"Sure, please tell me your mission code," I smiled as I replied.

Asking for the mission code was the first step to approving a mission.

"Black SSS13, Black SSS14, Black SSS19, Black SSS21," the man in the black robe read out the four codes.

I was slightly stunned when I heard that.

There were categories to Death Sickle's mission code.

'Black' would mean Black Sickle-level.

The alphabet behind it indicated the mission difficulty.

The mission difficulty was categorized from low to high, which are D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS.

Black D-level was easy, whereby even a Virtual God rank-1 could complete it under normal circumstances.

Black C-level was similar to killing beginner-stage virtual god-level. Meanwhile, Black B-level was similar to killing intermediate-stage virtual god-level and Black A-level was similar to killing high-level virtual god-level.

Black S-level would mean that it was immensely difficult, which was the equivalence of killing Virtual God rank-9. That was the difficulty level of Black S-level.

The Black SS-level, which was even higher meant that one's hunting target was on peak-stage virtual god-level which would elevate to true god-level anytime.

On the other hand, there were very few Black SSS-level missions. Basically, almost no Virtual Gods were able to complete the mission. Some of the hunting targets even surpassed ordinary first-rank True God. Even a genius with Protoss bloodline could barely complete it.

Meanwhile, this guy before me gave four mission codes that are all on SSS-level. Was he crazy?!

I would not believe that anyone could complete four SSS-level missions at once, and on his own.

With doubts, I found the missions with the four codes and began looking through them.

Black SSS13, killing the Wine Ant Queen in the Bloody Battleground…

Black SSS14, killing the kill Spider Empress in the Hunter Battleground…

Black SSS19, killing the Tyrant Bug King in the Mad King Battleground…

Black SSS21, killing the Horned Beetle in the Mad King Battleground…

After looking through them, I'm almost 120% sure that this guy before me was trying to make a fool out of me.

Although there was punishment in Death Sickle for false mission reports, the punishment was not usually heavy. Therefore, there would be trolls lying about their missions for rewards now and then.

This guy before me was here to cheat his way to rewards. Not only that, something was wrong with his head reporting four SSS-level missions at one go.

Such trolls that would cheat for rewards would usually use mission targets that were already dead and submit unrecognizable carcass parts to pass as the mission target's carcass parts.

In reality, on a certain level, missions such as killing the Wine Ant Queen and Spider Empress were the prerequisite to cheat for rewards. The reason being, they had gone missing without any reason. Moreover, it has been proven that they were no longer in the battlegrounds.

However, this man in the black robe had mistaken one thing. Many people were following the few missions such as the Wine Ant Queen and Spider Empress. Although it has been two months since it happened, as a mission receptionist, I couldn't forget about these missions.

To be honest, I was following these few incidents that happened two months back closely. I even discussed it with people on the Internet. It was concluded that these Bug Kings and Bug Queens retreated from the battlegrounds themselves. Otherwise, it would be impossible that they had disappeared with up to a hundred million of armies without any battle signs left behind.

Naturally, I would not show mercy to this guy before me who lied about the missions. As soon as he took out the fake bug carcass parts, I would report him immediately!

Of course, I would not show it on my face. I would remain smiling professionally.

"Sir, I've checked through the mission codes. You can submit the mission target's complete carcasses or carcass parts now. If you're submitting the remains, we might need some time to verify if they're the mission targets."

"There's no need for those troubles, I brought complete carcasses," the man in the black robe took out four bug carcasses from his storage space as soon as he was done speaking.

Four complete bug carcasses!

I was stunned when I saw them, which I subsequently felt the terrifying aura left behind in the bug carcasses.

The lingering aura was still threatening even after death.

'These bug carcasses are real!' Such ridiculous thought flashed through my mind the moment I saw the bug carcasses.

However, I shook my head in the next second to shake off the ridiculous thought out of my head.

The reason being, to a Black Sickle assassin, it would be impossible for him to complete the four missions.

This guy had used some technique to forge these four bug carcasses!

Since he dares to submit missions under the sun like this, it proves that he's very confident in the bug carcasses that he forged!

I refuse to believe that I could not see any faults in them!

"Please give me a moment to check them, sir."

I stood up and walked out of the counter to the bug carcasses and checked them one by one.

I checked them thoroughly for over ten minutes. I could not find any flaws at all, no matter the bug shell, mouths, even their sizes, and physical characteristics.

I knew that these few bug carcasses had exceeded my verification ability. This guy was too powerful in his forging skill!

"Is there a problem?" The man in the black robe asked in an urging manner.

I knew that the more nervous he was, the more it proved that he was scared that I might find the flaws.

These four bug carcasses were definitely fishy!

"I'm sorry, my verification ability is subpar, I can't verify if these four bug carcasses are the mission targets. I can only inform the headquarters and get their experts to verify again," I said while faking a smile.

This guy would feel guilty that I said that!

"They're bug carcasses, not items. Why do you need to verify them?" The man in the black robe sounded a little doubtful.

See, he's guilty now!

"How long does it take for the second verification to take place?"

"Usually, there would be experts here within 24 hours. If the experts at the headquarters are busy, they would still handle it within 72 hours," I explained while smiling.

"I'll wait then, please let me know when the experts are here." I was surprised that the man in the black robe responded so decisively.

Could it be that this guy was so confident in his forging skill that he thought he could get away from the professional appraisers from our headquarters?!

As I watched him leave, I posted what happened with the encounter with the guy together with a few pictures that I took sneakily here on the Death Sickle's forum. Let me show you guys how crazy forgers were nowadays…

Never had Lin Huang thought that the bug carcasses that he submitted for the missions could not be verified. He would have to wait for the experts from Death Sickle's headquarters to verify themselves. He could only submit the missions when everything was made sure to be right.

Initially, he was planning to leave the Iron Fist Shelter and head to the next destination. Now he could only stay.

Feeling helpless, Lin Huang could only put up at a nearby hotel temporarily.

After checking himself into the room, the first thing he did was to log onto Death Sickle website's mission section to look for missions that were suitable for him.

He only returned to the message section after some filtering and accepting two missions. He wanted to see if there were any news.

He had his eyes on the first message on the first page of the message section.

The title was 'The Missing Bug Kings and Bug Queens Suspected to be Killed!'

It had been less than ten minutes since the thread was posted and there were already hundreds of comments.

Lin Huang was stunned for a while before he then clicked into the thread.

He frowned slightly under his mask after spending a couple of minutes to finish reading the thread.

"So, this is what happened, I was wondering why do they have to verify the bug carcasses…"

The thread had a screenshot of another thread from the forum, as well as some pictures too.

After reading the thread, Lin Huang realized that the mission receptionist who attended to him thought he was a liar who had forged the bug carcasses. He was mistaken for wanting to use fake bug carcasses to cheat for rewards.

However, the person who posted the thread on the message section seemed to know something about the Bug Tribe. He speculated that the bug carcasses were most probably real judging by the many angles from the pictures taken. Not only that, he concluded that the Bug Kings and Bug Queens that went missing out of nowhere two months back might have been killed.

Meanwhile, suspicions drowned the comment section.

Most people were convinced that the bug carcasses were forged, while only very few people thought they might be real. However, they disagreed that the Bug Kings and Bug Queens were killed. Instead, they thought someone picked up Bug Kings and Bug Queens' carcasses after they were dead for some other reasons.

After reading the thread, Lin Huang could not help but return to the forum exchange section. He wanted to check out the original thread and the comments on it.

He clicked into the forum exchange section, the thread that ranked No.1 was the original thread that he was looking for. There were over 10,000 comments by now.

As he looked through the original thread, Lin Huang was almost 100% sure that it was the mission receptionist attended to him who posted it.

Judging by the original thread's use of words, the poster made it clear that he loathed Lin Huang the 'forger'.

Lin Huang smiled and proceeded to read the comments below.

Up to 10,000 comments on the comment section were condemning the forger. Many of them even condemned that Lin Huang did that to be viral.

Only a few of them could tell that the bug carcasses were real through the pictures. However, their voices were soon drowned in the comment section.

Lin Huang forced a smile and shook his head after reading the comments. He even saw some of them claiming to be Death Sickle's mission receptionists who supported the poster in the comment section.

"I suppose things would turn out the same way even if I was attended by another mission receptionist. It seems like I can only wait for the people from the headquarters to verify the carcasses over again."

After putting the missions aside, Lin Huang began to plan his next step.

Following Bloody's plan, elevating his combat strength was the No.1 priority. However, since he had already elevated to imperial-level rank-9 while he had yet to find the way to elevate further, he could only look for other ways to do so.

According to Bloody's plan sequence, the second priority was to elevate his God's Figurine's Combat Souls' combat strength. Now that all ten of his God's Figurine's Combat Souls had elevated to Virtual God rank-9, he would need to hunt for True Gods to obtain True Gods' spiritual energy to elevate further.

Lin Huang thought about it and decided to put this aside as well. The reason being he was only a Black Sickle member at Death Sickle at the moment. He could not take on any missions to kill True Gods, neither could he obtain true god-level targets' details easily.

Bloody's third priority for him was to expand the hive army.

In reality, Lin Huang was already doing that. When he killed the Bug Kings and Bug Queens earlier, apart from obtaining their spiritual energy and Godheads, expanding the hive army was one of the main reasons to take up the missions.

"I must look for more missions to kill Bug Kings and Bug Queens. Since there's no such mission now, I can look if there's any information about Bug Kings and Bug Queens on the message section. Or I'll look for related information through some other ways."

Lin Huang had already put that in his schedule.

"Fourth is to elevate my brute ability, such as cultivating Sword Dao and Divine Telekinesis. I can't slack on them…"

"Fifth is to obtain all sorts of cultivation resources…"

After sorting out his next plan and route roughly, Lin Huang thought he would cultivate Seamless the few days while waiting for the experts from Death Sickle's headquarters.

What he had no idea was that a 'young man' came to Death Sickle's estate in the Iron Fist Shelter soon after the mission receptionist posted the thread.

The young man had gray hair and looked exactly like a human. He looked to be 15 or 16, was short at only approximately 1.6m tall.

He wore a black and red intersected long jacket with the collars lifted. He wore a black scarf on his neck, covering his neck entirely. The jacket's hoodie covered most of his hair, only revealing a little of it to show its gray color.

He wore a pair of black long pants, both of his hands were in the pockets.

He walked into Death Sickle's estate as if it was his home.

"Sir… Is there anything that I can help you with?" The lady attendant at the entrance was startled at first when she saw the young man, but she became respectful subsequently.

Only Protoss dared to walk around in human form in the God Territory as they wished.

Although the person looked young, she dared not delay her service at all.

"Who was the attendant who attended to the forger on the forum exchange section some half an hour earlier?" The young man lifted his head to look at the lady attendant and asked. "Although he was anonymous on the forum, you guys should know who he is?"

"Well…" the lady attendant looked rather troubled.

"He's not in trouble," the young man with gray hair added.

"Oh. His name is Ji Bai, he's at counter 11," the lady attendant only nodded and gave the name.

"Thanks," the young man thanked her briefly and walked to counter 11 directly.

The lady attendant watched as the young man walked to the counter and only looked away when the counter's shield was activated automatically. The counter was covered now.

"Why does that young man look rather familiar? I think I've seen him somewhere but I can't remember who he is…"

The lady attendant was pondering for a moment when she saw the counter's shield deactivated automatically. The young man with gray hair had walked away from the counter.

"What is he doing? He only went to the counter for only less than five seconds…"

Lin Huang thought he would just stay at the Iron First Shelter to cultivate for the next two days after planning his route and booking the cultivation room. He would get out of closed-door cultivation anytime when Death Sickle's news came.

Just when he had booked the cultivation room and turned off the reservation page, a voice came before him all of a sudden.

"You're Xie Lin?"

Lin Huang was shocked to hear the voice. He lifted his head. Someone had appeared less than three meters before him without him realizing.

The person wore a black and red intersected long jacket with the collars lifted. He had a black scarf on his neck. He was merely 1.6m tall. Although he had gray hair, he looked like a young man aged 15 or 16.

Lin Huang secretly had his guard up from the glance alone.

He did not sense the 'young man' appearing at all. Even until now that he had seen him before his eyes, his territory showed nothing at all, as if the person never existed.

Most importantly, Lin Huang could not sense any aura on the person at all, as if he was merely air.

The 'young man' before him was definitely older than he looked to be!

Was he a high-level True God or a Heavenly God?!

If he was a Heavenly God, did he see through my god rule relic and found out that I was a human?

What was this guy's intention to be here?

Though thousands of thoughts flashed through his head, Lin Huang spoke while looking calm.

"That's right, I'm Xie Lin."

He knew that it was futile for him to deny that. Since the person found him, it proved that he had confirmed his identity. Moreover, this 'young man' before him might be a heavenly god-level powerhouse. Lying to him might upset him.

"Hah, you sure are quick to respond to that." The 'young man' with gray hair smiled calmly, "Aren't you afraid that I'm looking for trouble?"

"With your ability, sir, I can't escape even if I want to if you're here for trouble. Therefore, there's not much difference in me admitting my identity or not. I'd rather be honest with you," Lin Huang was relieved when he heard that. Since the person asked that, there was a high chance that he was not here for trouble.

"You should be grateful that you didn't lie. I hate people who lie!" The 'young man' with gray hair walked to the couch and sat down after he was done speaking. He crossed his legs and lifted his head to glance at Lin Huang, saying, "Let's talk."

Lin Huang nodded, he sat down on a single couch that was closest to him.

"I wonder if there's anything that I can help you with, sir?"

The 'young man' with gray hair laughed out loud, "Didn't you submit Death Sickle's missions earlier? I'm the person responsible for the assessment."

Lin Huang raised his brows when he heard that. The staff said that the experts in charge of assessment would usually come within 24 hours. They might even take 72 hours the most. Not only that, he was told that he would be informed when the person came. It had only been some half an hour, this 'young man' found him on his own while there was no news from Death Sickle.

Lin Huang hesitated for a moment and decided to voice his doubts directly.

"I haven't received any news from Death Sickle that the expert for assessment is already here."

The 'young man' raised his brows a little when he heard. He turned on his backend page on Death Sickle's website and projected it.

"See for yourself."

A glance was all it took for Lin Huang to see the person's verified code name – Buried Heaven!

His pupils shrunk immediately. He was familiar with the code name.

On the first day he joined Death Sickle, he had already seen the code name on Death Sickle's Gold Sickle Leaderboard ranking No.1

Buried Heaven, the powerful ninth-rank Heavenly God!

The supreme powerhouse whose rank was closest to the seven Blood Sickle members in the entire Death Sickle!

Lin Huang was secretly puzzled. Why would this supreme powerhouse whose position was after Death Sickle's seven leaders would come here himself for the assessment?

"Based on normal procedure, there would only be someone coming for your mission assessment tomorrow no matter what. I saw the thread about you on the forum earlier. Since I happened to be nearby, I thought I would drop by," Buried Heaven explained briefly.

Although the explanation made some sense, Lin Huang was not convinced. He did not think that Buried Heaven would come to assess his mission for nothing.

He came here to assess the missions of a Black Sickle member who had joined for a few days just because he was nearby?

Only fools would believe that!

Lin Huang did not bother to expose him. Since he had confirmed his identity, naturally, it would not be a problem to let him assess his case.

However, Lin Huang had his guard up.

Instead of bringing all the bug carcasses out, he only took out Wine Ant Queen's carcass.

Buried Heaven did not mind that. He merely glanced through the bug carcass and nodded after scanning through with Divine Telekinesis.

"Alright, it's genuine."

As Lin Huang was about to bring out the second bug carcass, he saw Buried Heaven waving his hand.

"You don't have to take out the rest, assessing one is enough."

"I don't have to submit the bug carcasses to you?" Lin Huang asked in slight confusion.

"No need, you've passed my assessment. You can submit them at the local estate tomorrow," Buried Heaven shook his head.

"So, that's it?" Lin Huang did not expect that the assessment process would be smoother than he imagined.

"It's only a bug carcass, I can tell if it's real just by scanning with Divine Telekinesis," Buried Heaven said and took a good look at Lin Huang. "Your combat strength level is rather odd though…"

Lin Huang secretly jolted when he heard what Buried Heaven commented.

"Forget it, let's not talk about that… I have a question for you, I hope that you can answer me honestly."

Lin Huang nodded lightly, "Do ask, sir."

"Did you really kill these Bug Kings and Bug Queens?" Buried Heaven stared intently at Lin Huang. It looked like his stare could see through everything. "I don't need to know any of the process and details of the killing. All I want to know is whether you killed them yourself!"

Lin Huang felt that he could not hide any secrets from those eyes.

"I guess I did."

Lin Huang responded after thinking about it for a moment. Although it was his God's Figurine's Combat Soul who did it, he considered himself killing them too.

Buried Heaven stared at Lin Huang for a while more, "I hope that you didn't lie."

Buried Heaven merely warned and continued, "Someone might contact you a few days later, they might ask you to take up an extremely difficult mission. If you didn't kill the Bug Kings and Bug Queens such as the Wine Ant Queen, my advice to you is to reject this mission. Otherwise, you would die a horrible death."

"Heavy is the head that wears the crown. You better watch out…"

His voice was still trailing when Buried Heaven disappeared without a trace. It was just like how he came earlier without Lin Huang noticing, as if everything that had just happened was Lin Huang's illusion.

"Extremely difficult mission? I'm dying to know how difficult it is exactly…" Lin Huang smirked slightly as he sat on the couch.

Noche Super Star Zone in the God Territory.

As one of the six super star zones in the God Territory, there were many grade-5 and even a couple of grade-6 Shelters' headquarters here.

Among them, Death Sickle's headquarters was also located in the grade-6 Blood Sickle Shelter. In this super star zone, the Blood Sickle Shelter that was closest to grade-6 was undoubtedly the overlord here.

At the moment, it was rather crowded at Death Sickle's headquarters' meeting room in the Blood Sickle Shelter.

Seven people gathered at the round table in the meeting room.

A young man with gray hair stood five to six meters away from the round table.

If Lin Huang was here, he would recognize immediately that the young man was Buried Heaven who had just visited him not long ago.

"How was the assessment, Buried Heaven?" A voice came asking from the round table.

"The bug carcasses are real," Buried Heaven had his eyes on the person who had just spoken as he continued, "The entire bug carcass' body had no injuries at all, must be killed with some Spiritual secret skill."

"Are all of the bug carcasses the same?" Another person asked.

"I've only seen one, the rest of them looked like they're perfectly intact judging from the photos," Buried Heaven responded with a poker face.

"So, what's that rookie Xie Lin's combat strength like?"

"His combat strength is rather weird. His aura intensity seems Virtual God rank-9 to me, there's Divine Power activated in his body and there's even Divine Fire's aura. However, he has no Godhead consolidated in him. He must have some unique cultivation method," Buried Heaven could not help but frown at the mention of Lin Huang's combat strength.

"Do you think this rookie is reliable?"

Buried Heaven hesitated for a while on that question. He then gave a puzzling answer.

"I don't know."

After saying those three words, Buried Heaven added, "He said 'I guess' when I asked him whether he killed the Bug Kings and Bug Queens. Although he didn't deny that, neither did he give a definite answer. I can't confirm his exact, real ability."

"Also, he has a fake identity. His past experiences were also made up. I was skeptical about this in the beginning, but my suspicion was all gone after meeting him."

"And the reason?" Another person at the round table asked.

"He's a human." The entire meeting room fell into dead silence upon Buried Heaven's words.

At the meeting table, six of them looked at the seventh person almost at the same time.

The man in a skull mask tapped the table with his translucent, jade-like finger once and chuckled softly as he spoke, "Never had I thought that kid is of my kind."

The female creature with white fluorescent light glowing on her body sitting next to the man spoke too, "Given the situations of humans in the God Territory at the moment, it's forgivable that this rookie disguised himself. There's no need for us to get to the bottom of this."

"Combat God Temple and we, the Death Sickle, are the only top organization in the God Territory that are recruiting. He could only hunt around the outer ring if he joined Combat God Temple with his fake identity. Naturally, joining our Death Sickle would be a better choice."

"Since we give rewards based on the missions, with his combat strength access, he would not have access to any confidential information."

The flame monster sitting across the white fluorescent light creature spoke as soon as she was done speaking.

"But that mission is top secret, are you guys sure that you want to get an unknown kid to join?"

"Only god order-level (True God) life forms can only enter that place. If that unknown kid that you're talking about had really killed the Bug Kings and Bug Queens, he's undoubtedly the most powerful destiny-level (Virtual God) in this era. There's a high chance that he's the person who can bring out the thing that we desire."

"Moreover, with his destiny-level (Virtual God) combat strength, he would have no ability and guts to pocket the thing himself. As soon as he brings the thing out, it will naturally belong to us Death Sickle. By then, I believe that he would give the thing willingly to us as long as we give relevant compensations and promises." It was the human man with the skull mask who spoke this time.

As the argument on both sides was still going on, a man at the round table asked Buried Heaven all of a sudden.

"Buried Heaven, since you came in contact with that rookie in person, do you think he should take the mission?"

Buried Heaven went silent for a moment upon hearing that question.

"Based on my instinct, there's something in him that I can't see through. That mission has been hanging for years. If there's someone that could complete it, he might be the one with the highest chance of completing it among everyone that I came in contact with."

"Of course, that's only my instinct, it might not be accurate," Buried Heaven added.

"Then… let's vote on that," the questioner turned his head left and right to look at the other six.

A moment later, the seven of them at the round table had voted.

"Five in favor, two opposes," the creature wearing a golden crown on his head announced in a unique voice. "Then that's settled, rookie Xie Lin will be added to the list!"

"Buried Heaven, if you're available, you'll be handling everything related to this mission."

"Sure, but I have a condition," Buried Heaven requested shamelessly.

"Do tell."

"If he got it, I want a share of that person's inheritance!"

"Sure!"

Buried Heaven bowed at the seven of them after getting the confirmation. He turned around and left the meeting room.

The seven of them remained in the meeting room.

"Let's move on to the next subject. There's something that my real body has to deal with, I better not clone myself further."

"My real body is somewhere rather dangerous too, let's get this meeting done with soon."

…

At the Iron Fist Shelter, Lin Huang rushed to the cultivation room that he had booked as soon as Buried Heaven left. He began a short, closed-door cultivation.

Since Buried Heaven said that the assessment was over, there was no need for him to submit the missions immediately. He had to wait for a few days for new missions to be announced, hence it would not be too late for him to submit the missions when he got out of his cultivation then.

Time flew by, one day had passed.

As Lin Huang was deep in his Seamless cultivation, a message came all of a sudden from a stranger's number.

"Pause your cultivation, there's something that I need to talk to you about."

Lin Huang was stunned for a second when he saw the message, "Who is this?"

"We just met yesterday," the person replied within seconds.

"Buried Heaven? Why is he looking for me again? Could it be that he's going to tell me about the mission that he mentioned earlier? Why didn't he just text me directly or announce the mission from the back-end?" Lin Huang was puzzled. Nevertheless, he replied anyway, "Where are you? I'll get out of my cultivation and go to you."

"I'm outside your cultivation room."

"Err…" Lin Huang was speechless. He got up immediately and opened the cultivation room's door.

As expected, a 'young man' with a black scarf was waiting at his door.

"Let's go inside and talk," Buried Heaven walked into the rather small cultivation room when Lin Huang opened the door.

"Shouldn't we go somewhere that's more suitable for a chat?" Lin Huang raised his brows.

"It's pretty good here," Buried Heaven had sat on the floor with his legs crossed by then. He patted the floor space next to him and said, "Close the door, let's sit and talk."

Lin Huang sat next to Buried Heaven with his legs crossed. The cultivation room was silent at the moment.

Buried Heaven seemed like he was not in a rush to talk. He brought out two bottles of drinks from his storage space and passed one to Lin Huang.

Lin Huang took it and could not help to ask before he opened the bottle.

"Are you here to talk to me about the mission that you mentioned yesterday?"

Buried Heaven opened the bottle leisurely. He only nodded after taking a sip.

"That's right."

"Isn't it faster for you to tell me this through text?" Lin Huang asked in slight confusion.

"Short messages won't be able to explain it. Moreover, I dislike typing," Buried Heaven explained.

Lin Huang thought to himself secretly, 'You can send voice recordings if you don't like to type…'

However, Lin Huang did not say that out loud as there was a possibility that Buried Heaven did not know of such a voice message function, or perhaps he had other reasons for visiting. No matter what it was, it would be awkward for Lin Huang to expose him.

"So, what is this mission about?" Lin Huang almost teased Buried Heaven but he held back. He began asking about the serious stuff.

Buried Heaven put down the drink in his hand and turned his head to look at Lin Huang. His expression turned serious and said, "Go into the Great Heaven Territory, retrieve Great Heaven's inheritance and secret treasures!"

"Great Heaven Territory?!" Lin Huang was familiar with that name.

Noticing that Lin Huang's tone seemed to be a little doubtful, Buried Heaven explained briefly, "Great Heaven was the No.1 genius of the last era in the entire God Territory. He was also the most powerful powerhouse among the Heavenly Gods of the last era. The Great Heaven Territory is the God Territory he left behind after he passed on."

In reality, Bloody had described this place to him when she was sorting out the information earlier.

The Great Heaven Territory was one of the most popular secret zones in the God Territory. Rumor had it that Great Heaven's inheritance and treasures were hidden in this secret zone.

Meanwhile, the documents that Bloody left behind had information about Great Heaven too.

In the last era, Great Heaven was known to be invincible among the Heavenly Gods. He had suppressed other genius powerhouses in the entire era. Regardless if it was Protoss or other tribes, no Heavenly Gods were a match for him. Rumor had it that he had even defended a Lord's attack that contained Great Dao Power.

Theoretically, it was easy for such a talented genius to become a Lord.

However, Great Heaven had chosen a cultivation method that was different from the ordinary. Eventually, the cultivation failed, and he died.

The God Territory that he had left behind after his death slowly evolved into a secret zone.

The documents that Bloody left behind also recorded that although the Great Heaven Territory was a Heavenly God's remnant, Great Heaven seemed to have set up some restriction in his God Territory when he was alive, whereby people above Virtual God were prohibited from entering.

The reason why Lin Huang remembered so many things about the Great Heaven Territory was because Great Heaven was a powerful sword cultivator too.

Lin Huang could not help but ask after pondering in silence for a while.

"It's been many years since Great Heaven left behind this secret zone. Theoretically, it should've been opened many times. Nobody managed to retrieve his inheritance and secret treasures?"

"Heavenly Gods' God Territory's size is calculated based on the star zones. There are up to a billion stars alone in the Great Heaven Territory, excluding other celestial bodies. Meanwhile, all participants would be teleported in there randomly. Nobody knows which celestial body the inheritance and secret treasures are hidden," Buried Heaven shook his head.

"Why are you guys sure that I would be able to retrieve the inheritance and secret treasures?" Lin Huang asked while finding it strange.

"We're not sure about that, we merely felt that the chance of you retrieving the inheritance is higher than the rest," Buried Heaven replied honestly. "You're a sword cultivator, so was Great Heaven. Moreover, your ability is more powerful than people of the same combat strength."

Buried Heaven even glanced at Lin Huang when he was speaking halfway. He seemed to be observing his reaction.

"I guess this mission isn't mandatory?" Lin Huang thought about it and asked Buried Heaven.

"No." There were not any emotions on Buried Heaven's face, however, a gleam of disappointment flashed through his eyes. "You can reject the mission."

"What are the benefits if I were to accept it?" Lin Huang asked immediately.

Hearing Lin Huang's question, Buried Heaven turned his head to look at him again.

"If you managed to retrieve the inheritance, it would belong to you. Death Sickle is only asking for a copy. If you managed to retrieve Great Heaven's secret treasures, you'll take 50% of them. If you managed to retrieve other inherence and secret treasures, everything would belong to you if they didn't belong to Great Heaven himself."

"50%…" Lin Huang mumbled softly. He seemed to be unsatisfied with the ratio.

"50% is quite a lot." Buried Heaven added, "Great Heaven's secret treasures are worth nothing below a Lord's secret treasure. You can request if there's anything that you desire among the secret treasures."

Lin Huang thought about it and figured it was Death Sickle who gave him the quota after all. Otherwise, there was no way of him getting in at all. Therefore, he stopped grappling on the ratio. He knew that even if he fought for it, it would be great if he could get 5% extra, which made not much of a difference.

The rewards that Death Sickle offered were indeed handsome.

"Apart from that, I can personally give you something in advance," Buried Heaven took out a golden mask from his storage space as he spoke.

Lin Huang's entire body went into alert mode automatically as soon as he saw the mask.

The aura on the mask terrified him a little.

"This mask is a…god sequence relic?" Lin Huang asked in a testing manner.

"Yes. It's called Thousand Face, I used it in the past," Buried Heaven nodded lightly. "If you managed to retrieve Great Heaven's inherence, I'll give you Thousand Face. If you failed, I'll be lending you temporarily. You can return it to me when you get out of the Great Heaven Territory."

"Alright then…" Lin Huang thought about it. He figured it made sense he would not be given a god sequence relic that was used by a Heavenly God for nothing.

He thought of something else immediately. Buried Heaven giving him this mask meant he had found out about him as a human. Giving him this god sequence relic was to give him a better disguise to prevent others from detecting his real identity.

'Since Buried Heaven already found out that I'm a human, there's a high chance that other Death Sickle's upper echelons are aware of it too. Under such circumstances, Death Sickle is still willing to give me the quota to enter this secret zone. It seems like Death Sickle isn't against humans. At least I don't have to worry about exposing my identity at Death Sickle from now on.'

"There will be a total of 300 people entering the Great Heaven Territory this time. They're all top geniuses trained by major organizations. I bet most of them are ranked on top of the Gods Leaderboard and a handful of them are supreme geniuses that are secretly trained. Their abilities are not to be underestimated."

"There's a low chance of you encountering them, but if you did, don't show mercy if you need to kill. There are no consequences for you if you did kill. It's very common to die in a secret zone. Nobody would hold you responsible after you exit from there."

"This time, Death Sickle has four quotas. Try not to fight with the other three. Do whatever you want with the rest."

"The secret zone's opening time would be on the 8th of next month. Someone will pick you up by then."

"Ask if you have any questions now. Don't text me after I leave, I dislike typing."

After sending Buried Heaven off, Lin Huang began playing with the mask in his hands.

He was elated to see this golden mask that was shining under the sunlight.

The most important function of this god sequence relic that was named Thousand Face was to disguise. As long as one's size did not vary too much, there would not be any flaws in the disguise. Moreover, this god sequence relic could even deceive most heavenly god-level powerhouses.

Apart from that, as a god sequence relic, it had a rather great defense, especially for spiritual attacks and detections. It was immune to almost all spiritual attacks under high-level heavenly god-level. Not only that, it could block most Heaven Gods' spiritual detections. As long as he did not encounter any peak-level heavenly god-level powerhouses who mastered Spiritual secret skills or was born with spiritual ability, almost none of them would be able to see through the disguise coming from the mask.

"This is good stuff. With this mask, my activity range in the God Territory would no longer be limited to Shelters under grade-4. I can go to grade-4 and even grade-5 Shelters now. I'm mostly safe as long as I don't step into grade-6 Shelters with peak-level Heavenly Gods as their guardian."

Lin Huang merely played with Thousand Face for a moment, which he then kept it in his storage space. He clicked into the document that Buried Heaven sent him.

It was a document about the Great Heaven Territory. Naturally, the details could not compare with the information that Bloody found on the internet.

This document was close to being the most confidential document in God Territory's top organizations.

Not only were there rough star maps of the Great Heaven Territory, but there were also details about planets that had been explored, including the variety of species that appeared in the Great Heaven Territory. Everything was listed in detail.

"It's been 360,000 years since the Great Heaven Territory has been discovered. It opens every 100 years, so it's been opened for over 3,600 times by now. If 300 people entered every time it was opened, there should be a total of 1.08 million people who had explored it."

"After the exploration of up to a million people, the speculated data says that only less than 1/10 of the Great Heaven Territory has been explored?" Lin Huang was puzzled with this at first.

Theoretically, virtual god-level powerhouses had powerful mobility. With some dimensional tools, one could explore at least tens of planets within a month. Moreover, encountering Great Heaven Territory's local species would allow one to obtain any information about the Great Heaven Territory. The exploration rate should not be this low.

However, he found out the reason as he read further.

"There are so many species in the Great Heaven Territory? Was that guy a fanatic species collector?!"

There were hundreds of thousands of species in the Great Heaven Territory. There were up to ten thousand monsters alone.

Most of the monsters either had some unique bloodline, stunning potential or they were insanely powerful. In a nutshell, the monsters that he kept in the God Territory were not some gentle monsters.

He had caught one or two for a certain monster, and he brought in the entire tribe for some of them.

Since he died, the variety of monsters in the Great Heaven Territory had been reproducing. Throughout the up to a million years, although some tribes were eliminated through time, many tribes had evolved into a population. (The 360,000 years mentioned earlier was the duration since the Great Heaven Territory was discovered, not the duration it existed.)

Among those tribes, some monsters were born to be class-4 (quadruple mutated). Even though some of them were not class-4, they possessed powerful, unique bloodlines, which ability should not be underestimated.

Most of their combat strength was above virtual god-level. There were even True Gods and Heavenly Gods.

Those tribes' territorial range were distributed throughout most of Great Heaven Territory's areas.

Meanwhile, most of the tribes in the Great Heaven Territory were unfriendly to foreigners.

The reason being, the first batch of explorers who went in 360,000 years ago thought there were no powerful monsters in the secret zone. That resulted in them looting resources as they wished and harming the local creatures. It enraged the local tribes. Since then, killing foreigners was considered a glory for the various tribes in the Great Heaven Territory. They perceived the foreigners to be some foreign demons.

Throughout the tens of thousands of years since then, the death rate of the people who went in were 100% every time the Great Heaven Territory was opened. Lesser and lesser participants went in until a survivor escaped from the Great Heaven Territory and it was only then the people found out about the situation inside the Great Heaven Territory.

Later on, the God Territory had been trying to send people in to communicate with the locals in the Great Heaven Territory. The hostility only calmed a little during the past 100,000 years.

However, most tribes were still hostile toward foreigners. Although they would not start a fight as soon as they encounter each other, they would prohibit them from entering and refuse to communicate. The most they accepted was some supply trading.

The slow exploration progress of the Great Heaven Territory was mainly due to those tribes' unwillingness to cooperate and obstruction, causing the prohibition to explore in many places.

Lin Huang finally realized why Buried Heaven lent him Thousand Face.

"He sure is thoughtful! With Thousand Face, I can disguise myself as their local resident and retrieve information that the rest can't. Not only that, under Thousand Face's disguise, I'm almost free to invade anywhere I desire. There's a high chance that even some heavenly god-level guardians among some tribes can't see through my disguise."

Lin Huang proceeded to read further after finding out the reason for the painfully slow exploration.

Using about half an hour, he read through the document carefully. He then spent another ten minutes making sure that he did not miss anything.

He then began to conclude some of the matters that he should take note of.

No.1, apart from the local tribes that he could communicate with, there were dangerous species that existed on some of the planets in the Great Heaven Territory. They could not be communicated with normally, they had intense territorial consciousness and attack instinct. One would easily be attacked as soon as one stepped into the territory of such species.

No.2, there were Bug Tribes in the Great Heaven Territory and the population was unknown. However, the Bug Tribes were also the other tribes' common enemy.

No.3, someone found humans in the Great Heaven Territory, but nobody knew much about the human population in this world.

No.4, there's a certain chance that Great Heaven's inheritance and secret treasures were hidden in some major tribe's territory.

…

After coming up with the conclusions, Lin Huang compared them with the document. He only turned off the document's projection after making sure that everything was aligned.

As he was going to study deeper into the precautions of the conclusions that he came up with, his communication device vibrated all of a sudden.

"An unidentified number?" Lin Huang was suspicious.

It was an unidentified number that had sent a call request. Theoretically, he only had the communication ring for a couple of days. Nobody should know his number.

"Could it be some advertisement?" With doubts, Lin Huang decided to answer the call.

"Hi, Lin Huang."

Lin Huang could not help but squinted a little as soon as the person greeted. He had his full guard up now.

"Don't worry, I'm the mission issuer from the Club." The voice on the other side of the communication device sounded like it came from a synthesizer.

"Club? How did you guys get this number?" Lin Huang was suspicious.

"We know everything that we want to know," the person on the other side of the communication device gave a boastful answer. "Alright, let's cut to the chase. I have missions for you."

"Can I reject them? I am very busy lately. I remember that you guys said I have the definite freedom of choice when you guys asked me to join back then." Although Lin Huang joined this mysterious organization named Club after passing through the Stairway Tree, he had no sense of belonging to the organization. Since he was going into the Great Heaven Territory, he did not bother to put more onto his plate. Naturally, he chose to decline it directly.

"The two missions that I'm assigning to you are missions in the Great Heaven Territory," the person on the other side spoke directly.

"How do you guys know that I'm going into the Great Heaven Territory? Buried Heaven told me that only he and the seven Blood Sickle members know about this quota that was given to me. Is there a mole among the seven Blood Sickle members?!"

"We know everything that we want to know," the person on the other side gave the same answer that did not seem like an answer.

"Alright then…" Lin Huang was helpless toward such a rascal. He did not bother to beat around the bush with the person and asked, "What's the mission reward?"

"I can only tell you if you accept the missions. All that I can share with you now is that the rewards are handsome, you definitely won't be disappointed."

Lin Huang was finally interested after hearing that.

"What are the missions?"

"The first mission, retrieve the Heavenly Sword's scabbard."

"Second mission, bring a kid named Jin Wu out of the Great Heaven Territory."

After accepting the Great Heaven Territory's mission, Lin Huang went into closed-door cultivation once again.

He continued cultivating Seamless again during this round of closed-door cultivation.

The reason why he cultivated Seamless was that there would be a direct boost in his abilities with each telekinetic thread he obtained.

Although there was room for improvement for his Sword Dao as well, not only would he have to spend a great amount of time to break through level-6 which was Deity, he would have to find an opportunity for that breakthrough.

Fortunately, the cultivation speed of Seamless had gotten a few folds faster ever since he had ascended to imperial-level rank-9.

Compared to the additional 100 telekinetic threads per hour previously, it was currently 300 threads per hour.

He only cultivated for 12 hours on the first day. Nevertheless, he managed to gain 3,600 telekinetic threads. Hence, he had a total of 58,100 telekinetic threads.

The number of telekinetic threads he had had increased by heaps.

For six consecutive days, Lin Huang did not eat, drink, nor rest as he immersed himself in cultivating Seamless.

By the middle of the night on the sixth day, he had accumulated 100,000 telekinetic threads!

He was at the peak of Seamless' level-6 cultivation.

Lin Huang was finally, completely sure that the legend of Qi Muxiong controlling 108,000 telekinetic threads at the same time was not all that he had mastered.

The reason being, the peak of Seamless' level-6 was 100,000 telekinetic threads. Hence, the limit of the number telekinetic threads would be 300,000 threads once one had gotten to the next level, which was level-7.

Furthermore, according to the memory he had inherited, Qi Muxiong had actually cultivated Seamless to the peak of level-8. Following Seamless' level-8 description, he should have been able to control a million telekinetic threads.

"I'm still very far away from reaching Qi Muxiong's level." Lin Huang could not help but compare himself with Qi Muxiong. "Fortunately, my spirit is powerful enough since I've ascended to imperial-level rank-9. Level-6 isn't my limit."

Lin Huang did not perform a breakthrough right after he got to the peak of level-6. Instead, he rested where he was and ate some snacks. After he was done eating, he slept for a full 12 hours before he sat with his legs crossed again. Then, he adjusted his body to his peak and began constructing the path to Seamless' level-7 in his spirit.

Perhaps there was a great boost in his spirit as the construction went incredibly smoothly. He was completely done in half an hour.

As he employed Divine Telekinesis and began a circulatory cycle, he officially stepped into level-7 of Seamless.

The breakthrough in Seamless gave Lin Huang a clear sense whereby there was a boost in his Divine Telekinesis.

His spirit and Divine Telekinesis were already at the peak of Virtual God rank-9 when he ascended to imperial-level rank-9. This breakthrough had brought Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis to True God standard.

"With the intensity of my Divine Telekinesis now, I should be able to control god rule telekinetic weapon relics. Although I won't be able to activate their God Rule Powers, the intensity should be enough to surpass ordinary god relics." Lin Huang did not waste any time after checking the changes in his telekinetic power. A short while later, he immersed himself in his spirit and began another round of closed-door cultivation.

The cultivation of level-7 Seamless was slightly slower than that of its level-6. He could only grow 200 telekinetic threads per hour.

However, Lin Huang chose to cultivate without resting. The number of telekinetic threads he had did not stop increasing by 4,800 each day.

Time flew by, and 21 days passed just like that.

Lin Huang only stopped cultivating after he had accumulated 200,000 telekinetic threads.

He did not stop because it was the limit of the number of telekinetic threads, he stopped because the Great Heaven Territory would open in three days.

After he had stopped cultivating, Lin Huang spent less than ten minutes eating some snacks and drinking some water. He then went to sleep.

His sleep went on for almost two nights.

It was one day before he was to go into the Great Heaven Territory when he woke up.

"Sleep sure is refreshing!" Lin Huang had never felt better after waking up from his sleep.

"Now I'll purchase some stuff before going into the secret zone. However, there's something I need to do before that," Lin Huang mumbled to himself as he logged in to Royal's trading page.

After clicking into the telekinetic weapon page, Lin Huang filtered the selection to only god rule relics and sorted the items based on their price from low to high.

Although that was the case, the trading conditions of the first telekinetic weapon that met Lin Huang's caused him to inhale sharply.

"3,200 Divine Crystals! We only accept Divine Crystals or expert-grade god rule sword relics."

"3,200 Divine Crystals means 32 million Divine Stones, and they don't take Divine Stones…"

Although the ratio of Divine Crystals to Divine Stones was 1:10000 based on their value, nobody would be willing to trade Divine Stones for Divine Crystals. Even if someone really needed Divine Stones, they would trade for them in blackmarkets. The ratio was at least 1:13000 or even more.

Lin Huang looked helpless. In order to purchase the earlier two god rule relics, apart from the equipment he had kept for himself, he had sold almost all of his god relics and demigod relics for Divine Stones. He only had some 20 million Divine Stones with him at that moment. He did not even have a single Divine Crystal with him. Even if he was eager to purchase the item, he could not even afford a god rule relic.

Out of curiosity, Lin Huang proceeded to look further down the page.

The number of telekinetic weapons on the page was very little after he had set the filter. There was only a total of 106 items.

The cheapest one cost 3,200 Divine Crystals. However, there were only three items that were priced below 4,000 Divine Crystals. Most of the remaining ones were priced between 4,000 to 7,000 Divine Crystals. The most expensive one was priced at 28,000 Divine Crystals.

Meanwhile, all of the telekinetic weapons on the entire page could either be traded for Divine Crystals or by following other trading conditions. However, none of them allowed the trading of Divine Stones.

Lin Huang thought about it after aborting his plan to purchase a god rule relic. He filtered the page again whereby he included low-grade items. He also changed 'god rule relic' to 'god relic'.

Changes took place on the page immediately.

The sorting settings of the marketplace was the same, and the price of the first telekinetic weapon that appeared was 340,000 Divine Stones.

There was an adequate amount of god telekinetic weapon relics whereby there were a total of 281 items.

Lin Huang glanced through the page and scrolled to the bottom.

The most expensive item cost 1.8 million Divine Stones. However, there was a remark on its trading condition, '20% discount if purchased with Divine Crystals'.

"Expert-grade items are all priced above 800,000. I already have a god telekinetic weapon relic, but I need at least two to three more sets to accumulate enough telekinetic threads. I need at least 2.4 million to purchase them…" Lin Huang did not place the order after thinking through it for a while.

Although he had enough Divine Stones to purchase god telekinetic weapon relics, he thought that it would be a waste. He could activate god rule relics now. Moreover, his enemies would at least be true god-level powerhouses from now on. He would only use the god relics a few times if he were to purchase them.

"It would be great if I could rent them…" Lin Huang's eyes lit up as soon as he mumbled that out loud.

As he projected his contacts page, he soon found a stranger's number he had acquired a month ago. He made a call.

A moment later, the call connected.

"You told me before that I could look for you at any time if I have questions about missions," Lin Huang said directly before the person could speak.

"Tell me," the synthesized voice responded briefly.

"I want three to four sets of god rule telekinetic weapon relics. It would be best if they're the same or of similar models. It's sufficient if the weapons add up to 200,000 to 300,000 pieces in total after being disintegrated," Lin Huang gave his conditions once and for all. He paused for a moment before continuing, "Rent them to me for a month, give them to me in advance, or deduct the cost from my rewards later on.

"With the way how you handle things, there's no need for you to worry about me running away with those god rule relics…"

Lin Huang gave a bunch of details to prevent the person from declining his request. However, the person responded before he was done speaking.

"Sure. Three sets of telekinetic weapons, they'll be your gifts for joining us. I'll send them to you later.

"Anything else?"

"No," Lin Huang was not expecting the person to agree to his conditions so simply. Not only that, but they were going to give them to him as gifts.

The person on the other side hung up after hearing Lin Huang's reply.

When Lin Huang heard that the signal had been cut off from the communication device, it came to his mind that he had not asked how and when he would receive the stuff. The person had not asked for his address as well.

As he was debating whether or not he should send a text to ask him, a message suddenly popped up on his communication device.

"The stuff has been sent, please take note of the items' arrival."

"Already sent? Where did they send it?" Lin Huang looked around left and right. The cultivation room was minimalistic whereby he could see everything in a single glance. Nothing popped up.

"Check your storage space," the stone tablet in Lin Huang's body said to him through voice transmission.

Lin Huang then looked in his storage space. He found three big, golden birds covered in flames flying around. It was as if they were playing in his storage space.

He was stunned to see that. He subsequently realized that they were simulated beasts that had been made from the telekinetic weapons.

"They're of fire attribute, the simulated beasts seem to be phoenixes…" Lin Huang's eyes lit up as he looked at them. Judging by their aura, they're ultimate-grade god rule relics. If I can bring out the God Rule Power in them, together with sufficient Divine Telekinesis, I bet I can kill a ninth-rank True God."

"They gave me three sets of god rule relics without even blinking, so generous!" Lin Huang finally realized that he seemed to have joined a terrific organization.

After having got his hands on the three sets of god rule relic telekinetic weapons, Lin Huang purchased some food and water. He was finally done with all of the necessary preparations before he went into the secret zone.

He rested for the night. At approximately eight the next morning, someone knocked on his hotel room door not long after he had finished his breakfast.

Lin Huang knew that the Death Sickle had probably sent someone to pick him up.

A tall lady stood in front of him when he opened the door.

Her legs were so long that they could compare to Yi Yeyu's. Her skin was healthily tanned, and her red hair barely touched her earlobes. If one had to point out any flaws, it was her chest that was almost flat.

Lin Huang was taken aback a little when he saw the lady, it was his first time seeing another human ever since he had come to the great world.

However, the thought merely flashed past his mind. He immediately realized that the person was not human at all but a real Protoss. The human form he was seeing was just the mortal form of the person's three forms.

The lady took a good look at Lin Huang as well.

However, since Lin Huang was covered in the black robe and Thousand Face mask the Buried Heaven had given him, he was shielded from being detected from the outside. Hence, she could not sense anything about him at all.

Since she could not find anything, she did not bother to try. Instead, she spoke directly to confirm his identity.

"Are you Xie Lin?"

"That's me." Lin Huang nodded.

"Master Buried Heaven sent me to pick you up."

"Let's go then." Lin Huang had checked out of the hotel when he was having his breakfast.

The lady nodded and summoned a Dragnet Spider.

The Dragnet Spider was completely white, and it was so much more decent than the one he had seen before. He knew that such spiders came in many colors.

"To the headquarters," the lady ordered. Then, the little white spider waved its front crawls as if it was doing a fancy dance on her palm. Following that, a Dimensional Whirlpool appeared out of thin air.

The little spider then spat two spider webs that clung onto Lin Huang and the lady before they leaped into the Dimensional Whirlpool.

A moment later, when Lin Huang had just managed to stand still, he realized he was standing before a humongous building.

Skyscrapers could be seen around the humongous building when one looked over. There were monsters of all forms traveling in the air, and it was crowded. The hustle and bustle was nothing below a grade-A foothold or more in the human world.

"Follow me." The lady did not even turn her head, and she walked straight toward the humongous building's entrance.

Lin Huang caught up to her immediately.

The duo walked through the door with one in front of the other as they entered the building.

There was a gigantic lobby behind the door. Monsters of all kinds crowded the place, there were strong and weak auras among them.

Lin Huang could clearly sense that many of them were on virtual god-level and true god-level. There were also two auras that terrified him. They were most probably the heavenly god-level powerhouse guards.

However, Lin Huang had not sensed any of them amidst the sea of auras until he had walked through the door.

The lady slowed down as she continued to walk toward the lobby. She turned her head to peep at Lin Huang, she seemed to want to see if he had revealed anything. However, she then looked away after failing to get anything out of him.

"We will meet at meeting room No.1 first."

The lady walked toward the left side of the lobby after saying that.

Lin Huang asked rather curiously when he caught up to her, "Are you one of the participants too?"

"Do I look like one?" The lady stopped walking and turned her head to look at Lin Huang. She asked as she raised her brows.

"You do," Lin Huang was stunned for a second to which he nodded and then responded expressionlessly. He almost forgot that he portrayed Xie Lin as a cold person.

The lady did not bother starting an awkward conversation after hearing Lin Huang had given her such a brief response. She proceeded to walk forward.

Lin Huang thought he would say something wrong if he talked more, so he decided not to speak at all.

The duo passed through the lobby and through a corridor before they finally arrived at meeting room No.1.

The meeting room was small, and it was merely 50 to 60 square meters big. There was a meeting table in the middle of the room.

Apart from Lin Huang and the lady, there was nobody else in the meeting room.

"The other two should arrive by 8:30, let's take a seat first," the lady said as she got herself a seat.

Lin Huang sat down two seats away from her.

The lady then projected her screen and began playing games. She ignored Lin Huang's existence completely.

On the other hand, Lin Huang began looking at the news.

Some ten minutes later, someone pushed open the meeting room door. Lin Huang turned his head to look, it was a young man who was so handsome that he looked flawless. He looked like he was in his early 20s.

"I thought I was the first to arrive, how's it possible that you're here earlier than me, Fallen Star? Don't you always have trouble waking up in the morning?"

"I had a mission this morning." The lady pouted in Lin Huang's direction without lifting her head. She continued playing her games while ignoring the rest.

"Eh, are you the one who got the fourth quota?" The young man seemed to only pay heed to Lin Huang's existence.

He walked toward Lin Huang as if he knew him and pulled a chair over to sit. He began observing Lin Huang from a close distance.

"Aren't you warm, wrapping yourself like that?"

The young man began chatting him up while smiling since he was unable to sense anything from him.

"No."

"Can you just sit still and not disturb anyone, Destiny?" The lady named Fallen Star lifted her head to glare at the young man.

"I'm just curious about him, aren't you?"

"It was Master Buried Heaven who appointed him the quota," Fallen Star responded coldly, "If you have any questions, ask Master Buried Heaven yourself."

Hearing the name Buried Heaven, the young man could not help but withdraw his neck. "I shall keep quiet…"

As soon as the young man finished speaking, two female voices were heard in unison coming from the door. It sounded like two little girls were talking.

"If we're not mistaken, he should be the mysterious man who killed Wine Ant Queen and Spider Empress two months ago."

A lady with two heads walked in as the meeting room's door was pushed open.

The lady with two heads looked around 12 to 13 years old. She wore a white dress.

"Is Twin right about that, sir?" the lady's two mouths asked at the same time as she chuckled.

As the lady gave her name, Lin Huang was sure that they were the participants who were going to join him in the mission, They were the top three on the Black Sickle Leaderboard.

They were Fallen Star, Destiny and Twin.

The three of them were also the outstanding virtual god-level powerhouses who ranked on the top of the Virtual God Leaderboard of the Gods Leaderboard.

Fallen Star ranked No.4 on the Virtual God Leaderboard, while Density ranked No.10. On the other hand, Twin ranked No.17.

"He killed the Wine Ant Queen and Spider Empress?" Fallen Star paused the game she was playing and lifted her head to look at Lin Huang in shock.

"I assume you guys checked the information exchange section even though you guys don't check the forum, am I right?" Twin's left head asked.

However, her right head replied immediately, "The thread on the information exchange section was deleted less than half a day after it was posted. It makes sense that they didn't see it. Also, the thread on the forum was deleted after it was posted for less than two days ago."

"You're talking about the thread on the information exchange section? I saw that, but I didn't click into it after seeing the title." Destiny pouted. "I thought the thread was deleted later on? It proves that it was fake even more."

"The person before us knows the best whether it's real or fake," Twin's both heads said at the same time.

Lin Huang could only nod lightly, seeing that the three of them were looking at him in unison. "I considered killing them, I used some tricks."

A gleam of shock flashed through Fallen Star's eyes hearing that.

Meanwhile, Destiny's face had an expression of shock as he was stunned.

Only the twin sisters who had guessed the truth were rather calm. However, excitement was written on their faces.

The doubt the three of them had was gone since Lin Huang himself had admitted that Buried Heaven was the one who had given him the quota.

The three of them were aware at that moment that the thread had been deleted not because it was fake. Instead, it was to protect the mysterious man before them.

Although Lin Huang had told them that he had used some tricks, the three of them were sure that he was way stronger than them. After all, no matter how many tricks the three of them used, they would not have been able to take the lives of the Bug Queens with the presence of hundreds of millions of Bug Tribe armies.

"Big brother, you're my big brother from now on! You must cover me in the secret zone!" Destiny held onto Lin Huang's arm with an exaggerated expression on his face.

"No matter how close you stay with him, he won't be able to cover you. No two people have ever been teleported to the same place by the Great Heaven Territory," Fallen Star said while pouting.

"It's okay. We can add each other's contacts, so we can keep in touch even after we get out of the Great Heaven Territory," Twin's right head said while smiling. Her left head agreed immediately, "That's right, let's keep in touch!"

Lin Huang did not have the heart to decline Twin's suggestion.

Twin and Destiny added Lin Huang's number immediately. Meanwhile, Fallen Star seemed to be holding onto her dignity whereby she sat still.

After adding both of them, Lin Huang turned his head to look at Fallen Star. "Let's add each other's contacts."

Fallen Star only nodded in agreement then.

A young man appeared in the meeting room without anyone noticing while the four of them were adding each other's contacts.

"It's rather crowded here."

The four of them turned their heads immediately to look at the source of the voice.

"Master Buried Heaven!"

"Please sit down," Buried Heaven invited, before taking his place at the head of the table. Lin Huang and the other three resumed their seats as well.

"I assume all of you are acquainted with each other?"

Seeing that they all nodded, Buried Heaven continued, "Then let's talk business."

"All of you should have already gone through the information sent to you on the known facts about the Great Heaven Territory, as well as some precautions that you need to take note of, so I won't waste time repeating it.

"Although your official mission in the Great Heaven Territory this time is to retrieve both the inheritance and the secret treasures, in essence, it's a test of survival. The real mission is for you to return alive. After all, the Great Heaven Territory is extensive; furthermore, nobody knows where the inheritance and the secret treasures are hidden. Whether you manage to retrieve them or not will depend greatly on luck.

"You will be randomly teleported into the Great Heaven Territory. It's highly unlikely that you'll encounter other participants, but we can't entirely rule out the possibility either. There are 300 people taking part in the hunt this time. Most of them are geniuses on the Virtual God Leaderboard; there's also a handful of supreme geniuses who have been secretly trained by the major organizations. We shouldn't underestimate them. If you do run into any of them, please be careful."

At this, Fallen Star and the others could not help glancing in Lin Huang's direction.

"As the teleportation is random, the chances of you being teleported to areas not on the map are fairly high. If you come across some unknown tribes or species, don't attack impulsively…"

Buried Heaven spent a few minutes more emphasizing several other points, before checking the time and standing up.

"It's almost time. I'll take you over there."

He shook his sleeve as he spoke and a little green thumb-sized snake flew out of it, landing on the meeting table.

Ling Huang was given no chance to react. All he had time to notice was that the little snake opened its mouth slightly before it swallowed him up completely—he was helpless to do anything about it.

If one were watching from the sidelines, one would be able to observe Lin Huang and his three companions shrinking rapidly as soon as the little snake opened its mouth. They turned into four tiny specks and were swallowed up.

Once the little black snake had devoured Lin Huang and his companions, it turned and returned to Buried Heaven's sleeve, quick as a flash.1

The next second, Buried Heaven abruptly vanished from the meeting room.

Lin Huang felt a little woozy. After a brief moment of darkness, he felt overcome by another round of dizziness.

Once he recovered his balance enough to stand properly and come to his senses, he realized that he was suspended in a starry sky.

A brawny bruiser of a man, about three meters in height, was standing next to him. The man's head was shiny and completely bald; however, he had a thick beard and was heavily muscled.

Lin Huang was startled for a moment before realizing that this was how Buried Heaven looked like in his videos online. This seemed to have been his public persona in the outside world all the while.

Fallen Star and the other two members of the group were here as well. However, they did not seem at all surprised at Buried Heaven's appearance.

"Buried Heaven, it looks like you've been pretty free lately. You've even got the time to bring participants to the Great Heaven Territory's trial," a voice called suddenly from not too far away.

Only then did Lin Huang notice that their team was not the only one in this space.

There were at least 20 teams around. The person who had hailed Buried Heaven was from the team with the most people—a total of 13 members.

Lin Huang vaguely sensed that this individual seemed to have abilities on par with Buried Heaven, and, like Buried Heaven, was also a leader.

However, this same individual was very handsome. Clad in full golden armor that shone from head to toe, his gaze was coolly arrogant. Lin Huang could not help but mock him secretly.

'Does he think he's Gilgamesh1?'

"You really do talk a lot of nonsense, King Kong," Buried Heaven responded expressionlessly from where he was standing to the side.

Lin Huang's pupils contracted a little when he heard the name King Kong. Although the man's name was the same as the gorilla in the famous movie, this was not what Lin Huang was thinking about.

In the documents that Bloody had given him, there were mentions of this particular individual.

Like Buried Heaven, King Kong was one of the few peak heavenly god-level powerhouses in the God Territory who were closest to becoming Lords.

Despite his name, King Kong was not a combat cultivator specializing in melee weapons—rather, he was a genuine sword cultivator.

Lin Huang recalled very clearly that the organization King Kong belonged to was called God Capital. It was a grade-7 organization founded by a pureblood Protoss Lord.

King Kong was an elder in God Capital, a position that was on par with the few half-step Lords in the organization.

Clearly, this time, exploring the secret zone was important to God Capital as well.

"Sword and saber are irreconcilable. As a sword cultivator, Great Heaven always treated me as his most powerful opponent. It makes perfect sense that I'm here. You though, you're a combat cultivator, so why are you here looking for trouble?"

"I'll come as I please, what are you going to do about it?" Buried Heaven did not bother rising to the bait despite King Kong's needling.

"Hey, there's a new face on your team." King Kong swept a glance over Buried Heaven's group, his gaze stopping on Lin Huang, "He's bundled up securely enough already, do you still need to cast a shield layer around him, brat? All this mystery—don't tell me he's Death Sickle's secret weapon?"

Lin Huang had a shock when he heard this. Only now was he aware that Buried Heaven had secretly cast a layer of protection over him to prevent him from being detected by the Heavenly Gods. Even King Kong had not been able to discover who Lin Huang really was.

"I added a shield to prevent people like yourself from detecting him as and when you please," Buried Heaven retorted, not mincing words.

"Your straightforward character is what I like about you." King Kong did not seem to take offense to this at all. Instead, he said, grinning, "I think we would become great partners if you joined God Capital. We wouldn't have any opponents below Lord level. I don't know what's so good about Death Sickle when there aren't any Lords in the organization…"

"If you want me to join God Capital, that's fine by me. I'll be more than happy to take your place once you die," Buried Heaven interrupted King Kong, scoring a point verbally. This was not the first time King Kong had annoyed him with similar invitations.

"Hehe, I certainly don't want to die. Why don't you help me kill off one of God Capital's elders? You can join and take over his position…" King Kong's brazen suggestion about killing one of his own organization's elders in front of so many people shocked even the 12 God Capital participants behind him.

'What an insane bastard!' Lin Huang mentally labeled King Kong.

The conversation between the pair came to an abrupt end very quickly, thanks to Buried Heaven ignoring King Kong. The entire space finally settled back into its hitherto quiet state.

More and more organizations showed up as the time for the opening of the Great Heaven Territory drew nearer.

Lin Huang noticed that the few teams with a larger quota were grade-7 organizations guarded by Lords. Excluding the leaders, there were more than ten participants per team.

Almost all the other teams had less than five members. Only two teams had five members, while seven other teams, Death Sickle included, had four members. Most of the rest were small teams of two or three people; there were some ten teams that only had one participant each.

Clearly, the Great Heaven Territory's quota for the trial was not so easily obtained.

Everyone continued waiting; it was soon nine in the morning.

Precisely on the stroke of nine, an austere golden metal gate suddenly materialized out of thin air…

The metal gate was completely golden, its surface covered with mysterious divine patterns.

As the gate materialized fully, the divine patterns on it began to shift and change, looking like little snakes in various positions.

It only took a moment for the divine patterns on the golden gate to alter completely.

Once the divine patterns had stopped changing and the new design was fixed in place, a rumble sounded out of nowhere. At the same time, the gate seemed to be pushed open slowly by a pair of invisible hands, and the sound of heavy objects being dragged over the ground could be heard in the air.

In approximately the time it took for ten breaths, the gate was finally wide open.

Behind the gate, there was nothing but absolute darkness, certainly not the Dimensional Whirlpool that Lin Huang had imagined. The silence was absolute too as if nothing was there.

Just as Lin Huang experienced some doubt, King Kong, the God Capital elder who was standing nearby, spoke up suddenly.

"Let's go in!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the 12 participants from God Capital turned into 12 streams of light and made straight for the gate without hesitation.

Almost simultaneously, the team leaders of the several other lord-level organizations gave their orders.

One by one the participants changed into light streams and charged through the golden door one after another.

Meanwhile, Buried Heaven had yet to give the orders for the Death Sickle team. Lin Huang was not in a hurry either; instead, he observed what was happening at the gate.

As the light streams charged forward, they penetrated the darkness behind the gate and immediately vanished. Their auras could no longer be detected at all.

If not for the faint ripples undulating in the darkness behind the gate, Lin Huang would have never thought the gate possessed any sort of dimensional ability.

Only after all five of the lord-level teams had gone through did Buried Heaven nod at Lin Huang and the others in the Death Sickle team.

"Let's go in."

Without further hesitation, Lin Huang and his three companions turned into four light streams and charged through the gate with the participants of the remaining top grade-6 organizations.

The moment they crossed the threshold, Lin Huang felt as if he had plunged through the surface of water. Immediately, however, his five senses were all cut off. Sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste seemed to have been stripped away in the blink of an eye. Not only was he unable to activate his Divine Telekinesis, but even his sense of time was also obscured.

Lin Huang did not know how much time had passed before a light appeared before him suddenly.

The next instant, his senses and abilities all returned to his body.

He landed slowly on a large expanse of ground with deep fissures running through it.

A check with Divine Telekinesis revealed that this was a barren planet. To be exact, it was a dead planet with absolutely no living creatures.

Not only were there no animals, but there were also no signs of any living plants, insects, or even microorganisms.

However, Lin Huang could not help frowning a little.

This was because he had discovered quite a few vestiges of former habitation on this planet in the form of city ruins. Although the buildings were not tall, they had definitely been places inhabited by some group species.

"All life has been wiped out; even the mines have ceased functioning…" Lin Huang squinted a little. "The Bug Tribe is the only tribe that would do this!

"In other words, this planet that I'm currently standing on was once conquered by Bug Tribes…so there's a definite possibility that I'm currently within the territorial boundaries of a Bug Tribe." This was not good news for Lin Huang.

Heavenly god-level powerhouses existed in the Great Heaven Territory.

If the Bug Tribe army's Bug King or Bug Queen was a heavenly god-level powerhouse, Lin Huang would not be able to survive an encounter with them.

"I hope things aren't as terrible as I imagine…" In a flash, Lin Huang disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared in the middle of a ruined city.

While using Divine Telekinesis to do a close-range sweep of the area, he was also observing his surroundings.

"The hoof prints on the ground were obviously made by Heavy-armored Onyx Bugs; the blade marks on the ruined walls would probably have been made by the Demonic Sword-armed Mantis. The tunnels in the wall show burn marks; Devil Cannon Bugs were probably responsible for that…"

For Lin Huang, who had mastered the galactic hive and accessed the Bug Tribe Queen Mother's memory as well, most Bug Tribes were not unfamiliar to him. A glance was all he needed to ascertain which Bug Tribes had subjugated this particular city.

"Judging by the traces of battle remaining, the Bug Tribes that attacked were at virtual god-level combat strength. In other words, their Bug King or Bug Queen would have only been at the level of a Virtual God. Even if they were True Gods, they were most likely only beginner-stage True Gods." Lin Huang was more than a little relieved to have drawn these conclusions.

"Based on what's left, the extermination of life on this planet probably happened within the last half a year…" At this point in his speculations, Lin Huang could not help but frown again, "Bug Tribes only plunder a planet's resources and its life. They can retrieve any information they need from the planet's living creatures, there's no need for them to steal civilization documents. There should at least be some of those left behind here!"

"All I have to do is to find some civilization documents, and I should be able to confirm where exactly I am. If I'm lucky I might even get a star map right away…"

Lin Huang decided to stay on this dead planet to continue his explorations because he could not identify his location at all. The only thing he knew was that he was nowhere within the exploration zone, so the star maps that Death Sickle provided were no help at all.

If he were to leave now, he might search for a month and not be able to find a second planet with resources.

Furthermore, the Great Heaven Territory was only open to explorers for a month.

As he stood above the ruined city, Lin Huang spread his Divine Telekinesis for a thorough scan. A moment later, his frown deepened and his expression became more and more unpleasant.

While the Divine Telekinesis scan did not give him anything particularly valuable in terms of information, it allowed him to access many scenes that roused his ire.

In a bedroom on the second floor of a two-story building, the pink sheet on the bed was stained with blood. On it was a ruined fabric doll with only half its head intact, also covered in blood.

Someone had clearly been dragged off the bed, as the bloodstains extended from the bed to the ground. The gory trail ended at the doorway in a huge pool of blood.

Lin Huang could almost imagine the scene—a little girl of five or six between a bug beast's jaws, being dragged to the door before being eaten.

The kitchen on the first floor of another three-story building was a shambles. Pots and dishes were overturned and broken on the floor, with traces of dried oil still to be seen on the tiles. That would probably have been soup that was spilled.

Dark blood seeped through the remaining oil stains on the floor.

In a building not far away, the bookshelves in one of the studies had been completely wrecked. The floor was full of torn books and bloodstains.

There was a little photo frame in one of the crevices under the ruined study table. The glass on the frame was broken, but the picture inside was still intact.

It was a photograph showing a family of four.

The man of the house looked like he was in his early 30s. His face was covered with stubble, and a little boy of four or five was sitting on his lap making a funny face. The lady next to him had a gentle smile on her face as she carried a swaddled infant in her arms. The baby was smiling up at its mother.

…

This was a planet that had once been inhabited by humans!

Lin Huang furrowed his brow the moment when he saw the photograph.

He had not thought too much about it when he initially noticed that the buildings were styled in the manner of human architecture. This was because most buildings in the God Territory had been inspired by human designs.

Furthermore, none of the previous trial participants had ever come across any human encampments during past explorations of areas in the God Territory.

Although Lin Huang had speculated that there might be humans residing in the Great Heaven Territory, never had he imagined that he would be directly teleported into one such area.

From a Divine Telekinesis scan for the number of ruined buildings that still remained, Lin Huang could roughly estimate that there had been at least three billion people on this planet.

This was close to half of the Earth's population, not to mention countless animals and plants that had been eaten and killed by the Bug Tribes. Not a trace of them remained.

Although this was not Lin Huang's first encounter with the Bug Tribes, it was the first time he truly understood the threat they posed.

However, Lin Huang's thoughts were simultaneously going wild inside his head.

"The inhabitants of this planet were all human; it could very well mean that this was a gathering point for humans. So there's a high probability of humans inhabiting other living planets nearby. Judging from the Bug Tribes' frequent campaigns over the decades and centuries, this war between humans and the Bug Tribes might still be going on in some other planet nearby."

This made it even more imperative for him to find a star map.

After some brief consideration, Lin Huang summoned a Bug Tribe Queen Mother.

As soon as the order was given, a massive number of Bug Tribe armies swarmed forth to cover the entire planet once again.

This time their mission was not to kill but to search for information on the planet's civilization.

Over 100 million bug hordes took merely a couple of minutes to cover every corner of the entire planet.

Some ten minutes later, a Queen Mother in a white dress who looked like a little girl turned her head to speak to Lin Huang.

"We found an underground laboratory that's still functioning. We should be able to find quite a bit of information there."

"Give me the coordinates!" Lin Huang exclaimed hurriedly, "Ask them not to damage anything in there."

A couple of minutes later, Lin Huang and the Queen Mother arrived at the coordinates where the entrance to the underground facility was located.

The great metal door at the entrance had been ripped apart during the war. Lin Huang and the Queen Mother hurried inside.

This underground laboratory had collapsed long ago. However, the Bug Tribe fighters sent by the Queen Mother had cleared a path for them.

Lin Huang led the Queen Mother into the laboratory's control center without encountering any obstacles along the way.

Part of the control center had actually collapsed as well. Fortunately, the machines at the central control unit were not damaged; even the holographic projector had been preserved in its entirety.

The main control unit was huge, like supercomputers on earth. Lin Huang was unable to figure out how to operate it even after staring at the hundreds of buttons on its console for a long time. Feeling helpless, he had no choice but to summon Grimace.

Usually, Lin Huang would get Bloody to handle such tasks whenever she was with him. Now that she was not here, he could only seek help from Grimace, who also possessed Supreme Intelligence.

Once Grimace was summoned, he fell to studying the machine without saying much of anything.

Some ten minutes later, Grimace finally figured out the basics of how to operate the machine.

"We're very lucky that there's still internet access on this planet. What would you like to look for?"

"Information about this planet—the star maps of the surrounding areas, the bigger the coverage and the more detailed, the better. Information about other living planets nearby, and also related information on the war with the Bug Tribes…"

Lin Huang gave Grimace a list of some of the things that he wanted to know most of all.

A 3-D holographic projection appeared in the middle of the room all of a sudden as Grimace operated the machine.

The projection was of a starry sky that Lin Huang was unfamiliar with.

"This machine seems to be connected to the entire star zone's internet. The blinking light on the star map is the planet that we're currently on."

"What do the colors of the labels mean?" Lin Huang immediately asked. He saw that many planets on the star map had been color-coded and marked with various symbols.

"Red means planets that are currently at war; green means living planets inhabited by a single tribe; blue means planets inhabited by other harmless tribes. A red cross means planets that have been destroyed; a black skull means planets that have resident Bug Tribe armies, and a red skull means planets with powerful enemies in residence…"

Lin Huang noticed that the planet that he was currently on had been marked with a red cross. Not only that, but a few dozen planets close by were also marked with red crosses. From afar, the red crosses looked like a sea of red dots.

Looking up in another direction, Lin Huang saw hundreds of black skulls and a couple of red skulls.

"The planet we're on is between the Bug Tribe armies and planets inhabited by Bug Tribes. The only way to return to the safe areas marked by the green dots of light would be to pass through the Bug Tribe armies. This planet has only undergone several hundred years of development; the dimensional portals only support two teleportation points. Both the planets that the dimensional portal connects to are currently war zones. Furthermore, we have to make sure that the dimensional portals still work. Even if they do, we have no way of ascertaining if the dimensional portals between the two teleportation points are in good condition."

"Can you find out the overall ability of the current invading Bug Tribes?" Lin Huang asked quickly.

"The war is led by three high-level Heavenly Gods. There's also a recently elevated Heavenly God Queen Mother from the Bug Tribe. Apart from them, there are three true god-level Queen Mothers, over 20 peak-stage True God Bug Kings and bug guardians. There are eight virtual god-level Queen Mothers…"

"At the moment, the Heavenly Gods have yet to fight; they're just taking a back seat for now. They're on the several red skull-labeled planets on the star map. There are also three true god-level Queen Mothers, peak-stage True God Bug Kings and bug guardians, as well as high-level True God Bug Tribe elites in the areas marked with black skulls. We can't be sure exactly which planets they're on."

"A recently elevated Heavenly God Queen Mother…no wonder the Bug Tribes started a war out of nowhere!" After hearing Grimace's information, Lin Huang, who had a certain understanding of how the Bug Tribe was run internally, immediately realized why war had broken out.

The emergence of a Queen Mother elevated to Heavenly God meant that the entire Bug Tribe could produce heavenly god-level Bug Tribe fighters.

The war was initiated to provide the Heavenly God Queen Mother with better food so she could produce heavenly god-level powerhouses.

Moreover, members of the Bug Tribe could elevate their combat strength and levels through eating. Eating massive amounts of good-quality food could help the Heavenly God Queen Mother to elevate her combat strength further.

However, judging by the information Grimace provided, the war was clearly still in its preliminary to middle stages. It had not yet come to the final stages where the Heavenly Gods and high-level True Gods officially joined the battle.

Even if that were the case, the current situation showed that the Bug Tribe had the upper hand.

"Of the Bug Tribes already in the war zone right now, what's the most powerful Bug Tribe's combat strength? Can you find out?" Lin Huang asked again.

"The Bug Tribe has only sent out intermediate-stage True Gods for the moment. The ones with the highest combat strength are several class-4 sixth-rank True God Bug Kings."

"Quadruple mutated sixth-rank True Gods…" Lin Huang frowned again.

A Bug Tribe with such combat strength was a definite threat to his life. It was quite impossible for him to win even if he used all his trump cards.

His most powerful technique was his God's Figurines' Combat Souls but their combat strength was only at virtual god-level rank-9. At most, their ability was on par with second-rank True God Bug Kings. Even if he were to use the Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card, the most he could do would be to elevate three ranks, which was about par ability-wise with that of a fifth-rank True God Bug King.

At true god-level, just one rank made a huge difference in one's abilities.

"It would be a bit of a hassle to bump into those Bug Kings but there's nothing else to be done. The trial only lasts for a month; I can't be wasting my time…" Lin Huang soon came to a decision.

After reading through the documents that he needed, Lin Huang got Grimace to filter through all the documents in the entire laboratory and send them to his communication ring. Only then did he leave the underground laboratory.

As he returned to the surface, Lin Huang had the Queen Mother recall the Bug Tribe armies. He then summoned Thunder and hurried to the dimensional portals with Grimace.

Thanks to Thunder's incredible speed, Lin Huang arrived at the coordinates where the dimensional portals were within ten minutes.

"Both dimensional portals look like they're working fine. However, we've no idea if both teleportation points on the other side are functioning." Grimace stared at the dimensional portals for a while before he said to Lin Huang, "I suggest we test them out with something else to see whether the teleportation is successful."

If the dimensional portals on the other sides were damaged or malfunctioning due to some other reason, the teleported items might be sent into some unknown void. They might even be torn apart immediately by the dimensional portals.

Lin Huang thought about it and asked the Queen Mother standing beside him to summon two lowest grade bug beasts and have them step into a portal each.

After putting in sufficient Divine Stones for activation, both dimensional portals were up and running almost

simultaneously. A moment later, the Queen Mother that looked like a little girl turned her head to say to Lin Huang, "One of them died instantly while the other is still alive. However, since it's too far away, I can only sense faintly that it's still alive but nothing else."

Bug Tribe Queen Mothers' sensing range for the Bug Tribe fighters under them far surpassed Divine Telekinesis coverage. This had something to do with the bugs' willpower, as well as the Bug Tribe's physiological structure. However, once out of range, Queen Mothers could only detect whether their fighters were still alive, and nothing more.

"Which was the successful portal?" Lin Huang asked quickly.

"The one on the right."

"We have to also make sure that the teleportation distance and the coordinates are the same," Grimace reminded Lin Huang, lightly tapping his fingers on his walking stick twice.

Only now did it occur to Lin Huang that even though one bug beast had survived, there was a chance it had been teleported to an unknown area.

"Can you sense the distance?" he asked the Queen Mother.

The Queen Mother closed her eyes and opened them a moment later. "Approximately 14 light-years away."

Lin Huang projected the star map immediately and looked at the teleportation distance that was marked on the map. "That should be correct. The coordinates on the star map show that the two teleportation points are 11.8 and 14.3 light-years away from this planet that we're currently on. The teleportation point of the dimensional portal on the right is exactly 14.3 light-years."

Grimace cupped his chin and thought for a moment. Suddenly he turned to the Queen Mother and asked by way of confirmation, "You can't get any information at all about that planet?"

The Queen Mother nodded. "The distance is far beyond the limits of my capabilities. I can't send or receive any information, I can only sense whether my heir is still alive."

Grimace raised his brows and looked at Lin Huang. "We only know that particular planet is currently at war based on the documents we retrieved from the laboratory earlier. How many Bug Tribes there are, what their combat strength is, how many powerhouses there are on the human side, and which stage the war is at…we have no information on any of these.

"It's possible that we might encounter a sixth-rank True God Bug King if we were to gatecrash the war. Moreover, judging by the amount of red and black dots on the current star map, the Bug Tribe seems to have the upper hand in this battle. So I suggest that it's best if you teleport yourself there disguised as a member of the Bug Tribe.

"Use your Bug Tribe identity to gain whatever intel you can and remove the disguise when there's a suitable opportunity to come into contact with humans. Then you can fight as a human."

Lin Huang thought about it for a while and decided to take Grimace's suggestion.

"Then I need to look for a humanoid Bug Tribe. Otherwise, it will be difficult to move around."

After a discussion with Queen Mother, Lin Huang finally decided on his disguise —a Devil Sword Bug.

The Devil Sword Bug was a class-3.5, which would be the equivalent of pseudo-mythical level in Monster Card ranking.

Although it was a member of the Bug Tribe, the Devil Sword Bug's form was completely humanoid. Not only was it a biped, but it had no exoskeleton, unlike other Bug Tribe species. Instead, it had muscles similar to that of humans. However, there were obvious differences as well. This particular bug beast species had two sharp swords for arms as if someone had tied a sword onto each arm. The Devil Sword Bug's head was also that of a bug beast, similar to a praying mantis' triangular head.

After disguising himself with Thousand Face and making sure that the Queen Mother and Grimace could not detect any flaws, Lin Huang then began adjusting his combat strength.

To avoid any attention, he adjusted his combat strength to Virtual God rank-3—a mere cosmetic adjustment that did not affect his actual abilities. This was a result of some discussion with Grimace. The reason for such an adjustment was that there were countless Virtual Gods within the invading Bug Tribe. This combat strength was rather low, but it was not the lowest; he would have much more freedom to act compared to a Virtual God rank-1. Even if there was intel accessible only with higher combat strength, he would not attract much attention even if he were to elevate his combat strength by two ranks.

After adjusting his combat strength, Lin Huang asked Grimace, the Queen Mother and Thunder to make sure that his disguise was flawless. He then recalled Grimace, the Queen Mother, and Thunder back into their cards, and stepped into the dimensional portal alone.

A moment later, Lin Huang felt briefly woozy. In the blink of an eye, his surrounding environment around was now completely different from a few minutes ago.

Despite this new environment being as barren as the one before, it did not have the deathly stillness of the previous planet. In fact, Lin Huang could clearly hear the sounds of battle in the distance as violent forces clashed against each other.

The bug beast that had been teleported over earlier was not able to be recalled by the Queen Mother since it was too far away. It was just standing nearby, staring blankly at the dimensional portal since it had not received any orders from the Queen Mother.

It was clearly stunned when it saw Lin Huang and skittered over clumsily as it sensed a familiar aura.

Lin Huang waved and recalled the bug beast back to the hive directly.

Sensing a great deal of Divine Telekinesis nearby, Lin Huang activated his Divine Telekinesis without worrying too much.

Although Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis intensity was only Virtual God rank-3 on the surface thanks to Thousand Face's disguise, his real detection range was much further.

His Divine Telekinesis range was close to the level of a True God so it did not take him long at all to gauge the situation at hand.

80% of this planet had been conquered by the Bug Tribe. Meanwhile, humans and a few other tribes occupied several major cities. These cities were certain to have powerhouses guarding them. Not only that, but many survivors had also gathered within the cities to steadfastly defend them against the Bug Tribe's attacks.

"Looking at the current war situation, the cities' defenses shouldn't be breached all that soon. However, there's no chance of me getting into human cities under such conditions…"

Lin Huang was happy that the humans were working with other tribes. However, he felt a little troubled at the same time, as this meant that he could not enter the cities.

He made a decision after thinking it through for a moment.

"I can only take one step at a time. In the meantime, I'll look for intel from the Bug Tribe."

Just as Lin Huang was wondering how to contact other Bug Tribes to retrieve intel, a virtual projection box suddenly popped up in front of him.

'What's that?'

Lin Huang had put away his communication ring earlier to disguise himself as a member of the Bug Tribe; this projection box clearly did not come from there.

Lin Huang took a closer look—the projected content looked rather like a group chat. There were constant new updates on various pieces of information. He was familiar with the language that the group chat was using; they were written in the characters of the Bug Tribe's tongue.

He had mastered the bug language automatically after obtaining the Bug Tribe Queen Mother. It was also one of the functions of his Goldfinger, Xiao Hei, which allowed him to master all Monster Cards' languages and characters automatically.

Lin Huang eyed the projection box doubtfully. Very soon, his triangular head took on a confused expression.

"Is this the Bug Tribe's group chat?"

Although he had obtained Bug Tribe Queen Mothers and many Bug Tribe Monster Cards, this was his first time encountering the Bug Tribe's internal communication system.

The projection box before him was similar to the group chats that humans used back in the gravel world.

New messages kept scrolling up on the group chat; this was apparently a live conversation among different Bug Tribe members.

Lin Huang made up his mind to become an observer and read the conversations coming from all these multiple Bug Tribe members in silence.

"This planet sure is tough. It's been almost a month and we still haven't conquered it!"

"There's nothing that we can do. The few remaining cities all have True Gods guarding them. Not only that, but their ability's also quite powerful. Especially that Nangong guy; I heard he's a human class-4 genius and his combat strength is at sixth-rank True God level. That's on par with a Bug King."

"We can only drain them since we can't defeat them. After all, we outnumber the humans. No matter how powerful that Nangong guy is, once his Divine Power is all drained off, he's finished."

"Judging by our current progress, I think we'll need at least a month to clear this planet completely."

…

Lin Huang observed quietly for a while and realized that the bug beasts sending out these messages seemed to be of a similar intelligence level. They were completely different from ordinary Bug Tribe fighters.

Just as Lin Huang started to have some doubts, a message popped up suddenly. Unlike the black bug characters in all the previous texts, this one was in red.

"Stop chatting, take charge of your stations and your underlings. The Queen Mother's just given an order—we attack in half an hour!"

The entire group chat became dead silent as soon as the red message popped up.

Lin Huang came to a realization at that point. "No wonder they have high intelligence. I'm guessing these are bug guardians and commanders that are at least triple mutated."

Triple mutated Bug Tribes had intelligence on par with ordinary humans. If that was the case, everything made sense.

"The sender of the red text should be the quadruple mutated Bug King!" Lin Huang was able to make a rough guess at the identity of the bug beast that had sent the text. "I can't believe I accidentally tapped into a high-level group chat."

However, the mention of an attack in half an hour caught Lin Huang's attention.

"Perhaps if I follow along with this attack, I might be able to come into contact with the humans here."

Lin Huang levitated into the air after a moment of contemplation and headed for the Bug Tribe that was nearest to his Divine Telekinesis sense earlier.

He suppressed his flight speed to the level of a rank-3 Virtual God. It took him some ten minutes to finally arrive at the location where he had sensed the Bug Tribe.

Fortunately, Bug Tribe soldiers below the level of guardians and commanders possessed low intelligence. None of them suspected Lin Huang's identity even though they sensed his arrival. Instead, they cleared a path for him since they sensed that he had high combat strength.

This allowed Lin Huang to blend into the Bug Tribe easily. What was even more fortunate was that the entire group was comprised of a mixture of armies. There were hundreds of different Bug Tribes; Lin Huang did not seem out of place when he mingled with everyone.

He was not nervous at all as he was among bug beasts of all forms in the Bug Tribe army.

He glanced around; he sensed no aura that surpassed virtual god-level.

It was a piece of cake for him to annihilate troops of over 10 million Bug Tribe fighters on his own. He would not even need to summon his imperial beasts.

As Lin Huang glanced over the bugs, it did not take him long to notice a human city not far away. It was less than 60 kilometers from where the Bug Tribe army was currently.

Ten minutes passed by in the blink of an eye.

There was a sudden update in the 'group chat' that Lin Huang was observing.

A message in gold text came through.

"Inform the troops we will attack in three minutes!"

"This message is probably from one of the true god-level Queen Mothers!" Lin Huang immediately guessed who had sent the gold texts.

Based on the overall battle situation, each of the three true god-level Queen Mothers was responsible for overseeing the wars in at least a few dozen planets. This meant that their attention would be split between all of these various places.

Despite that, the Queen Mothers coordinated the efforts of the Bug Tribe army confidently and effortlessly.

The Queen Mothers' orders would only go to the Bug Kings leading the troops and the Bug Tribe commanders. They would naturally make the necessary arrangements to realize the Queen Mothers' orders.

A voice sounded in Lin Huang's ears as soon as the Queen Mother sent the message.

"Get ready, we attack in three minutes!"

Seeing that all of the bugs around him were standing up one after the other, Lin Huang realized that the order was not solely directed at him.

'That wasn't voice transmission, so it ought to be the Bug Tribe's message delivery system. The message would be heard by everyone; what a highly efficient technique.'

In less than half an hour of being disguised as a bug, Lin Huang had witnessed two different yet highly efficient communication techniques. This had completely overturned the original assumptions he had made about the Bug Tribe.

Initially, he had thought that most Bug Tribes were of low intelligence. The reason why they were powerful was because of their massive numbers and the fact that they could devour everything. However, if one could infer the whole from a single instance, this meant that the Bug Tribe possessed high intelligence which was on par with that of humans.

Humans had invented communication tools, while the Bug Tribe had invented its own 'group chat'. Humans had come up with voice transmission techniques, while Bug Tribe had their very own message delivery system. Furthermore, their system was much more efficient and detailed than human voice transmission.

Clearly, the Bug Tribe had been continuously learning and evolving.

Lin Huang abandoned his sense of superiority and suppressed his aura to avoid being exposed.

As soon as the three minutes of preparation were up, a gold text appeared in the group chat.

"Charge!"

Almost simultaneously, Lin Huang heard an order in his ears.

"Go!"

As soon as the order came, almost all the Bug Tribe members stopped what they were doing and charged at the nearby city!

Tens upon millions of Bug Tribe armies surged toward the human city like a flood.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang kept a low profile in the great mass of bug beasts and followed the army into the city.

Tough City was the name of the human city.

Lin Huang only realized that the city wall was much higher than he imagined as he arrived outside the city with the bug beasts.

The city wall was about 100 meters tall. Apart from the fact that it was made up of a tremendous amount of metals and beast bones, many barriers and formations were shielding it.

Even a true god-level powerhouse might not be able to damage it with all of his might.

Lin Huang could almost imagine how much effort was put into this city wall when it was built.

He lifted his head to look above the city wall. Dense human troops were standing neatly. Many of them wore armors of different colors and models. They were not trained soldiers, but they were standing in a neat formation.

All of them were looking at the Bug Tribe armies that were already standing in a formation in all seriousness.

Just when Lin Huang was thinking of how the war would begin, a new order came into his ears.

"Execute a long-distance attack, get ready! Aim your attacks at the targets, which are the humans on the city wall!"

A commotion came among the bugs as soon as the order came.

A moment later, Lin Huang saw a couple of tribe members gathered together.

They were Bug Tribes that were experts in long-distance attacks.

"Defence, set up a formation to protect the long-distance attack tribes!"

Almost at the same time, the Bug Tribes wearing thick armors and shields gathered around the long-distance attack tribes.

As soon as the commotion broke out among the Bug Tribes, the humans on the city wall had taken the initiative to attack.

Lin Huang heard someone shouting on the city wall from far away, "Archers, firearms masters, gunmasters and Element Masters will take the first wave of attack!"

In the next second, Lin Huang saw countless arrows containing Divine Power, bullets and all sorts of elemental skills raining down like a storm.

Lin Huang ran immediately and hid under a Giant Beetle's tummy without hesitation.

To be honest, this wave of attack could not harm him at all.

However, he who had disguised himself as a Bug Tribe had no plan of exposing himself at the moment. He could only use the Giant Beetle as his shield to avoid this wave of attack.

As soon as human's first wave of attack came, the Bug Tribes fought back immediately.

The Flame Cannon Bugs spat gigantic fireballs one after another above the city wall.

The Ice Psybugs consolidated icicles in the air and shot them out with their tails.

Meanwhile, there were Arrow Sting Bugs that looked something like porcupines shot the poisonous stings on their bodies like arrows.

…

The Bug Tribe's attack techniques were fancy. Even Lin Huang who was hiding under the Giant Beetle thought it was eye-opening.

"I can't believe there are so many tribes among the Bug Tribe to be experts in long-distance attack!"

There were many casualties on the Bug Tribe's side during the first round of battle.

Countless arrows, bullets, cannons, and elemental attacks landed on all sorts of Bug Tribes. Slightly above 70% of them were hit during this round of battle. Many of them whose ability was subpar were eliminated directly. A portion of them was injured from the attacks. Only a minority of them suffered no injuries.

Meanwhile, on the human side, the attack impact that they suffered was nothing minor. However, very few of them were killed during this round of attack.

Most of the Bug Tribes who passed through the high city wall after attacking had their power taken away by all sorts of formations and barriers. Many attacks even vanished before they hit anything. Even if they did hit something, 70% to 80% of impact and speed were taken away, which lost its threat.

The humans were well prepared for this battle.

Lin Huang who was still hiding under the Giant Beetle tummy was secretly relieved when he saw that.

Although it was not the gravel world, the humans in the city were of his kind after all.

A new order came into Lin Huang's ears as the fire went on for some ten minutes from both sides.

"Excluding the long-distance attack group, everyone attacks!"

A commotion went on among the Bug Tribes as the order came. A sea of bug beasts flew into the air and charged above the city wall directly.

Only a minority of bug beasts that were not good in flying chose to charge beneath the city wall.

The Bug King's order had a certain force on the ordinary Bug Tribes, there was no way that they could go against the order. However, Lin Huang was not a real Bug Tribe, but an imposter. Although he received the order too, there was no stress on him.

Seeing the formation waves that appeared faintly above the city wall, Lin Huang knew that this wave of Bug Tribes would be in an unfavorable situation again.

He withdrew his head obediently again and proceeded to hide under the Giant Beetle's tummy. He waited for the Giant Beetle to run with its clumsy, thin legs patiently.

It was not that the Giant Beetles could not fly. They had wings too, but their flight technique was worrying. They could not deviate their directions most of the time as soon as they started flying. No matter what kind of obstacles they encountered, they could only smash into it. Therefore, unless they were running for their lives, the Giant Beetles rarely flap their wings.

As the Giant Beetles were merely one-third on their way, a sea of bug beasts had flown above the city wall.

Just like what Lin Huang expected, the countless bug beasts slowed down from the formations and barriers as they passed above the city wall. They became sitting ducks.

Naturally, the humans on the city wall would not let go of such an opportunity. This time, almost everyone on the city wall attacked. They attacked with all sorts of techniques at the Bug Tribes that were slowed down.

The first wave of Bug Tribe fighters that went first became sitting ducks directly. Almost all of them were killed instantly.

The Bug Tribes at the back reacted immediately when they noticed something was off. However, they did not retreat. Instead, they treated their kind in front as their shields while they proceeded to attack at the city wall.

Although they slowed down significantly, there were so many of them after all. Apart from the major casualties on the first impact, the death rate after that dropped significantly.

Seeing that the Bug Tribe soldiers did not stop approaching, the humans felt the stress on their side.

"Go, squads!"

As the order came from the human's side, up to a hundred human squads charged from above the city wall. The members of the squads were high-level Virtual Gods. They were like arrows shooting into the bug hordes.

Compared to the Bug Tribes being slowed down, up to a hundred human squads seemed to not have been affected by the barriers and formations at all.

While one was advancing and another was dropping, it was like up to a hundred tigers pouncing at the lambs.

The Bug Tribes' stance was messed up instantly. The sitting ducks that were initially charging towards the city wall were killed one after another.

As if up to a hundred whirlpools appeared among the tsunami-like bug hordes, their order was disrupted now.

"Amazing comeback!"

Lin Huang could not help but exclaimed when he saw that.

"The great formation of up to a hundred billion in number the Bug Tribes came up with were disrupted by some 1,000 people like a piece of cake!"

However, Lin Huang could not help but frown under the disguise in the next second. He thought of a problem all of a sudden.

"Now that the battle is so intense, there must be countless True Gods watching. I'm afraid it might be difficult for me to remove my disguise to enter the city. Forget it that the Bug Tribes might find out about me but as soon as humans find me, they would most probably think that I'm a spy for the Bug Tribe. Even if I managed to prove that I'm human, I bet they won't believe me. After all, there were spies controlled by the Bug Tribe before…"

The attack and defense battle above the city wall went into climax less than three seconds since it began.

The Bug Tribe armies were in a frenzy to pass through the city wall, but they were disrupted by the formations and barriers that the humans had set up beforehand.

As they picked up their pace and attempted to break their defense by force, they were ambushed by the human elite squads.

The over 100 squads were made of high-level Virtual Gods. Each squad was made of 10 to 15 people, they formed mini battle formations. Clearly, they had rehearsed this for a long time. Each battle formation's power was on par with a Virtual God rank-9 expert. Some were even more powerful than that.

Although there were many Bug Tribe fighters, most of them were beginner-stage and intermediate-stage Virtual Gods. There were less than 1/5 high-level Virtual Gods among them.

Under the ambush, the human squads were like a sharp knife dipping into oil, messing up the charging Bug Tribe armies.

The throngs of Bug Tribe fighters were no match for the ambush squad's attacks at all. Before any of their Virtual God rank-9 and true god-level powerhouses made it here, the human battle formations clearly would not stop killing their kinds.

Although they had a great upper hand in their quantity, the Bug Tribe did not get any advantages out of the two consecutive battles.

As the battle was getting intense in the air, the Bug Tribe armies on land had finally arrived beneath the city wall.

At the moment, countless sparks lit up above the city wall all of a sudden. Fireballs fell onto the ground one after another like a meteor shower.

Just when the fireballs exploded as they touched the ground, the ground beneath the city wall lit up all of a sudden. Within a few breaths of time, hundreds of meters around the outer ring of the city wall turned into a sea of fire.

Faint Divine Power and Cursed Power were spreading in the fiery flames. The sea of Bug Tribe fighters was ignited instantly, the flame could not be extinguished.

The bug beasts released devastation shrieks in the flame. As they rolled around in pain, they were then turned into carcasses with no flesh.

"Vampire Fire…"

Even Lin Huang did not expect humans to do that.

The Vampire Fire was a cursed divine skill. The casting of such inhibition skill required Divine Fire from a True God's body and 99 Virtual God's flesh.

Although Lin Huang had no idea of the casting conditions, he knew very well that it was maleficium.

The humans must have sealed the maleficium in the secret skill crystals and buried them underground. They then used a stealth barrier to shield the trap, so that the enemies could not find out about it with Divine Telekinesis.

As soon as the Bug Tribe fell into the trap, they would use fire skill to detonate them.

However, judging by the fire coverage beneath the city wall, the humans buried at least ten secret skill crystals that were sealed with Vampire Fire underground.

Lin Huang almost fell into the trap as it came out of nowhere. Fortunately, his Divine Telekinesis had always been active. He covered his body with Mirror as soon as he sensed the threatening fiery flame on the ground.

Meanwhile, the Giant Beetle that he was hiding under was not as fortunate. Just like the other Bug Tribe fighters around, it was lit instantly and turned into a carcass during the struggle.

In less than 20 breaths of time the Vampire Fire was lit, almost all Bug Tribes that stepped into the fire coverage turned into carcasses.

Fortunately, the Giant Beetle was huge even when it turned into a carcass. It did not expose Lin Huang who was hiding under it.

To avoid any attention, Lin Huang adjusted his aura with Thousand Face to nothingness as he continued to play dead under the Giant Beetle's tummy.

Under the Mirror's shield, the Vampire Fire merely took away a little bit of his Divine Power.

One must say that playing dead gave Lin Huang a better opportunity to observe the entire battleground.

On the ground, the bug beasts that were moving forward stopped due to the Vampire Fire's obstacle. Most of them chose to stand where they were to wait for the flame to extinguish. Meanwhile, a minority of them flew directly to join the battle above the city wall.

Meanwhile, the battle above the city wall was getting more intense.

Although the attacks on the ground were disrupted, the Bug Tribe had finally gotten back to their pace in the battle of the sky.

Many Virtual God rank-9 powerhouses rushed to the areas where the human squads were and stopped the killing coming from the human battle formations. Even some beginner-stage True Gods joined the battle and attacked the human squads.

As soon as Bug Tribe sent their True Gods, the humans too sent theirs to the battlefield to fight the Bug Tribe's True Gods.

Within three minutes the war began, True Gods were sent in. The battle situation on both sides elevated once again!

Lin Huang had been following the battle situation, as well as waiting for the opportunity to come in contact with humans.

As the Vampire Fire had no support of Divine Power, after the first round of impact since they broke out, they extinguished completely in two minutes.

Although the humans wanted the fire to go on a little longer, they were helpless since they could not provide for this divine skill from a distance away.

Since the fire extinguished, the Bug Tribe armies on the ground soon arrived under the city wall.

Lin Huang suppressed his urge to hide under another bug and chose to observe hiding under the Giant Beetle's carcass. The reason being he was unsure whether the humans would have a second round of technique breaking out.

However, the humans seemed to not have prepared anything similar to the Vampire Fire.

The humans did nothing until the bunch of Giant Hammer Bugs began slamming the city gate.

However, looking at the faint, dense formation patterns on the black, metal gate, Lin Huang knew that it might be difficult to break it.

The impact of the tens of Giant Hammer Bugs' attacks was nothing less than meteorites hitting the ground as they came with a sea of Divine Power. However, Lin Huang could only see the faint water wave-like patterns rippled on the barrier after the gate was slammed for up to 10,000 times. There was no crack at all.

Seeing that, the Bug Tribe sent their only three true god-level Giant Hammer Bugs to join in the team to break the city gate. There was finally some progress.

One must know that even though the three true god-level Giant Hammer Bugs were low-level True Gods, their attacks were nothing less than an intermediate-stage True God. Furthermore, their attacks came with powerful penetration and impact. They had an upper hand in breaking a defense compared to an intermediate-stage True God.

However, there were finally some cracks on the formation after the true god-level Giant Hammer Bugs slammed the gate for up to 10,000 times together with the over 30 Giant Hammer Bugs.

"Are they trying to defend by force to buy time?" Lin Huang was rather doubtful.

Although there were hundreds of layers of defense formations and many more that integrated with the city wall, the city gate would break sooner or later if they allowed the Giant Hammer Bugs to attack like that. It was only a matter of time.

Therefore, Lin Huang could not figure out what the humans were planning to do.

Judging by the few rounds of battles earlier, the humans should have a great military adviser planning the entire war, whereby many details were taken into consideration. Theoretically, the city gate being attacked should be included in the planning.

Time passed by on the battlefield.

The battle above the city wall was insanely intense while banging noise came beneath the city wall as the Giant Hammer Bugs slammed the gate continuously.

Initially, the Bug Tribe attempted to send out crawling tribes to crawl over the city wall.

However, not only the humans had splashed some greasy lubricant on the city wall, gravitational formations and other strange barriers were set up to stop any flying, causing the entire city wall to not be able to climb over. It was so thorough that the closer one flew within the areas of the city wall, the more obstacles there were.

It resulted in the Bug Tribe armies on the ground resorting to watching the battle on the ground while waiting for the Giant Hammer Bugs breaking the gate.

Some ten minutes passed in a blink of an eye.

The tens of Giant Hammer Bugs finally broke one-third of the barrier on the gate. Judging by the progress, the Bug Tribe army should be able to break the gate and enter some 20 minutes later.

Suddenly, the gate opened.

Before the Bug Tribe managed to react, tens of squads made of high-level Virtual Gods charged from the gate and began killing the bug beasts on the ground in battle formations.

The tens of squads had the ability more powerful than the up to a hundred squads in the sky. The formation leaders were Virtual God rank-9 powerhouses whereby there were more than 30 people in each squad. The battle formation's power could fight a fair match with a first-rank True God.

As the over 30 squads charged, a muscular hunk of over two meters tall charged too.

He wore a golden armor on his body and a helmet. There was a gigantic black shield on his back.

Lin Huang recognized instantly that the equipment on him was not some ordinary god relics, but a whole set of defense god rule relics. The shield too was a god rule relic.

Judging by the double-layer defense from the two-piece god rule relics, they were expensive.

However, the hunk did not participate in the battle. Instead, he stopped as he arrived at the gate. He turned around with his back facing the Bug Tribe army, took out something from his storage space and pasted them on the gate.

"What is he doing?"

Countless Bug Tribes were confused to see that.

Lin Huang was stunned at first, he could not hold it but laughed out loud when he saw what the hunk pasted on the gate.

It was only natural of him who had learned the divine patterns that it was a stack of formation talismans in the hunk's hand. There were all sorts of defense formation patterns imprinted on them.

The hunk's doing was to restore the defense formations that the Giant Hammer Bugs had damaged on the gate earlier before everyone.

Lin Huang had tears in his eyes from the laugh as he watched the hunk pasted formation talismans on the city gate one after another.

"Who the hell thought of that?! That's some ridiculous operation that I wouldn't be able to come out with even if I racked my brain!"

The formation of a talisman was a tool commonly used by formation masters. They would imprint formations with Divine Power on the formation talisman beforehand so that they could use it anytime they wanted.

The stack of formation talismans in the hunk's hand were defense formations. There would be an extra layer of defense formation on the city gate each time a talisman was pasted on it.

The hunk was extremely quick. Within a few breaths of time, he had restored most of the one-third damages the Giant Hammer Bugs' attacks had caused.

Even though the Bug Tribe had no idea what the hunk was holding in his hand, they could sense the changes on the defense formations on the city gate.

Within 20 seconds, the person restored the damages that the tens of Giant Hammer Bugs had made for some ten minutes.

Noticing that, the Bug Tribe's upper echelon finally could not hold it back.

A red glow as thin as a hair shot out in the air. It was targeted at the head of the hunk in golden armor who was standing at the city gate.

Not only was this attack extremely fast, but its aura was suppressed to the minimum too.

Just when Lin Huang sensed that with his Divine Telekinesis, the shot had arrived behind the golden-armored hunk. It was less than ten meters away from him.

"Such a quick attack, this is definitely a technique of a fifth or even sixth-rank True God!" Lin Huang could not help but exclaim.

Seeing that the shot was going to hit the back of the golden-armored hunk, another golden glow shot from the other direction of the sky. It drew an arc in the air, which then collided with the red glow that was almost invisible.

The very next second saw a golden spark exploded that drowned the red glow completely. Stunning fireworks of red and gold fell into the big hordes like a meteor shower.

Any of the Bug Tribe fighters that came into contact with the sparks even for a little bit exploded instantly. They turned into carcasses all over the ground.

Lin Huang's eyes lit up when he saw that.

The reason was that he could tell that the counterattack came from a firearms master. He considered himself half a firearms master before.

Ever since he was out in the world, it was his first time encountering such a powerful firearms master.

"A true god-level firearms master?!"

Lin Huang stared at the city gate. He wanted to see how that firearms master looked like.

He then saw a silhouette stepped out of the city gate.

It was a man wearing a red trench coat. He was skinny with short hair as white as snow.

"A fifth-rank True God ambushing a Virtual God, aren't you guys ashamed of yourself?"

The man in the red trench coat looked into a certain direction in the air. There was mockery at the corner of his lips.

A moment later, a commotion came from the air. Tens of Bug Tribe powerhouses revealed themselves.

The leading one was a Bug King that looked 50% to 60% like an ant.

"Nangong Wei, it was you who killed a whole bunch of my virtual god-level Bug Tribe fighters earlier. Now you're mocking us for ambushing you?"

"If you guys didn't ambush us, do you think I would have to show myself in the battle?" The man in a red trench coat who was called Nangong Wei had powerful majesty even though he was facing tens of intermediate-stage true god-level Bug Tribe powerhouses alone.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang was secretly guessing the person's identity. "Judging by the attack earlier, this guy is definitely a sixth-rank True God. Since his last name is Nangong, he's most probably that human class-4 genius that was mentioned in the Bug Tribe group chat earlier."

"Yi Li, if you think that I've mistreated your Bug Tribe members, you can fight me one on one. As long as you agree to that, I definitely won't say no," Nangong Wei smirked slightly while saying that extra loud on purpose.

The Bug King across fell silence for a moment, he dared not respond.

The reason why the Bug King was silent was simple. Although they were both class-4 powerhouses whereby their ability was similar, he was oppressed by Nangong Wei on a certain level.

The Bug King Yi Li was great in close combat, whereby he was an expert in fighting with strength.

Meanwhile, Nangong Wei was a firearms master. Not only was he an expert in long-distance attack, but his movement and speed were also stunningly fast.

It was impossible for Yi Li to fight him one on one.

Yi Li knew very well that he would be killed by Nangong Wei if he was to fight him one on one. He might not even be able to attack Nangong Wei once.

He knew very well that apart from himself, almost none of the bunch of powerhouses around him could survive three minutes with Nangong Wei.

Although the Bug Tribe had the upper hand of quantity, none of the high-level powerhouses that he sent at the moment could fight a fair match with Nangong Wei.

As long as Nangong Wei was here, it was impossible to conquer this city.

Meanwhile, Yi Li had considered draining Nangong Wei of his energy with the number of Bug Tribe members. However, he knew very well that the possibility of executing that was slim. With Nangong Wei's Movement Skill, nobody could make him stay if he wanted to move.

To look at the situation by taking a step back, even if Nangong Wei was forced to leave due to the sea of Bug Tribes, Yi Li and the rest would not feel safe even if they had conquered and stayed in the city.

Without the city tying Nangong Wei down by then, he who had complete mobility would be even more threatening. Yi Li and the rest were worried that they would have their guards up at all times to prevent Nangong Wei from ambushing them secretly.

That was the reason why this city had yet to be conquered after being attacked for so long.

Although Lin Huang had no idea of what the Bug King was thinking about, judging by his silence, the Bug Tribe was fearful of this Nangong Wei.

As the Bug King fell into a moment of silence, the Scorpion Monster next to him spoke seeing the situation.

"Nangong Wei, what makes you think that you're worthy of challenging the Bug King?!"

The Scorpion Monster shook its red tail slightly. It was terrified of Nangong Wei too. He only mustered its courage to say that just to butter the Bug King up.

Nangong Wei looked away from the Bug King and had his eyes on Scorpion Monster now. A glance was all he took to see the red sting at the back of its tail.

"It was you who attacked the Virtual God, am I right?"

"St-Stop being so cocky!" The Scorpion Monster yelled at Nangong Wei ferociously and took a small step back at the same time.

A silver pistol appeared in Nangong Wei's hand. In the next second, a few golden glows shot out of the muzzle.

The golden glows seemed like they defied the law of space whereby they appeared on the Bug King's left directly. They prevented him from saving the Scorpion Monster completely.

The Bug King merely lagged for a second, a golden glow shot by its left shoulder and accelerated.

In the next second, purplish-red blood splashed all over the Bug King's body.

As it turned its head to look left and right, one-third of the Scorpion Monster's upper body was busted. Its head was completely gone.

"You…" The Bug King was enraged, its compound eyes were bloodshot.

Nangong Wei blew on the muzzle and said looking like he did not care, "I'm not cocky, you're too weak."

A gunshot that killed the Scorpion Monster in a second, Nangong Wei's ability terrified the Bug Tribe's high-level powerhouses even more now.

They knew very well of the Scorpion Monster's ability, where it was a fifth-rank True God. On the Bug King's camp, apart from the Bug King itself, Scorpion Monster's combined ability was powerful enough to be ranked top five.

Nangong Wei managed to kill such a powerhouse like a piece of cake. It made sense that the other bug beasts were petrified.

Of course, the Bug King Yi Li knew that Nangong Wei was challenging it on purpose to be killing its underling right before it. However, it would not fall into the trap on its own.

One must know that the Bug King's reputation was just after the Queen Mother among the Bug Tribe. It could say that it was unwilling to take the challenge before for the big picture.

However, now that Nangong Wei threw a cold blanket on it, its reputation would drop drastically if it did not take up the challenge.

Yi Li's compound eyes were bloodshot. It was enraged, but it had yet to lose its mind.

At the moment, the humans' high-level combat strength made their overall ability more powerful in Tough City's battle. If their high-level powerhouses were to fight, it was an unfavorable situation for the Bug Tribe.

However, for the sake of its reputation, Yi Li had to fight.

As it racked its brain, it soon had a plan. It contacted the bunch of Bug Tribe upper echelon secretly with the 'group chat'.

What the Bug King had no idea was that there a human was hiding in the 'group chat'.

Lin Huang was stunned to see the message popping up on the 'group chat' out of nowhere.

The message was written in red, indicating clearly that it came from the Bug King that was being challenged by Nangong Wei at the moment.

"All True Gods get ready to fight! I'll challenge Nangong Wei later, intermediate-stage True Gods will look for the opportunity to fight together and besiege him. When the human True Gods came in for the rescue, beginner-stage True Gods will join in the battle and fight with all of your might!"

"If any of you managed to kill Nangong Wei, seize the opportunity to kill all human True Gods and reap the battlefield. If you failed to kill them within a certain time, wait for my order to retreat."

Lin Huang who was hiding under the Giant Beetle's carcass shook his head while smiling when he saw the message.

He did not think that the Bug Tribe's ambush would be a successful one. It was not that there was anything wrong with the Bug King's plan, but the humans had a smarter military advisor here. It was impossible that they did not put that into consideration.

Lin Huang was even sure that there might be a similar sure-kill plan since Nangong Wei was challenging the Bug King alone.

It was just that his acting skill was too good, making the Bug Tribe think that he was only challenging the Bug King on purpose.

Moreover, there was a possibility that Nangong Wei had challenged the Bug King frequently before. Therefore, the Bug Tribe did not suspect much when this happened.

'A battle of the True Gods…' Lin Huang was secretly elated, 'All True Gods would be minding their own business, nobody should notice me sneaking in.'

He had been looking for the opportunity to blend into the human's camp. Now the opportunity had finally come.

As soon as the message was sent to the Bug Tribe's group chat, the Bug King Yi Li that was in the air had spoken.

"Nangong Wei, I know that you're challenging me on purpose to force me to fight you. I had been unwilling to fight you one on one earlier because you're a firearms master, whereby you would suppress me considering that I'm good in close-distance combat. Furthermore, our ability is similar, it's hard for me to kill you. However, don't you dare think that it's impossible."

"I could tolerate your challenges in the past, but now that you've killed my underling, I must bring justice to Scorpion Monster! No matter how great of a price I would have to pay, I must kill you today to avenge Scorpion Monster!"

The Bug King was standing on high moral ground when he said that. One was to tell the fact that Nangong Wei suppressed him which explained why he was unwilling to fight him before. Another was to avenge his underling to win the reputation of valuing his underlings. On the other hand, he also showed that he would pay the price to kill Nangong Wei, proving that his ability was above him. It would win his reputation back.

As many Bug Tribes in the battlefield were touched by what it said, Nangong Wei threw a cold blanket at it

"So well put! You deserve to be the Bug King! If I didn't kill you today, you should be able to get to lord-level in the future with your flamboyant words alone."

The Bug King Yi Li looked terrible as Nangong Wei exposed him on the spot. Fortunately, its compound eyes were bloody at the moment, hiding all of the expressions on his face.

"Quit your bullsh*t, Nangong Wei. Let's fight!"

Before it was done speaking, the wings behind Yi Li flapped and an after-shadow was created in the air. It was charging at Nangong Wei.

Nangong Wei seemed to have expected the Bug King to launch a sudden attack. Two pistols appeared on each of his hands, it was silver and black.

Some ten golden glows shot out of the silver pistol in his right hand. However, the black pistol in his left hand merely shot out two bullets. They had bloody red glows.

As compared to the golden glows' preciseness and high speed, the red glows were a little slow, but it gave out a more threatening vibe.

It was Nangong Wei's Double Pistol. The black pistol would take care of killing, whereby it was impactful. Meanwhile, the silver pistol was in control of various changes.

Even Lin Huang was stunned as he watched.

He had almost all of his attention on Nangong Wei. It was his first time seeing a true god-level firearms master's ability.

The red bullets shooting out of Nangong Wei's black pistol had little changes, but it had a terrifying impact. Even the Bug King dared not touch it simply.

Meanwhile, the golden bullets that were shot out of the silver pistol were fancy. Lin Huang felt dizzy while watching them.

Not only the golden glows had a variety of changes in speed, but they could also be shot in an arc and they could deviate their route. Some bullets even had special effects.

For instance, temporary Space Seal, Space Warp, accelerations, decelerations, explosions, sparks…

Lin Huang could also speculate roughly that most of the effects from the pistol should not come from Nangong Wei. Instead, they came from the pistol itself.

"How could a god rule relic come with so many Rule Bending Power of different attributes?"

Lin Huang could not understand that.

However, he soon got the answer to the question.

"There are some unique god rule relics that might be able to do that such as Random Rule, Integration Rule, Complex Symbiosis Rule, Engulf Rule, Memory Rule, Clone Rule…"

It was the knowledgeable stone tablet who said that.

"However, such a god rule relic is extremely scarce while it usually costs nothing below a common god sequence relic."

"This guy in red ranks on top even in the great world for his talents and potential in firearms to be able to play so many tricks with a pistol alone," the stone tablet commented.

Lin Huang who initially could not get over being a firearms master as a career was excited when he first saw Nangong Wei showing his techniques. However, seeing those difficult tricks later on, he figured not choosing to be a firearms master back then was the right choice.

"Even though I have Xiao Hei, I would need some three to five years to practice my skills to get to his level. Huh, I should stick to the direct way of combat which is to kill with swinging swords."

Although Lin Huang said that, he was watching the battle between two True Gods with his eyes lit up.

Nangong Wei's gun techniques were too difficult to a half firearms master such as Lin Huang. However, it enlightened him to use his telekinetic weapons on a higher level.

Seamless was merely a technique to increase the number as well as controlling the telekinetic threads. However, it depended more on the powerhouse on how to develop and use it specifically.

"Seems like I must study Qi Muxiong's experiences on telekinesis…"

The battle between the Bug King and Nangong Wei was getting more and more intense in the air.

Just like what the Bug King Yi Li expected in the beginning, Nangong Wei had been treating him like he was playing a kite.

Not only Nangong Wei's gun techniques were amazing, but his body movement and speed were also top-notch.

However, Yi Li was not as weak as the humans had thought it to be. Its speed was nothing slower than Nangong Wei as it flapped its wings rapidly. Although its body movement's agility was nothing like Nangong Wei, it managed to dodge above 90% of Nangong Wei's gun attacks.

Moreover, it was more powerful than Nangong Wei in strength and defensive ability.

That was the reason why Nangong Wei had been unwilling to fight with it in close-range combat.

In reality, the duo's combined ability was on par. It was difficult to determine who was the winner within a short period. However, as their expertise contradicted each other, it might be unfavorable for the Bug King if this went on.

After all, firearms masters were experts in long-distance attacks. The suppression for a combat cultivator that was expert in close-range combat was too much.

As Lin Huang watched the battle secretly, he waited patiently for the chaos to begin.

The battle between Nangong Wei and the Bug King went on for some ten minutes. Suddenly, a Butterfly-winged Monster attacked from the Bug Tribe's side all of a sudden.

It turned out the Butterfly-winged Monster had set up a large, invisible silk web above the clouds the duo was fighting secretly when the Bug King had just started the battle with Nangong Wei.

Seeing that Nangong Wei and Yi Li had stepped into the silk web's coverage, it then activated the trap that it had set up.

Up to 1,000 silks penetrated the clouds and fell from the sky. As if the prison had fallen upon, it intended to seal Nangong Wei's activity space.

The biggest upper hand a firearms master had was a long-distance attack. If he was being restricted in space, he might not perform 70% of what he had. Furthermore, his opponent was the Bug King, a close-range combat powerhouse who was best in fighting in a small space.

If the Butterfly-winged Monster's plan worked, there might be a turn of the table in the battle between Nangong Wei and the Bug King.

Seeing the silk attack that came out of nowhere, nobody could see any emotions on Nangong Wei's face. However, he was retreating rapidly. He wanted to escape out of the prison before the silk web dropped completely.

Lin Huang was secretly worried about Nangong Wei.

"I think he's slightly slow, I don't think he will make it out in time!"

As Nangong Wei was going to be covered in the large silk web, a blood-red sword glow charged above the city wall as if it was going to tear the sky.

Lin Huang could not help but be shocked when he saw the charge of the sword.

The sword had surpassed all sword skills that he had ever seen before. As the blood-red sword glow lit up above the city wall, it pierced through space directly and tore the large web made of 1,000 silks into pieces.

At the same time, a terrifying aura above the city wall suppressed the scene.

Lin Huang could feel clearly that it was the integration of Sword Dao and killing intent. He stared deadly at the source of the aura above the city wall.

However, his vision was blocked by the city wall, he could not see anything.

At the moment, the powerhouse stepped out on his own. He crossed the high city wall.

Lin Huang finally saw the person's face.

It was a man with red hair who looked mediocre. Even his height was merely 1.7m to 1.8m, he was considered short. However, the first thing that Lin Huang noticed was his completely black pupils.

The glance from far away alone gave Lin Huang a feeling that there was a sharp knife lingering his neck. He even felt a faint pain on his skin.

"Is that Sword Dao true meaning? It's so powerful!"

The man stood on the city wall, he lifted his head to look at the direction where many Bug Tribe powerhouses were standing in the air calmly.

Almost at the same time, Bug King Yi Li's enraged voice came from the air.

"Bloody Sword, Sword11! Why are you here?"

"To end this battle of course," the man with red hair looked at Bug King Yi Li expressionlessly.

"You humans sure are cunning!" That voice came from the Bug Tribe's camp.

"I wouldn't attack if that moth didn't interrupt the battle earlier. It was you guys who broke the rule first, so naturally, we don't have to follow the rule too."

What Sword11 said made the Bug Tribe speechless.

The Butterfly-winged Monster glared at Sword11 furiously. Before it managed to say 'I'm not a moth' out loud, it swallowed its words back from Sword11's stare.

It could not offend such a powerful person.

As Lin Huang was doubting who this Sword11 was, the Bug Tribe's 'group chat' had begun a discussion.

"What's happening? Why is Sword11 here? Shouldn't he be in Heavenly Sword City?"

"Even Sword11 is here, there's no way of us winning this battle now."

"Who exactly is this Sword11?" Finally, someone asked what Lin Huang wanted to ask at the moment.

"To put it simply, Sword11 is the most powerful sixth-rank True God human in this star zone!"

"What you said isn't entirely correct, you should remove the word 'human'. He's the most powerful sixth-rank True God in this star zone, there's no other person like him."

"I've heard the Queen Mother mentioned that Sword11 is a human class-5 genius. His talent and quality are on par with our Bug Tribe's class-5 sovereign-grade Bug Queen…"

…

Lin Huang finally had a preliminary understanding of Sword11 from the conversations in the 'group chat'.

"A powerful sword cultivator who masters the Sword Dao true meaning. He must have deep attainment in the Sword Dao true meaning…"

As a sword cultivator powerhouse who was stepping into the Sword Dao true meaning soon, Lin Huang could feel that Sword11's Sword Dao was much more powerful than his. He must have stepped into the Sword Dao true meaning for a long time.

"Could it be that this guy had obtained the Great Heaven's Sword Dao inheritance…"

However, the thought merely flashed through Lin Huang's head, which he then denied it.

"It shouldn't be. If someone has already taken Great Heaven's inheritance, the Great Heaven Territory would be sealed automatically as it's the land of inheritance or it would be inherited by the heir. It wouldn't be like this, whereby it's open for people to participate in the trial."

"However, judging by Sword11's rumored quality, the possibility of him being chosen to participate in the trial to retrieve the Great Heaven's inheritance should be high. There's a high chance that he might know something about the Great Heaven's inheritance!"

Although Lin Huang speculated that Sword11 knew roughly about the Great Heaven's inheritance, it was a trouble to get him to spill the information.

Sword11 was a sixth-rank True God himself while his ability might be even higher than that. Lin Huang would have to dodge him if he was to encounter such an expert. With his current ability, even if he showed all of his trump cards, he might not escape from his sword alive. After all, the difference in combat strength was way too much.

"Well, I can only take it one step at a time…"

As Lin Huang's thoughts were flying around for a while, he looked troubled as he lifted his head to look at the current situation of the battle in the sky.

Everyone was shocked to see Sword11's attack. Even the Bug King and Nangong Wei who were fighting stopped.

Lin Huang was secretly anxious noticing that the battle was stopping.

'Don't stop, keep fighting. If you guys stopped fighting, how am I supposed to sneak into the city?!'

Fortunately, the silence did not last too long, as a change happened on the battlefield again.

Sword11 spoke again calmly, "Yi Li, you have two options now."

"You either retreat with your armies and this will be the end of everything. You guys don't need to fight me, and I can save some time to get to the next city."

"Or, we can fight now. Of course, I can tell you the result in advance. Every one of you would die here, nobody would leave this place alive."

Sword11 glanced through the bunch of Bug Tribe upper echelons without a change of expression on his face, as if he was telling a fact.

All of the Bug Tribe upper echelons who he glanced through dodged the stare, none of them dared to look into his eyes.

Meanwhile, the Bug King was the only one who glared deadly at Sword11. However, it knew very well that Sword11 could say such things indeed.

"I'll give all of you three minutes to discuss this. Watch the time, I'll take it as you guys are going for the second option if you guys aren't done discussing within three minutes."

Sword11, the legendary class-5 genius, the most powerful person among sixth-rank true god-level powerhouses in the Great Heaven Territory. His appearance caught the Bug Tribe off guard.

He was compelling as soon as he showed himself. The Bug King of the same combat strength was nothing to him at all.

However, everyone who had heard of his name knew that he was worthy of saying such a thing.

With Sword11's talent and potential, he was a class-5 supreme god-level that was on par with Bug Tribe's Bug Queen. He was one in a million even when he was being compared to in the great world crowded with geniuses.

The Bug King Yi Li did not hesitate much as soon as Sword11 spoke. It peeped at its opponent Nangong Wei that it was fighting earlier, it then flapped its wings and retreated from the battlefield.

As soon as Bug King returned to the area where the Bug Tribe upper echelons were, it reported Sword11's arrival immediately. It then began discussing with the other upper echelons that were present.

"What do we do now? If Sword11 is here, we might not be able to kill him even if we were to fight together, let alone there would be Nangong Wei whose ability is on par with me providing long-distance assistance from aside."

The Bug King felt like its head was exploding.

"Don't forget that apart from both of them, there are close to 20 intermediate-stage True Gods in Tough City. The number of their high-level combat strength powerhouses are more than us even before Sword11 came."

"Should we retreat? With Sword11 here, I'm afraid we're just sitting ducks if we fight forcefully."

"Retreat? How am I supposed to report to the superior? Forget it if we failed to conquer and retreat on normal days, Queen Mother ordered a general offensive today. Retreating now would mean defection!"

"So, what do you think we should do? Let them kill us like sitting ducks?!"

…

As the Bug Tribe was having an intense argument, a message popped up in the 'group chat' all of a sudden.

The message was written in gold.

"The superior has acknowledged the situation with Sword11. The general offensive plan has been set, there's no turning back! Bug King Yi Li, stall Sword11 with the army, support is on the way!"

The upper echelons including Yi Li looked terrible when they saw the message.

"We can't retreat, and we'll have to stall Sword11, are they trying to get us killed?"

"Alright, stop it now. We'll be in trouble if the superior heard our grumble," Yi Li comforted feeling helpless. "Such an arrangement is for the sake of the big picture. They would not ruin the entire battle plan just for the safety of a minor group in the battle."

"Since we can't retreat now, we can only fight. Let us think about the strategies of how to stall longer. Since they said support is on the way, I don't think they're messing with us. We will survive as long as we can until support is here!"

Since Yi Li and the rest had no freedom of choice, they could only use the remaining time to discuss the strategies.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang who was hiding under the Giant Beetle's carcass was secretly laughing. He too saw the message.

"It seems like the Bug Tribe isn't retreating. As soon as Sword11 came in, the current high-level combat strength among the humans in the battle of Tough City is sufficient to suppress the Bug Tribe. However, the Queen Mother's order is to stall Sword11, Yi Li and the rest must be secretly cursing. I wonder what their next plan is."

As Lin Huang was thinking of that, another message popped up on the 'group chat' again.

It was written in red this time, indicating clearly that the message was sent by Bug King Yi Li.

"Inform all members to take my order later, we will launch a general offensive directly! Everyone must participate in the battle enthusiastically, give your all and last until reinforcements come!"

Bug King Yi Li looked at Sword11 from far after sending the message.

"We've made up our mind!"

"So, your choice would be…" Sword11 raised his brows. He realized that the opponent had made their decision before the three-minute that he gave was up.

"Our decision is very simple, there's only one word – Fight!"

As soon as Yi Li was done speaking, it took the lead and charged head-on. It was hard to believe that its target was directed at the most powerful one on the battlefield, which was Sword11.

The over 20 Bug Tribe powerhouses behind it seemed to have charged at the same time.

A sea of bug beasts charged up to the sky, the sun was covered. They were charging above the city wall even more fearlessly now.

Countless bug beasts on the ground were in mania as if they were in the great migration. They dashed toward the city gate. The ground was shaking from the bug horde.

Meanwhile, Sword11 who was on the city wall scoffed. Seeing Bug King Yi Li's arrival with the armies, he did not have the means to retreat at all. He tapped the tip of his toe on the city wall and leaped. He was going after Bug King Yi Li.

Not far away, Nangong Wei did not hesitate at all as he saw what was happening. He ordered with a cold expression.

"Kill!"

As his order came, tens of True Gods led the charge. They went after the Bug Tribe's upper echelons' direction.

Subsequently, a sea of virtual god-level powerhouses charged above the city wall and beneath the city gate. They blended into the bug horde.

Lin Huang knew that the opportunity had come.

Very soon, attacks arrived at the area where he was hiding.

Lin Huang removed his Bug Tribe disguise and changed into a human face. However, he did not remove his disguise completely. Instead of using his real appearance, he used Lin Xie's face.

Of his combat strength, he disguised it into Virtual God rank-3.

After scanning through with Divine Telekinesis for a little while, Lin Huang got out of the bug shell seizing the opportunity. He held a long battle sword and killed a beginner-stage virtual god-level bug beast.

Subsequently, he became one of the members on the battlefield under the sun. He wandered among the bugs 'carefully' as he looked for his hunting target.

Naturally, he was pretending to be careful. After all, his disguised combat strength was merely Virtual God rank-3. He could only hunt for low virtual god-level bugs.

It was not that he did not want to kill more Bug Tribe fighters. Instead, he could only stay low profile at such a time. He had to try his best to not let anyone notice his existence. That was the only way with the highest probability for him to sneak into the city.

He would attract unnecessary attention if he was too eye-catching in his performance. He could not afford to have his identity being investigated.

Lin Huang could seize the opportunity to familiarize himself with his sword skill. He even avoided attacking the bug beasts' crucial parts as much as he could so that he would not kill a bug beast in one hit.

However, a human lady nearby noticed his behavior.

She spoke to him through voice transmission, "Shell-type Bug Tribe has a stunning defense, your way of attack has low efficiency. Their weaknesses are their stomach, waist joint, eyes, mouth, and anus. Attack their weaknesses when you get the chance to do so, at least the efficiency would be a fold higher than what you're doing at the moment."

"Thank you," Lin Huang thanked her. Noticing that the lady was still watching him as she fought, he immediately shoved his sword into the waist joint of a bug beast that he found next to him.

Seeing that Lin Huang killed a couple of bug beasts by attacking their weaknesses, the lady only left at ease and proceeded to look for more hunting targets.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang went back to his initial sword practicing mode.

He followed the battle situation in the sky secretly while he practiced sword.

The battle had just begun for a few minutes, the human powerhouses Sword11 led were suppressing the Bug Tribe's camp all the way.

However, Lin Huang noticed that Bug King Yi Li and the rest were hardly taking the initiative to attack so that they could stall. They were dodging and defending the humans' attacks with all sorts of techniques. They did not even attack once after fighting for a few minutes.

However, what Lin Huang was curious about was that he had a feeling that Sword11 and the rest were not giving their all too. They seemed to be stalling too, it was just that they were more secretive about it.

It had caused the battle to look intense without any effective result. Half an hour later, Sword11 and the rest had only killed three Bug Tribe True Gods.

Although they were trying to survive with all of their might, never had Bug King Yi Li and the rest thought that they could last for half an hour.

'I wonder when will this end if the situation remains the same,' Lin Huang thought to himself secretly.

Some ten minutes had passed, a dimensional stir came on the battlefield all of a sudden.

A Dimensional Whirlpool formed rapidly in the air, causing many on the battlefield to watch.

Lin Huang too was watching the Dimensional Whirlpool while practicing sword.

The black Dimensional Whirlpool merely took three to five seconds to stabilize completely. It was swirling quickly.

A gigantic, pitch-black bug leg stretched out of the whirlpool…

A gigantic pitch-black bug leg stretched out of the whirlpool. The first joint that had just come in was 200 to 300 meters long.

However, the mere stretch of one bug leg joint made the intense threat that Lin Huang was feeling to peak. Even though he had no idea what kind of bug beast that was exactly, the aura alone gave him goosebumps

It only took him a second to realize that he was definitely no match for this powerhouse.

Without much hesitation, Lin Huang used all sorts of large bug beasts' bodies to cover himself. He turned around and headed straight to the city gate's direction.

The battlefield was no longer safe, he was not even sure if Tough City would be safe.

However, he had no other options.

Lin Huang's activity was rather stealthy. Given that most of them present had their attention on the Dimensional Whirlpool that appeared out of nowhere in the sky, almost nobody noticed him.

Meanwhile, the gigantic Bug Tribe that was coming out of the Dimensional Whirlpool at the moment attracted almost everyone's attention.

As Lin Huang arrived at the border of the battlefield just tens of meters away from the city gate, he deviated his direction all of a sudden. He charged at and killed a bug beast that was close to him.

It was not that he did not want to return to the city. It was just that everyone was fighting now, returning to the city would make him a target. He might even be called a coward.

He would have to take strategies into consideration even if he was to leave the battlefield.

As the giant bug beast in the air stretched both of its front legs out in the air, it soon revealed its head.

By then, only did everybody recognized what the bug beast was.

"Titan Bug!"

Lin Huang's pupils shrunk slightly. Such a monster was not on the gravel world's monster guide, but there was information about this bug beast in the documents that Bloody had provided.

In the God Territory, the Shelters below grade-4 only had the abridged version of the species guide. Even a grade-4 Shelter might not necessarily sell the complete version of the species guide. The species guide Bloody obtained was the abridged version. Together with some older versions that she found online and using the monster guide in the gravel world as the blueprint, she came up with a new version herself.

Although this version could not compare with the complete version, it was much informative than the abridged version of the species guide.

There happened to be recordings of Titan Bug.

It was a type of gigantic Bug Tribe monster with powerful defense and terrifying strength.

The conditions to produce this bug beast were extremely strict.

Firstly, the Queen Mother would have to be at least a ninth-rank True God or even on heavenly god-level.

Secondly, the Queen Mother would need a sea of True God carcasses as its reproduction materials.

Thirdly, the reproduction period was painfully long.

Usually, a heavenly god-level Queen Mother could hatch up to 10,000 bug eggs containing true god-level Bug Tribe fighters per second. However, it would take at least a week to produce a true god-level Titan Bug.

In reality, the Titan Bug's rank was not high. It was merely a class-2, which was the equivalence of a double mutated monster. Even its intelligence belonged to the lowest among double mutated monsters.

However, such class-2 bug beasts were born to have true god-level combat strength. It could even reach peak true god-level combat strength the most.

Such a bug beast's ability seemed to be traded completely with its intelligence.

A peak-stage ninth-rank True God Titan Bug could almost fight a first-rank Heavenly God head-on.

Their strength was definitely on par with heavenly god-level powerhouses, its defense was difficult to be broken even for Heavenly Gods.

However, the main function of such a bug beast was mainly to siege.

Their attacks came with a dimensional stir and spatial tear innately. They could tear down all sorts of defense formations and barriers.

If the Giant Hammer Bug's attack was like soft punches on your chest, then Titan Bug's attack would definitely be the punches of a pile driver on your chest.

Lin Huang was immediately speechless when he saw the Titan Bug that revealed its head. He could sense from its aura that this Titan Bug before them definitely has a combat strength of ninth-rank true god-level. Even a Heavenly God might not be able to defend this big guy's attacks.

"With this beast here, Tough City wouldn't be safe. The defense formations and barriers on the city wall might not be able to hold it even for half an hour."

The upper echelons on the human side looked extremely terrible as soon as Titan Bug revealed its head.

Sword11 and Nangong Wei were frowning too. Clearly, they did not expect the Bug Tribe to do this.

"Nangong, take care of the battlefield here. I'll try and see if I can get this guy to return to where it came from!" Almost without hesitation, Sword11's aura skyrocketed on his body.

His sixth-rank True God combat strength broke through to seventh-rank within seconds. As it skyrocketed to the peak of seventh-rank True God, there was no sign of the aura decelerating. Instead, it proceeded to grow. It broke through the seventh-rank True God border and arrived at eighth-rank True God. However, that did not seem like the end. Sword11's aura was still growing. There was finally sign of slowing down when he broke through to ninth-rank true god-level.

Just when his combat strength had broken through to ninth-rank, Sword11 had charged as if he had turned into a ferocious glow before his aura stabilized.

His body was like a lightning shooting in the air, his thunderous sword landed on the Titan Bug's forehead.

Golden sparks exploded immediately. As if the sun had exploded, a glaring golden glow lit up the entire sky. At that moment, even the glow of the stars was covered.

Golden was all that was left in the world in that second, whereby other colors were dimmed.

Lin Huang's eyes were blinded by the glow coming from the sword. As a sword cultivator himself, it made sense that he did not want to miss the battle. However, even Lin Huang had failed to dodge the golden glow that Sword11 charged with the sword.

White was all that he saw before his eyes at the moment. He could not see anything else at all.

Fortunately, most of them on the battlefield were blinded temporarily as well, including the Bug Tribe.

When everyone closed their eyes for their vision to recover, Lin Huang did not suffer any ambush.

However, the battle was still going on in the sky.

Sword11 swung his sword again and again with the vain attempt to force Titan Bug back to where it came from. However, even though he was attacking with all of his might coming from a ninth-rank True God, his attacks merely left white sword trails on the Titan Bug's head. He did not even manage to break its defense.

"Stop wasting your time! The Titan Bugs that Master Queen Mother produced this time has a combat strength of peak ninth-rank True God. Unless a god sequence-level (heavenly god-level) powerhouse that masters god sequence chain fights himself, it's impossible for anyone to break its defense."

"Master Queen Mother has been preparing for this battle for close to two years and produced up to a hundred Titan Bugs of such. Your city isn't the only one that's being attacked by Titan Bug on this planet at the moment."

"You humans only have two Heavenly Gods. It's futile even if the Heavenly Gods participate in the battle themselves! Moreover, the two old guys from you humans should be busy handling our three Heavenly God Bug Kings' attacks…"

A voice came above the Titan Bug's head.

Sword11 looked over, there were two silhouettes standing above. Their aura intensity was nothing below his, they were clearly ninth-rank True Gods.

Sword11 attacked with all his might, and in a mere dozen seconds or so, he had unleashed several tens of thousands of slashes. However, not a single one of his slashes penetrated the Titan Bug's defenses. They only left light white marks on the Titan Bug's black armor, and even those white scratches were repaired in an instant.

The Titan Bug even ignored Sword11's existence completely. It looked toward the direction of Tough City in the distance, excitement shining in all eighteen of its pupils.

Within slightly over ten seconds, its body escaped from the Dimensional Whirlpool completely.

Only then did the others see this creature in its entirety. It was as large as a supreme giant, and its eight enormous pitch-black insect legs were almost a thousand meters long. Its body was even larger, making it look like a giant mountain walking on eight gigantic pillars.

It stretched out a leg and stomped on the ground, every stride taking it a kilometer forward. Its steps caused tremendous tremors, as though they were experiencing an earthquake.

After it put its feet onto the ground, the Titan Bug grew even more excited.

The city not too far away looked to it like a parcel waiting to be opened. It especially liked the feeling of tearing open a parcel.

It even began to sprint toward the 'parcel' impatiently.

Sword11 tried his best to stop it, swinging his blade again and again, but it was no use. He could not stop the Titan Bug at all.

The Titan Bug did not even look at him, ignoring him completely.

The pair of ninth-rank True God Bug Tribes atop the Titan Bug did not bother with him either. They just gave Sword11 a jeering grin from high up above.

To the two of them, nothing pleased them more than the powerlessness in Sword11's expression.

Within just four or five seconds, the Titan Bug had crossed the entire battlefield and was pouncing at the Rough City walls.

Just as it was about to reach the wall, a bolt of purple lightning shot out of the city, aimed straight toward the Titan Bug's head. At the same time, there was a colorless ripple from inside the city, sweeping toward the Titan Bug like a wave.

The lightning seemed to have a numbing effect. After making contact with it, the Titan Book shook its head a little.

As for that colorless ripple, it seemed to have a speed-reducing event. Nevertheless, it could only make the Titan Bug pause for an instant, less than 0.1 seconds. Soon, the Titan Bug was back to moving like normal.

After those two attacks, two figures appeared in the sky above the city wall, one after another. They took their places next to Sword11.

One was a muscular man with a full golden beard, his body crawling with electricity.

The other was a woman in a black dress, holding a long white jade flute in her hand.

"The Titan Bug is immune to most energy attacks, and only a tenth of the power of our attacks remain when they land on it. We can't stop it at all!" The lightning man's brows furrowed deeply. He had no idea how to stop the enemy for now.

The woman in the black dress next to him said expressionlessly, "It's immune to my soul attacks too. This monster has reached the god order-level (True God), and I'm afraid only a god sequence-level (True God) powerhouse can kill it."

"We can't protect this city anymore. And not just this city, either. With the Titan Bug around, none of the other cities left in this world have defense formations or barriers strong enough to last more than half an hour. If the cities fall, considering how many bugs there are, not a single person will be able to survive." With those words, the woman in the black dress turned her head and looked at Sword11. "Right now, the wisest thing to do would be to give up on this planet completely and try to transport as many people away as we can before the cities are overrun. Thankfully, we already safely evacuated all of the civilians a few months ago. The only ones left are combatants, and there aren't too many of them. We can evacuate at least 70% of them within half an hour."

In the time it had taken the three of them to discuss this, the Titan Bug had already pounced onto the dimensional portal on the city wall. It opened its mandibles wide and began to chew on the dimensional portal.

Its mandibles looked like they were made of several hundred pairs of giant scissors and pliers. They could jolt several million times in an instant, and as it chewed away, the defense formation and barrier soon shattered, a layer at a time.

In front of the Titan Bug, the city wall was as fragile as an eggshell.

When he saw the Titan Bug devouring the city wall's defenses, Sword11 gripped the hilt of his sword tightly with his right hand.

After a second, he turned around to look at the two people next to him.

"I have a move that might be able to kill this Titan Bug. After that one slash, though, I'll have to leave the rest to you two."

"Don't be a fool, Sword11. Even if you kill this one, there are several dozen others at the other cities. Once the other cities are overrun, this one won't be able to last either." The lightning man did not have to guess to know that Sword11 was referring to a forbidden skill. There was a high chance he would suffer some damage too if he used it, and it might even kill him. The lightning man did not want to see a proud Five-star genius like Sword11 die here.

"I know. I just want to buy us a bit more time so we can send everyone away." Sword11 looked at the lightning man with determination in his eyes. "The remaining 30% are human lives too."

His last sentence silenced the lightning man.

"What are the chances you'll be able to kill this Titan Bug?" asked the woman in black after a short silence.

"About 50%, I guess. I'm not too confident myself. I never used this move before, after all," said Sword11 somewhat uncertainly. "Even if I can't kill it, I should be able to seriously wound it and slow down its destruction of the city."

"What are the repercussions of you using this move?" the girl in black continued to ask.

"I'll definitely use up all my Divine Power, and there's a high chance I'll suffer the recoil, because this move is a lot to take on. I don't know how bad the recoil will be, though." Sword11 smiled helplessly. "I just hope I won't die."

"The way I see it, it's not worth sacrificing a Five-star genius for eighty thousand people," said the woman in black. "But if you insist, I won't stop you. Although I think you're being quite foolish, I also respect your decision."

"Since Xiao Di already said that, it seems like I shouldn't try to stop you anymore either," said the lightning man with a laugh. "Go and do what you must. I'll make sure to drag you back as soon as you're done."

Just then, an amused voice spoke from above the Titan Bug's head.

"Hey, are you three done with your chit chat? If you don't stop soon, we'll have destroyed the entire city wall!"

The Bug Tribe was purposely taunting them. The three of them had been communicating with Divine Telekinesis, so while it seemed like they took some time, only an instant had actually passed. They did not waste any time at all.

"If you're in such a hurry to die, we'll fulfill your wishes!" As soon as the lightning man said that, his body turned into a bolt of lightning that shot out and crashed into one of the Bug Tribes on the Titan Bug's back.

The woman in black looked at the other Bug Tribe and brought her flute to her lips with a smile.

The two of them had chosen a Bug Tribe True God as their opponent, and Sword11 did not waste any time either. With a flash, he appeared right in front of the Titan Bug.

He held his silver battle sword in front of him, one hand on the hilt and the other palm sweeping across the blade. After that, he wiped his dark red blood down the blade, from the hilt all the way to the tip, staining the entire blade with his blood.

The next second, the entire blade turned scorching red, as though it had been heated over a flame.

Sword11's exposed skin was also burning as red as fire right now.

His hands, his neck, his entire head, his eyeballs, and even his hair… He looked like a creature made completely of lava.

Even the air around his body began to heat up. The temperature of the battlefield around him began to rise as well.

Following the simultaneous change in his body, Sword11 gripped the sword hilt with both his hands, but he did not unsheathe his sword. Instead, he continued to gather energy for this one slash.

As Divine Power rapidly surged into his body, the temperature of the blood kept rising, and that fiery red color grew ever brighter.

Within a few short seconds, the entire battlefield grew at least thirty degrees hotter.

Lin Huang felt as though he had been thrown into a sauna. The temperature had been a comfortable twenty degrees earlier, but it had risen to fifty and more in the blink of an eye.

The color of Sword11's body changed alongside that of his blade, but it was clear that the heat emanating from the blade was becoming more and more painful to him. Nevertheless, he held in there.

It was only when the blade and his body were both a piercing golden-red that his blade began to emit golden-red sparks…

Just then, Sword11's eyes spewed golden-red flames as well. Golden-red flakes fell off his hands and face, like scales off a molting snake, floating into the air.

He knew that he had taken this slash as far as he could go.

"Sun Slash!"

With that low holler, Sword11's entire body merged together with the battle sword, turning into a flash of golden-red light that crashed toward the Titan Bug.

That slash finally gave the Titan Bug a feeling of danger. However, it had been too occupied with eating the defense formation earlier, so by the time it sensed the danger, it was already too late to dodge. When it saw the sword gleam cleaving through the sky, it tried to turn its head around in a panic. It tried to avoid this attack coming right at it, but it was already too late.

The golden-red light ripped the void apart and crashed down like a meteor, carrying with it infinite force and fire as it crashed onto the Titan Bug with a boom.

The moment it made contact, the light immediately exploded, and the golden-red explosion of flames was like a giant spear that instantly pierced through heaven and earth alike. The golden-red light shot out in all directions endlessly, illuminating an entire side of the planet.

In that instant, it was not just Tough City. Every creature on the planet felt the temperature rise abruptly to that of a hot summer day.

Not only that, everyone on the battlefields of the five remaining cities on the planet saw a blinding light that outshone even that of the star.

This flash of golden-red light lasted for a good two to three minutes before it finally faded.

As soon as Lin Huang regained the use of his eyes, he saw that the Titan Bug that had been hunkered over the city wall was now completely gone. In the midst of his surprise, he suddenly realized there was a new mountain several kilometers away.

It was only when he looked carefully that he realized the mountain was none other than the Titan Bug that had been camping on the city wall's defense formation.

A third of that Titan Bug's head had vanished completely, and there was even a deep sword cut on its neck. The cut was clearly badly scorched.

"It's been killed?!"

Lin Huang was secretly ecstatic, as were the other humans.

Their visions began to clear, and that was what they saw.

Just as Lin Huang heaved a soft sigh of relief, though, the "dead" Titan Bug lying on the ground suddenly moved again. The missing chunk of its head also began to regenerate at a visible speed…

Sword11, who could deal such tremendous damage to the Titan Bug, was now passed out and unable to fight. The lightning man had just sent him back to the city, but when he turned around and went out of the city again, he saw the Titan Bug clambering to its feet. His expression instantly looked extremely pained.

The woman in the black dress was still engaged in a fierce battle with the Bug Tribe, while Nangong Wei and the others were frowning deeply, their expressions darker than the night.

Almost everyone on the humans' side who witnessed this scene felt the clouds return to their hearts.

Lin Huang frowned slightly too, and he racked his brain to come up with a solution.

"If we don't finish this Titan Bug off, all the defense formations and defensive barriers will completely fall apart within half an hour at most. If the defense formations fail, the bug swarm will overrun the entire Tough City. Taking the sheer numbers of the Bug Tribe army into account, Sword11 would be exhausted to death even if he was in peak condition. No one can even survive, much less leave via the dimensional portal."

Lin Huang wanted to sneak into Tough City so he could use the dimensional portal to leave this planet and head to a galaxy with better resources. Now, however, it seemed like his fate was tied to that of Tough City.

"Even if the humans change their plans now and decide to abandon this city, half an hour still won't be enough for a full evacuation.

"The only way out of this now would be to finish this Titan Bug off quickly…

"This bug beast has a defense as high as that of a true god, so there's no way I can kill it using conventional means. I'll have to rely on the effects of Xiao Hei's cards… Of the card types I know now, the only ones that can solve this crisis are the Kill Cards, Seal Cards, and Destruction Cards.

"Also, the Titan Bug is a true god, so only the Grade-4 or golden Grade-3 cards will have any effect on it. Right now, though, I only have Grade-2 and Grade-3 at hand. Even if I exchange them for a designated Kill Card, Seal Card, or Destruction Card, I wouldn't be able to deal it any damage…"

Lin Huang's musings were suddenly interrupted by Xiao Hei.

"A Seal Card's grade has nothing to do with its combat level."

"Huh?" Lin Huang suddenly heard Xiao Hei's voice, and it took him by surprise.

"It's true, most cards have their effects limited by their grade once they have an assigned grade. But a few cards have their own limitations, and even after they are assigned a grade, they still adhere to the initial limitations as opposed to the combat level limitations of that particular grade.

"Seal Cards had a condition to begin with, and that was the rarity of the monster. After these cards are assigned a grade, the only difference is that the rarity levels are further categorized.

"Grade-1 Seal Cards can seal all monsters that are Epic-level (second mutation) and below. Grade-2 Seal Cards can seal all monsters that are Mythical-level (fourth mutation) and below. Grade-3 Seal Cards can seal all monsters that are Supreme God-level (fifth mutation) and below.

"The Titan Bug may be strong, but its rarity is only Epic-level. A Grade-2 Seal Card would suffice."

Lin Huang's eyes lit up at that. He had assumed that he would need a Grade-4 Seal Card to seal the Titan Bug, and he never once thought that a Grade-2 would do the trick.

"I just need one Grade-2 Seal Card?"

He still had more than 11,000 Grade-2 cards that he had not exchanged for Grade-3s. According to the ten-to-one exchange ratio, that meant he could redeem more than 1,100 Seal Cards.

"The Titan Bug would be invincible on the battlefield! No one less than a heavenly god can break through its defenses!"

"Host, you're getting ahead of yourself. This Titan Bug's combat level is way higher than your current limit. Even if you seal it into a monster card, you won't be able to summon and use it for a while.

Xiao Hei rained on Lin Huang's parade again.

Only then did Lin Huang remember that his current abilities limited him to summoning nothing more than virtual god-level imperial monsters. However, he was not bothered, waving his hand as he said, "There's no rush. The limits will be lifted eventually."

His conversation with Xiao Hei really opened his eyes.

Once he exchanged ten Grade-2 cards for a specific Grade-2 Seal Card, Lin Huang manifested the Seal Card on his hand.

The golden card had one corner facing downward, and it floated upright, less than five centimeters above Lin Huang's palm. There, it slowly spun.

The corners of Lin Huang's lips curved, and he stared relentlessly at the Titan Bug.

Of course, no one overheard Lin Huang's little chat with Xiao Hei.

They could not see the Seal Card that had manifested on his hand, either.

Several kilometers away, the Titan Bug got back onto its feet and shook its somewhat dizzy head. Soon, it raised its head, its eighteen eyeballs searching everywhere.

It was looking for the person that had nearly killed it with one hit earlier.

However, Sword11 had long since been sent back to the castellan's residence, courtesy of the lightning man. Right now, Sword11 was lying unconscious on a bed in the guest room.

The Titan Bug did not have x-ray vision, and the city had formations that blocked off one's scent, so naturally the Bug's search amounted to nothing.

However, this also infuriated it, and it turned its gaze back to the direction of Tough City.

It wanted to tear this "parcel" open even more now, if only to vent all its pent-up anger.

A furious roar echoed across the sky, and the Titan Bug lunged forward with its eight giant legs, its eyes red as it rushed toward Tough City.

The lightning man forced his opponent to retreat and morphed into a bolt of lightning, unleashing an attack at the Titan Bug.

Nangong Wei and the others worked hard to fight back their foes as well, taking the chance to attack the Titan Bug in a futile attempt to halt its advances.

The Bug Tribe True Gods who were repelled did not give chase, either. Instead, they savored the lightning man's and everyone else's meaningless efforts, laughing coldly.

Even though the lightning man and the others aimed for the wounds on the Titan Bug's body that had yet to heal completely, it did nothing to stop the Titan Bug from pressing onward.

Within a mere three to four seconds, the Titan Bug had once more pounced onto Tough City's defense formation. It completely ignored the attacks from the lightning man and the others, chomping down on the defense formation once more…

Just then, however, there was a flash of golden light from somewhere.

That golden light rapidly enveloped the Titan Bug, and the Titan Bug immediately put up a fierce struggle, but it was all in vain.

As the golden light sealed the Titan Bug up, the bug's enormous body drastically shank, like a leaky balloon. Within three to five seconds, it had become a microscopic speck of dust that could not be seen by the naked eye. After that, it vanished without a trace.

That peculiar scene left everyone dumbfounded.

"What just happened?"

It was not just the Bug Tribe. The humans were confused too.

More than ten seconds passed, and the Titan Bug did not reappear.

Finally, someone from the human camp finally could not help a loud cheer.

"The Titan Bug is dead! Lord Heavenly God must have helped us!"

With that voice as the starting cue, an uproar soon started among the humans.

On the other hand, the Bug Tribe members were utterly shocked. After all, the Titan Bug had disappeared so eerily.

The Bug King Yi Li returned to his senses and immediately notified the Bug Mother regarding what had just happened.

After a moment, a reply came from the Queen Mother, written in gold.

"This must be the work of an unknown heavenly god. Stop attacking the city right now and retreat! Don't suffer any more losses!"

Once he received the Queen Mother's decree, the Bug King Yi Li informed the entire army without hesitation.

"All Bug Tribe warriors, stop attacking the village and retreat! Retreat to three hundred kilometers away!"

As soon as he issued those orders, the already terrified Bug Tribe warriors immediately turned and ran without even looking back.

When he saw how decisively the Bug Tribe was retreating, Lin Huang had to raise an eyebrow. "To think the shock effect works this well."

With that, he smiled and turned his head to look at the blue card that had just appeared on his left palm.

The front side of the card had a picture depicting none other than the Titan Bug that had just vanished.

"Yi Li, tell me exactly what happened at the time."

A golden message appeared in the Bug Tribe's chat group.

"Just now, I saw the Titan Bug pouncing at the city wall, and suddenly there was a flash of golden light that completely enveloped its entire body. After that, it rapidly became smaller. It seemed to try and struggle a little, trying to break out of the golden light, but it never managed to. Finally, it became so small that it just disappeared…"

"Are there any other details? The rest of you, add on if you saw anything else," the golden words continued to say.

"It went more or less as Yi Li said. We were even closer to the Titan Bug, and though we didn't see exactly where that golden light came from, we can tell a general direction. It came from underneath the Titan Bug's body, so there's a high chance it was emitted from the Tough City walls," replied the ninth-rank True God, Polypod King.

"There's one more weird thing, but I don't know if I should say it." The other ninth-rank True God, Mantis King, chimed in as well.

"You can tell me everything, including your guesses and suspicions," replied the golden words.

"Although I saw the golden light envelop the Titan Bug with my own eyes, I did not feel any energy waves from that golden light. I didn't sense a threat, either." The Mantis King shared his feelings.

"Now that you mention it, I don't think I felt any energy then either." Yi Li hurriedly nodded and supported the statement.

"There's nothing odd about that. Logically speaking, if it were a beginner-stage god sequence-level (heavenly god-level) powerhouse, we should be able to clearly feel its energy and the threat it poses. If we can't feel it, that must mean it's very likely an intermediate-stage, or even be a high-level god sequence-level, trying to conceal its energy waves." The Polypod King said nonchalantly, "In order to prevent us from sensing its actual combat level, it's possible that the enemy purposely hid their energy waves.

"Of course, there's another possibility. The Titan Bug could have turned traitor, and perhaps it's putting on a show for us. The golden light that enveloped it could be nothing more than some illumination effect with no practical purpose. However, I feel like the probability of this is close to zero.

"Firstly, the Titan Bug isn't that smart. Secondly, it's not good enough to shrink its body that far. Thirdly, the Titan Bug was born from the Mistress Queen Mother herself, not a second- or third-generation Queen Mother. Its loyalty is undeniable."

The Polypod King sent a whole string of messages, and soon the Queen Mother sent another line of golden words.

"That Titan Bug has cut off communications with me."

The Queen Mother who spoke this time was clearly the heavenly god-level Queen Mother that had given birth to the Titan Bug. Her reason for saying that was also perfectly clear. Only dead Bug Tribes could cut off their connection with their birth Queen Mother.

"I've already reported this incident to the seniors, and Sir Braintipede will be going there shortly to investigate the matter. I've also asked the Bug Kings from the other battlefields to move their Titans over to that one after they take down their respective cities. If that god sequence-level powerhouse is still there, I expect they would attack the other Titans too. When that happens, Sir Braintipede will personally determine how strong our opponent really is.

"The rest of you, stay put for now and wait for Sir Braintipede to arrive before making the necessary arrangements. If there's anything out of place, inform me immediately."

"Understood, Mistress Queen Mother."

The heavenly god-level Queen Mother's words finally put the Bug Kings' hearts at ease.

It did not matter if the enemy had a Heavenly God on their side. Their own Heavenly God would soon arrive there too.

Tough City was now a hubbub of activity.

The Titan Bug's mysterious demise and the Bug Tribe army's sudden retreat was undoubtedly great news.

As for the humans, they had retreated back into the city as well.

Lin Huang mingled in the crowd and successfully slipped inside too.

Inside the city, there was a cacophony of noises. Everyone fancied this a hard-earned victory.

At the same time, Nangong Wei and the other True Gods were gathered in the castellan's residence.

"Old Lightning, how's Sword11?" Nangong Wei asked at the first opportunity he had.

"Old Li said it's nothing to worry too much about. He's mostly exhausted and out of Divine Power, and he suffered some burns, but he didn't sustain any critical damage." The lightning man addressed as Old Lightning said with a laugh, "The kickback from that attack wasn't as serious as he made it sound. He'll be more or less fine after a day of rest or two. Old Li said medicine probably won't work on his burns, though, so he'll have to let that heal slowly on its own."

"Do you know who's behind that Titan Bug's disappearance?" Nangong Wei asked once he was sure that Sword11 was fine.

"I don't, but I know it has to be a god sequence-level (heavenly god-level) powerhouse." Old Lightning raised an eyebrow.

"It wasn't the two lords," said the woman in the black dress, Xiao Di with certainty.

"Could it be the reinforcements the two lords called in?" Old Lightning turned his head to look at Xiao Di.

"I'll ask." With that, Xiao Di continued, "It doesn't matter if they're the lords' reinforcements or not. Either way, we shouldn't dig into this any further. They helped us but refused to reveal themselves, so there must be a reason for that."

"Yeah." Nangong Wei hurriedly nodded. "Let's discuss the retreat.

"The Bug Tribe army has retreated and is now three hundred kilometers away, so this is the best chance for us to retreat. The other four cities aren't as lucky as we are. They still have Titan Bugs around, so they're sure to fall within another twenty minutes or so. Once that happens, we'll be the only city left standing on the entire planet.

"Besides, a Heavenly God joined the battlefield earlier, so the Bug Tribe's Heavenly God would definitely be heading here by now. We don't even know if that unknown Heavenly God will fight again, and even if they will, the Bug Tribe's Heavenly God will just have to stall for time, and Tough City will eventually fall anyway. We can't even hold up against one Bug Tribe army, so don't even think about facing five at once."

"How should we arrange the retreat?" Old Lightning asked without raising any objections.

None of the other True Gods present objected either.

"Old Lightning, Xiao Di, you two lead Sword11 and the other True Gods away as part of the first batch. Once we're certain we're going to retreat, there's no need to fight anymore, so the stronger fighters should leave first. As for those of us here in Tough City, I'll take the rear. After all, I am the castellan."

"Nangong…" Old Lightning wanted to say something, but Nangong Wei cut him off.

"It's decided. The True Gods will leave in the first wave, the high-level Virtual Gods will go second, followed by the mid-level Virtual Gods in the third wave, and lastly the low-level Virtual Gods. Even if we don't make it in time, we should minimize the losses however much we can." After he decided on the retreat order, Nangong Wei looked at Old Lightning and Xiao Di. "I have to stay behind. If I don't, Tough City will descend into chaos."

At those words, Old Lightning went forth and patted Nangong Wei on the shoulder. "You better make it out alive!"

"I'll try my best," Nangong Wei said with a smile.

In the castellan's residence, the True Gods managed to decide on their retreat strategy within minutes, and it was executed just as quickly.

There were not that many True Gods. Old Lightning and the others brought Sword11 with them, leaving via the dimensional portal first.

Once they announced the retreat order, many low-level Virtual Gods immediately felt unhappy. It made them feel like sacrificial lambs.

A few of them even started yelling at the city gates.

Nangong Wei did not silence them by force either, letting them yell as they pleased. All he did was secretly watch them, ensuring that no one was purposely inciting chaos.

On the other hand, Lin Huang could definitely understand why Nangong Wei arranged things this way. Letting the higher-level combatants leave first was the best way to maintain the combat level of humanity as a whole.

Lin Huang wanted to leave this dangerous place as quickly as possible, but after some consideration, he decided not to camouflage his combat level.

He knew very well that Nangong Wei's Telekinesis was spread across the entire city right now, watching over everything in case anything went wrong. If Lin Huang tried anything funny, he would definitely be found out.

All he could do was stay patient and keep waiting.

Time passed, and soon another half an hour had passed. The retreat had reached its third wave, and the mid-level Virtual Gods were leaving, one after another.

At the same time, however, the four Titan Bugs attacking the other four cities had also arrived at the Bug Tribe camp outside Tough City.

At around the same time, someone else arrived at the planet. It was the heavenly god-level Bug Tribe powerhouse— the Braintipede!

The Braintipede's real body was a centipede as large as a giant, with a blood-red shell and sharp poisonous spikes lining its back.

The species was called the Braintipedes because their eggs had to be hatched in the brains of other creatures. Once they hatched, they would quickly devour the hosts' brain matter, receiving the hosts' memories and life experiences at the same time.

After they matured, the Braintipedes could also release tiny centipede clones that would crawl into the brains of other creatures and live there, turning these creatures into their puppets.

A Braintipede's path to maturity was quite treacherous, so it was practically a miracle for one to reach the heavenly god-level.

The tens of thousands of years he had spent growing under harsh circumstances was also the reason why this one was especially careful and cautious.

When the Queen Mother informed him that an unknown Heavenly God had appeared on this battlefield, the Braintipede immediately abandoned his battle with two human Heavenly Gods and made a beeline for Heavenly Spirit Planet.

As soon as he teleported here, the Braintipede swept the entire planet with his Telekinesis several times, before frowning slightly.

"I don't sense any god sequence-level (heavenly god-level) auras!"

He was cautious by nature, so he turned his head to look at the Ant King Yi Li and the others. "How was the Titan killed? Tell me again in detail."

Yi Li repeated the information he had reported to the Queen Mother, but in even more detail this time.

Upon hearing that, the Braintipede looked at Tough City in the distance and thought it over for a moment. He did not attack immediately; instead, he turned to look at one of the other Titan Bugs, giving it a command.

"You! Go and break down this city's defense formation!"

The Titan Bug did not know how dangerous that would be, so it accepted the order without any objections. It stepped forth boldly and headed right for Tough City.

All the other Bug Tribes looked toward the direction the Titan Bug was heading, staring that way without blinking. They wanted to see if the enemy Heavenly God would attack again.

When the Titan Bug reached within a hundred meters of the city, Tough City began to ring the alarms.

"Titan Bug attack!"

"Titan Bug attack!"

"Titan Bug attack!"

The contents of the alarm made Lin Huang frown slightly despite himself.

A second attack by a Titan Bug meant that the other four cities had already fallen. Even if they were yet to be completely taken over, the cities' defenses must have been broken, at the very least. That was by no means good news.

"Are they testing us by only sending one Titan Bug?"

After he sealed the Titan Bug earlier, the Bug Tribe retreated without hesitation because they suspected that the humans had a Heavenly God who secretly killed it. The fact that they dared to test the waters now gave Lin Huang a good idea about the source of the Bug Tribe's confidence.

"They're probably doing this because the Bug Tribe has a Heavenly God on their side now.

"If there really is a Bug Tribe Heavenly God on the scene now, the only thing I can do is scare him into staying his hand! He probably sent the Titan Bug to test the waters because he's wary. As long as we muddy the waters, he won't dare to attach so easily."

Lin Huang turned around to look at the direction of the dimensional portal. The retreat was in its third wave, and about half of the mid-level Virtual Gods had been sent away. He probably had another dozen or so minutes left to wait until it was his turn.

When the people heard the alarm saying that another Titan Bug was attacking, they began to panic.

Thankfully, Nangong Wei appeared in an instant and unleashed his aura, steadying the entire area.

"Don't panic, everyone. The more you panic, the slower the teleportation will become. The defense formation is at full power right now, and it will take the Titan Bug at least another half an hour to break this formation. That means we have another half an hour, at least…"

Nangong Wei did not tell them the truth.

The truth that the Bug Tribe might have a Heavenly God on the battlefield now…

The truth that the enemy still had four Titan Bugs, and if the four of them worked together, the defense formation would fall apart within seven or eight minutes at the most…

Nevertheless, his lies put most of the people at ease. As for those smart enough to see through his ruse, they also wisely kept their mouths shut.

Saying the truth now would only cause even more panic, and anyone who tried would likely be killed on the spot by Nangong Wei to set an example for the others.

Lin Huang did not say anything either. He just quietly exchanged his cards for a Grade-2 Seal Card. After he mixed into the crowd, he applied a tiny bit of force in his fingers and shattered the card.

The next instant, a flash of golden light lit up in the sky, flying from Tough City and traversing the huge distance almost in an instant. The light enveloped the Titan Bug that had just gotten within a hundred kilometers of Tough City.

The next instant, the Titan Bug wrapped in golden light rapidly shrank, disappearing completely within two to three seconds.

Another Titan Bug had vanished?!

The few remaining sentries in Tough City's watchtowers felt their jaws fall open again at the sight. After a second, they recovered and instantly spread the news back into town.

When the people inside the city heard this news, they could not help a cheer of delight.

They were even starting to believe that a Heavenly God was secretly protecting Tough City.

The line to the dimensional portal had been a little chaotic earlier, but now it was going perfectly smoothly again.

On the other hand, the Bug Tribe reacted completely differently to this development.

Every member of the Bug Tribe who witnessed that scene felt unspeakably shocked, and many of them looked toward the Braintipede.

When most of them looked at the Braintipede, their hearts settled. After all, they had a Heavenly God here too. However, a few of them were wondering if their Heavenly God was any match for the unknown Heavenly God on the humans' side.

The Braintipede's Telekinesis had been locked onto the Titan Bug from the start, and at first, the Braintipede looked rather confused. After a while, however, his expression turned somewhat ugly.

The instant when the golden light enveloped the Titan Bug earlier, he had felt a power repelling his Telekinesis away. After that, it seemed like the Titan Bug's enormous body was shrunk to its absolute limit, until finally it simply disappeared. The Braintipede witnessed the entire process clearly, but he still could not understand how the opponent was doing it.

That eerie process even made him somewhat scared.

The creepier part was he never once felt any hint of energy coming from that power.

"It can't be a high-level Heavenly God, can it?!"

The Braintipede was feeling a little uneasy now.

However, he was not quite willing to give up after just one attempt, especially since there were so many Bug Tribe juniors watching.

After a moment of consideration, he issued a new command after all.

"Send in another one!"

This time, the Braintipede did not only lock his Telekinesis onto the Titan Bug, he even snuck some of his Divine Power into its body.

The Bug Tribe sent out its second Titan Bug, attracting even more attention from within their ranks. Almost everyone was waiting with bated breath to see if the opponent's Heavenly God would make another move.

In Tough City, the alarm rang again, notifying the town about this second Titan Bug attack.

When Lin Huang heard the alarm, he raised a brow.

"Again?! Do they know I'm after Titan Bugs or something?"

He exchanged another ten draws for a Grade-2 Seal Card, shattering it stealthily once more.

There was another flash of golden light from Tough City, and as soon as the light left the constraints of the defense formation, it once more sliced through space and fell over the second Titan Bug. Within an instant, it had enveloped the entire Titan Bug.

Almost at the same time, the Braintipede's targeted Telekinesis and the Divine Power hidden inside the Titan's Body were both repelled right out.

After that, the same process repeated itself.

The Titan Bug, as large as a mountain, shrank into nothing within two to three seconds.

The Braintipede looked even more troubled now. He was almost certain that the attacker was stronger than him, and by a considerable margin too.

After all, he had tested the opponent twice, but he still had no idea how the other side was doing it.

That made him extremely wary.

After a moment of hesitation, he secretly contacted his two heavenly god-level friends and explained what had happened with his scouting.

When they heard his description, the two Bug Tribe Heavenly Gods gave him different responses.

"According to your description, there's a high chance the opponent is a high-level sequence god. Just retreat, and stop provoking them. When you bump into someone like that, just avoid them.

"The fact that you can't sense their energy feels weird to me. If they're really that much stronger than you are, why would they hide their energy waves? I think they might be acting mysterious on purpose, hiding their energy waves using some special means to try and scare you off. I'd suggest you lure them out. If you really can't beat them, you can still run away later.

Those were two completely different suggestions, but the Braintipede gave it some thought and decided that the second one made more sense.

However, he did not intend to throw caution to the winds and lure his opponent out just like that. Instead, he wanted one last test.

The Braintipede turned his head to look at the Titan Bugs again.

Of the two Titan Bugs, he placed one of his centipede clones into one Titan Bug's brain and inserted a portion of his god sequence chain into the other.

Once those arrangements were done, the Braintipede ordered them once more,

"This time, both of you will attack at once!"

Although the two Titan Bugs were not very smart, they saw what had happened to their two 'seniors', so they knew that this was dangerous. However, the Braintipede's orders were absolute, so they had no choice but to jump into it.

The alarms in Tough City rang again soon.

"The Titan Bugs are attacking! This time, there are two of them!"

When he heard that, Lin Huang glanced at the dimensional portal. The mid-level Virtual Gods were still being sent away.

"I thought they would send the bugs one at a time, so I'd be able to buy more time. But now they're sending two at the same time! This should also be the last test. I wonder how the Bug Tribe's Heavenly God will respond."

Lin Huang knew that there were only two Titan Bugs left, but he could not be sure what that Bug Tribe Heavenly God would do after he sealed away these two.

"If he chooses to fight in the end, I'll have to run away with an Escape Card. I just don't know where I'll be randomly sent off too…"

Lin Huang had already planned out his escape route. He did not want to use an Escape Card because its effects were random. If it sent him to the Bug Tribe's home base, he would be in trouble.

Many ideas flashed through his mind, but Lin Huang did not hesitate for long. He exchanged two more Seal Cards anyway.

Glancing at the two golden cards in his hand, he applied a little force with his fingers and shattered these cards as well.

The next second, two flashes of golden light shot out of Tough City and instantly enveloped the two Titan Bugs.

This time, the centipede clone in one Titan Bug's body immediately exploded, and even the Braintipede's god sequence chain in the other one was destroyed without putting up any resistance.

Far away in the Bug Tribe's camp, the Braintipede took both blows at almost the same time, and he spewed two consecutive mouthfuls of blood.

The purple-black blood that he spewed rain down on swathes of Bug Tribe members, and those who had blood on them instantly turned into a puddle of liquid.

The Braintipede raised his head and looked at the direction of Tough City in alarm, issuing his command without hesitation.

"Retreat!"

A glance in the direction of the dimensional portal told him that the mid-level Virtual Gods were not done leaving yet. As a result, Lin Huang's entire body tensed up.

He had already sealed away the last two Titan Bugs, which meant that the Bug Tribe Heavenly God did not have any more pawns to test the waters with. Lin Huang had no idea what he would do next.

Judging by the teleportation rate here at Tough City, it would be at least another five minutes before it was his turn to use the portal.

He had even already prepared a Grade-3 Escape Card. It could get him off Heavenly Spirit Planet, but the location it sent him to would be completely random.

Thankfully, his nerves did not stay taut for long. Soon, the watchtower sent them some shocking news.

The Bug Tribe had retreated!

When he heard that news, Lin Huang was stunned at first, but then he finally heaved a sigh of relief.

The others may not know what had happened, but he knew perfectly well. His gamble had paid off. Perhaps after all his scouting attempts failed, that Bug Tribe Heavenly God finally chose to give up.

However, what he did not know was the rules of the cards had injured the Braintipede and scared the cautious Braintipede off. That was why he chose to retreat without hesitation.

The other humans in Tough City were confused at first, but after a while, some of them began to cheer, and soon cheers reverberated throughout the entire city.

The many low- and mid-level Virtual Gods that had thought they would end up dying with Tough City realized that the danger was over now, and their pent-up emotions finally found release.

Some of them roared and howled, some of them sprinted as fast as they could. Some wept quietly, while others wailed loudly…

Even Nangong Wei heaved a huge sigh of relief. When he decided to stay, he had been determined from the start to die here.

He was also one of the few people who knew that a Bug Tribe Heavenly God had arrived. When he saw the Titan Bugs approaching, one after another, he knew very well that this was just a test. Thankfully, after three rounds of tests, the Bug Tribe Heavenly God chose not to attack after all. Perhaps the enemy was wary of the unknown powerhouse on their side.

Although he was curious to know who the unknown powerhouse who killed those Titan Bugs was, and how strong this person truly was, Nangong Wei wisely chose to let it go.

The fact that the powerhouse helped them secretly meant that they did not want to be known. If Nangong Wei tried to find out by force, there was a chance he might anger this unknown powerhouse instead.

Collecting himself slightly, Nangong Wei looked at the somewhat chaotic scene below and spoke once more.

"The retreat of the Bug Tribe army only means that Tough City is safe for now. However, the appearance of the other four Titan Bugs earlier proves that the other four cities have been defeated. It's only a matter of time before the Bug Tribe comes back.

"I can understand that you're happy we survived this, but I hope you will look at the bigger picture first and retreat in an orderly line. Once we have retreated to somewhere safe, we can let ourselves go then…"

Nangong Wei's words calmed most of the people down, and they lined up again properly.

The few who still wanted to celebrate wildly hurriedly joined the lines again when they saw how everyone else was lining up now.

Lin Huang stood in line, but a part of his consciousness had delved into his internal world.

Amidst the many Monster Cards, there were five new blue-colored Epic-level Monster Cards.

The front side of the card depicted the Titan Bugs that had just vanished from the battlefield.

The combat level of these five cards was simply too high, so they could not be summoned for now.

Lin Huang knew very well that he could lower the five Monster Cards' levels. Once he lowered them down to virtual god-level, he could summon them as usual. However, he refrained.

The reason was very simple. These five Titan Bugs were Epic-level Monster Cards, and their combat level cost the Bug Tribe Queen Mother a great number of ingredients and a ton of energy. That was why they were born so strong. If their combat level was reduced to virtual god-level, they could not be raised to true god-level again, not unless he used an Advance Card to raise them to mythical level.

Lin Huang had his own plans for these five cards.

Once he reached the true god-level, he would summon these five Titan Bugs as soon as he could and advance them all to mythical level.

Epic-level Titan Bugs were already unbelievably powerful. In terms of power and defense alone, they far surpassed most mythical-level monsters. Lin Huang could not quite imagine how strong they could become if he advanced these bug beasts to the mythical level.

Soon enough, it was Lin Huang's turn to take the dimensional portal.

Perhaps it was because he was more relaxed now, but Lin Huang felt like the line was moving much faster than he expected.

He stepped into the dimensional portal with a bunch of others and turned his eye to the distant city walls.

He had only been in Great Heaven Territory for a day, but he had not expected so many things would happen here.

He disguised himself as a Bug Tribe member, joined the battlefield, snuck into a human city, earned five Titan Bug cards, and scared off a Bug Tribe Heavenly God…

There was a high chance he would not return to this planet anymore, and even if he did, this city would certainly look different from how it was now.

With that thought in mind, Lin Huang watched his vision sway. A second later, his surroundings were completely different.

"Welcome back to Golden City, heroes from the battlefield!"

A few stylishly-dressed female greeters stood outside the dimensional portal and shouted in unison.

Golden City was not the name of a city. Instead, it was a planet in the safe zone within the humans' anterior star zone.

Although it was not one of humanity's core territories, it was almost as developed as some of the core planets.

There was only one reason for that. This was where human warriors came to splurge, a heaven of money and opulence.

The entire planet had only one city, and most stores in this city provided entertainment.

There was an entire range of them. No matter what kind of a service you wanted, you could get it as long as you could pay for it.

Women, men, foreign tribes, and even monsters… As long as you could afford it, you can enjoy any services.

Aside from that, this planet had the largest black market in the entire star zine as well.

You could buy just about anything in this black market with the right money. All sorts of equipment, illegal items, information… Everything was there for the taking.

Legend even had it that someone once sold a Bug Tribe Queen Mother on this black market. Of course, it was only a virtual god-level Queen Mother larva.

By the time Lin Hung searched up the information about this planet, more than ten minutes had passed.

The moment he obtained a map, he headed right for Golden City's black market.

He needed a more detailed star map, information about more planets, and even information about the entire Great Heaven Territory in general…

After all, his final aim here in Great Heaven Territory was to earn the Great Heaven inheritance. Even if the chances were slim, he did not intend to just give up on it.

"Sword11 should know more about the Great Heaven inheritance, so if I want to get it, he'll be my biggest clue. Besides, he used the same dimensional portal as I did, so there's a high chance he's in Golden City too. As for how I'm supposed to find him, I'll have to think of something. For the next couple of days, I should just get whatever information I can find…"

He organized his thoughts at the entrance to the black market street, but once he figured it out, he strode right into it.

The biggest information broker in the Golden City black market was known as Mute Pavillion.

It was called that to show just how well they kept their secret information. It did not matter what information their clients tried to buy or sell; it would never be leaked.

However, Lin Huang had his doubts about Mute Pavillion's secrecy. As an information broker who would sell anything, it was not impossible for them to sell their own clients' confidential information, as long as the price was right.

Since Mute Pavillion was larger than life in both their physical premises and their reputation, Lin Huang found the store without too much trouble.

As soon as he walked through the door, a tall woman in what looked like a qipao greeted him. Lin Huang noticed that the other employees in the store wore something like a "qipao" too, but the colors and designs were different. Each outfit was clearly designed for the wearer, showing off the women's bodies perfectly.

Every employee was young and beautiful, with seductive bodies and natural-born auras. If you placed any one of them on Earth, there would probably be a top-rated entertainment company throwing money at them to try and make them into their signature star.

Lin Huang gave them a glance before pulling his gaze back.

"Good day, sir. May I know if you're here to provide or gather information?"

"Gather," Lin Huang said honestly.

"Please come with me." The woman nodded with a smile and led Lin Huang up to the second floor.

Lin Huang followed behind her, and when he saw the way her body swayed in front of him, he could not help but sigh inwardly.

"This Mute Pavillion sure is wealthy, and it shows. It probably costs a bomb just to train employees like these."

Soon enough, the woman led Lin Huang to the door of a room.

"Room 203 was just vacated. Please go in, sir."

With those words, the woman slowly pulled the door open and lowered her head slightly, waiting for Lin Huang to go inside.

After Lin Huang walked in, the woman slowly closed the door and turned to leave.

Once inside the room, Lin Huang realized that it was bigger than he first expected, and the decor was not mysterious in the slightest either. It just looked like the lobby of a fancy hotel.

The counter was something like a bar counter, and another beautiful woman sat behind it, wearing a short white shirt. As for her lower half, it was obscured by the counter.

"Good day, sir. How may I help you today?"

"Firstly, I want a star map, covering as much land as possible, and the more the detailed, the better. Secondly, I want information on all the main factions and races, as detailed as possible. Thirdly, I want information about the secret zones and ruins. Fourthly, I want personal info on Sword11…"

After spending a considerable amount of Divine Stones, Lin Huang received almost all the information he wanted. The only things he did not ask about was the Great Heaven inheritance and treasure, because he could not be sure what asking about that would get him.

Still, his purchase of information told Lin Huang one thing. Perhaps because the resources were more scarce here, the purchasing power of Divine Stones was higher than in the great worlds. It was about ten times higher here than in the God Territory.

The cheapest god rule relic in the great world cost at least a million Divine Stones, but here in the Great Heaven Territory, prices started at a hundred thousand or so. Even really high-quality expert-grade god rule relics cost no more than three or four million Divine Stones.

As for Divine Crystals, they were so rare that they were not even used as currency here.

After he walked out of Mute Pavillion's main entrance, Lin Huang could immediately sense someone spying on him from the shadows.

His Telekinesis was as strong as a Nine Rotation Virtual God's, and after he merged it with the seventh level, Seamless, it was as strong as a first-rank True God now. Even his soul's sensing ability was much stronger now.

Even so, he could only sense that he was being watched. He could not tell where the gaze was coming from.

Without knowing his observer's motives, Lin Huang calmly left Mute Pavillion. However, he did not immediately leave the black market. Instead, he began to browse the shops.

After he went to a few more shops, he could be a hundred percent sure that those eyes were on him specifically.

After all, the feeling of being watched never once stopped.

That left Lin Huang rather confused. "Ever since I entered the Great Heaven Territory, I don't think I ever offended anyone. No one could possibly know that I scared off the Bug Tribe Heavenly God either. So why on earth are they watching me now?

He did not know their motive nor where they were hiding. Once he was sure that they were targeting him, Lin Huang entered another store and immediately used Thousand Face to put on a disguise before striding out of the shop.

As expected, the feeling of being watched vanished without a trace this time.

A minute later, a tiny lizard crawled into the shop Lin Huang had entered earlier via the walls. Its large green eyes looked around the place before it crawled out of the store again.

On the third floor of a cafe on the black market street, a ponytailed woman's hand froze in mid-air, still holding her teacup. She frowned slightly. "He's gone?!"

After Lin Huang put on a disguise and left the shop, he never felt that gaze on him again.

After all, Thousand Face was the best god sequence relic for disguises. Aside from the strongest Heavenly Gods, no one could see through his disguise at all.

Upon leaving the black market, he took a detour of several hundred kilometers and used Thousand Face to swap between five different identities, all so he could avoid any other unknown eyes on him, even the ones he may not have noticed. Finally, he found a shady hotel that did not require documentation and checked in there.

There were several tens of thousands of shady hotels like that, even more than there were legal hotels. Since there were so many of them, the competition was fierce, and the shady hotels ended up with facilities and services that were no worse than most legal hotels.

After he checked in and entered his room, Lin Huang read through the information he had bought off the black market.

The star map he bought off the black market was much more detailed than the one Bloody had obtained earlier.

This star map encompassed almost all the star zones around humanity. Not only did it contain detailed information about each star zone, it even described many planets in detail.

The star zones depicted in this one star map were larger in area than the places the Protoss had discovered over several hundred thousand years.

When he read the second set of information, Lin Huang raised an eyebrow just a few lines into the document.

"There are four human Heavenly Gods?!"

He continued reading and found out that the humans in the Great Heaven Territory were divided into two factions, led by two Heavenly Gods each.

There were no so-called governments, only the two ultra-powerful human factions.

One was called Torch, and the other Frontier.

Torch believed that humans should preserve the purity of their bloodline, and members of this faction were forbidden from marrying those of other races. Their final aim was to pass down the torch of human civilization down the generations.

Frontier's principles were completely different. They believed that there was no point in maintaining the purity of one's bloodline, and they prioritized survival instead. They encouraged anything that could make them stronger, including starting wars to rob other races of resources, performing genetic surgery, and breeding with powerful bloodlines… In many ways, they explored the frontier of the unknown.

The two factions were extremely ideologically opposed, yet their territories neighbored each other, so there were always conflicts between the two sides.

This area Lin Huang was currently in belonged to Torch.

During Torch's great war with the Bug Tribe this time around, Frontier had been watching coldly from the sidelines. In fact, they should be praised for not stabbing Frontier in the back.

When Lin Huang read the explanation in the file, he was a little exasperated too.

"To think they can end up in a faction war under these circumstances… As I expected of humanity."

Aside from the information on humanity, this file included intel on the other twenty-odd races nearby.

Lin Huang read each of them, one at a time.

The third set told him about the secret zones and ruins.

To Lin Huang's surprise, there were quite a few secret zones and ruins in the Great Heaven Territory. This file alone listed fifty to sixty of them, most of them left behind by peak-level True Gods and some Heavenly Gods after their demise. However, there was no mention of the Great Heaven inheritance or Great Heaven treasure.

Lin Huang even looked at the timings and saw that there were no secret zones or ruins that would open up soon.

After he put down the third file, Lin Huang looked toward the fourth set of info — Sword11's personal information.

Sword11: real name Liu Ren, humanity's number one Sword Dao genius.

Combat level: ninth-rank god order-level (updated after the Bug Tribe War).

He had been training with the sword since his youth. Although he was not talented and did not have a good teacher to guide him, he worked extremely hard.

He only achieved the Sword Dao at 183 years old and broke understood the Sword Dao true meaning at 1561 years old.

Earlier, he had been cultivating the Sword Dao behind closed doors, staying inside for ten years.

Ten years later, he changed his name to Sword11 and began to truly shine. He challenged several of the Top 100 True God sword cultivators in a row and won every battle.

Upon seeing his sword techniques, even the True God sword cultivator Nie Feng praised him for his unbelievable Sword Dao which Nie Feng claimed surpassed his own.

That same year, all the Sword Dao powerhouses recognized him as humanity's number one Sword Dao genius.

…

After he read Sword11's profile, Lin Huang was even more certain that this man had something to do with the Great Heaven inheritance now. In fact, there was a high chance that he had obtained a part of that inheritance.

The description in the profile said that Sword11 was not very talented at the Sword Dao at all. He only understood the Sword Dao at 183 years old, and it took him almost another 1,400 years to forcefully sharpen that, with nothing more than sheer effort, into the Sword Dao true meaning.

To be honest, Lin Huang respected that man's determination and will. However, he really did not think a man without much talent or potential in the Sword Dao would be able to become such an overpowered sword cultivator just by working hard for a mere ten years.

Lin Huang definitely did not believe that nothing happened in the ten years Sword11 was missing.

"There's definitely something off about that guy. Something must have happened in the ten years he was gone, something others don't know. The name change is pretty strange too…"

Although he was now certain that Sword11 most likely had something to do with the Great Heaven inheritance, Lin Huang still did not have any idea how he should approach Sword11.

Since the black market intel told him that Sword11 was in Golden City now too, Lin Huang spent most of the next two days in his hotel room cultivating Seamless. At the same time, he had the black market keep an eye on Sword11's actions.

…

Inside the castellan's residence in Golden City, Sword11 finally began to stir slowly.

A bunch of people immediately crowded the room.

"Are you alright, Old Sword?" Old Lightning was the first to rush up and ask him.

"I think I should be fine now. How's Tough City? Did everyone get out alright?" Sword11 asked as soon as he opened his eyes.

"It's alright now, everyone made it out safely." Nangong Wei nodded and then gave him a simple description about how the Titan Bugs were consecutively killed and how the Bug Tribe army had immediately retreated.

Upon hearing that, Sword11 finally relaxed.

They chatted for a while, and then Nangong Wei and the others left, leaving behind only a girl with a ponytail.

"Teacher, I lost the guy you told me to follow." The ponytailed girl bit her lip and reluctantly admitted her failure.

Sword11 had expressly given his disciple this trailing mission before he used that Sun Slash.

"Is he still in Golden City?" Sword11 asked.

"I don't know. Everyone came here using the same dimensional portal two days ago. I saw that he went to the black market, so I followed him, but then I lost him. I think he noticed I was watching him, but I don't know if he just teleported away or used a disguise to slip away," said the ponytailed girl somewhat angrily.

"It's fine. If he's still in Golden City, it won't be hard to find him." Sword11 closed his eyes for a bit, and when he opened them again, the corners of his lips curved a little. "I'll change my clothes and go out for a walk."

"I'll tell the kitchen to make you some breakfast," said the ponytailed girl hurriedly.

"No need. I'll just grab something to eat while I'm out there." Sword11 waved her off.

"Then I'll come with you."

Sword11 laughed and shook his head. "Stay here and practice with your sword, girl. Later I'll check if you've been slacking off these past few days."

"Wha?!" The ponytailed girl clearly did not expect Sword11 to suddenly pull a spot check on her.

Still, she could guess what her teacher meant by going out for a walk. She immediately changed the topic, asking, "Teacher, is there something special about that guy?"

"I don't know, either, so let's find him first."

…

Over the past few days he had spent in Golden City, Lin Huang did not find out much about Sword11's whereabouts, but he did find a great noodle house close to his hotel.

The noodle house had a very special name too. It was called A Noodle House.

The handmade noodles here were very springy, and there were only eighteen varieties of noodle soups. All of them started broiling at three in the morning, and the shop opened every morning at exactly 6 am. A line would start before seven.

In order to avoid the queue, Lin Huang had been waking up earlier these past two days, and he would be at the stall by around 6.30.

Just as he did the two days before, he was here early today as well.

"Hi, gimme a bowl of beef noodles, semi-spicy, and add a sunny-side-up.

As soon as he said that, someone sat down at the table opposite Lin Huang.

"Eating something spicy so early in the morning? Aren't you afraid you'll upset your stomach?"

Lin Huang raised his head, and his pupils dilated abruptly.

His visitor was not very tall, with average looks, flaming red hair, and black eyes.

It was Sword11!

"Is it a coincidence, or did he find me?!"

Lin Huang could not figure out how Sword11 found him. Since he had been watched earlier, he now looked nothing like his earlier identity, Lin Xie.

However, Sword11 did not attack him immediately, and he did not sense any hostility either, so Lin Huang felt a little relieved.

He pretended not to know who the other man was, smiling as he replied, "I have heavier tastes, and I especially like spicy foods."

"You don't mind if I share your table, do you?" Sword11 asked with a smile.

Lin Huang glanced around and saw that there were two other empty tables, but he did not refuse. "If you like."

"The noodles here really are quite good. I haven't been here for a year now." Sword11 seemed to chat idly as he looked down at the menu. He then shouted at the owner, "Hey, I'll have a bowl of kidney noodles with two portions of kidney and a braised egg."

"You have pretty heavy tastes too," Lin Huang teased with a laugh.

"My waist has been a little sore lately, so I thought some kidney might help." Sword11 chuckled.

After the owner served the noodles, both of them buried their faces into their bowls. The table instantly fell quiet.

The silence was only broken ten minutes later, after Lin Huang finished his noodles and called for the bill.

"It was fate that we met here, so this one's on me."

Sword11 laughed and did not decline. "Alright then, thanks."

Just as Lin Huang paid the bill, Sword11 slurped his last noodle.

He drank two more mouthfuls of soup happily before finally putting down his bowl and looking at Lin Huang with a grin.

"You're wondering how I found you, right?"

Those words told Lin Huang that his cover was blown, so he raised a brow and said,

"Yeah, I was pretty surprised."

"I have a special ability that allows me to sense the Sword Dao in every sword cultivator's body." Sword11 revealed the answer right away. "No matter how you try to disguise yourself, the Sword Dao inside your body won't change."

Now that he knew how he had been found, Lin Huang was not too surprised at it either, and he did not bother harping on that question.

"Actually, I'm more curious to know why you came looking for me."

Two figures strolled around the lake as they chatted.

"This garden hasn't changed too much over all these years. It's probably the least commercialized place in the entire Golden City now. It's been a few years since I was last here," Sword11 introduced the place casually.

"It's pretty good for morning exercises." Lin Huang saw some older men and women beginning their morning exercises here, but there was one more thing he did not say aloud— that this place was even better for plaza dancing.

"You're not a hundred years old yet, are you?" Sword11 asked suddenly.

"Nope." Lin Huang gave a minimal reply without telling Sword11 that he was actually only nineteen.

"To think your Sword Dao is already approaching the true meaning, and you're not even a hundred yet. That's some talent and potential you have there," Sword11 praised him.

"I've been training my sword skills since childhood, but I'm not at all talented. I only understood the level-1 Sword Dao when I was 183, and I was more than 1,500 years old when I got to the level you are now. In terms of actual combat power, though, ten of the me's back then would be no match for you as you are now…"

Lin Huang listened to Sword11's rant quietly without interrupting.

"Then, when I was 1,561 years old, I accidentally stumbled onto some ruins that changed me completely from inside out. After that, my Sword Dao improved tremendously…"

Lin Huang's pupils dilated slightly at that. It was highly likely that Sword11 was talking about the Great Heaven inheritance, he guessed. Finally, he could not hold back anymore, asking,

"You received the inheritance from those ruins?"

"No. I wasn't talented enough." Sword11 just shook his head and smiled bitterly. "Even after my transformation, I was still nowhere near talented enough for that lord."

After Sword11 said that, Lin Huang could now be certain that he was talking about the Great Heaven inheritance.

Sword11's current talent at the Sword Dao was the strongest Lin Huang had seen, aside from his own (and that was because he had a cheat code). Even among the Protoss, this class-4 supreme god-level genius was one in a million.

Lin Huang even suspected that Sword11 might not be weaker than Buried Heaven should their combat levels be equal.

However, even a genius like that said that he was not talented enough to obtain the inheritance.

It was likely that only Great Heaven, a man who conquered an era, could be that picky about his heir.

"Are you telling me this because it has something to do with the reason you came to me, sir?" Lin Huang did not quite understand why Sword11 would tell him all these secrets of his own accord.

"Although I didn't earn his inheritance, I promised that lord I would find him a suitable heir," Sword11 explained at his own pace. "After I left the ruins, I've actually been secretly approaching all sorts of sword cultivating geniuses over all these years, sending them into the ruins to participate in the trials."

"Did anyone succeed?" Lin Huang hurriedly asked.

"No." Sword11 shook his head helplessly. 'Over the past millennia, I've identified thirty-five talented sword cultivators, and not one of them passed the first round."

"No one even passed the first round?!" Lin Huang was quite surprised.

"No one even passed the first round." Sword11 nodded.

"How many rounds are there in total?"

"I don't know that either. At least three or four, I guess." Sword11 shook his head with a laugh.

"Can I ask one more thing? How high is the trial's survival rate?" Lin Huang asked again.

"The death rate is higher than 90%. Out of the thirty-five, only three got out alive," replied Sword11 honestly.

"It's just the first round, but the death rate is already so high?!" That death rate scared even Lin Huang.

"That's right, it's very difficult. The later rounds could be even more challenging."

After a moment's silence, Lin Huang suddenly asked again, "If that inheritance finds an heir, will you get any benefits, sir?"

Lin Huang was actually asking about Sword11's motives. All Sword11 said was that he was helping Great Heaven find an heir because of a request, but of course Lin Huang did not believe that.

Sword11 stopped walking and turned around to look at the pond.

"On one hand, yes, I benefited from that lord. I went from a sword cultivator with barely any talent to a decently talented one after a single transformation. He helped me, so I want to return the favor.

"On the other hand, that lord promised me that he would increase my Sword Dao talent again if I made it work." With that, Sword11 turned around to look at Lin Huang.

Lin Huang nodded slightly. "When do those ruins open?"

"They're always open. You can go in whenever." Sword11's reply took Lin Huang by surprise. "Actually, many people know about that place, but no one really dares to go there because it's extremely dangerous."

"Where is it?!"

"Swordfiend Abyss!"

That name made Lin Huang instinctively narrow his eyes.

He was not unfamiliar with this name. Two days ago, he had read it in the information from the black market. It was a dangerous place at the border between human and Abyssal Tribe territories.

According to the information from the black market, almost no one who entered the Swordfiend Abyss ever made it out alive. There had even been a True God powerhouse who went in to explore and eventually went missing. According to the records, only one person in the entire Great Heaven Territory ever made it out of Heavenly God Abyss alive, and that was a heavenly god-level sword cultivator from a hundred thousand years ago. History books said that after that sword cultivator returned from Heavenly God Abyss, he turned into a world-ending Swordfiend. Eventually, the human Heavenly Gods joined forces with those of other races to kill him.

This contradicted Sword11's words completely.

Sword11 said that aside from him, three others emerged from the Swordfiend Abyss trials alive.

Sword11 seemed to read the suspicion on Lin Huang's expression, so he continued,

"The reason so many powerhouses can't leave Swordfiend Abyss alive is because only sword cultivators can survive in Swordfiend Abyss, and only Sword Dao skills work there. If they're not a sword cultivator, any powerhouse who enters there without the Sword Dao in their bodies would immediately meet extermination at the hands of the entire Swordfiend Abyss.

"That lord's ruins would never be sullied by any powerhouse who doesn't cultivate the sword."

Lin Huang did not say anything more after that.

The two of them walked along the lake, chatting idly like old friends.

Although he could not verify the truth in Sword11's words, at least Lin Huang now had a rough understanding of Swordfiend Abyss.

"If you're interested in these ruins, I can send you more detailed information about Swordfiend Abyss and the trials. However, I only know about the first trial. I don't know a thing about the ones after that," said Sword11 extremely helpfully when they parted.

"Sir, do you know who the powerhouse who left behind that inheritance was?" Lin Huang finally asked that crucial question.

"That powerhouse calls him Great Heaven, but I'm not sure if it's his real name or a title." With Sword11's reply, Lin Huang was absolutely certain now that he was referring to the Great Heaven inheritance.

"Give me some time to think about it. If I really decide to go, I'll contact you, sir." In the end, Lin Huang did not give him any confirmation.

After he parted ways with Sword11, Lin Huang immediately made a beeline for the black market.

Lin Huang did not believe everything Sword11 told him.

Sword11 had given two reasons to justify his helping Great Heaven find an heir.

One was to return the favor, and the second was to gain another increase in his potential. Although it sounded logical, Lin Huang still felt like he was hiding something.

There was also the fact that his description of Swordfiend Abyss was completely different from what the black market's intel said. Naturally, the black market information could not be false, so Lin Huang could not tell how much of what Sword11 said was true.

The thing that bothered Lin Huang the most was how Sword11 had not mentioned a thing about how he had changed his name and the ten years of closed-door cultivation. He did not even mention it in passing. If Lin Huang had not read his detailed file from the black market, he might not know that Sword11 was hiding anything at all.

Lin Huang did not want to pry into Sword11's personal matters. He just thought that since they already talked about something as confidential as undergoing a transformation to increase one's talent, there was no need to hide the closed-door cultivation and name change.

Even though there were so many doubts, Lin Huang was nevertheless quite certain that Swordfiend Abyss was indeed the first test to earn the Great Heaven inheritance.

Actually, when Lin Huang first saw the information about Swordfiend Abyss on the star map two days ago, he was already wondering if this place had something to do with Great Heaven.

After all, it stated that even a heavenly god-level powerhouse had gone missing here before. That meant that the person who left this trap there had to be a heavenly god-level powerhouse, at the very least.

Once he added his conversation with Sword11 to that, he grew even more certain of this possibility.

He spent more than ten days walking to the black market, and then Lin Huang entered Mute Pavilion once more.

"I want all the info you have on Swordfiend Abyss."

As soon as he entered the room, Lin Huang went right up to the counter and made his request.

"We only have legends about Swordfiend Abyss, none of it verified. Are you sure you want to purchase that, sir?" reminded the woman in the short-sleeved shirt behind the counter.

If the information was unverified, the employees at Mute Pavillion would warn customers in advance, and the price was much lower as well.

"That's fine, just tell me the price." Lin Huang nodded.

"Since we are unable to verify the truth of the intel regarding Swordfiend Abyss, and since the information isn't confidential, this file will only require ten thousand Divine Stones."

"Done!" Lin Huang paid without hesitation.

"Do you need anything else, sir?"

"Do you have any info about that world-ending Swordfiend who emerged from Swordfiend Abyss alive ten thousand years ago?"

"Yes, but nothing too detailed. After all, too much time has passed since." The woman in the short-sleeved shirt raised her head and looked at Lin Huang before stating the price. "That information costs eight thousand Divine Stones."

"I'll take one." Lin Huang nodded without hesitation.

It was not that he did not want to haggle. He just knew that Mute Pavillion did not entertain that.

After he left Mute Pavillion, Lin Huang did not continue looking around the other stores in the black market. Instead, he bought some food and drinking water at a mart close to his hotel before returning to his room and looking through the information he had just obtained.

The file on Swordfiend Abyss did not have any substantial information regarding Swordfiend Abyss.

However, Lin Huang took out a list of the people who had gone missing in Swordfiend Abyss, as well as a list of people who had appeared to go in and reappear alive.

The latter list had Sword11's name right there, as well as more than ten other names.

As for the list of missing persons, Lin Huang saw that six of them were listed as Heavenly Gods.

A hundred and eighty thousand years ago, a second-rank Heavenly God called Yan Qing became the first Heavenly God in recorded history to enter Swordfiend Abyss. He entered Swordfiend Abyss even before that world-ending Swordfiend did, and he was also the first Heavenly God to go missing in Swordfiend Abyss.

Ten thousand years ago, the next Heavenly God to go missing was Yue Yi, a third-rank Heavenly God. He went into Swordfiend Abyss with a friend of his, Qi Peng, also a Heavenly God. However, Yue Yi went missing, and his companion Qi Peng became something of a household name. He was none other than the Heavenly God who returned from Swordfiend Abyss and became the world-ending Swordfiend, causing a ton of bloodshed and turmoil.

Ninety thousand years ago, a Heavenly God named Shang Tian was the third to go missing in Swordfiend Abyss. He was quite the character as well; in his time, he was one of the top five strongest fighters in the entire Great Heaven Territory. Not only was he a sixth-rank Heavenly God, he was also an uber-powerful sword cultivator.

Eighty thousand years ago, the fourth, fifth, and sixth missing persons came from a trio of Heavenly Gods. All three of them were fifth- or sixth-rank heavenly god-level powerhouses, but such a magnificently-built team was still wiped out upon entering Swordfiend Abyss, and no one heard of them again.

After that, no Heavenly God in the entire Great Heaven Territory dared to approach Swordfiend Abyss again.

"Even sixth-rank heavenly god-level powerhouses die in there. That sure is a dangerous place…" Lin Huang could not stay calm after reading that file.

He had assumed that all the Heavenly Gods who went missing in Swordfiend Abyss were low-rank Heavenly Gods who ventured in on their own. Instead, he found out that not only were there mid- and high-rank Heavenly Gods in their ranks, there were even those who went in groups, only to get wiped out.

After reading all this information, however, Lin Huang was starting to believe some of the things Sword11 said now.

The Great Heaven inheritance was not something anyone who did not use a sword could touch!

Lin Huang spent more than an hour reading all the information, and tens of thousands of thoughts ran through his mind. Soon, though, he collected himself and looked at the intel on that world-ending Swordfiend.

His original name was Qi Peng, and he was a third-rank Heavenly God.

Ten thousand years ago, he was the only human Heavenly God sword cultivator.

Ten thousand years ago, he entered Swordfiend Abyss with his good friend Yue Yi, only to return alone one year later. Upon returning from Swordfiend Abyss, he seemed to go insane, killing swathes for no apparent reason. His combat level also shot up from third-rank to seventh-rank within a few short days, and finally, the humans worked together with the Heavenly Gods from some nearby tribes to kill him…

"He went from third-rank to seventh-rank within a few short days!" That news made Lin Huang's eyes widen.

Bear in mind that Qi Peng was a heavenly god-level powerhouse, which meant that the resources he had to use to increase his rank by one step amounted to astronomical numbers. Theoretically, it took him more than ten times longer to increase his rank than True Gods did!

Besides, if it could make the third-rank Heavenly God Qi Peng lose his mind and turn into a Swordfiend, that must mean that Swordfiend Abyss was not especially kind to sword cultivators either.

After Lin Huang read through Qi Peng's file, he fell into deep thought.

He was wondering if he should take this risk.

On one hand, he was now certain that Swordfiend Abyss was the first step to achieving the Great Heaven inheritance.

On the other hand, the danger posed by Swordfiend Abyss was making him hesitate about joining this test.

Although Lin Huang was usually quite confident in himself, this information made him completely unsure if he could successfully pass the test.

He thought it over for a long time, but eventually he made his decision and contacted Sword11 with a communicator he had bought from the black market.

"I've decided. Send the information over!"

Before he received the information about Swordfiend Abyss, Lin Huang had many ideas about what it could entail. After he read the information Sword11 sent over, though, he realized that the contents of the test were far simpler than he had expected. He also understood why sixth-rank Heavenly Gods died there as well, but it somehow made him a tad more confident that he could pass it.

Since he knew that he did not really need to prepare anything before entering Swordfiend Abyss, Lin Huang teleported away from Golden City the very afternoon after he obtained the information.

Swordfiend Abyss was at the border between human and Abyssal Tribe land.

It was actually a battlefield as well, but this was not wartime, so there were not many people on the battlefield. There were only the occasional human and Abyssal Tribe powerhouses hunting each other down.

However, perhaps because Swordfiend Abyss was simply too infamous, it seemed only Virtual Gods ever appeared on this battlefield. True or Heavenly Gods barely ever showed up here at all.

Lin Huang spent a day and a half going through more than twenty dimensional portals before he finally arrived at this battlefield.

As he sprinted down the land, he bumped into a few human Virtual Gods as well, all high-level ones.

Usually, when one encountered a fellow human, most people would choose to invite them into their group and hunt together as a team. However, Lin Huang disguised his battle power to look like he was only a grade-3 Virtual God, so the ones who saw him decided to just ignore him. After all, his combat level was too low, so he would not be able to help them. In fact, they were more worried he would slow them down.

Lin Huang did not know all that. His aim was Swordfiend Abyss, and he was quite glad that no one tried to disturb him. It made his journey smoother.

However, after he sprinted for more than two hours and entered the depths of the battlefield, he finally bumped into a hunter from the Abyssal Tribe.

It was a grade-8 Virtual God abyssal monster that looked like a giant pure-black jellyfish. However, it had several dozen emerald eyeballs.

When it first noticed Lin Huang, the jellyfish monster was ecstatic. It had barely raised its several dozen tentacles, however, before it saw a dark red flash of bloody light slice through the sky.

The next instant, it abruptly froze before its body slumped helplessly. Before its body could even hit the ground, an invisible string tugged at it, and it vanished.

Lin Huang did not even pause, not slowing down for even a fraction as he went right over where the jellyfish monster had just been.

At the same time, a dark red bloody gleam twinkled in the sky, darting into Lin Huang's sleeve.

That was right. Lin Huang had killed this grade-8 virtual god-level abyssal monster with one hit.

He did not even draw his sword, using only a telekinetic flying dagger.

By now, his Telekinesis was as strong as that of a first-rank True God, and he also had the god rule relic-level telekinetic weapon the Club gave him not too long ago. His attack power was strong enough to threaten a first-rank true god-level powerhouse, so what was a mere grade-8 virtual god-level abyssal monster to him?

Perhaps it was because he had entered the depths of the battlefield, but after the jellyfish monster, Lin Huang bumped into five other abyssal hunters over the next three hours. All of them were high-level virtual god-level powerhouses, and there was even one grade-9 virtual god-level.

Nevertheless, Lin Huang killed them all with one hit, with no exceptions.

The combination of his true god-level Telekinesis and the god rule relic-level telekinetic weapon, as well as Lin Huang's decisive attacking style, meant that none of these abyssal monsters could exchange even one blow with him.

Although he did bump into six abyssal monsters in total along the way, Lin Huang never slowed down for even a second throughout the entire time. He still arrived at the entrance to Swordfiend Abyss before sundown.

When he saw the sky over the battlefield turning dark, Lin Huang decided to set up his tent next to the Swordfiend Abyss entrance.

That was right. He wanted to rest.

Although two days of traveling would not affect him too badly, he would still prefer to enter Swordfiend Abyss in his best shape.

That was why he boldly decided to sleep at the Swordfiend Abyss entrance. Before that, he had even planned a nice meal to enjoy. After all, he might not have the time to eat once the trial started.

The compressed tent from the gravel world automatically constructed itself within seconds. Lin Huang spread out a large picnic rug not far from the tent, taking out the food and fire crystal reheater he had prepared beforehand.

At the same time, he summoned Bai.

The moment a black-robed Bai was summoned, he noticed that there were no enemies around, so he looked at Lin Huang in slight confusion.

He was always a man of few words, so he did not ask anything. Nevertheless, his gaze was clearly inquisitive.

Lin Huang took his time putting two hamburgers into the reheater, and he set the timer before sitting down on the picnic rug. Patting the cushion he was sitting on, he smiled at Bai and said, "Have a seat."

Bai did not say anything, sitting down quietly while his eyes explored his surroundings.

When he noticed the bottomless abyss nearby and found that he could not explore Swordfiend Abyss with his telekinesis, he instinctively frowned a little. Although he could not read anything from Swordfiend Abyss, his instincts told him that this was a very dangerous place.

After a moment's silence, he realized that Lin Huang had no intention of explaining, so he finally broke his silence and asked,

"What is this place?"

"That's Swordfiend Abyss down there. I guess you could call it an inheritance land." Lin Huang had been staring at the reheater, but now he finally turned around to smile at Bai. "As for the place we're standing on right now, it's a battlefield for humans and Abyssal Tribes. It's ceasefire for now, though."

"Do you want me to go to the inheritance land with you?" Bai asked.

"No need for that. This is an inheritance land purely for sword cultivators." Lin Huang shook his head. "Stand watch through the night for me. I need to be properly rested.

"Okay." Bai finally understood his job, but after a second, he asked somewhat worriedly, "Why don't you call Killer and those Bug Tribe sword cultivators to go with you?"

"They'll die in there." Lin Huang shook his head.

Bai wanted to ask in detail, but then he heard a "ding" from the heater. Lin Huang hurriedly stood up and took out two sets of hamburgers.

He gave Bai one set before taking another two cups of juice from his space storage and giving one cup to Bai.

This world had burgers and fries but no coke, so he had to replace it with juice.

"Eat it while it's hot. It won't taste good once it's cold." Lin Huang ate the burger he was holding as he took out two sets of fries and put them into the reheater.

It was not Bai's first time eating a burger, but this time his heart was heavy as he ate.

By the time Lin Huang finished everything, Bai was only halfway through his burger.

"This burger doesn't taste as good as the gravel world's, but it's not that bad, is it?" Lin Huang asked with some surprise.

"It's not the burger." Bai shook his head and pointed at the Swordfiend Abyss nearby. "My instincts tell me it's very dangerous down there."

"If it won't work, I'll retreat in time," Lin Huang comforted him with a laugh.

Once Bai was done with his meal, the sky was already completely dark.

Li Huang put away the reheater and looked through the news and forums for a bit. Before nine at night, he stood up and patted Bai on the shoulder, heading toward the tent.

"I'll go to sleep now. I'll be counting on you tonight."

Bai nodded slightly and sat cross-legged on the picnic mat, closing his eyes.

Colorless and formless multipurpose particles rapidly emanated from his body, covering everything within a hundred kilometers of the tent in an instant.

As for Lin Huang, after he closed the tent's entrance, he activated the tent's silent mode and finally lay down, his heart at ease.

Lin Huang slept especially well that night, mostly because Bai was watching over the house.

Bai was a grade-8 virtual god-level fighter, but with his current pseudo-mythical-level power, he was practically unrivaled by anyone weaker than a True God.

If a True God did show up, he would sense it within his territory as well, so he did not have to worry.

Nevertheless, he was not disturbed at all that night.

When he woke up the next morning, it was already almost seven o'clock.

Upon emerging from the tent, Lin Huang saw several dozen abyssal monster corpses piled up nearby.

Clearly Bai was careful enough to chase away the humans who approached as opposed to killing them.

"So many Abyssal Tribes approached us?" Lin Huang was quite surprised.

"It just so happens that abyssal monsters show up quite often here," Bai explained. He did not add that it was partly because his territory was too large.

Every Abyssal Tribe that came within a hundred kilometers of the tent was stabbed right through the heart by the blades made of multipurpose particles.

Most of the monsters that accidentally wandered over here died before they even knew what was happening.

Lin Huang took his own sweet time to pack up his tent and keep the beast corpses into his space storage before he took out breakfast for reheating.

After breakfast was reheated, Lin Huang gave Bai a portion this time as well.

"I slept pretty well last night. Thanks for that!"

Bai accepted breakfast and nodded slightly.

The two chatted idly as they ate breakfast.

It was mostly Lin Huang talking and Bai listening, though.

After breakfast, Lin Huang cleaned the place up for a bit before turning Bai back into a card.

Slowly, Lin Huang walked to the edge of the Swordfiend Abyss entrance and looked downward. He could only see twenty to thirty meters below him, and everything beyond that was covered by a layer of clouds. Not only could he not see through it, even his Telekinesis could not penetrate it. There was no way he could tell how deep this Swordfiend Abyss went.

He mused it over for a while before contacting Xiao Hei with his consciousness.

"Theoretically, I'm only an imperial palace-level. If I use a Substitute Card, a grade-2 card should be good enough, right?"

"That's right. As long as you don't gather your Godhead, your combat level will remain transcendent."

"Then I'll take ten grade-2 Substitute Cards." Lin Huang was unexpectedly careful. "Give me two Position Swap Cards too."

He looked at the twelve new cards in his hands and took out a Cloning Card he had exchanged earlier. Shattering it, he summoned a clone of himself.

"Before I return, wait outside Swordfiend Abyss. Try to keep a low profile and not cause trouble. If I encounter a threat I can't escape, I'll swap positions with you."

The clone nodded and sat down cross-legged at the entrance to Swordfiend Abyss.

Lin Huang arranged it this way because he knew that grade-2 and grade-3 Escape Cards may not be able to escape the restrictive laws of the Great Heaven ruins. He could only escape if he had a grade-5 card.

A Position Swap Card would be a different matter, however. It had nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with the user's combat level. After all, its rule allowed the user to swap positions with his clone.

Even if Lin Huang was trapped in a Lord's cage, the currently imperial palace-level Lin Huang still only needed a grade-2 Position Swap Card to get him out of there. He had nothing to worry about in a mere Heavenly God's ruins.

Besides, the biggest advantage of using the Position Swap Card was the fact that it was instantaneous. The moment he used the card, the swap would immediately be completed.

It was only after Lin Huang planned his escape route that he looked back down at Swordfiend Abyss.

"If Sword11 wasn't lying about Swordfiend Abyss, I should be able to pass the first test with relative ease." Having muttered that to himself, Lin Huang leaped off the cliff and into Swordfiend Abyss.

At almost the exact time. It felt like Lin Huang's flight abilities had been completely sealed away. He was falling freely to the bottom of the abyss.

Lin Huang was not too panicky about it, though. Sword11 once mentioned that even Heavenly Gods couldn't fly here once they jumped in.

His body pierced through the clouds and continued to fall rapidly. Lin Huang felt as though he was actually getting faster and faster.

Unlike when parachuting, his fall met no air resistance whatsoever.

Nevertheless, the entire fall did not last that long. Within two to three minutes, Lin Huang could see the ground.

The second before he landed, his body could finally move again.

With a somersault, he planted his feet steadily on the ground. He did not even leave any footsteps on the floor.

Once he steadied his footing at the bottom of Swordfiend Abyss, Lin Huang immediately looked around him.

That was right. He did not just reach his Telekinesis out to scout around.

Sword11 had specially warned him about that.

Lin Huang swept his gaze around him, but all he could see was a valley. There were cliffs that reached into the clouds on either side, but he could not see the peak.

Soon, Lin Huang's gaze was attracted by several dozen corpses lying around not too far away.

All of the bodies looked perfectly intact, and even their expressions were extremely realistic. Some were shocked, others despairing, and some even looked completely normal, as though they had not noticed a thing.

Some of the corpses even emanated an aura that made Lin Huang wary. They had probably been heavenly god-level powerhouses when they were alive.

Sword11 had emphasized that trying to touch these corpses before passing the trial was nothing short of suicide.

Lin Huang quickly looked away from the corpses and turned his gaze to the cliffs instead.

This phase of the trial could be found on those cliff walls.

Just as Sword11 said, the walls were covered with all sorts of slash marks.

Some were casual and half-hearted, leaving scratches as thin as a hair. Some were several meters deep and very clearly carved. Others had engraved poetry there, elegant and graceful, while yet others used the wall as a canvas for their paintings…

These messy-looking scratches and slashes were actually the scariest part of the entire Swordfiend Abyss.

That was because every mark retained the Sword Dao of a sword cultivator.

Those who left those marks ranged from transcendent to ninth-rank Heavenly Gods. The Sword Daos left here also ranged from the lowest nuance level to the highest Sword Dao true meaning. There was even one as strong as the Sword Dao heavenly rule, equivalent to the god rule rank.

If any powerhouses who were not sword cultivators came here, they would instantly trigger all the Sword Daos on the wall. Remember, there were several ultimate ninth-rank heavenly god-level sword cultivators among those who left their marks here. Even if they were not as powerful as Great Heaven back when they were alive, they were not that far away either.

Even if a full-powered Great Heaven himself came here as a sword cultivator, it was quite likely that he would be injured here too. The other powerhouses in the Great Heaven Territory who did not use swords did not stand a chance.

According to the black market information, the strongest Heavenly God to enter Swordfiend Abyss was just the sixth-rank heavenly god-level sword cultivator, Shang Tian.

Lin Huang could practically imagine that powerhouse being instantly killed by countless Sword Daos as soon as he entered Swordfiend Abyss.

In truth, these Sword Daos were also the reason why the bodies in Swordfiend Abyss must not be touched.

Swordfiend Abyss was actually very kind to sword cultivators.

The Sword Dao latent in the marks would only be activated if they actively triggered them with Divine Telekinesis.

Aside from that, Swordfiend Abyss even gave sword cultivators a series of lessons.

Right now, for example, Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis was not even active yet, but he could already sense which one of the sword marks was emanating the first level of Sword Dao— Nuance…

He briefly cast his senses about, and Lin Huang could already feel that there were quite a few Nuance-level Sword Daos. There had to be more than a thousand of them in total.

Lin Huang did not underestimate them in the slightest, though. He knew that any sword marks the ridiculous genius Great Heaven approved of and left as part of his inheritance trial would surely be the product of no ordinary sword cultivator.

According to what Sword11 said earlier, if anyone touched these marks with their Telekinesis, their consciousness would be dragged in by the marks. After that, they would be forced into the sword mark space, where they had to participate in a battle of minds against the Sword Daos in the marks.

If the sword marks contained Sword Dao of the first level, Nuance, you would also only be allowed to use Nuance-level Sword Dao in the sword mark space.

It was only after you defeated all the Nuance-level Sword Daos in the sword marks that he would be able to sense the level-2 Consonance Sword Daos. Similarly, only by defeating all the consonance-level Sword Daos in the sword marks would you be able to sense the third, Illumination-level Sword Daos, and so on.

Of course, you could also choose to follow the trial rules and ignore the hints that you sensed, sending your Telekinesis to any one of the other unemphasized sword marks. If you accidentally triggered a mark with Sword Dao true meaning or heavenly rule, though, an instant death was not impossible.

Since Sword11 had told him the general gist of it, Lin Huang naturally played the game according to the rules.

He swept his eyes across the sword marks he could sense, and soon Lin Huang decided on his target for this first test.

It was a barely-legible sword mark, as thin as a hair.

"This one looks quite weak, so let's try it out and see how tough it is."

Although Lin Huang's Sword Dao was now at the level-6, Deity, he had no intention of underestimating this level-1 Sword Dao test. After all, he was stuck at level-1 for the test too, and he did not know anything about the type of Sword Dao in the mark either.

After he chose his target for the first test, Lin Huang quickly reached his Telekinesis out and touched that hairline sword mark.

The next instant, Lin Huang felt his consciousness sway. When he recovered, he already found himself in a thick forest.

He hurriedly checked the strength of his consciousness projection. Not only was his Sword Dao forced back to level-1 Nuance, even his combat level had been forced back to the first stage of the holy fire-level— white flame-level. Not only that, he could not sense all of the techniques, secret skills, divine abilities, and divine techniques that were unrelated to Sword Dao anymore either.

At the same time, Lin Huang noticed that he was now holding a silver-colored narrow blade, a long sword that was merely a grade-3 relic.

Once he was certain about his current condition, he suddenly received a message in his mind, telling him about the trial's general rules.

He immediately understood. His Sword Dao and combat level had been forced down to match his opponent's standards, and the long sword relic was also automatically created according to his opponent's weapon level and commonly-used weapon. Even the backdrop of the trial was suitable for the owner of the Sword Dao in the mark.

There was only one way to pass this trial, and that was to kill the opponent who manifested in this space.

If the participant was killed by their opponent in this space, their consciousness would crumble and die. There would be a new corpse in Swordfiend Abyss.

If the participant felt like they really could not win, though, they could choose to admit defeat and give up on the test. Of course, that was if they managed to shout, "I admit defeat" first. Once they gave up, the participant would lose the right to proceed with the remaining tests, and they would be teleported out of Swordfiend Abyss.

That was probably how Sword11 managed to survive.

Lin Huang spent a few seconds digesting the rules, and then a figure finally formed slowly about ten meters away from him.

Lin Huang stared at it. It was a petite woman in black with short black hair that reached her ears. Her weapon was a graceful narrow shortsword that did not look even 30cm long.

With just a glance, Lin Huang could tell that this was a speed- or agility-type sword cultivator.

While Lin Huang was observing his opponent, the girl in black was looking at him as well.

Neither of them moved because there was a 5-second protection period before the match began.

5, 4, 3… 1.

As soon as the five-second countdown ended, Lin Huang held his sword up, but before he could even dash forward, the girl in black had already turned and ran, vanishing into the trees with a few leaps.

"Huh?" Lin Huang was confused. "Shouldn't she attack me head-on? This goes too?"

Still, he immediately understood that his opponent's approach was within the rules.

He could not use his Telekinesis, but Lin Huang still had his Sword Territory. That had something to do with Sword Dao, so it was not prohibited.

Nevertheless, the Territory's reach and power were drastically reduced, and now it only had a radius of 1,000 meters.

That was still more than enough for this battle.

Since his opponent was nowhere to be seen, Lin Huang had no choice but to keep his Sword Dao Territory open. He did not have the time to waste on a game of hide-and-seek.

As soon as his Sword Dao Territory was activated, he quickly sensed where that woman was hiding.

She did not go too far. Right now, she was hiding behind the trunk of a large tree in the direction she had earlier run to. She was only fifty or sixty meters away, and was currently watching Lin Huang's every move.

Lin Huang's lips curved slightly and he did not approach her without thinking. Instead, he leaped up and stood on the branch she had been standing on earlier, pretending to be looking for her.

Once he set foot on that branch, however, he felt a sudden sense of danger.

A colorless blade appeared out of nowhere, without any warning whatsoever, slicing right toward Lin Huang's face like a string.

Lin Huang abruptly swung his sword, and the dark red sword gleam instantly tore that blade to shreds.

The opponent's attack was not too strong, but it was very stealthy, and it nearly caught Lin Huang unawares.

Behind the tree, the woman looked a little disappointed that her first attack did not land. At the same time, she did not seem too surprised either. She remained on the same spot and did not move, as though waiting patiently for something.

"A string?" Lin Huang narrowed his eyes slightly. "No, this trial doesn't allow anything but swords… That was a sword gleam!

"Was that string the delayed activation of a sword gleam? That's some impressive sword technique. In other words, she set up several sword gleams I can't see in this distance spanning tens of meters. If I'm not mistaken, she should have a Sword Territory too. If I get within the attacking range of a sword gleam, her Sword Territory would instantly activate the sword gleams to attack me.

"Before she activates them, the sword gleams she sets up are colorless and formless, so I can't destroy them in advance either…" Lin Huang quickly thought of ways to handle this. "Still, for sword skills like this, the sword gleams won't be activated without a certain condition. There has to be an energy point or something that she used to store the energy for these sword gleams. She has to activate that energy point in order to achieve that instantaneous trigger.

"I can't use my Telekinesis to scout around right now, so I can't see the energy point she set up…" Lin Huang soon came up with a solution. "But I don't have to see it. Since it's an easily-triggered energy point, it must be very unstable. I just have to detonate the energy point she set up in advance, and her trick will be all but foiled.

"It doesn't matter how subtly and randomly she hid her energy point. I can destroy it with just one slash!"

A ruthless light shone in Lin Huang's eyes, and his Sword Dao erupted throughout his entire body.

The long silver blade he held began to glow with a blinding red light as he activated his Life Power.

Within seconds, the long sword in his hand seemed to turn into a red sun.

"Is that guy going big from the very beginning?!" The woman in black began to rapidly retreat without hesitation, running desperately away from Lin Huang. She knew that it would be all over for her if she was struck by this move.

When he sensed the woman in black's movements, the corners of Lin Huang's lips curved slightly, and his right hand suddenly swung his sword in the direction the woman was fleeing toward.

With that single swing, a red impact wave poured forth from the blade, drowning his opponent like a tsunami. It cleaved a deep fire-red trench through the forest.

"The participant has passed the first stage, Nuance!"

When he saw that pop-up before his eyes, Lin Huang knew that he had successfully killed his opponent.

One or two seconds after the pop-up, Lin Huang's consciousness returned to his body.

He had just undergone an intense battle in the sword mark space, but it was actually only a clash of minds. The actual passage of time was completely unlike what he seemed to experience; less than a second had passed in the actual world.

After completing the first match, Lin Huang was in no hurry to choose his second target. Instead, he summarized his experience from the first match.

"As I expected, be it in terms of their Sword Dao or sword skills, my opponents in the sword marks are all the best of their peers. At the very least, they're as strong as four-star geniuses, and they're as talented as the average Protoss.

"The depth of the sword mark should have nothing to do with the opponent's power. It might only be due to the nature of their Sword Dao and their personalities.

"Still, I could clear the first round by bulldozing through my opponent's skills. That means that these trials don't have any battle completion requirements. It doesn't matter what I do as long as I win. I don't have to tailor my solution to my opponent's individual styles.

"Nevertheless, it'll be harder to bulldoze through my opponents as I go on. After all, my Sword Dao and combat level have been forcefully suppressed to match theirs, so we're competing in terms of our Sword Dao mastery, combat experience, and combat mindsets.

"In the battles to follow, it would be best if I could find a solution to every one of my opponents' skills. That's also a way to accumulate combat experience and train my combat thought processes. After all, it's a battle in the consciousness, so even if it takes me a fortnight to win, only an instant would've passed in the world outside. I won't waste any time."

After he sorted everything out, Lin Huang raised his eyes to look at the marks on the wall.

The hairline mark he had passed earlier no longer emanated any hints of a Sword Dao.

He quickly settled on his second target.

It was an extremely deep mark, as though someone had stabbed their sword tip right into the wall. It was at least twenty to thirty centimeters deep.

After he touched it with his Telekinesis, Lin Huang's consciousness was once more pulled into the sword mark space.

This time, Lin Huang's opponent was a man with an extremely sharp aura, as though he was himself an unsheathed sword.

This man attacked with his sword extremely quickly, and he was very good at stabbing too.

This battle lasted for more than half an hour in the sword mark space before Lin Huang managed to kill him.

It was not that the opponent was strong enough to match Lin Huang for half an hour. Lin Huang simply figured that he had quite a few stabbing sword moves too, so he spent most of the battle secretly learning his opponent's Sword Dao techniques.

At the end of the battle, Lin Huang did indeed learn quite a lot. After all, the opponent specialized in this.

That was Lin Huang did in every subsequent match with a Sword Dao that intrigued him. He let his opponent use their sword skills and Sword Dao to the extreme, picking up the bits that suited him.

Thankfully, every time Lin Huang's consciousness returned to his body after every battle, the weariness he felt in his mind would instantly vanish.

This was probably also a special effect that Swordfiend Abyss provided for the participants.

After every match, Lin Huang did not really need to rest for too long, but he still closed his eyes to recover for a while, digesting everything he had learned from the earlier battle before jumping into the next one.

That was why he spent almost four hours to complete the thousand-odd Nuance-level matches.

When he completed the last Nuance trial, Lin Huang vaguely felt as though his Sword Dao had increased just a sliver after a long plateau.

Although the change was extremely minute, it had to be noted that his Sword Dao was at level-6 now. Even an increase that small did not come easy.

He spent another half an hour to close his eyes and digest all he had learned over those thousand-odd fights. Finally, Lin Huang opened his eyes and looked at the level-2 Consonance sword marks.

He swept his gaze across the walls. There were slightly fewer Consonance sword marks than there had been Nuance ones, numbering up to slightly over eight hundred.

Lin Huang randomly chose one and reached his Telekinesis toward it.

The next instant, his consciousness was pulled into the sword mark space once more.

Unlike previously, Lin Huang could feel that suppressed Sword Dao had been unsealed somewhat, but only to the extent of a complete-stage level-2 Consonance cultivator.

Some of the sword skills he could not use during the Nuance level had also been unlocked after his Sword Dao level increased.

Lin Huang could even clearly feel that his sword skills' potency had increased accordingly as well.

With the experience from more than a thousand Nuance-level battles earlier, Lin Huang felt even more comfortable now with the new round of matches.

Just as before, he chose the same slow and steady approach. Whenever he encountered a sword skill that piqued his interest, he would allow his opponent to flaunt all their skills before killing them.

The eight hundred matches there took Lin Huang another three and a half hours.

Actually, the battles did not take him too much time. He spent more time trying to digest the battles afterward.

Nevertheless, the time he spent was worth it.

Upon completing the Consonance trials, Lin Huang could clearly feel his Sword Dao improving again.

For the next stage, level-3 Illumination, there were only slightly over six hundred marks.

For level-4 Oblivion, there were only slightly over four hundred marks.

For level-5 Void Breaker, there were only two hundred and eighty marks.

As the levels increased, it was clear that Great Heaven's criteria grew stricter.

By the time he reached level-5, every one of Lin Huang's battles took over three hours. Some even took more than six hours. On one hand, his opponents grew stronger, but on the other hand, they showed more skills as well, so the battles became even more beneficial to Lin Huang.

Thankfully, it did not matter how long he spent in the sword mark spaces. That had no effect on the passage of time outside.

However, Lin Huang spent more time digesting his post-battle thoughts as well.

The level-5 fights had taken him two days and two nights to digest it all.

After the two days' digestion, Lin Huang could clearly feel his level-6 Sword Dao approaching the final complete stage.

"I'm so close to being a complete-stage Deity!" Lin Huang looked at the remaining sword marks on the wall, his eyes shining. There were a hundred and twenty-one marks there emanating the level-6 aura. "Mu Sword Dao will probably reach the complete stage before I complete the level-6 trials."

Lin Huang was growing ever more ecstatic. He had even temporarily forgotten all about his final aim upon completing these trials, losing himself in the process of the trials themselves.

He looked around at the hundred and twenty-one sword marks, and soon Lin Huang settled on one of them.

It was a line from a poem that said, "This gold-engraved sword in a hilt of jade shall, through the curtains, the night illuminate." (TN: from a patriotic poem by Southern Song poet, Lu You.)

"Interesting. You'll be first, then."

Lin Huang grinned and reached his Telekinesis toward it.

When his body was formed inside the sword mark space, Lin Huang finally felt free of the oppression he suffered earlier.

His Sword Dao was completely unleashed now, and all his sword skills and Sword Dao methods were completely unlocked. Even his combat level was back to the grade-9 imperial-level.

Just as Lin Huang was wondering what kind of an opponent he would face, a pop-up suddenly appeared before him.

"The participant's cultivation route is unique. Despite your being only imperial-level at the moment, the Divine Power in your body is almost equal to that of a destiny-level rank-9 (rank-9 virtual god level). Hence, all the Sword Dao users will have their combat powers adjusted to destiny-level rank-9.

"Alright…" Lin Huang did not have any objections to that.

If the opponent was an imperial palace-level like he was, he would probably kill them all with one slash. It would be even easier than the level-5 fights earlier.

Before this, his power had been restricted to match his opponents', but now it was finally time for the others to stoop to his level instead.

The level-6 Sword Dao Deity was completely unlike the first five levels. There was a huge barrier between them.

Level-6 Sword Dao would only increase evidently when he mastered mythical-level sword skills. Even pseudo-mythical-level sword skills had a limited effect on his improvement.

That was why very few sword cultivators below virtual god-level could reach level-6. Those who were below virtual god-level did not have Divine Power in their bodies, so they could not cultivate mythical-level sword skills.

Of course, that did not mean that it was impossible for sword cultivators below virtual god-level to increase their Sword Dao to level-6. There were powerhouses who mastered enough sword skills below mythical level, after which they grinded a little and slowly broke past the limits of level-5 Sword Dao.

Nevertheless, this method was not possible without mastering almost ten thousand different sword skills.

That went far beyond merely learning the skills. They had to merge them completely and digest these sword skills inside out, until their mastery was so complete that there was nothing else to be done.

That was why there were very few sword cultivators below virtual god level who managed to reach level-6. Even once they reached level-6, it would be nearly impossible for them to improve even further.

Lin Huang had a cheat code on his side, so he could already use Divine Power at imperial palace level. He had also mastered more than ten mythical-level sword skills and several hundred pseudo-mythical-level sword skills.

By now, he had also experienced several thousand battles between sword cultivators in Swordfiend Abyss, and only then did he approach the complete stage of level-6 Sword Dao.

Any other imperial palace-level would not even dream of learning mythical-level sword skills. Even buying a pseudo-mythical-level sword skill that did not require Divine Power to use would probably cost them far more than they could afford.

When he saw his opponent's body slowly forming, Lin Huang began to observe him.

He was well built and wore a grey robe, looking somewhat like the ancient Chinese people back on Earth. The material of his clothes looked average, so he did not seem wealthy. However, the sword hanging from his waist looked quite valuable indeed.

It was a broad-bladed sword with a hilt that looked like it was made of pure gold carved into beautiful patterns. The sheath was golden-red, and it looked like it was made of high-quality wood as well. There were several dozen pieces of flawless jade stones, each as large as a thumb, dotting the hilt.

"What a fine gold-engraved sword."

The sword he was holding qualified as an expert-grade god relic.

Similarly, the sword that appeared in Lin Huang's hand was of equal quality.

The broad-bladed sword was suitable for slashing, so the opponent should be especially good at slashing. The Sword Dao he emanated had a sharpness to it that proved it. His physical stature implied that he had strength as well, so he would not be bad at close-range fighting…

With just one glance, Lin Huang had a rough idea of what his opponent was like.

While Lin Huang was considering him, the well-built man opposite him was watching him as well.

"Your sword is very strong, but strength doesn't decide the victor. We'll only know after we battle."

They were both level-6 Sword Dao fighters, so the well-built man could clearly sense that Lin Huang was almost at the complete stage.

It was true that he was not as strong in terms of purely their Sword Dao, but there was no fear at all in his expression. Instead, his will to fight seemed even stronger now.

Lin Huang highly approved of the well-built man's words.

If there was not a decisive difference in power between the two sides in this battle, it would actually be quite difficult to determine the eventual winner. It was not impossible for the weak to triumph over the strong, not at all.

Seeing the opponent's rising will to fight, Lin Huang did not underestimate him in the slightest.

He could not use anything other than Sword Dao in this sword mark space, and he was facing a Sword Dao level-6 powerhouse, just like himself. He did not have any absolute advantages here. If he was not careful, he could really lose.

After the five-second preparation phase was over, the two bodies standing ten meters away shot out like lightning at almost exactly the same time. The blood-red sword and golden blade clashed together in an instant.

The instant the gold and red Divine Powers clashed, there was a burst of light that exploded into the sky.

It looked like a golden-red sun that rose in the void.

The clash of Divine Power created an energy that rippled in all directions like waves. Wherever they went, everything the waves touched was reduced to dust.

It was a clash in mid-air, but a deep and enormous crater several dozen kilometers in diameter appeared in the ground, as though a meteor had crashed there.

The high heat generated by the energy clash even pushed the ground to its boiling point. The crater was dark red inside, and all the sand had melted into a crystal that resembled charcoal. The heat contained within could be evidently felt from miles away.

In the air, the clash between swords lasted for only an instant.

A grey figure was sent flying back, crashing into the distant ground in a streak of golden light.

Lin Huang was still stronger overall. After all, he had a terrifying body that was almost as strong as a Tyrant's. In a frontal clash, even the well-built man who was good at close-range combat did not find himself at an advantage.

After a moment, the well-built man crawled out of the crater and spat out two mouthfuls of sand. He shook his right hand, which had nearly shattered, and raised his head to give Lin Huang a smile as he said, "And I thought that I was one of the physically strongest amongst sword cultivators, so a frontal close-range attack would give me an advantage. But it turns out your body is actually monstrously strong."

Lin Huang grinned. "You're no match for me in close-range combat, so why don't you show me your strongest specialty?"

After all, back when Lin Huang obtained the Tyrant Monster Card, he had also received its Robust skill. By now, the Tyrant's Robust skill had been enhanced countless times, and Lin Huang's skill had also been enhanced more times than he could count.

If he put aside the Tyrant's physical multiplier via its other skills and divine ability, Lin Huang was actually the same level as the Tyrant.

There was also the fact that Lin Huang had the Divine Power and Seraphic Speed talents, so he was exceptionally strong and fast as well. It was only natural that he was terrifying at close-range combat.

Before the level-6 stage, the sword mark space considered the fairness of the battles and suppressed Lin Huang's combat level and physical attributes completely. All of his passive buff-type skills were forbidden, so his body, strength, and speed were actually maintained at the same level as his opponents'.

After the level-6 stage was unlocked, however, his opponents' combat level had been adjusted to rank-9 virtual god-level, so all of his own boosting abilities were activated as well. The chains that had been binding Lin Huang were finally undone.

Now, only the active skills aside from Sword Dao techniques were forbidden. Lin Huang's attributes, like his physicality, strength, and speed, were all completely unleashed now. The only things that remained unavailable to him were skills such as his Seraphic Speed space flickering and his Superhuman Strength explosion.

Putting aside his Telekinesis and summoning powers, he was almost at full strength now.

The well-built man was only testing the waters earlier, and now he knew that he did not stand a chance in close-range combat. Hence, he decisively chose to give up on close-range combat.

"In that case, I'll get serious now. My biggest specialty is slashing, so it doesn't matter how strong your body is. As long as you aren't as immovable as god rule powerhouses, there's a chance I'll cleave you in half. "

"Bring it on. I wanna see just how strong your slashes can be!"

Lin Huang gripped the long sword in his hand and grew ever more serious.

The well-built man swung his sword, and a crescent-shaped golden light sprayed out of the blade, slashing toward Lin Huang.

That sword gleam was unbelievably fast, reaching Lin Huang in almost an instant.

"That's so fast!"

Lin Huang's pupils dilated somewhat. With just one slash, his opponent proved that he could walk the talk.

However, Lin Huang was not slow to react either. He held his sword and leaped up, swinging it once as well and slashing forth a blood-colored sword gleam.

Just as the golden crescent was about to slash Lin Huang's body, the blood-red sword gleam surged forth.

The golden and red crescents crashed into each other.

After a loud crash, the two crescents fell apart at almost the same time.

Lin Huang's body was sent flying several dozen meters as well.

As soon as he moved, however, almost a hundred golden crescents came raining down toward him violently.

Some of these slashes were fast while others were slow. Some came straight at him while others curved and flew at Lin Huang from different angles, surrounding him completely.

"You're not too bad!"

Lin Huang was quite pleasantly surprised, his eyes shining even brighter when he saw what his opponent could do.

He swung his long blade again and again, and suddenly it looked like his sword had split into countless shadows, flying toward the golden slashes.

Each shadow easily destroyed one of the slashing sword gleams.

When he saw what Lin Huang was doing, the well-built man was not surprised in the slightest. He held the battle sword with both his hands, staring unblinkingly at the direction Lin Huang was in.

The moment Lin Huang destroyed the final sword gleam, his body instantly disappeared from the spot.

In the air, there was a gigantic golden sword gleam that slowly approached Lin Huang's direction like the coastal line.

Lin Huang could clearly feel that this move had locked onto him. No matter how he tried to dodge, that sword gleam would come right at him and slash him in half at the waist.

The opponent had clearly used his strongest move.

Since he could not evade it, Lin Huang could not be bothered to try.

His wrist twisted abruptly and he bent his arm, holding his sword. When the horizontal sword gleam arrived before him, he finally thrust his sword forth.

The blood-colored sword tip gathered a little red light from the sky and crashed into the golden string.

The next instant, the tidal wave of golden strings simply snapped and fell apart.

At the same time, at the exact spot Lin Huang had pierced with the tip of his sword, a grey figure was forced out and sent flying with the force of that stab.

"Your slash is very powerful. You've almost completely merged with your blade to unleash the ultimate slash, but the largest flaw of this slash is your own body. I just need to attack you, and your slash will amount to nothing."

Lin Huang watched as his opponent crashed into the ground. Instead of giving chase, he simply looked in the direction of the well-built man's fall from way up high.

"Your slash is most advantageous as a mid-close-range attack, and not for fighting at close range. Otherwise, your slash would not be worth it. Don't try to pit your weakness against my strength. You'll only lose horribly like that."

Thousands and millions of crescent-shaped golden sword gleams attacked from multiple angles and speeds within the void. They assailed Lin Huang menacingly like a storm blown towards him by a raging wind.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of Lin Huang's shadow copies appeared. The long sword in his hand, flashing with the glint of thousands and millions of shadow blades, attacked each crescent-shaped golden sword gleam. Not a single one was left out.

He had not used an avatar skill; the sword mark space did not allow him to use any skills other than Sword Dao. He had relied on extreme agility in speed and a swift blade to create this terrifying effect of shadow copies.

There was a bitter taste in the strong man's mouth as he watched each and every one of his numerous sword gleams being effortlessly countered by Lin Huang.

He knew he had lost.

This battle had been going on for more than ten hours. He had used almost all of his tactics; even the Ten Thousand Blades, the strongest of his techniques, had been utilized many times. He had managed to hurt Lin Huang the first time, but after that, his subsequent attacks barely brushed even the hem of his opponent's garments.

Lin Huang hardly bothered to dodge the attacks. Instead, he swung his sword over and over to eliminate all the assaults directed at him.

"It's been fun battling with you!"

The golden sword gleams disappeared and Lin Huang stood tall and proud in the void. "I'll repay the favor with the sword technique I just acquired."

Lin Huang swung his sword forcefully with his right hand as he spoke.

The next moment, thousands of sword gleams blossomed from the swing, like a sudden explosion of brightly-colored fireworks.

Each sword gleam followed a different path at different speeds, all in myriad different forms.

Some rained down like meteor showers, some were like flashes of electricity, some were magnificent arcs of light, while some were just like monstrous waves…

Every sword gleam had a different form and substance, but they were obviously a level up from the single cut of Ten Thousand Blades which the strong man had demonstrated.

The strong man's eyes gleamed with fascination as he watched.

"Can one really be at this level before attaining Sword Dao true meaning…"

The next moment, those thousands of sword gleams swept toward the strong man at varying speeds and angles, engulfing him completely.

"You've gone the wrong way on your Sword Dao journey. Slashes should be about quality, not quantity. You produced millions of sword gleams, but none of them was equal in power to my one hundred sword gleams."

Lin Huang said this slowly while watching the strong man vanish into the sword gleams. There was no knowing if his opponent had even heard them.

"The participant has passed the first Deity checkpoint!"

His consciousness returned from the sword mark space. Barely a second had passed in the Swordfiend Abyss, but Lin Huang had used around half an hour to completely absorb what he had obtained from this battle.

When he opened his eyes, Lin Huang could feel the Sword Dao in him level up, albeit very faintly.

"As expected, the upgrade from a Level-6 opponent can't compare with the previous one—just one battle and I could feel my Sword Dao level up. Based on this estimation, my Sword Dao will be able to fully attain Level-6 after twenty to thirty battles."

After absorbing all that he had gotten from the first battle, Lin Huang lifted his head once more to look at the remaining 120 sword marks. He quickly chose one of the marks and reached out to it with his Divine Telekinesis.

Lin Huang's second opponent was a strong, vicious sword cultivator proficient in melee attacks. He was also a naturally physically dominant Protoss. Even in human form, he was more than three meters tall.

Most Protoss like him would normally choose to cultivate combat skills, but this fellow had chosen to cultivate sword skills instead. Given his dominant physique, battling him would be like fighting a demon.

It took Lin Huang nearly 15 hours to finally slaughter this opponent as the Protoss' physical abilities were equal to his own.

After this battle, Lin Huang spent another half an hour to absorb what he had gained—some melee tactics that were previously unknown to him.

Practically none of his subsequent battles were easily won.

Almost every match lasted more than ten hours, with a few that went on for more than twenty hours even.

Before attaining Level-6, Lin Huang had purposely allowed his opponents to show off their skills first. Once he had attained Level-6 however, Lin Huang's opponents were powerful enough to go up against him for more than 10 hours, and it was no longer a case of him purposely buying time by allowing his opponents to flaunt their abilities. He even faced some opponents whose Sword Dao was equal to his own. If he did not strategize his fights, it would have been difficult for him to slay his enemies.

As each battle came and went, Lin Huang learned many Sword Dao techniques that were useful in combat. His Sword Dao was in a continuous state of advancement as well.

After his 23rd battle, Lin Huang's Sword Dao finally fully attained Level-6. At this point, his Sword Dao was already at its limits. If he continued to break through, he would attain Sword Dao true meaning.

When he sensed that his Sword Dao had reached its fullness, Lin Huang closed his eyes and sat where he was. He used more than three hours to connect to the Sword Dao's ultimate level before getting up to start the next battle.

Lin Huang was more at ease in his subsequent battles, although each match within the sword mark space still took him no less than ten hours.

Even though his Sword Dao had achieved fullness at all levels, he still took the time to assimilate and absorb everything obtained from his battles. He had also taken the opportunity to bring out the pseudo-mythical-level and mythical level sword techniques that he had not been able to properly cultivate or practice, and use them in combat.

He kept to his usual habit after each battle, closing his eyes to absorb whatever he obtained.

Even though he had achieved completion in his Sword Dao, Lin Huang could vaguely sense that it had not yet reached a bottleneck in advancement. It was just leveling up gradually in an undetectable manner.

Lin Huang spent about three and a half days to complete all 121 matches within Level-6.

The actual battles within the sword mark space took next to no time to complete. The three and a half days were mainly used to absorb his gains.

At the completion of the last match, a push notification finally appeared in the Swordfiend Abyss.

"The participant has passed Deity levels!"

"Congratulations, you have passed the first stage of the Great Heaven inheritance trials!"

Lin Huang was a little startled at the second notification.

Firstly, this was because the Swordfiend Abyss really had turned out to be the first stage of the Great Heaven inheritance.

Second, he had actually passed the stage without attaining enlightenment in Sword Dao true meaning.

After some careful consideration, he could roughly make a guess at the situation. The standard for passing each stage must have something do with the cultivator's battle grade. He was, after all, only imperial-level. It was almost unheard of for someone of imperial-level to actually achieve Level-6 Sword Dao. However, he had successfully passed all levels within Level-6 despite being imperial-level; small wonder that he had obtained approval from Great Heaven.

The push notification in the Swordfiend Abyss only paused for a moment before more information began scrolling past.

"You may choose to stay within the Swordfiend Abyss to advance to the next checkpoint and take part in the trials for the different levels of Sword Dao true meaning. You may also choose to directly advance to the second stage of the Great Heaven inheritance trials."

"As the participant has passed all the trials of the Swordfiend Abyss, you will gain death immunity if you choose to take part in the trials for the different levels of Sword Dao true meaning. If you are killed within the sword mark space, your consciousness will not die but will be returned to your physical body immediately. After you are killed, you will not be allowed to enter the sword mark space a second time."

"Note: From now on, the participant is only allowed to stay in the Swordfiend Abyss for a maximum of three days. Once the three days are up, you will be immediately sent to the second stage of the Great Heaven inheritance."

"Please make your choice. 1. Directly enter the second stage of the Great Heaven inheritance. 2. Stay in the Swordfiend Abyss."

"If no selection has been made within 10 seconds, the selection will default to No.1."

"10, 9, 8…"

The push notification started a countdown. Lin Huang thought quickly and made a swift decision—he would stay in the Swordfiend Abyss.

"Since I have death immunity, why not take the opportunity to find out just how powerful Sword Dao true meaning is?!"

Lin Huang looked up at the side of the cliff and realized he could now sense the first level of Sword Dao true meaning.

Lin Huang could vaguely sense indistinct threats from every one of the sword marks, so different each from the other. Almost every mark emanated an impression that it might be fatal to him.

There were a total of 368 of these sword marks, many more than the Sword Dao within Level-6.

"Is this just the first level of Sword Dao? Nearly every sword mark is emanating death threats."

There were three levels of Martial Dao true meaning, the same as Sword Dao, Blade Dao, and Spear Dao.

The first level: True Martial Level.

Sword Dao true meaning that attained True Martial Level meant that one's Sword Dao technique had achieved an extreme breakthrough. Every sword stroke would be equivalent to the True God's God rule.

The second level: True Meaning Level.

The sword force produced by peak Sword Dao true meaning would be almost unstoppable when the wielder faced cultivators at a lower level of Martial Dao true meaning. Within attack range, it would seem as if the sword were everywhere at once. The magnitude of this was equivalent to the descent of a True God's God Territory; the effect could be doubled if it were unleashed within the True God's God Territory.

The third level: True Self Level.

Only when one's skills, concept, and self were unified would Martial Dao true meaning be fully complete. At this level, Martial Dao true meaning would evolve into Martial Dao true self. In theory, the Martial Dao true self would be immune to most attacks. Only those at the same level of Rule Bending Power or those who had achieved Martial Dao true meaning would be able to hurt those who had achieved Martial Dao true self (any Rule Bending Power below the power of ninth-rank True God would basically be free from harm).

If this were a normal battle, Lin Huang would never even consider touching those sword marks once he sensed the threat coming from them.

However, now that he had death immunity, his consciousness would not be scattered within the sword mark space but would be returned immediately to his physical body. This gave Lin Huang the perfect opportunity, as he had always wanted to explore Sword Dao true meaning.

This was not just a simple opportunity for observation but actual combat, which meant he could directly experience how powerful Sword Dao true meaning could be. There was no way Lin Huang wanted to miss out on this.

His gaze swept the surroundings. He could sense faint emanations from the sword marks. It took Lin Huang quite a while to finally settle on the sword mark he felt was least dangerous. This sword mark had actually been emanating deathly threats all this while, but it was just weaker compared to the others. After making his choice, Lin Huang contacted it with his Divine Telekinesis.

The very next moment, he found himself yet again within the sword mark space.

This time, the background was a green field.

Before his opponent materialized, a Swordfiend Abyss push notification popped up.

"As the participant has already passed the official trial, this round of True Martial Level will not be considered part of the official trial. As the participant has a lower Combat Strength, all battle tactics within normal rules are permissible in order for this trial to be fair. For this round of the checkpoint, all Sword Dao Combat Strength will be decreased to the Nine Rotation destiny-level (Nine Rotation Virtual God-level), and only Sword Dao technique is allowed."

Lin Huang could clearly feel parts of his body unseal the moment this push notification appeared. He sent his consciousness deep within him and realized that not only could he use his Sword Dao techniques, but also all his Monster Skills, Secret Skills, divine abilities, and divine skills. Even his telekinetic power was unsealed.

Aside from being unable to use any of his cards, Lin Huang's ability was released 100%.

Lin Huang also noticed that the sword in his hand had turned into a god battle sword relic. There were even god telekinetic weapon relics hidden in his sleeves.

"Once the participant is slain in this unofficial trial, his consciousness will return to his physical body and the participant will not be able to re-enter the sword mark space he has challenged."

Following the second appearance of the push notification, his opponent's body slowly began to materialize nearby.

Lin Huang immediately began observing his opponent.

It was a girl in green, petite and very skinny. She looked extremely delicate and fragile.

This was Lin Huang's first impression of her; he even doubted whether or not she was a sword cultivator.

However, as her form materialized completely, her Sword Dao manifested itself. Lin Huang could finally sense Sword Dao true meaning emanating from her.

The impression Lin Huang got was that his Sword Dao was nothing but a flowing river facing a vast, unfathomably deep ocean.

The girl in green soon turned her attention to Lin Huang. After a moment of eyeing him up and down, she could not help raising an eyebrow.

"You haven't even attained True Martial Level, and you want to challenge me?"

Lin Huang changed tactics and initiated an attack once the five-second safeguard was up.

His form split into hundreds of scattered shadows and charged at the girl in green from different angles.

A corner of the girl's lips curled up, as if in disdain. Only when Lin Huang's hundreds of scattered shadows reached her did she finally draw her sword. All she did was press her thumb against the hilt of her sword; a green light flashed and dissipated. She only drew out a tenth of her sword before returning it to its sheath.

A circle of green sword gleam glimmered in the space like a water ripple and suddenly spread out in all directions. Lin Huang's true form and his hundreds of scattered shadows were suddenly slowed down.

Before he knew it, each shadow quickly disintegrated and a bloody slash appeared on the neck of Lin Huang's true form.

It was as if Lin Huang could see the dark surface of a lake. A green droplet fell onto the lake's surface and the circle of green ripples slowly spread across it under the moonlight. At the same time, he felt a chilling sensation from his neck, and the next thing he knew, his consciousness had fallen into darkness.

The next second, Lin Huang's consciousness had returned to his physical body within the Swordfiend Abyss.

"Can't you even handle one swing from a sword?!"

Recalling the girl in green's attack, Lin Huang suddenly realized he could not even figure out one sword swing, no, make that one-tenth of her sword swing.

The girl was too fast. The circle of sword gleam might have looked like it was gradually spreading out, but in fact, it was happening at blinding speed.

In fact, Lin Huang had not managed to catch a glimpse of his opponent's sword swing nor the spreading of the sword gleam. It was just his Sword Dao sensing this picture, and that was all.

His body did not react fast enough and he was unable to avoid or deflect the attack. He did not even have the opportunity to face off against his opponent. He could only stand there helpless as he was killed.

"Is this really Sword Dao true meaning?! This is just the first level of the Sword Dao true meaning!" Lin Huang found the experience daunting with the mere memory of that swing of the sword.

He closed his eyes and went into deep thought for quite a while. Still, Lin Huang could not figure out any method of blocking that sword swing.

As far as the speed of his sword swing and his movements went, he was merely a slow-crawling snail in his opponent's eyes.

What Lin Huang did not know was that this first opponent he had faced was a wind attribute sword cultivator with exceptional sword speed.

He closed his eyes and ruminated for another ten minutes, but he still could not figure out any way to break down her method. For now, he was forced to let it lie temporarily, and he turned once again toward the wall of the cliff.

His gaze swept across the wall. The sword mark he had previously chosen no longer emanated any signals. He could only sense 367 sword marks, compared to the previous 368.

"I only have three days here. If I want to explore all the Sword Dao within True Martial level, I would only have less than 12 minutes for each battle to reference and observe. I won't be able to crack any of the sword fighting methods in such a short time and it won't help my Sword Dao to achieve any upgrades. I can't waste any time. I need to focus my observations on a battle that would really help me level up my Sword Dao!"

After spending some time doing a bit of simple planning, Lin Huang quickly chose his second sword mark and used his Divine Telekinesis to make the connection.

Lin Huang's opponent in the second sword mark space was a man with a cold look on his face.

This man had noticed that Lin Huang was nowhere near approaching the level of Sword Dao true meaning. When the five-second safeguard was up, the man did not even bother to draw his sword. All he did was raise his sheathed weapon expressionlessly and step back slightly within the space.

Lin Huang thought he saw a snow-white sword gleam flare like a lone star in the night sky. The next moment, his brain exploded and all was left on the ground was a headless corpse.

When his consciousness returned to his physical body, Lin Huang closed his eyes and tried to recall the entire battle.

After taking a few minutes to mentally replay the battle over ten times, Lin Huang realized that he could not have avoided that sword slash. No matter how he tried to dodge it or deflect it, the sword always ended up at his head.

"I knew it. Sword Dao true meaning and Sword Dao are just worlds apart." Lin Huang slowly opened his eyes.

Even though he was slain in an instant in both matches, he did not feel defeated at all. Instead, it gave him much more to think about.

"Attacks with Sword Dao true meaning have the same Rule Bending Power as god rule. If I don't master the same rule at the same level of power, it makes sense that I wouldn't be able to defend against it. I wouldn't be able to do much just by using Sword Dao or other skills."

"I've earned the moniker of Godslayer though, and I do have the God-slaying Power within me, which is also considered a type of God Rule Power. If I can better utilize this power, it should be enough to go up against Sword Dao true meaning."

Lin Huang had obtained this God-slaying Power when he had slain the projection of the God Bless organization's Master God. He had not had the opportunity to use this power since then.

"I'll set a short-term goal for myself. For subsequent trials, I'll do everything I can to use my God-slaying Power to counter Sword Dao true meaning!"

Lin Huang closed his eyes to sense the God-slaying Power within him and tried to make adjustments to it. He was delighted to find that the power was usable and took another few minutes to familiarize himself with it. It was only when he could command it with ease that Lin Huang looked up again towards the cliff.

Lin Huang once again reached out with his Divine Telekinesis after choosing his third sword mark.

When he got into the sword mark space, Lin Huang started adjusting his God-slaying power. He did not even have time to check out what his opponent looked like.

After the five-second safeguard was up, the battle sword in Lin Huang's hand was charged with God-slaying Power. He attacked in a flash.

The very next moment, a sword gleam flashed from the sky with blinding speed and sliced Lin Huang in half at the waist.

He was still slain within seconds in his third battle despite using God-slaying Power.

Lin Huang was slightly speechless when his consciousness returned to his body. This time, his opponent did not even bother to give him a chance.

However, Lin Huang refused to admit defeat. He simulated the third battle in his mind numerous times, trying to figure out different strategies to fight back.

When the fourth battle began, Lin Huang chose to attack from a distance using God-slaying Power.

Before Lin Huang's attack could even touch his opponent however, Lin Huang was sliced in half vertically from the head down. His opponent, being of an obsessive-compulsive nature, had cut him into two perfect halves.

Lin Huang became bolder and bolder in his subsequent battles. After every battle, he still took the effort to strategize for his next fight, but he kept being slain immediately the moment he initiated an attack.

Lin Huang was completely overpowered by his opponents in terms of speed, agility, reflexes, and battle consciousness…

Even though his God-slaying Power was no less powerful than Sword Dao true meaning, he could barely even touch the hem of his opponents' garments.

More than 50 battles continued in this manner. Lin Huang was slain almost immediately in different ways over 50 times.

On his 58th match, Lin Huang was adjusting his God-slaying Power when he sensed a frightening aura coming from opposite him.

The aura emanated from a red-haired man. The bloodlust emanating from him was so intense it was almost tangible. He just stood where he was, his aura like a limitless sea of blood that might break into monstrous waves and crush Lin Huang at any moment.

"This man has a terrifying aura, and his sword force, however indistinct, is already materializing. I'm worried he's already halfway to attaining True Meaning Level." Lin Huang's eyes revealed his fear and hesitation. This red-haired fellow might be the strongest opponent he had ever faced in his life. He probably did not even need to use his sword force—just a look and he could slay Lin Huang easily.

When the red-haired man's physical body was fully materialized, he kept his eyes closed, as if he had not noticed Lin Huang at all.

Even after the five-second safeguard was up, it seemed he had no intention of opening his eyes.

Lin Huang did not hesitate and initiated an attack despite his opponent's arrogance.

God-slaying Power engulfed his sword and the blood-red sword gleam cleaved the air apart as it slashed straight toward its target.

The sword gleam had enough force to slay a True God, but it suddenly melted from the red-haired man's sight at a distance of not more than ten meters.

Yes, it did not vanish but melted like snow instantly.

"Hmm?"

The red-haired man, whose eyes were still closed, seemed to sense something. He suddenly opened his eyes and looked toward the place where the sword gleam had been.

"God-slaying Power?"

He finally lifted his gaze in Lin Huang's direction.

Lin Huang did not hesitate at all as he swung his sword again. Thousands of sword gleams flew through the air towards the red-haired man.

Just like the first sword gleam, all of the sword gleams completely melted the moment they came into a particular area in front of the man, just like snow that could never go near the sun.

"Little brat, that isn't how you use God-slaying Power," the red-haired man said unexpectedly to Lin Huang instead of launching a counterattack.

Lin Huang immediately halted his attack and sheathed his sword when he heard those words.

"Senior, you know about God-slaying Power?"

"Of course, I've crossed boundaries and slain Heavenly Gods," the red-haired man said, extending his left hand. Red energy glowed in the middle of his palm and swiftly condensed into a little red bead.

A terrifying aura filled the entire sword mark space.

This was God-slaying Power, but immensely stronger than what Lin Huang possessed. It was on a different level from the God-slaying Power within Lin Huang, almost like comparing a firefly with the bright moon.

"Senior, you have the God-slaying Power as well! How do I utilize it?" Lin Huang quickly asked for pointers as he realized that his opponent meant to provide guidance.

"At the end of the day, the God-slaying Power is a type of God Rule Power. Even though it can be considered distinctive, in fact, it's not too different from other god rules in terms of basics. Do you know what's the difference between God Rule Power and Divine Power?" the red-haired man said slowly.

"God Rule Power can only be utilized only after a true god is enlightened about god rule. That's what I heard about it, but I don't really understand what that means. I don't even know the difference in basic qualities between God Rule Power and Divine Power," Lin Huang answered honestly.

"You said yourself that God Rule Power is a type of Rule Bending Power. What's so difficult to understand about that?" The red-haired man waved his left hand as he finished speaking.

Above his head, his sword force gathered like dark clouds, shifting suddenly. Lightning the color of blood flashed within the clouds; a moment later, bloody rain poured from the skies, which then turned into snowflakes that slowly drifted down…

In a few short moments, there were multiple transformations.

"Rule Bending Power means that lightning will flash if I want it to flash. It will rain if I want it to rain, and it will snow when I want it to snow…my will is the rule." The red-haired man looked at Lin Huang after he finished speaking, and continued, "Wherever my will is, that's where the rule will take effect. No matter how agile one is, or how quick their sword, they will never be faster than my will. This is the root of all power possessed by those on the god-order level."

"My will is the rule…where the will is, that's where the rule will take effect…" Lin Huang mumbled this repeatedly. What the red-haired man said had finally allowed him to understand the meaning of god rule.

"But what should I do to achieve this?" Lin Huang could not help asking.

"Think about it. Why are those at god-order level (True God) able to control the power of god rule with mere willpower?" The red-haired man did not answer Lin Huang's question but countered it with another question.

"Is it because their willpower and god rule have been integrated into one?" Lin Huang answered uncertainly after giving it some thought. He could not think of any other answers.

"You're not that dumb after all," the red-haired man nodded slightly.

"If that's the case, the right way to use this would be to integrate my willpower with the God-slaying Power?" Lin Huang continued with his questions.

"You're showing promise!" The red-haired man broke into a rare smile.

"Allow me to add on a little. Sword Dao true meaning is basically a god rule of Sword Dao."

"This means I just need to fuse my willpower with Sword Dao to achieve a breakthrough to True Meaning Level!" Lin Huang had not expected his opponent to hand him two such generous gifts.

"Thank you for your pointers!" Lin Huang kowtowed to his opponent respectfully.

The red-haired man nodded slightly, "I've already taught you this in theory. Now, let me conduct a practical session with you."

Lin Huang was elated to hear this.

His previous opponents had been too powerful and had not bothered to use him to practice, slaying him the moment he attacked. Now that the red-haired man had offered to practice with him, it was a great opportunity for him to level up.

Lin Huang did not hold back at all, directing wave after wave of attacks toward his opponent.

The red-haired man reduced his menacing aura and held back his abilities in order to show Lin Huang some moves.

He even took the trouble to use sword skills that Lin Huang had been utilizing. This helped Lin Huang to discover his shortcomings by observing how his opponent used those same moves.

With every swing of his sword, Lin Huang was slowly able to improve his control over the God-slaying Power.

It was not just flowing with and utilizing the God-slaying power on the surface, but a deeper level of control over his will. His God-slaying Power slowly began to display its terrifying capabilities.

Level-6 Sword Dao was a Deity level. He had already integrated with his Sword Dao to a certain point, but was still quite a way from achieving a breakthrough.

This round of battle had greatly enhanced that fusion.

Red Hair practiced with him for three full days and three nights.

Lin Huang only set his sword aside when the time limit within the sword mark space had expired and Red Hair's body started to slowly dissipate.

"Senior, can I know your name?" Lin Huang could not help asking right before Red Hair disappeared.

"My name is Celestial Guest. What's your name, little brat?" Red Hair told Lin Huang his name and asked for his in return.

"I'm Lin Huang," Lin Huang replied, giving his real name.

"Lin Huang, remember what I've taught you and claim the inheritance of that old fool, Great Heaven! Even if I won't have the chance to see it happening, I'll still be very happy about it! Hahahaha…" Celestial Guest slowly vanished while still laughing robustly.

With that, Lin Huang's consciousness was pushed out by the sword mark and he returned to his physical body once again.

Lin Huang's abilities had been enhanced greatly after three days and three nights of practical combat under the tutelage of Celestial Guest.

When his consciousness returned to his body, Lin Huang immediately closed his eyes to absorb what he had obtained over the past few days.

This time, he used more than three hours to assimilate all of Celestial Guest's teachings.

Lin Huang's consciousness went deep into his body as he sensed the changes going through him after this battle.

The preliminary step in integrating his will and the God-slaying Power was complete. Although this integration was but a small victory and he still had a long way to go to achieve Sword Dao true meaning, but the power of his Sword Dao was now at a different level than before.

"Celestial Guest restrained his true power to an extreme degree to practice with me and prevent me from being slain instantly. I wonder if I would be able to fight back if I face other powerful opponents at True Martial Level."

Lin Huang lifted his head to look at the cliff. He could no longer sense anything from the sword mark left by Celestial Guest. Lin Huang's gaze paused there momentarily before turning towards the other sword marks. He quickly used his Divine Telekinesis to make contact with the 59th sword mark he had chosen.

His opponent materialized rapidly within the sword mark space.

This time, his opponent was a man with long hair that reached his waist. He was quite handsome and was clad in a big, loose robe. His appearance was androgynous, making it hard to tell if he was a man or a woman.

Lin Huang glanced at him and immediately focused all his attention on his own sword.

He attacked first after the five-second safeguard was up.

He merely moved his sword a little; his killing intent was resolute, surging forth.

In a flash, hundreds of sword gleams congregated in the void and flew towards their target, driven by the integration of terrifying Sword Dao and God-slaying Power.

The long-haired man raised his eyebrows slightly. "Interesting."

He clapped his sheath with his right hand and swiftly dodged the attack in a ring of white light.

Lin Huang's hundreds of sword gleams evaporated where the white light had touched them.

However, white light continued surging towards Lin Huang like a monstrous wave.

"I can clearly see his attack!"

Lin Huang was elated. Even though his consciousness could sense his opponent's attack coming at him like a gigantic wave, he was not afraid at all.

He angled his sword slightly and rushed headlong toward the wave.

Almost simultaneously, a gigantic sword long enough to hold up the sky appeared under the prompting of his will. It slashed through the monstrous wave in one wild swing with the combined forces of God-slaying Power and Sword Dao.

The next second, the gigantic sword was completely pulverized by the monstrous wave, and Lin Huang's form was completely swallowed up as well. His consciousness returned to his physical body once again.

He still could not deflect a single attack.

However, Lin Huang's eyes gleamed brightly as he quickly summarized his experience in this battle.

"My method was correct, but my Sword Dao and God-slaying Power were too weak. It's like using a normal sword to go up against a divine army with invincible weapons. Naturally, I'm the loser.

"What I should do next is to enhance my Sword Dao and God-slaying Power, as well as try to avoid a close encounter when making my attack."

What Lin Huang did not know was that this battle was sheer bad luck for him—the long-haired man's ability was equivalent to that of Celestial Guest.

After a few minutes of assimilating what he had simulated in his mind, Lin Huang quickly decided on the next sword mark and started a new round of battle.

Within the 60th sword mark space, Lin Huang finally met an opponent who was of a normal standard.

This time, it took his opponent four moves to slay him.

When he got to the 61st battle, his opponent took six moves to dispatch him and Lin Huang almost managed to leave a slash on him.

Over the next few battles, Lin Huang came to realize that the long-haired man's abilities were at a much higher level than his previous opponents.

Subsequently, his time in the sword mark spaces extended and it took his opponents more moves to deal with him. Lin Huang's confidence kept increasing as well.

The integration of his will, his Sword Dao and his God-slaying Power were becoming more and more seamless over time.

In his 128th sword mark space, Lin Huang's sword finally managed to come into contact with his opponent. Even though he only managed to nick a corner of his opponent's garment, it still gave Lin Huang an immense sense of excitement.

During subsequent battles, Lin Huang was very careful with his moves. He finally managed to land a bloody wound on his opponent for the first time in his 213th sword mark space.

He achieved a breakthrough in his 286th sword mark space, spending more than an hour fighting his opponent.

Lin Huang finally managed to cut off his opponent's attack in the 337th sword mark space, even though it took him more than one move.

In the last sword mark space, which was the 368th one, Lin Huang managed to cut off his opponent's arm!

Lin Huang's will to fight increased by leaps and bounds after more than 300 rounds of all-out duels and dying more than 300 times.

Even after more than 300 rounds of battle, Lin Huang could still feel his determination strengthen as he closed his eyes to calm himself after his consciousness returned to his body. His will, his Sword Dao, and his God-slaying Power were now integrating even more seamlessly than before.

As he had decreased his reflection time considerably after every battle in order to finish all 368 levels, he managed to complete every level with three hours remaining from his three-day limit in the Swordfiend Abyss.

Lin Huang closed his eyes and sat where he was for all three hours, assimilating everything he had received from his 300-plus battles.

His will to fight kept increasing while his will, his Sword Dao and his God-slaying Power continued to integrate rapidly.

Lin Huang did not open his eyes until his time in the Swordfiend Abyss was complete.

Just as the Swordfiend Abyss was about to forcefully interrupt Lin Huang and eject him from the space, a directive suddenly emerged from the void.

The entire Swordfiend Abyss went silent and Lin Huang was left alone to meditate.

Lin Huang sat there for three whole days.

In those three days, he assimilated all the basics to be found within the Swordfiend Abyss.

His strength of will had attained the level of a True God while the integration of his will and his God-slaying Power had attained perfection. However, the integration of his will and his Sword Dao still needed some work to be fully complete.

Only now was he finally on the path to achieving Sword Dao true meaning.

Lin Huang had to admit that his achievements within these few short days in the Swordfiend Abyss were equivalent to one year of hard training. Not only that, but it was also training that he had undergone utilizing a cheat code.

"My sword should be powerful enough now to slaughter elementary level True Gods. My will and my God-slaying Power have completely integrated. Now I can easily use the Rule Bending Power of my God-slaying Power. Even though my Sword Dao hasn't achieved a breakthrough yet, I'm halfway to achieving True Martial Level. By combining it with my God-slaying Power, my attacks won't be any weaker than those of an ordinary True Martial Level opponent."

"My biggest weakness is that my combat strength is still too low. My abilities in body and soul are limited by my combat strength, so they're comparatively weak. Strong opponents at True Martial Level need only one move to kill me, but I might need more than three moves to kill them."

"Besides that, the strength of my God-slaying Power is also continuously increasing, but I need to slay a True God. My Sword Dao has also not achieved breakthrough mainly because there's not enough accumulated experience. Compared to other powerhouses who have achieved Sword Dao true meaning, my sword skills are still sorely lacking…"

Lin Huang slowly opened his eyes after concluding his summary.

At that moment, a push notification finally appeared in front of his eyes.

[Do you want to move on to the second stage of the Great Heaven inheritance?]

"Yes!"

Lin Huang made his choice without hesitation.

Lin Huang's vision blurred for a moment, and he found himself in an environment completely different from before.

In place of the ten-thousand-foot cliff was an expanse of flatland, which stretched as far as the eye could see.

Although neither trees nor grass grew on the dry, fissured ground, swords of varying shapes and sizes were planted upright in the earth.

As Lin Huang was wondering what trials he would face at this level, a push notification appeared before him.

"Second Stage: Demon Sword Tomb."

"All swords within the Demon Sword Tomb are demon swords that are possessed. Each demon sword craves to be near living beings in order to possess their physical bodies. These possessed beings then become servants to the swords, bringing them out of the Demon Sword Tomb and thus releasing them."

"Use of all flying and teleportation skills is prohibited at this level. The participant must walk through the Demon Sword Tomb and reach the tomb's exit in order to pass this level."

"Note 1: As the participant's combat skill level is limited, only demon swords that have not achieved Sword Dao true meaning are allowed to challenge the participant."

"Note 2: The participant will be attacked by demon swords if he steps onto or walks past any territory belonging to said swords. If he steps onto or walks past territory that belongs to more than one demon sword, he will be attacked at the same time by all the demon swords."

"Note 3: Every demon sword possesses the sword skills of their previous owners; each sword has also inherited the gift and ability of their most powerful owner."

Lin Huang lifted his eyes and gazed into the distance after reading all the push notifications.

The swords had all been scattered randomly across the ground with no discernible pattern in the way they were situated. The nearest distance between two swords was only about two to three meters while the farthest was about ten to twenty meters. There was no distance greater than that. A bird's eye view of the area would reveal that the swords were spread densely across the ground.

"These swords are so close to each other. It's either that the demon swords have a limited sensing range, or they were purposely arranged this way so they could attack participants en masse. From the way the previous participant peed on himself, the latter's more likely."

While Lin Huang was observing the demon swords' scattered placement, another push notification suddenly appeared before him.

"As the participant has stayed three extra days in the previous level, those three days will be deducted one by one in subsequent levels."

"The total length of time assigned for completion of this level is three days. One day will be deducted from the total. The participant must complete the level within two days, otherwise it will be counted as a failure."

"If the participant uses less than two days to finish this level, the extra time can be used to offset the extra days used in the previous level."

"This means that if I only use a day to pass this level, the extra two days can be used to offset the days I owe. That will leave me owing just one day, right? If I finish this level in half a day, does that mean I can use the remaining time to offset two and a half days?" Lin Huang asked hurriedly.

"The time owed will be calculated in hours. The participant owes a total of 72 hours."

Lin Huang nodded with a smile. "Understood. Let's begin!"

Lin Huang took the first step forward as soon as he finished speaking.

He did not break into a run; he merely wanted to test how strong these demon swords were.

Lin Huang's step was reminiscent of him prodding a wasp's nest. Hundreds of demon swords around him began quivering. Some even flew out of the ground, coming straight toward him.

Lin Huang raised his brows as he sensed the Sword Dao within the demon swords. "You're only at level-1 Sword Dao and you dare to challenge me. You're really brash."

He did not even bother to draw his sword. He glared at the few battle swords flying through the air and a flash of sword gleam appeared in his eyes.

The next moment, the furiously approaching swords swiftly retreated, as if seriously injured by something, and immediately shot back to their original places.

At the same time, these swords that had been forced to retreat each released a tiny glimmer of starlight, all of which flew slowly towards Lin Huang.

"This…is the Sword Dao Inheritance?!"

Lin Huang was rather startled. "So, if I suppress these demon swords, they will return the Sword Dao Inheritance of the participant?"

"This is not a mere suppression, it is the demon swords submitting."

A push notification appeared again with a line of text.

This was something that had not been previously mentioned in the trial rules.

From the push notification, Lin Huang deduced the corresponding information. "This means that a basic retreat wouldn't give me such benefits. Obtaining the Sword Dao Inheritance from these demon swords is much harder than completing this level. That was why there were no related hints about this in the trial rules. It's only after achieving this requirement that I was given a corresponding hint."

"My biggest weakness right now is the accumulation of sword skills. If I can gather large amounts of Sword Dao Inheritance from this level, it would help me attainment Sword Dao true meaning much faster."

The more Lin Huang thought about it, the more excited he felt.

He took another step forward and immediately provoked the reactions of more demon swords.

This time, a wave of 23 battle swords attacked at once. Lin Huang still did not use his sword. All he did was fix them all with a single stare. All 23 battle swords trembled almost simultaneously and returned to their places with amazing speed.

23 glimmers of starlight rose from the demon swords that had retreated, slowly floating towards Lin Huang and vanishing into his body.

"Their levels are just so-so…" Lin Huang roughly glanced through the contents of the Inheritances and raised an eyebrow as he gave his critique. Now that he was moving towards Sword Dao true meaning, he was aware that his standards were more exacting than before. Naturally, he was inclined to look down on some Inheritances.

"However, this is only level-1 Sword Dao for now. The levels should get higher the further I go and the Inheritances will be more powerful. At the very least, the Inheritance of a level-6 Sword Dao would be greatly beneficial to me," Lin Huang consoled himself.

Lin Huang was not in a rush as he had made up his mind to plunder the Inheritances for himself. He took one step at a time and glanced through the field of demon swords.

He retained all the Sword Dao Inheritances along the way.

After a number of steps, he managed to determine that the Demon Sword Tomb distributed the demon swords from the lowest Sword Dao to the strongest. Every time he moved, he would stride a few hundred meters and provoke thousands of demon swords into attacking him.

He would never have done this before integrating his will and his Sword Dao.

These demon swords would not submit as they were doing now were they not faced with the threat of suppression from a powerful will. Some had even attempted to attack continuously and tenaciously, unwilling to give up.

If Lin Huang had followed the common path of a practitioner and repelled these demon swords by the book with Sword Dao every swing he made, he would have exhausted the Divine Power within him.

Now, all he had to do was to stare at them and his will, along with his Sword Dao, would suppress them. The demon swords would then try to make a wild escape, much like how a rat might try to run away from a cat, and would not dare to challenge his authority.

After all the demon swords had returned to their places, without exception, they willingly offered their Sword Dao Inheritances.

In only ten steps or so, Lin Huang had harvested more than a million Sword Dao Inheritances in less than ten seconds.

These Sword Dao Inheritances ranged from level-1 to level-5. None of the demon swords dared to go against his will.

Even Lin Huang was surprised by his collection at this level.

However, Lin Huang soon slowed down. He had sensed that the level-6 demon sword territory was just ahead of him.

Having half-attained Sword Dao true meaning might have massive effects on demon swords lower than level-6, but that might not be true of Level-6 Sword Dao. After all, he had not truly attained Sword Dao true meaning yet.

He took a deep breath to calm himself, gripped the sword hilt at his waist, and stepped forward…

At Lin Huang's step forward, many Level-6 Demon Swords responded immediately in the Demon Sword Tomb and began quivering violently.

They quivered with excitement as they detected the aura of a living soul.

Deprived of their freedom, the presence of a living soul in their territory sent these Demon Swords into a frenzy. Once they managed to possess the intruder's body, they would be able to turn them into a sword slave who could remove the Demon Swords from this tomb in which they had been sealed away for hundreds and thousands of years. From then on, they would be free to go around the world.

The next instant, countless Demon Swords fought each other to break free from the earth, slicing through the air and hurling themselves at Lin Huang with terrifying levels of Sword Dao. Some of their Sword Dao even materialized as faint, malevolent golems in the void.

Lin Huang could not afford to be overconfident when facing level-6 Demon Swords.

His will, strong as a True God's, carried his half-step Sword Dao true meaning along in its tide and engulfed him; his terrifying aura blazed like the sun on a scorching day.

The Demon Swords detected Lin Huang's Sword Dao and froze in the midst of their frenzied attack.

Yet, the Demon Sword auras that faded away triggered more Demon Sword senses.

In the distance, around a dozen Demon Swords started quivering violently, anxious and yet faintly hesitant as they struggled to free themselves from the earth to fight Lin Huang.

The Demon Swords that were already attacking did not retreat immediately. When they sensed Lin Huang's Sword Dao, they hesitated only for a brief moment before their frenzied auras increased—the opposite of the responses from those Demon Swords below Level-6.

Lin Huang was not surprised.

If his half-step Sword Dao true meaning could be compared to the ruler of a powerful country, then those with Sword Dao below Level-6 could be said to be his ministers. As ministers, being subjected to Lin Huang's rule was a given. However, these Level-6 Demon Swords were different. Using the same analogy, they could be compared to rulers of smaller countries around Lin Huang's empire. Therefore, their refusal to be subjugated did not strike Lin Huang as surprising. Some of them had set their greedy sights on the empire; some had even thought about launching an assault and taking over the empire.

In the air, the six Demon Swords hesitated for a split second before a blood-red Demon Sword initiated an attack.

The Sword Dao manifested as a golem in the form of a blood-red Buddha statue. It extended its claws through the air, targeting the Sword Dao apparition on top of Lin Huang's head.

With the Blood-red Demon Sword setting an example, the other five Demon Swords did not want to be left out either. Five other golems started attacking too.

Above Lin Huang, the Blood-red Vairocana apparition manifested by his Sword Dao suddenly shook violently. Countless spheres of red flame surged forth in succession.

Red fire swept over the bodies of the six golems in an instant. The lead golem—the blood-red one in the form of a Buddha statue—was the first to erupt in flames, followed by the five golems, all of which were set ablaze.

Once the golems had been engulfed by the red flames, they kept burning like ignited gasoline that could not be extinguished. The six golems struggled violently, to no avail. The flames burned brighter with every passing second, showing no signs of abating.

The second round of flames swallowed the six golems whole.

No longer could the golems be seen in the void, only six massive burning creatures dancing in a frenzy.

At the third cycle of flame, the frenziedly dancing, burning figures exploded one after the other, the noise of the explosion even louder than crashing thunder.

After the explosion died down, the giant burning creatures disintegrated into nothingness.

In the void, six Demon Swords trembled and immediately retreated to their original places, still trembling the whole time.

This time, they were not trembling in anticipation—they were terrified.

Noticing the six differently colored starbursts flying toward him, the corners of Lin Huang's lips twisted up in a smirk.

"Seems like I don't need my sword yet."

After defeating the first wave of Demon Swords, Lin Huang took another step forward.

This time around, a total of eleven Demon Swords attacked him.

They flew at Lin Huang fearlessly like moths flying into flames, as though they were welcoming the Blood-red Vairocana apparition.

Next, Lin Huang took his third step and his fourth step…

His Vairocana apparition shook in the void and all the golems shattered into pieces.

Lin Huang held onto his battle sword. With every step he took, he harvested Sword Dao Inheritance wave by wave. Yet, the need to unsheathe his sword never arose.

That is until he took his twelfth step.

In the void, nine spheres of flame erupted from his Blood-red Vairocana and shattered eight golems. However, one black golem remained standing.

The golem was covered in cracks but it did not disintegrate in the end.

The golem's real form was a pure black Demon Sword.

The Demon Sword was surrounded by black fog, emanating monstrous malice.

"This sword…it seems like its malice has exceeded its Sword Dao…"

Upon seeing the inky-black one-eyed golem extend its hand once more, Lin Huang could not bear it any longer and unsheathed his sword.

It was a merciless slash.

His will to fight, along with his half-step Sword Dao true meaning and his God-slaying Power, was unleashed in full.

Within the void, the Blood-red Vairocana instantly transformed into a great shaft of Sword Energy that cleaved through heaven and hell.

A blood-red sword gleam impaled the one-eyed golem's body. A blood-red ray of light appeared on the golem's forehead and sliced downward to the golem's feet.

Instantly the golem's movements froze.

The blood-red ray from the sword gleam unleashed a red glow that seemed endless.

In the blink of an eye, the golem that was previously engulfed in pure black fog raised its head toward the sky and let out an anguished roar before being completely swallowed up by the red glow.

The black Demon Sword shot backward and clattered onto the ground, still trembling from the impact.

There was fear, but there was unwillingness too.

Despite that, it still transformed its Sword Dao Inheritance into starlight and presented it to Lin Huang.

After Lin Huang's encounter with the black Demon Sword, every subsequent step in the Demon Sword Tomb became increasingly difficult.

On his thirteenth step, there were two black Demon Swords instead of one.

On his fourteenth step, Demon Swords that remained intact after receiving a blow from his Blood-red Vairocana increased to four.

On his fifteenth step, twelve Demon Sword attacked him at the same time. Only three Demon Swords were successfully intimidated.

On his sixteenth step, the Blood-red Vairocana lost all of its intimidation abilities. Lin Huang needed eleven continuous slashes of his sword before he managed to suppress all the Demon Swords.

On his seventeenth step, ten Demon Swords attacked him simultaneously. It took Lin Huang thirty slashes of his sword before he managed to suppress them.

On his eighteenth step, nine Demon Swords teamed up to attack him and each Demon Sword was at least ten times stronger than the black Demon Sword. Lin Huang used a total of a hundred and eight slashes before he could suppress them.

"I've only taken eighteen steps, and the level of difficulty is already at this stage…" Lin Huang raised his head to look at the Demon Sword Tomb which seemed to stretch on endlessly. Suddenly, he realized that he could not detect the Sword Dao of the Demon Swords in front of him anymore.

It was at this moment that a push notification reappeared in front of him.

"Congratulations, participant! You have passed the Great Heaven inheritance's second test!"

"Total time used for this test was 58 minutes."

"After deducting the time owed from the first test, your current time debt is 58 minutes."

The push notification did not mention anything about remaining at this level after the test. After contemplating it for a while, Lin Huang understood why he could not continue his challenge after the test ended.

The first stage had been a battle on the level of consciousness, while this stage presented real clashes between Sword Dao.

Even if he died in the first test, his consciousness would just return to his body.

However, at this level, all Demon Swords beyond Level-6 were of True Martial Level. If he failed in his fight with the Demon Swords, he could die for real. Even if he did not die, his Sword Dao would be completely smashed and unable to regroup in time for a second fight.

The price of reviving himself or attempting to recover his damaged Sword Dao would be much greater than the first stage.

Great Heaven designed these checkpoints to select his heir. If the participants died, they died. Great Heaven would rather wait for the next participant and therefore, did not need to waste too many resources on them.

However, the next line that showed up in the push notification struck Lin Huang dumb.

"As the participant accessed Great Heaven Palace in a non-competitive state on his own, a Competitive Trial has now been initiated! The Competitive Trial is initiated to determine if the participant is able to fulfill the only qualification needed to initiate the last trial."

"Competitive Trial?"

The sudden push notification struck Lin Huang dumb.

"Great Heaven Palace will pick 2999 competitors from among the Sword Dao cultivators (below True God level) according to the Inheritance requirements set down by the Great Heaven Territory, to compete together with Trial participants in the Competitive Trial.

"Other than that, Great Heaven Palace will release three hundred Sword Servants to participate, all of whom possess True God combat strength. However, in this trial, their combat strength, flesh, and soul will all be capped at Rank-9 Virtual God-level."

"Since the participants who initiated this competitive trial have yet to achieve the true meaning of Sword Dao, all competitors and Sword Servants' Sword Dao will be restricted to below Sword Dao true meaning."

"The rules of the competitive trial are as follows:"

"1. Every time a competitor is defeated or eliminated, the participant obtains 1 cumulative foundation point and gains all of their opponents' accumulated points."

"2. 100 cumulative points are awarded with every defeat of a Sword Servant. Upon defeat, Sword Servants will be directly teleported out of the trial. No points will be awarded when Sword Servants defeat or eliminate any participants or competitors."

"3. Participants and competitors may choose to surrender willingly during combat. However, choosing to surrender is equivalent to forfeiting the trial. Therefore, whosoever chooses to surrender will be directly teleported out of the trial and will forfeit all their cumulative points."

"4. All cumulative points are non-transferrable and indivisible."

"5. The Competitive Trial will last for a maximum of ten days. If the participants or competitors manage to take out all the other 999 people within ten days, the trial will end ahead of time."

"6. After the trial, the participant with the highest cumulative points will obtain the right to access Great Heaven Palace and enter the final round of the trial. If a competitor obtains higher cumulative points than the participants, thus becoming the champion, said competitor will earn the right to officially participate in the trials and will be teleported to Swordfiend Abyss for their first trial. After overcoming the trials at Swordfiend Abyss and Demon Sword Tomb, they may access Great Heaven Palace and participate in the final trial."

"7. During the Competitive Trial, all participants may utilize any skills or methods that they possess, including skills or methods other than Sword Dao."

"8. To ensure the fairness of the Competitive Trial, all weapons or items that can harm a Rank-1 True God are banned. All defensive armor or other defensive measures above Rank-1 True God are banned. (Energy paraphernalia conjured up by one's own abilities, as well as divine, magic, and arcane powers etcetera are excluded.)"

…

After reading the rules of the Competitive Trial, a sudden wave of realization hit Lin Huang. The obstacle for this level was no longer Sword Dao facility—it was survival.

Lin Huang did not find it hard to see why such a trial existed. It was obvious that Great Heaven hoped the future heir to the inheritance would not die so easily.

Therefore, for this time's Competitive Trial, the rules gave all participants a great deal of leeway, except for some banned items. Both participants and competitors could fully showcase the maximum range of their abilities.

"All three hundred Sword Servants are originally Heavenly Gods. Therefore whether it be combat strength, flesh, or Sword Dao—even after their abilities have been capped—it's imperative not to underestimate them. That's also why 100 cumulative points are awarded just by defeating a Sword Servant—that's 100 times the foundation points awarded for eliminating a competitor. Also, they only mention defeating, not eliminating.

"Other than that, only 2999 sword cultivating competitors will be chosen from the entire Great Heaven Territory. These 2999 ought to be the creme de la creme of sword cultivators in the Great Heaven Territory; there are sure to be quite a number of participants from the God Territory among them as well. The 300 Trial participants from the God Territory are definitely experts from various organizations. Even if we take out non-sword-based cultivators, there should still be a few hundred who qualify as competitors.

"Meanwhile, among the participants, there's a chance that members from the same organizations might appear together so it's possible that team-ups might occur during the Competitive Trial. A single person's abilities might not be enough to eliminate a Sword Servant. However, if all the powerhouses combine their efforts in a free-for-all which encompasses any method of choice, the chances of defeating a Sword Servant go from impossible to possible.

"The greatest advantage I have is that as an initiator of the Trial, I should be the first to understand the evaluation rules, and the rules I know should be the most comprehensive. Therefore, I have more time to plan.

"Apart from this, it's good news that we can use telepathy and imperial monsters. It's just not certain yet if we can use God's Figurine's Combat Soul because while God's Figurine is considered an item, even if it's been integrated into Combat Soul, we don't know for sure which category it falls into. That said, we're not sure if Xiao Hei's multi-function card can be used either…"

Regardless of whether the multi-function card was permissible in the Trial or not, Lin Huang had prepared himself for the worst.

"Speaking of items, all god rule relics are banned. We can only use weapons and armors of god relic level; we can only use god telekinesis weapon relics as well." Lin Huang had few objections to this. If his opponent utilized a high-level god rule relic for defense along with divine crystals and elixirs that could replenish their Divine Powers, Lin Huang might not be able to break through his opponent's defenses even in a day. That, too, was not something he desired.

If everyone used god relics for weapons and defense, it would truly be much fairer for the real powerhouses.

"Participants, please wait for a moment. Competitors are currently entering the Trial grounds."

"After all competitors are confirmed, participants will be teleported simultaneously to the Trial grounds."

Lin Huang thought for a moment, then asked, "Didn't I owe 58 minutes previously? Can I make up for it now? I can enter the space 58 minutes later than the other competitors."

There were two reasons behind Lin Huang's request—one, the first hour after entering the Trial space was usually for everyone to familiarize themselves with their surroundings. The real competition would not have started then, therefore, his coming in late would not have much effect on the Trial.

The second reason—which was also his main reason—was that after the Competitive Trial, there would be a final trial.

Logically, the difficulty level of the final trial would be the highest of all the other trials. Although he did not know what the trials would involve, he knew very well that if he were deprived of 58 minutes, there was a high possibility of it affecting his performance. Therefore, Lin Huang would rather settle his 58-minute debt in this stage of the Competitive Trial than delay it until the final trial. That difference of several minutes could cause him to lose.

It did not matter if he was ultimately being number one or not in the Competitive Trial; the important thing was to move on to the next step. Lin Huang felt like he should still make the necessary preparations for what was coming up next before anything else.

…

At the same time, outside the Great Heaven inheritance space, almost all the sword cultivators selected by Great Heaven received a push notification simultaneously.

"Congratulations! You have been chosen by the Great Heaven inheritance to be a competitor in the Competitive Trial. Do you accept this invitation?"

"Notification from the Great Heaven inheritance?"

A tall lady with short red hair suddenly slowed down in the midst of a pursuit. The man whom she was hunting down put on speed and fled, vanishing without a trace.

The red-haired lady did not seem to mind. In a short skirt that revealed her slender tanned thighs, she was virtually flawless except for one thing—she was flat-chested.

"What the f*ck does 'competitor' mean?"

An impeccably handsome young man dressed in green had a bar hostess on each arm. His drunkenness dissipated in a flash. He even turned a deaf ear to the girls' voices as they encouraged him to drink.

"This situation…is it because someone initiated a trial?"

Somewhere in a library, a young lady with two heads suddenly focused her attention on the push notification that popped up before her. The eyes of her left head squinted.

"The message says, 'to be a competitor'. Seems like we're not the only ones who received this," the young lady's right head said, cocking to one side.

"But this is good news. We finally have a lead on the Great Heaven inheritance that's vanished without a trace for at least a hundred thousand years," said both her heads as they smiled at each other.

Dim light flickered in the room. The dome of the round pendant lamp was encircled by carvings of an older style, the faint mottling on its surface indicative of some age.

Under the lamp's dim light, the cream-colored wallpaper added a touch of warmth to the atmosphere.

A small bed was neatly placed in the middle of this medium-sized room. The bed's size indicated that it was probably not meant for an adult.

To the right side of the small bed was a medium-sized wooden bedside cupboard, somewhat crudely made.

To the left of the bed was a small antique wardrobe.

The doors of the wardrobe were half-open. A few pieces of clothing hung limply within. Again, the size of the clothes hinted that they belonged to a child of around ten years old.

"This is the trial space?" Fallen Star scanned her surroundings somewhat skeptically.

After ascertaining that there was nothing wrong with the room, she promptly settled down and began sensing her own body status.

"Most abilities have not been restricted. Only the probing range of divine telekinesis is restricted—the probing radius has been reduced to within 1000 meters."

After extinguishing the pendant lamp, Fallen Star concealed herself in the darkness before inching sideways to the front of the window. Carefully, she poked her head out to take a peek.

A sea of red lanterns dotted the entire landscape everywhere she looked.

The entire sky was bathed in red from the light of these myriad lanterns.

Red lanterns hung from blocks of small residential buildings. Most of the buildings were around two to five stories high, none of them over five stories. The roof of each building was covered in red tiles that slanted downward.

It was disturbing to note that some buildings were oriented so some of the roofs faced left or right, and some simply faced downward. No one could see past the layered stacks of residential buildings to know if there were buildings other than residences, neither could they catch a glimpse of the sky nor the surface of the ground.

Not a single alley could be seen between the cramped buildings. The only things that resembled alleyways were wooden or metal planks or stairs that connected each small building to the next; these planks or stairs looked as if they were quite old.

Without exception, red lanterns glimmered at every corner of the residential buildings.

"What a strange trial space." Despite having previously participated in plenty of other trials and having considerable experience entering various secret zones and ruins, this was the first time Fallen Star had encountered a trial space that was so strangely put together.

Right after she completed the initial scan of her surroundings, a push notification popped up in front of her eyes again.

"Trial Space: Ten Thousand Level Tower"

"Number of Competitors: 3000"

"Number of Trial BOSS: 300"

"General Rules of Competitive Trial are as follows:"

"1. You will be awarded 1 cumulative foundation point for each competitor you eliminate or defeat, and will gain all of your opponent's accumulated points."

"2. You will be awarded 100 cumulative points for each Trial BOSS you defeat.

"Defeated Trial BOSSes will be teleported out of the trial space immediately after being defeated. No cumulative points will be awarded if the Trial BOSS defeats or eliminates a competitor."

"3. A competitor may choose to surrender willingly during combat. However, choosing to surrender is equivalent to forfeiting the trial. Therefore, whosoever chooses to surrender will be directly teleported out of the trial and forfeit of all their cumulative points."

"4. All cumulative points are non-transferrable and indivisible."

"5. The Competitive Trial will last for a maximum of ten days. If there is only one competitor left in the trial within ten days, the trial will end ahead of time."

"6. After the trial, the competitor who obtains the highest accumulated points will be awarded the right to participate in an actual trial. After passing all official trials, the competitor will be able to claim the Great Heaven inheritance."

"7. Competitors' maximum combat strength is restricted to Rank-9 Virtual God."

"8. All competitors' Sword Dao is restricted to below Sword Dao true meaning."

"9. During the Competitive Trial, all competitors can utilize any skills or methods that they possess, including skills and methods other than Sword Dao."

"10. To ensure the fairness of the Competitive Trial, all weapons or items that can harm a Rank-1 True God are banned. All defensive armor or other defensive measures above Rank-1 True God are banned. (Energy paraphernalia conjured up by one's own abilities, as well as divine, magic, and arcane powers etcetera are excluded.)"

"11. All methods of communication are banned in the trial space."

" latest chapters at NovelFull

…

After reading the rules of the trial, a brooding expression settled on Fallen Star's face.

'There are a total of 3000 competitors. I've been teleported into the trial space, which means screening for the competitors in this trial is non-discriminatory. Even participants from the God Territory are eligible to participate.

'If my guess is right, the first condition in the screening is that the person must be a sword cultivator; secondly, considering how there's a restriction on combat strength, the next condition should be that the sword cultivator is below True God and eligible to obtain Sword Dao Inheritance. As for the third condition, it's most likely that after conducting a preliminary ranking of all qualified sword cultivators, they chose 3000 people based on ability ranking. Assuming that this is the screening method used, Xie Lin, Twin, and Destiny should be all here too.

'Thanks to Master Buried Heaven's great insight, all four of us from Death Sickle who've been sent to the Great Heaven Territory this time are sword cultivators.'

When Fallen Star thought about the number of sword cultivators sent into the Territory by other organizations, her lips involuntarily curved into a smile.

As there had been no news at all about the Great Heaven inheritance for the entire year, most organizations in the God Territory had treated the Great Heaven Territory as a typical trial venue. Among the dozens of cultivators sent in from some of the Grade-7 organizations, there might be only one sword cultivator.

'Hmm, but if my assumptions are correct, that fellow from Combat God Temple must have been teleported here too…" A face suddenly flashed through Fallen Star's mind and her expression became grave.

'That fellow' whom she mentioned was the number one Virtual God powerhouse in Combat God Temple—Shen Wushuang, who was also the number one super Genius on the Virtual God ranking list in the God Territory.

As a fellow sword cultivator, Fallen Star had fought him a few times and she had never yet managed to defeat him. Her instincts told her that Shen Wushuang's Sword Dao might have elevated to the state of True Meaning.

'If Xie Lin encounters him as an opponent, I wonder who'd win…'

Fallen Star let her train of thought run wild for a moment before quickly collecting herself and continuing to analyze the rules of the trial.

'Defeating one BOSS will give me 100 cumulative points. This means the BOSS must be extremely powerful. I'd probably need to team up before I can hunt one down. The rules didn't say that we're not allowed to form teams. In a way, they've acquiesced to us doing so.

'Cumulative points are non-transferrable and indivisible. They've managed to apply some form of restriction on teaming up, in that sense. Yet, if all teammates have great trust in each other, this rule won't be an obstacle.

'The three sword cultivators from Combat God Temple should be eligible for the trial this time. If they bump into each other, they might form a small team with Shen Wushuang as their leader and assist Shen Wushuang in accumulating points.

'Four sword cultivators from God Capital are participating in this time's trial. However, based on the temperament of those Pure Blood Protoss from God Capital, the chances of them working together are fairly remote. That's one thing I don't have to worry about.

'Precious Treasure Pavilion only sent one sword cultivator. That's another that I don't have to worry about.

'So far, it seems like Divine Clapnet and Xeno are the only ones strong enough to compete. The former sent five sword cultivators while the latter sent six of them. As an intel organization, Divine Clapnet's organizational and planning skills are shockingly good. Meanwhile, as Xeno is where the non-Pure Bloods gather, their sense of unity is something other organizations can't beat. The highest possibility is probably that these two organizations successfully team up.

'However, right now no one knows how big this trial space actually is. After all, the trial will only last ten days. If the space is big enough, there's still the possibility of not encountering anyone from the same organization.'

After thoroughly analyzing the likelihood of the seven organizations teaming up, Fallen Star suddenly realized that she had greatly underestimated the difficulty of this trial.

Somewhere in a study, Twin had just finished dyeing her hair with two different colors—icy blue for the head on the left and fiery red for the head on the right.

After reading the rules of the trial, her two heads started conversing closely.

Suddenly, however, both heads turned toward the window.

"We have a guest, it seems," the left head with the icy blue hair mumbled as though she was talking to herself, "And here I was thinking about familiarizing myself with our surroundings while everyone's cumulative scores are still equally low."

"A person who pops up immediately after reading the rules of the trial is either terrifyingly strong or unbelievably stupid," the red-haired right head sneered, "I think it's more the latter."

"Let's test them out. If they're very weak, we'll just kill them. If they're as strong as us or stronger, there's no need to fuss either." As the blue-haired head spoke, she began to form hand seals. "Remember, this is just the first day. If we overwork ourselves or get injured, it'll be hard to get through the rest of the trial."

"I was thinking the same thing." A long sword about 160cm in length appeared in Twin's right hand. There was not much difference between the length of the sword and her height.

The moment she finished her combat preparations, a red shadow sliced through the air toward her.

"The Abyssal Tribe. We have to watch out!" As the words escaped the blue-haired head, she extended her left palm, swiftly forming a hand seal.

The temperature in the entire study dropped rapidly. A layer of frost crept swiftly across the surface of the floor and up the walls, visibly becoming thicker even to the naked eye.

Outside the study window, water vapor suspended in the air condensed into puffs of icy white mist.

Further ahead, at the tail end of the icy mist, a translucent ice crystal blossomed like a gigantic flower bud opening and blocked the speeding red shadow's attack.

The ice flower now measured about ten meters in diameter, cutting off the attacker's path completely.

Icy white mist spewed from the flower's petals and a terrifying chill swept across the sky towards the red figure.

Realizing that coming into contact with the freezing mist would be inadvisable, the red shadow slowed down and slashed at the gigantic ice crystal flower with his sword.

A red sword gleam cleaved through the flower like sunlight through a canopy of trees.

When she saw this, however, Twin's blue-haired head twitched her lips up in a grin.

A swift alteration in her hand seals and both halves of the towering ice crystal flower began to bloom again. In the blink of an eye, they became two even bigger ice flowers with a diameter of twenty meters each. The flowers appeared more seductively vivid than the originals, their whiteness now tinged with a hint of blue. The overwhelming chill grew even more terrifying.

Seeing this, the red figure did not hesitate. Before the two flowers could release any more deadly mist, he cut through them again with his sword.

This time, the red gleam sliced the ice blossoms apart horizontally.

Once again Twin altered her hand seals and the two halved flowers bloomed once more. In a few seconds, they had now become four flowers. The four enormous blossoms were yet more vivid and seductive than the first two, and more visibly bluish rather than white. The icy fog that emanated from the flowres instantly deposited a layer of light blue frost over the houses within the vicinity of several thousand meters.

The red figure finally realized his mistake and ceased his attacks.

He could clearly sense the aura from the four ice crystal flowers—they were akin to four Rank-9 Virtual Gods blocking his path.

"If you dare attack again—even if you're Shen Wushuang from Combat God Temple—you'll find yourself in serious trouble this time!" the blue-haired head said indifferently, the barest hint of a smile playing about her lips.

The red-haired head, though, shook her head in disagreement. "Shen Wushuang wouldn't be this stupid; he's not weak either. With his abilities, he could've broken through this move with one swing of his sword. He definitely wouldn't let it come to this."

While the two heads engaged in their discussion excitedly, the red figure hovering in the void went to war with the four enormous ice crystal flowers.

The four bluish blossoms were not just able to spurt out icy mist, they could even spit out whip-like mist vines that snaked toward their opponent.

The lightest brush against the vines and ice crystals began forming on the red figure, slowly spreading over his entire body

In truth, it was not the spread that was slow, but the red figure using his Divine Power to suppress the attack.

The fight only lasted for around half a minute, by which time the attacking red figure had been reduced to his lowest, most vulnerable state. He sensed that things were not about to go well for him. After destroying a more few mist vines, he backed away and attempted to retreat.

"You want to escape now? Too late!"

Twin's blue-haired head curled her lips into a mocking smile and her left hand immediately formed another hand seal

The next moment, the rapidly retreating red figure stopped short as the ice crystals on his body multiplied as fast as lightning.

"Another idiot who fell for the trick. He didn't even notice the anomaly in his body." The red-haired head nonchalantly loosened her grip on the sword in her right hand. She knew that this fight had come to an end.

The red figure had paused only for a short second. Yet, this was all the time it took for the four enormous ice crystal flowers to simultaneously spew out waterfalls of icy mist that swallowed him up completely.

Around ten seconds later, the icy mist dissipated. A bluish human-sized ice crystal sculpture crashed onto the frozen roof of a nearby building and shattered into a pile of ice crystals.

"So weak. He didn't even last 30 seconds. What a disgrace to rank-9 Virtual Gods," the red-haired head said scornfully with a touch of dissatisfaction.

"He must be a local sword cultivator from the Great Heaven Territory." The blue-haired head snapped her fingers. The four gigantic ice crystal flowers suspended in the void disintegrated instantly into a sea of cold mist, dissipating in the air.

"If people of his level go to the God Territory, they wouldn't even be in the top thousand among the Virtual Gods. If this is the standard of all the participants from Great Heaven Territory, Fallen Star might be able to become number one," said the red-haired head, pursing her lips.

"You think too much. There are 3000 people in this trial after all, not including participants from the God Territory like us. The probability of us encountering the top ten from the Great Heaven Territory is only about one in three hundred, and the probability of meeting those beyond the top thousand is two out of three," the blue-haired head explained seriously. "Despite not being as powerful as us participants from the God Territory, the top-ranked powerhouses in the Great Heaven Territory shouldn't be too far behind us in abilities either.

"Moreover, those who will be competing against us aren't just participants local to the Great Heaven Territory—there are also other organizations from the God Territory for us to consider. Just a mere Shen Wushuang from Combat God Temple is already an immovable obstacle. If Fallen Star is aiming at becoming champion, it definitely won't be easy."

"What about Xie Lin? Think he has a chance at getting number one?" the red-haired head asked.

"Don't know. I haven't seen him in action after all. Even if he was the one who killed the two Bug Tribe Mother Bugs, we don't know the kind of tactics he employed. As to whether such tactics can be reused or if they're allowed in this trial, we can't be sure. The only thing for certain is that his overall abilities won't be weak. Otherwise, Master Buried Heaven wouldn't think so highly of him. As for whether he'll be able to become champion…I really can't say."

"Alright, enough chit-chat. The waves of the match just now have probably alerted any nearby powerhouses. This is just the first minute after the trial started too. I don't know about you, but I definitely don't plan on getting eliminated so early."

"Understood. Let's lie low first and familiarize ourselves with the trial environment." The red-haired head nodded vigorously.

With her two heads in agreement, Twin flitted into a small building nearby and followed the orientation of the rooms inside to escape into the distance…

In a messy room, a corpse chopped off at the waist showed clear marks of cauterization. There were similar traces of scorching on the wall to the right and the wall next to the window.

Even though the extreme heat had cauterized the body enough to prevent extensive loss of blood, fresh purplish-red blood still managed to stain at least half of the floor in the room.

A man wearing a white shirt stood in the room, the area around his feet coincidentally free of blood.

Blood was still dripping from the blade of the long sword in his hand like rainwater from a roof.

"Can't believe how weak this fellow was," the man in the white shirt commented while eyeing the body.

"If my opponents are all like this, even if I mess up I might be number one too, what more that Fallen Star girl."

In the entire Death Sickle organization, there was only one person with a thick enough skin to come up with a quip like that—Destiny.

However, Destiny quickly turned his gaze away from the dead body to look at the wall.

'I knew something strange was going on when I used my sword just now; how come the walls are only marked by cuts?! Not to brag but one slash and I can kill a True God, as well as quite a few Rank-9 Virtual Gods. In the God Territory, I don't even know how many houses I'd destroy with a single slash! But here I can't even stab through a single wall?!"

'I'm sure this restriction was put in place in the trial space to prevent these buildings from getting severely damaged. But that's a bit cruel. Could Boss Xie Lin break through these walls, I wonder…'

…

58 minutes after all competitors had entered the Competitive Trial.

A figure suddenly emerged in one of the houses in the trial space.

Upon realizing that he was now standing in a building, Lin Huang paused in confusion.

He was in the living room of a small residential unit. The living room was rather small with an open concept kitchen. Altogether, the space measured around forty square meters.

After scanning his surroundings, Lin Huang sent out his Divine Telekinesis. His brow furrowed.

'The probing range for Divine Telekinesis has really been severely reduced. It only has a maximum radius of 1000 meters…'

Thankfully, Lin Huang did not detect anything out of the ordinary within range of his Divine Telekinesis. Immediately, he let his consciousness sink within his body to check on his personal status.

'Most abilities are not restricted. Monster Cards and multi-function cards are all permissible. Combat Souls and God's Figurines are permissible too. Although Divine Telekinesis has been reduced in range, its strength hasn't been reduced. It's a pity that those god telekinetic weapon relics mentioned in the rules can't be used here.'

After confirming that these restrictions on his abilities did not put him at too much of a disadvantage, Lin Huang felt a bit more at ease.

It was at this moment that a push notification popped up before Lin Huang's eyes.

"Participant, please set a username. If no username is chosen, the participant's real name shall be automatically used. (Username set up is a participant-only privilege. Competitors are required to use their real names in this Trial.)"

"Xie Lin," Lin Huang gave the name he used in the God Territory.

"Set up complete. The participant's name is 'Xie Lin'."

After setting up his name, Lin Huang noticed that he could now check the rankings on the leaderboard.

Lin Huang expanded the leaderboard out of curiosity.

"1. Shen Wushuang: 5 cumulative points"

"2. Yi Ke: 3 cumulative points"

"3. Twin: 3 cumulative points"

…

"32. Fallen Star: 2 cumulative points"

…

"85. Destiny: 2 cumulative points"

The leaderboard listed only the first hundred names. As for competitors who obtained the same amount of cumulative points, the earlier they obtained the points, the higher their position on the leaderboard.

Lin Huang was familiar with the current leading champion, Shen Wushuang—the number one Virtual God in the Combat God Temple and also the number one Virtual God powerhouse in Sword Dao in the entire God Territory.

With five cumulative points, it meant Shen Wushuang had managed to eliminate five competitors in merely an hour. Of course, that did not exclude the possibility that he might have gained the cumulative points from competitors that he defeated.

Twin was second runner-up, which, to Lin Huang, was something quite unexpected.

Based on overall strength, Twin should be the weakest among the four Death Sickle candidates. However, the evaluation was done on a comparative basis. After all, she was still number seventeen among Virtual Gods and one of the stars of the God Territory. Looking at it now, she was clearly skilled at probing, which had given her an early advantage during the Trial.

Lin Huang scanned down the leaderboard and saw many ranked Virtual Gods from the God Territory. He also saw Fallen Star and Destiny's names. One of them was positioned at number 32 while the latter was at 85. Each of them had accumulated 2 points.

In truth, even the 100th person in the last place on the leaderboard had obtained 2 cumulative points.

'Based on Fallen Star and Destiny's stats, obtaining two cumulative points in less than an hour after the Trial started should be the average in terms of kill stats. As for that Shen Wushuang fellow…he either has terrifying probing-type skills, the gods are smiling on his luck, or he gave it his all without holding back the moment the Trial started.'

Based on the cumulative points from Fallen Star, Destiny, and all the names he was familiar with, Lin Huang came up with some rough speculations based on their kill stats.

The Trial had just started. Most participants would want to lie low while quietly attempting to familiarize themselves with the Trial's environment and rules. Therefore, the overall speed of the hunt was currently on the slow side.

The slow pace suited Lin Huang well, however. After all, he had entered the trial space nearly one hour later than everyone else.

'The restriction placed on my Divine Telekinesis' probing range is ridiculously high. If I want to hunt down other competitors, I'll have to use other probing skills…" Even as Lin Huang was speaking, he already had an orange Monster Card in hand.

After the card was crushed, a humanoid figure resembling a bald robotic man of about three meters tall appeared before Lin Huang.

The figure's gleaming, round head was so smooth it reflected the warm glow from the lights.

He had summoned a mechanical Overlord this time.

"Use the fastest, most discreet way to locate all competitors in this trial space."

"No problem." After emitting a series of synthesized sounds, the Overlord scattered countless tiny mechanical insects in every direction like dandelions blown by the wind.

The reason Lin Huang summoned the Overlord and not the Bug Tribe Queen Mother was because the mechanical beings created by the Overlord could camouflage themselves as static metallic items when necessary.

Even if someone was probing with Divine Telekinesis, they might not be able to detect this anomaly.

As Lin Huang was making all the necessary preparations for combat, the other three Death Sickle members experienced some confusion about the same matter.

'What's going on with Xie Lin? The Trial started more than an hour ago and he still hasn't gotten into the top hundred yet?' Twin found this hard to understand.

'Xie Lin hasn't climbed up the ranks yet. Could it be that he's missing some probing abilities?' Fallen Star noticed the absence of Xie Lin's name on the leaderboard and could not help furrowing her brows.

'Boss Xie Lin isn't ranked? Don't tell me he's secretly working on some impressive move?' Destiny had full confidence in Lin Huang's abilities because Lin Huang had been personally recommended by Buried Heaven after all.

In less than half an hour, the Overlord's tiny surveillance bugs found more than thirty participants.

After watching the surveillance footage that the Overlord projected, Lin Huang noticed a familiar face.

However, that did not mean Lin Huang and this person were actually acquainted—Lin Huang merely knew of the person's existence and had read up about him.

After finding out about the Virtual God rankings, Lin Huang had scanned through the leaderboard the first chance he got, then looked on the internet for information on some of the top-ranked people on the list.

In the projection, Shen Wushuang—number one among the Protoss Virtual Gods and a sword cultivator—was the person Lin Huang had paid the most attention to and had looked up the most details for.

Shen Wushuang was the number one genius from the Combat God Temple and a sword cultivator. He was a non-Pure Blood Protoss. Rumor had it that his parents were both big shots in Xeno, a grade-7 organization. Yet, he did not join Xeno. The next day after he came of age, he inconspicuously signed up at one of the Combat God Temple's branches. After joining the Combat God Temple, he had steadily made a name for himself without receiving any preferential treatment.

Due to his impressive talent and good looks, Shen Wushuang had many female fans in the God Territory with female non-Pure Blood Protoss forming the largest percentage of them.

There were even videos of him in combat on the internet, mostly taken by his female fans. Lin Huang had watched some of the videos too and thought that they were not exactly impressive. He could only say that among people of similar combat strength, Shen Wushuang's sword skills were undoubtedly of the highest caliber. However, he still had some ways to go before he could become the Number One Virtual God.

However, in the few years after Shen Wushuang achieved rank-9 Virtual God, he rarely fought in public. The tasks that the Combat God Temple allocated to him were similarly discreet, as though he was intentionally hiding his real ability from public scrutiny.

Moreover, Shen Wushuang's had fans stopped sharing his old combat videos to outsiders as well. The most recent combat video that Lin Huang had watched dated from seven years ago.

Therefore, when Lin Huang saw Shen Wushuang's face in the projection, he could not help but wonder if the Shen Wushuang of today was worthy of his title as the God Territory's Number One Virtual God.

"Overlord, zoom in to his footage."

Lin Huang pointed at Shen Wushuang's face in the surveillance footage.

The footage, originally the size of a palm, was swiftly transformed into a big screen of about fifty inches.

In the video, Shen Wushuang was currently in a room that looked suspiciously like a storeroom and was locked in fierce combat with another person.

After concentrating on the video for a few seconds, Lin Huang could not help raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Is that a Sword Servant?"

In the video, Shen Wushuang's loose long hair gave him a disheveled look. Meanwhile, his opponent was a middle-aged man sporting a beard. Despite his rather ordinary appearance, this man looked as if he was winning this fight with Shen Wushuang.

Both of them clearly displayed skills higher than Level-6 Sword Dao. Going purely by their accomplishments in Sword Dao, Lin Huang felt that they were no weaker than himself.

What prompted Lin Huang to think that Shen Wushuang's opponent was a Sword Servant was that there was no such person in the God Territory's Virtual God ranks. If there had been, this person would have been in the top ranks; at least the top three. Yet, Lin Huang had seen all the pictures of the top twenty Virtual Gods and none of them resembled the person in front of Shen Wushuang.

Of course, the man could have been a resident of the Great Heaven Territory. Lin Huang considered this as well, but he was leaning more towards the assumption that the man was Great Heaven's Sword Servant, who was also a trial BOSS in the Competitive Trial.

Judging by his ability to contain Shen Wushuang's attacks, Lin Huang would not have been at all surprised if the bearded man's actual combat strength was at Heavenly God level.

In the footage, both of them directed their Sword Dao through sheer will.

In the void, shafts of gold and black sword gleams clashed against each other, triggering explosions.

Every sword gleam that they sent out was almost on par with Lin Huang's current abilities.

However, Lin Huang quickly noticed something strange—he suddenly realized that Shen Wushuang was a left-hander.

However, in the combat videos that Lin Huang had watched a few days ago, without exception, Shen Wushuang held his sword in his right hand.

'Has this fellow been hiding his real strength from the very beginning? Or has he realized in recent years that his left hand makes him more skillful, so he switched to cultivating with his left hand instead?'

The fight in the footage fascinated Lin Huang greatly, but it was purely a match of sword skills and Sword Dao. From beginning to end, Shen Wushuang did not utilize other skills and neither did the bearded middle-aged man.

The fight lasted for more than half an hour. When Shen Wushuang started showing defeat, Lin Huang saw his figure retreat frantically out of the storeroom-like space.

The bearded man did not chase after Shen Wushuang however. After he sheathed his sword though, his head suddenly snapped in the direction of the surveillance camera. The screen blacked out in an instant.

"Discovered," the Overlord explained.

"I know." Lin Huang was more convinced now that his upcoming opponent was one of the 300 Sword Servants in this Trial.

Despite being restricted to rank-9 Virtual God abilities, a Heavenly God's detection abilities were far above those of a Virtual God. It was not too much of a surprise that he would have discovered the Overlord's surveillance bugs.

Shen Wushuang might have lost the fight in the footage, but Lin Huang did not dare underestimate him. In the half-hour fight, Shen Wushuang had demonstrated enough of his abilities to prove that he was indeed the Number One Virtual God.

'This bearded fellow in the footage—Sword Servant or not, he'd make a great opponent. He didn't pursue Shen Wushuang when he retreated. Whatever his reasons for not giving chase, I guess he won't pursue his opponents no matter who retreats anyway…' The thought of training with the bearded man arose in Lin Huang's mind. After all, even if Lin Huang could not defeat him, he would not need to use any skills than a direct retreat. 'If I train with an opponent like that, he'd probably be a great help to me in assimilating what I've harvested from the first two stages.'

Most people would prefer to stay away once they realized how powerful the bearded man was. Yet, for Lin Huang, the man was the perfect training target.

"Overlord, plan my route from my current position to this bearded fellow's location. If there are other participants in between, mark them for me too. I can take them out on the way and earn more points," Lin Huang proceeded to make good on his thoughts.

Immediately, the Overlord created a route as directed and projected it to Lin Huang.

"Target is currently located two hundred and eighty kilometers away. Based on the previously determined locations of the Trial participants, we ought to encounter four participants en route. This is calculated based on a ten-kilometer deviation along the route between us and the target. If we take a twenty-kilometer deviation, there'll be nine participants.

"Basically, all the participants are moving around; I'll be constantly updated on their positions. But there's still a problem—the target can detect my probing methods, so he can't be tracked. There's a good chance that he's left his initial position."

"If he's a participant, then he's left for sure. But if he's a Sword Servant, he'd most probably guard his own territory. No matter what, let's go and find out."

Naturally, Lin Huang hoped that the man would remain in the same location. It was hard to find a good opponent after all. If the man turned out to be a participant from the Great Heaven Territory, he would probably not stay in the same spot after a match. With his abilities, the man would be actively out hunting and would probably not linger in the same area.

Nevertheless, Lin Huang decided to go and find out.

Looking at the coordinates on the map, Lin Huang could see that they were getting closer to their first targeted competitor. However, he was still in the process of considering whether he should take the shot himself or let Warlord do it instead.

All of a sudden, their target turned and started running frantically in the opposite direction.

"Well, well… I guess he noticed we were on his tail?" Lin Huang glanced at the map and realized that they were still more than 20,000 meters apart. The fact that their competitor starting fleeing suddenly despite the distance proved that he must have had some sort of ability to sense danger. Their competitor must have noticed that he was being hunted down. "He's straight up fleeing. Could it be he's somehow figured out that there are two of us?"

"Shall I take the shot? Or should we catch up first?" Warlord asked while running beside Lin Huang.

"Can you take him down?" Lin Huang asked doubtfully.

Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis was limited to a range of 1000 meters. The attack range of his telekinetic flying dagger was also 1000 meters at most, or else he would not be able to direct it. Moreover, since under current circumstances he could not lock down his target, it was almost impossible for him to pinpoint the exact location of his opponent. To make things worse, they were also surrounded by many buildings and obstacles. As a result, it was very difficult for him to launch an effective attack over a distance of 20,000 meters.

At Lin Huang's question, Warlord nodded slightly and replied, "I can."

"If that's the case, you should take the shot. Kill him if you can, otherwise, try to buy us some time by slowing him down."

After getting the green light from Lin Huang, three baseball-sized metal spheres suddenly appeared in Warlord's palm. He tossed them up lightly, and the three spheres started floating in mid-air, forming a pattern that was similar to the Chinese character '品'. The metal spheres then flew out of the window at top speed, heading toward the distance.

After a short while, they saw something odd on the surveillance screen.

Three beams of white light resembling sacred rays shone down from the sky, trapping their competitor who was striding down the stairs right after escaping through a door.

Lin Huang heard a terrible scream from the video that sounded as if a cat had gotten its tail stepped on.

After a while, the white beams of light disappeared, and a figure with burnt hair and tattered clothes could be seen slumping to the ground. After struggling valiantly for a little, the figure finally managed to stand up and continued staggering forward.

However, before he had even taken two steps, the three white beams of light shone down on him again, trapping him once more.

Another terrible scream rang out, sounding even more wretched than before.

After a while, the white beams of light vanished once more. The competitor's head was scorched and bald, and his clothes had become so tattered they could barely cover his private parts.

He dropped to the ground again, but this time, he could no longer get up even after many desperate attempts. In the end, he turned around, looked up at the sky and shouted, "I concede!"

His opponent had only attacked him twice, but it was enough to deplete almost all of his Divine Power. This made him painfully aware that he would die if he were to continue struggling. That was why he eventually decided to admit defeat.

While Lin Huang was still gazing at his opponent's rapidly vanishing form, a pop-up message suddenly appeared before his eyes.

'Competitor defeated, Accumulated points: +2'

This competitor should have already accumulated one point. In addition to one extra point that he received after defeating him in battle, Lin Huang now had two points in total.

Lin Huang immediately clicked on his personal page and started going through the details.

'Participant: Xie Lin'

'Points Accumulated: 2'

'Rank: 386'

Although he had two points, Lin Huang was only ranked at 386th place. However, he was unsurprised. After all, the number of competitors who had accumulated two points and above had already exceeded 100 people more than an hour ago.

After closing the page, Lin Huang turned and asked a question that had been on his mind.

"What were those three spheres just now?"

"It's a type of orbital weapon, more suitable for airborne attacks like these where you can't pinpoint your enemy's position. The advantage of using a weapon like this is that it has an extremely long range and is also extremely accurate to within millimeters…" Warlord explained enthusiastically. He rarely voiced his opinions, but he was always a chatterbox when the topic involved machinery.

After listening to his explanation for a while, Lin Huang began to feel overwhelmed by the amount of information, so he had no choice but to interrupt him.

"I think we should head straight for our second target now."

Since their first competitor had conceded defeat, there was no corpse left to plunder. As a result, there was no need for them to head in that direction anymore.

Both of them immediately changed directions and started off toward their second target as fast as they could.

During their journey, Warlord asked, "Shall I take the shot again? I think the Cannonball that we used earlier would be much faster than us."

"Let's wait until we get closer first," Lin Huang demurred, turning down Warlord's proposal this time before continuing, "Let's not act rashly and alert our enemy, otherwise we won't be able to catch up."

Since the walls of the buildings around them were could not be broken through, competitors had no choice but to run between the buildings instead. As a result, most of their movements were hindered. Lin Huang and Warlord were no exception.

It took them about one or two minutes to travel a distance of more than 10 kilometers.

When they were about five kilometers away from their second target, Lin Huang finally said to Warlord, "You can take the shot now."

A second later, the Cannonball that had locked onto the target shot forward, trapping their targeted competitor with three white beams of light like before.

However, this second competitor was tougher than the first.

After realizing that he was being attacked by three metal spheres, he brandished his sword and tried to slice them apart.

However, the outcome was not as he hoped. He could only suffer beating after beating as the spheres attacked, and his multiple retaliations did not manage to even touch a single ball.

In order to contain this competitor's fierce counterattacks, Warlord even personally controlled the Cannonball and attacked him three more times.

In the end, the competitor ended up depleting all of his Divine Power but still refused to admit defeat. Warlord killed him on the spot.

When Lin Huang and Warlord arrived at the scene, they seized whatever loot they managed to find before stashing the corpse in space storage.

By this time, Lin Huang had finally managed to accumulate three points. Although his ranking improved quite a bit, his name still did not appear on the leaderboard.

The top 100 competitors on the leaderboard had already accumulated three points half an hour ago.

"What's the attack power of your Cannonball?" Lin Huang could not help asking Warlord when they were on the way to their third target.

"If it's just one Cannonball, the attack power is about the same as my basic attack. It can cause damage to a Rank-9 Virtual God powerhouse, but it can't finish him off. However, the damage caused by this skill can be increased by stacking, so the attack power of three Cannonballs is almost doubled.

"The higher the number of Cannonballs, the less the stability, and the harder it'll be for me to control them. For now, I can only stack up to eight Cannonballs at most, and that will increase my attack power by about four times…"

Again, Warlord became more chatty than usual as the topic of discussion was about machines.

Feeling helpless, Lin Huang could only interrupt him once more.

"You can ask Bloody to do some research on this skill of yours when she comes back, and see if you can improve it. Stability and control problems shouldn't be that hard to solve. From what I see, it must have something to do with the way you manipulate your energy flow."

Lin Huang and Warlord sped past rows of buildings. The red lanterns hung outside the buildings kept receding from view.

In a world like this where gravity was abnormal, Lin Huang could not even tell which direction was which. This was because gravity existed as long as he could walk on a particular surface. If Warlord's surveillance system had not locked onto their target, Lin Huang would have lost his sense of direction long ago.

After running at top speed for about two to three minutes, both of them finally arrived at the area where their third targeted competitor was.

This competitor was rather strange. It seemed as though he had no intention of actively seeking out other competitors to fight. Instead, he chose to hide in a large closet and conceal his energy, as if he were waiting for his prey to fall into his lap.

He had indeed done a great job of concealing his energy. He did it so well in fact that it was very likely he could avoid being detected by most Virtual God powerhouses who were using Divine Telekinesis.

However, the scanning function of Warlord's little robot probe could penetrate multiple walls, allowing it to see the competitor clearly. Moreover, the robot probe specifically scanned for life aura instead of energy waves. As such, it was pointless for a competitor to conceal his energy.

Looking at the video displayed on the surveillance screen, Lin Huang was a little amused when he saw that his competitor was curled up awkwardly inside the closet.

"Doesn't this fellow realize that it'd be more comfortable for him to sit on a stool inside the closet?"

Warlord suddenly commented when both of them were about 10,000 meters away from this competitor, "Since he's hiding inside a room, my Cannonball won't be that effective. I'll have to use something else."

Cannonballs were mainly used to launch accurate airborne strikes on targets from afar. Using it as normal artillery would be equivalent to giving up its greatest advantage.

Lin Huang was aware of this, so he had no objections. "Just use whatever you want. As I said before, try to buy us some time if you can't finish him off."

Warlord nodded slightly at his words. Suddenly, dozens of thumb-sized metal spheres flew out from his palm. Apart from having a silver coating, they looked exactly like the Golden Snitch used in a Quidditch game.

Ethereal wings sprouted from the metal spheres, but the spheres shook so vigorously that the wings vanished very quickly.

With a wave of his hand, four flying machines appeared instantly in front of Warlord. Each of these machines was about the size of a typical drone seen on Earth. All of them were grey-colored and marvelously designed.

All four machines flew off into the distance at terrifying speed just after they appeared.

"What are these machines?" Lin Huang could not help asking curiously.

"They're a type of weaponized aircraft that utilizes artificial intelligence. Of the four machines you saw just now, two of them are from the Phantom series, while the other two are from the Frenzy series. The Phantom series is by far the fastest and most agile aircraft that I've ever created. On the other hand, the Frenzy series is equipped with the highest firepower."

"What about those small metal spheres?" Lin Huang asked again.

"Those are bombs…"

Before they could even finish speaking, one of the metal spheres could already be seen on the surveillance screen.

The sphere rolled toward the closet, making a faint sound like a glass ball rolling across the floor.

However, even a faint sound like this caused the sturdy man inside the closet to be even more alert to his surroundings.

Using his Divine Telekinesis, he somehow managed to sense the presence of the metal sphere at almost the same time that he heard it. However, he did not find anything out of the ordinary even after scanning the area several times.

With a hint of confusion, the sturdy man used his sword to push open the closet doors ever so slightly.

He looked down at the floor near the closet and soon saw a silver-colored metal sphere rolling along the ground.

"What the hell..?"

Curiosity got the better of him, so he extended his sword and pointed it at the metal sphere.

However, at this moment, the metal sphere suddenly exploded.

A dazzling white light instantly filled the entire room. Big Guy, who had been staring at the metal ball all this while, naturally fell prey to it.

His pupils contracted in the extreme and he was instantly dazzled by the light to where nothing else was visible.

Almost simultaneously, he sensed that there were about 10 small gizmos that had entered one after the other into the range of his Divine Telekinesis.

Those small metal spheres seemed to have somehow traversed some thousand meters of space in an instant, falling into the bedroom that he was in.

Big Guy's vision had barely even recovered before a series of fierce explosions went off the next instant.

Almost instantaneously, the inferno swallowed up the entire wardrobe as well as Big Guy.

The flames had barely subsided when the four weaponized aircraft arrived at the scene.

All of the aircraft quickly switched to attack mode, and each had dozens of additional gun barrels pointing toward the wardrobe where Big Guy had been hiding.

Without waiting for any orders, all four aircraft began firing immediately as soon as they entered the room.

Big Guy was caught in an endless round of gunfire raining down like a furious thunderstorm.

Lin Huang saw a pop-up message before he and Warlord even arrived at the scene.

'Competitor defeated, points accumulated: +1'

"This fellow looked fierce enough and he seemed to be quite powerful as well. I never expected him to be so weak." Lin Huang could not help raising his brows in surprise.

He had initially thought that Warlord would be facing a tough opponent this time, but in the end, that had not happened at all.

However, after recalling the battle proceedings, Lin Huang soon realized that his opponent was not weak; the competitor had merely been dominated by Warlord since the start of the attack. Big Guy was killed before he even had a chance to retaliate.

Lin Huang glanced at his current points and realized that he had already accumulated four points.

However, Lin Huang still did not see his name on the leaderboard. A few minutes ago, the competitor at the 100th place was still at three points, but now, this competitor had already accumulated four points. As for Lin Huang himself, he was ranked at the 101st place.

He merely glanced at the leaderboard and did not give it overmuch attention.

After spending some time to collect the loot from Big Guy and dispose of his corpse, Lin Huang and Warlord resumed their journey and sped in the direction of their fourth targeted competitor.

A few seconds into their journey, both of them saw that their fourth target had already encountered another competitor. The video feed showed that the two competitors were already engaged in a fierce battle.

"Should we make a move now? Or should we wait for them to finish each other off and collect the rewards when the battle is over?" Warlord asked.

"Let's join the fight. We don't know how long the battle will last anyway." Although Lin Huang took pleasure at the thought of getting rewards without lifting a finger, at that moment, he was even more eager to start his Sword Dao practice with the Sword Servant. Besides, he was also impatient to find out whether his opponent was a Sword Servant or just a normal participant like himself.

Since their target was engaged in battle, there was no need for Warlord to dispatch his gizmos to buy them more time.

Moreover, Lin Huang had not engaged in a fight ever since he began participating in this Trial. He was actually dying to fight with somebody, so he thought of using this opportunity as a warm-up session.

Several minutes later, Lin Huang and Warlord finally located the two competitors and boldly appeared before them.

The sudden emergence of a third party caused an instant reduction in the vicious aura emitted by the two competitors toward each other. Both of them redirected their hostility toward Lin Huang and Warlord instead

After all, this Trial was an elimination tournament. As a result, almost every participant was regarded as an enemy.

The two competitors even began conspiring telepathically, discussing whether or not they should team up so that they could eliminate this new third party.

"Stop whispering to each other and take me on at the same time!" Lin Huang sensed that they were telepathically communicating with each other. Although he could not intercept the messages, he could guess what they were talking about.

As soon as Lin Huang finished speaking, the two competitors turned and charged towards him simultaneously.

However, at that moment, Lin Huang raised his eyebrows and his eyes flashed with a bright sword gleam.

The next moment, the two competitors stiffened simultaneously.

"Competitor defeated, points accumulated: +3."

"Competitor defeated, points accumulated: +4."

Two notification boxes popped up at the same time.

Lin Huang raised his brows and accessed his personal page to check on his points and ranking.

"Participant: Xie Lin."

"Points Accumulated: 11."

"Rank: 2."

Unrivaled Combat God was still first on the leaderboard with 14 points.

Yi Ke, who was originally in second place with 10 points, had been pushed by Lin Huang into third place.

Lin Huang's sudden soaring in rank instantly attracted the attention of many competitors.

After all, everyone would access the leaderboard for a look when they were bored. When someone suddenly shot up to second place, it was very noticeable.

"What's going on? Where did this second rank come from all of a sudden?"

"Xie Lin? The name doesn't ring a bell. Seems like he's not a member of any six or seven-star organization. I guess he's just a nobody from some small organization."

"I checked the leaderboard once about three minutes ago and I'm sure I didn't see this name! It's only been three minutes and his ranking soared to second place, he can't be cheating, can he?"

…

Seeing that Xie Lin had suddenly skyrocketed to second place on the leaderboard, all the competitors fell into a heated discussion.

The only few who remained calm were Lin Huang and the few members of Death Sickle.

"Is it possible that his points are only starting to go up now because this fellow's probing ability is more time-consuming?" Fallen Star mumbled softly, looking at Xie Lin's name on the leaderboard.

"No wonder he was able to kill the Bug King and Bug Queen!

"No wonder he's highly regarded by Master Buried Heaven!"

Looking at the latest version of the leaderboard, Twin's two heads both let out a heavy sigh at the same time.

"So Boss Xie Lin really was preparing for a big move before this; now he's suddenly soared to second place!" Destiny said with an excited laugh as if he were the one who had risen to second place instead. "Looking at how his points are accumulating at this rate; it's just a matter of time before he overtakes Unrivaled Combat God."

…

Naturally, Lin Huang was aware that the sudden increase in his points would attract attention.

He had no intention of being so high-profile in the first place. His original plan was to take on a few unlucky competitors along the way before encountering the Sword Slave. If things had gone according to his original plan, he would only have encountered four competitors midway. If those four did not have any accumulated points, he would only have attained four basic points, which meant that he would not even be able to make it into the top one hundred ranks on the leaderboard. However, he did not expect to bump into five competitors along the way or that the last two would give him seven points.

Since he had already made it to second place and his rapid rise had been seen by many competitors, Lin Huang decided to just let nature take its course.

After all, people would start noticing him sooner or later if he managed to get into first place. Regardless, Lin Huang was not too concerned about drawing attention.

After defeating the five unlucky competitors along the way, Lin Huang and Warlord continued their journey at full speed.

Because he was unable to monitor the powerhouse whom he still suspected of being a "Sword Servant", Lin Huang was uncertain whether or not the other party was still at the same place. He could only use the coordinates previously provided by Warlord as a rough guide, and hurry there as fast as he could.

After approximately three or four minutes, both of them finally arrived at the area where Unrivaled Combat God and the "Sword Servant" had fought previously.

When the storeroom-like space appeared within range of Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis, he could sense a certain aura in the room right away.

Although the intensity of the aura was merely at that of a Virtual God rank-9, it was sending a vague sense of danger to Lin Huang.

"It's that fellow!" With just a hint of the aura, Lin Huang had already determined that this other party was indeed the "Sword Servant" he had seen in the video. In fact, he had further affirmed the identity of the Sword Servant as well.

Under normal circumstances, a fellow who was able to counter the skills of someone like Unrivaled Combat God usually would not remain in the same place and wait idly for another opponent to come by. The only reasonable explanation was that the other party was a Sword Servant who was unable to leave the zone that he had been designated to guard.

Right as Lin Huang sensed the other party, the other party sensed Lin Huang's and Warlord's approach as well.

Perhaps it was because the other party was upset after previously being disturbed by Unrivaled Combat God. At the appearance of Lin Huang and Warlord, the powerhouse in the so-called storeroom immediately sent his Sword Dao toward the approaching duo.

Driven by a powerful will, the Sword Dao—almost True Martial Level in its strength—surged toward Lin Huang like a wave.

This time around, the other party was not actually directly attacking, but trying to force Lin Huang and Warlord to retreat by using Sword Dao. There was no sign of any sword gleam either.

Seeing the other party's "courteous" welcome, Lin Chuang could not help itching to exercise his skills. He responded in kind, using true god-level will to send his Sword Dao out in the form of waves.

The two colorless unseen waves collided in the air, setting off an earth-shattering blast.

This was the ultimate clash of Sword Dao.

Those who had not yet reached True Meaning Level would not be able to sense anything unusual. If one were accidentally involved in such a confrontation, however, even a Virtual God rank-9 powerhouse might be smashed to smithereens from the massive tidal waves caused by the collision of Sword Dao against each other.

Fortunately, right before Lin Huang made his move, he had already secretly commanded Warlord to leave the battlefield.

This was a duel between two top-tiered Sword Dao powerhouses. Lin Huang was burning with excitement whereas his opponent was surprised.

Lin Huang's opponent thought that this was a mere amateur challenging him since the intensity of Lin Huang's and Warlord's auras came nowhere close to that of Unrivaled Combat God.

However, in this short engagement, he immediately realized that he had underestimated Lin Huang. Although he was still unable to determine Lin Huang's true abilities, he at least knew that his opponent's Sword Dao level was not that far below his own.

The collision of the two Sword Dao was like two opposing waves slamming together. For a long time, it was hard to determine which was the winner or loser.

Lin Huang only waited for a short while, and when he saw no result, he whipped his sword out right away.

The dark red blade sliced through the void like a paper-knife slicing through a thin sheet of paper.

Under the blade stroke, the opponent's Sword Dao finally collapsed.

With a slight smirk, Lin Huang withdrew his Sword Dao as he landed on the ground firmly with both feet. Then, he raced toward the warehouse.

Within seconds, his figure darted past countless buildings, finally arriving in front of the "warehouse".

At a closer glance, before him was no warehouse, but a five-story house that was slightly larger than usual.

With just one brief glance, Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis spread out and immediately locked onto his opponent's exact location.

He leaped into the air once again as he darted through a window and landed in a room on the fifth floor.

Less than 20 meters away from Lin Huang stood a slightly plump, bearded man.

Lin Huang sized up his opponent curiously. If not for the vague Sword Dao emanating from him, this person seemed extremely ordinary with no sign of the aura a powerhouse should have.

Instead of attacking immediately, the bearded man eyed Lin Huang from head to toe as if he was trying to put a clear face to the person who was able to challenge his Sword Dao.

"If I'm not mistaken, you're one of the three hundred guarding the BOSS, am I right?"

Lin Huang asked straight away. Although he had already guessed earlier, he wanted to hear the answer from the horse's mouth.

"That's right," the bearded man replied with a nod, "I already have some ideas as to who you are as well. You're not a competitor, are you?"

"I'm the participant who initiated this Trial," Lin Huang replied honestly. After all, he was not concerned about letting the other party know about such things. If the other party was Great Heaven's Sword Servant, it was unlikely that he would leak the information to the other competitors.

At Lin Huang's answer, the bearded man's expression instantly turned serious. His aura began to churn and even his beard seemed to have been stirred as if by a gust of wind. The dispirited middle-aged man from seconds ago was suddenly transformed into a magnificent king in an instant.

"Come on then; let me see if you are qualified to receive the inheritance of the swordmaster!"

Great Heaven's three hundred Saber Servants were Heavenly Gods during their lifetimes, so they were relatively bold and powerful in the great world.

The only thing was that because this Trial was initiated by Lin Huang, all three hundred Saber Servants' combat strength, physical qualities, and even their Sword Dao were significantly restricted.

However, even so, the abilities of these Saber Servants could not be underestimated.

After all, they had heavenly god-level experience and insight, so even at the same level as the others, their powers and abilities would definitely surpass those of most Virtual Gods.

Even Unrivaled Combat God, the number one Virtual God genius in the God Territory, was almost entirely at a disadvantage when facing the bearded man.

It was not too much to say that even if the bearded man was hard-pressed in a fight, his various attributes were already at the very peak limits of a Virtual God rank-9. Given the disparity between personal combat experience and combat consciousness, it came as no surprise that a Virtual God genius as strong as Unrivaled Combat God could be easily defeated.

However, when the bearded man encountered Lin Huang, the situation completely changed.

The bearded man's Sword Dao had been suppressed to the level of half-step Sword Dao true meaning, whereas Lin Huang's Sword Dao had also achieved half-step Sword Dao true meaning.

The bearded man's will was restricted to that of a Virtual God rank-9 while Lin Huang's will was already at true god-level.

The bearded man's physical strength had been limited to that of a Virtual God rank-9 as well while Lin Huang's physical strength was almost at true god-level, boosted by Tyrant and other imperial monsters.

The bearded man's Divine Telekinesis was limited to that of a Virtual God rank-9 while Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis was boosted to true god-level by Seamless.

The bearded man was restricted from using his true god-level God Rule Power but Lin Huang had mastered the God-slaying Power, which enabled him to directly use God Rule Power.

In every aspect, Lin Huang was no worse off than the bearded man. In fact, he might even be more powerful in certain attributes.

Both figures collided in the air constantly, the battle swords in their hands clashing together nigh-on millions of times within a mere few minutes.

All the furniture in the room shattered into pieces. The walls, the floor, and even the ceiling were all heavily damaged without a single inch unscathed.

However, the walls did not crumble, the floor had not yet collapsed, and the ceiling still seemed firm and solid with no signs of caving in.

Lin Huang devoted himself wholeheartedly to this battle; he did not even use his God-slaying Power.

This was not so that battle would be fair, but to further the absorption of his gains.

Every strike against the bearded man's sword helped him absorb more Sword Dao nutrients.

Even when his Sword Dao had reached its limit in absorption, he could sense the veil that separated him from achieving Sword Dao true meaning getting thinner and thinner.

The intense battle between the two continued for hours, where every stroke of the sword was met by an equally ferocious parry. The lightning-like sword gleams, red and black, were a flurry of motion in the air, but both combatants received not a single scratch.

Immersed as he was in the battle, Lin Huang did not notice his change of rank on the leaderboard.

As early as half an hour into his initial encounter with the bearded man, his 11 points had already been overtaken by the third and fourth-ranked competitors.

Roughly about an hour later, his ranking dropped to thirteenth place.

By the time another hour had passed, he had dropped to thirty-sixth place.

…

Many people were secretly discussing why Lin Huang's points remained static.

"I told you so; Xie Lin is just a nobody. Look, two and a half hours have passed now and his points haven't gone up at all. It's impossible that they can't detect a participant after a whole two and a half hours, right?"

"Like I said, which organization did this fellow pop up from? How is it possible for him to rival Unrivaled Combat God's unbelievable power?!"

"His points skyrocketed just a few minutes earlier, but they haven't changed for more than an hour now. However you look at it, it still looks like his points were obtained by cheating!"

…

Several people in Death Sickle were confused as well.

Lin Huang had shown his true abilities previously, but why had he suddenly gone quiet and become inactive for more than two hours?

"What's going on? He's not hiding something up his sleeve again, is he?" Destiny had complete faith in Lin Huang's capabilities and believed that Lin Huang was plotting a big move during this lull.

"Can it be that the detection devices have malfunctioned?" Fallen Star frowned slightly. Naturally, she would much rather see Lin Huang take first place instead of Unrivaled Combat God. After all, he was a member of Death Sickle.

"Xie Lin's quiet again. I wonder if he's just toying with us?" Twin's fiery red-haired right head laughed.

"There are many possibilities…for example, he might have suddenly had an epiphany, the detection devices might have malfunctioned, he might be trapped somewhere and can't get out, or he could be in a bad mood and doesn't want to do anything…" Twin's icy blue-haired head did not find the situation strange at all.

"Which scenario do you think is the most likely then?" The fiery red-haired head asked immediately.

"How would I know? You can ask Lin Huang yourself, then you'll find out," the icy blue head replied.

…

Meanwhile, the battle between Lin Huang and the bearded man continued.

Lin Huang had not yet stopped because every stroke of his sword meant his gains increased.

The bearded man showed no sign of stopping as well because it was his natural duty to train with the swordmaster's future heir. Even if the other party might not be able to obtain Great Heaven's inheritance, at least he did demonstrate the potential to become an heir.

Of course, one of the conditions for the bearded man to be a training partner for the heir was that the heir had to prove their ability to counter his attacks unreservedly, and Lin Huang had proven himself capable of doing so.

Time continued to tick by and more sword marks appeared on the walls of the room.

All of a sudden, a swift slice and the edge of Lin Huang's sword grazed the bearded man's cheek, drawing a drop of blood.

Lin Huang smiled as he sheathed his sword.

The bearded man instantly retreated several dozen meters away and sheathed his sword as well. "I've lost!" He folded his hands together and raised them in salute to Lin Huang.

"It was just a casual duel; think of it as us comparing notes. There's no win or lose here," Lin Huang said with a smile as he shook his head, "Besides, you had all kinds of restrictions put on you so you didn't get to show your true abilities."

"A loss is a loss, there's no excuse," the bearded man said with a wave of his hand.

"However, the swordmaster has over tens of thousands of sword cultivators. Even at heavenly god-level, there are over three hundred and sixty cultivators, all of whom are good with swords. Among the three hundred and sixty, I'm considered average. I know a bit of everything here and there; I don't really like to stick to just one path, so my abilities are average. If you want to earn more gains, challenge the other sword cultivators under other swordmasters. I believe you'll gain more."

"Let me give you another piece of advice. If your Sword Dao can't achieve True Martial Level, you should just forego the final assessment. Otherwise, you'll die!"

"Participant Xie Lin defeated BOSS, points accumulated: +100!"

A push notification popped up in front of all the competitors.

Lin Huang was no exception.

When he saw the push notification appear, he was stunned.

"What on earth? Does that mean other competitors received this announcement as well?!"

To be honest, this was something that Lin Huang wished had not happened as the announcement revealed his identity as the participant. Although many might still be too confused to wrap their minds around the differences between 'participant' and 'competitor' at such short notice, there had to be some who noticed that something was amiss.

Naturally, the same group of people would start making assumptions about Lin Huang's identity.

After the 'global' announcement disappeared, only then did Lin Huang's personal push notification appear.

"Sword Servant defeated, points accumulated: +100"

On his personal page, Lin Huang's original 11 points had increased to 111 points.

On the leaderboard, Lin Huang's name rocketed to first place, far ahead of Shen Wushuang who was the current first runner-up.

Shen Wushuang only had 49 points currently—not even half of Lin Huang's points.

At this moment, Shen Wushuang stood at under the eaves of a house, gazing from afar at the small building where the bearded middle-aged man was. His brows creased slightly as he brooded.

'Could someone really defeat that fellow?! Despite the various restrictions placed on him, he's still a Heavenly God nonetheless. Under the restrictions, all of their abilities are capped at virtual god-level and their Sword Dao is at half-step True Meaning Level. Other than that, their combat experiences and consciousness far exceed that of a Virtual God…how did that fellow manage it?'

Shen Wushuang was quite sure that Lin Huang had not won with the help of a team.

Firstly, the trial had only been in progress for less than half a day and the competitors' placement was all random. It was not possible for Lin Huang to locate members from the same organization and team up together in such a short amount of time.

Secondly, even with restricted strength, a Heavenly God was not an opponent who could be defeated just by forming a team. If the challengers' Sword Dao was not on par with the BOSS, it would not make any difference whether it was one challenger or a hundred challengers. In the BOSS' eyes, all of them were no threat at all.

Thirdly, all 300 trial BOSSes specialized in different fields respectively; each of them had different weaknesses as well. In theory, everyone could form teams based on the BOSS' weakness to increase their chances of winning. However, it was only the first day of the Trial. Whether it was the location of each BOSS, their abilities, or weaknesses, nobody really knew any of that yet. It had already been difficult for him to find himself a team in just half a day, not to mention he and his teammates bumped into a BOSS who annihilated them moments after the team was formed.

The only possibility that occurred to Shen Wushuang was that this fellow named Xie Lin was so powerful that he defeated the BOSS on his own.

Moreover, unlike most people, Shen Wushuang's focus was usually on different things.

Many smartasses noticed the use of the word "participant" almost immediately.

"Participant? Based on previous push notifications, shouldn't all of us be called "competitors"? Does it mean participants and competitors are the same and I'm overthinking things? Or does it mean that this Xie Lin person is different from the rest?

"Participant?! He can't be the person who initiated this Competitive Trial, can he?"

"This Xie Lin is somehow different from the rest of us…"

…

Most competitors, however, did not notice the different words used in the push notification.

"Don't participants and competitors simply mean people who are participating in the trial? What's the point of nitpicking at those minor details?"

They were mostly concerned about the BOSS' defeat at Lin Huang's hands.

"God, please accept my kneecaps as an offering so I can defeat the Heavenly God BOSS (simplified version)!"

"The reason why he was quiet for the past two hours must have been because he was fighting the BOSS. The end boss is so OP!1"

"He defeated the BOSS who's a Heavenly God, and you're saying he's not cheating?! Despite being restricted in all aspects, we're still talking about a Heavenly God powerhouse! Anyway, I'm a hundred and one percent convinced that no Virtual God could have beaten an opponent like that!"

"That fellow must be a participant from outside the God Territory. With abilities like that, he must be among the top ten Virtual Gods, if not number one. But this name, Xie Lin, I've never even heard of him in the God Territory. Could he be a local super-genius from the Great Heaven Territory?!"

…

The few Death Sickle members had mixed responses as well.

"He managed to defeat a BOSS who was maxed out at virtual god-level? Seems he's much stronger than I imagined." Fallen Star was very aware of how powerful even a suppressed Heavenly God could be. She had no confidence that she could defeat one herself. Read latest chapters at NovelFull

"From the looks of things, it looks like Master Buried Heaven made the right choice," mumbled both of Twin's heads at the same time.

"Boss Xie Lin is OP!" Destiny was an absolutely NC fan.1

Meanwhile, Lin Huang remained in the small five-story building.

After fighting the bearded middle-aged man and briefly checking his accumulated points, Lin Huang immediately sat down with his legs crossed and started absorbing the gains from this fight.

Warlord stood guard by Lin Huang, not stirring even an inch from his side.

Lin Huang started replaying the fight in his head rapidly, lapping up all the minor details. Even though the bearded man did not think too highly of himself—admitting that he was not very skilled at everything he learned—in the eyes of any Virtual God sword cultivator, he was at peak capacity. For Lin Huang, he was a rare opponent.

The bearded man was way more proficient in sword techniques than Lin Huang—this was why Lin Huang could unleash all of his abilities without reservation. To defeat the bearded man, Lin Huang had exhausted almost all of his own sword techniques. In fact, Lin Huang had even utilized many of the inheritances obtained from the Demon Sword Tomb which he had yet to practice.

The fight had been extremely satisfying, but he learned a lot too.

Lin Huang sat for more than two hours in the small building.

Although his Sword Dao strength was already maxed out to its limits, Lin Huang could feel that his Sword Dao was almost at the breakthrough point.

His accumulated experience had reached its maximum limits too. He could now see the vague form of Sword Dao true meaning behind the proverbial window paper. All that was left for him to do was to break through the paper covering the window, so to speak.

However, Lin Huang was aware that he could not rush it. Even though he could sense his breakthrough, it still depended on luck and opportunity.

If luck was on his side and the time was right, he might achieve that breakthrough in his next fight.

If he was not lucky enough or it was not his time yet, he might not be able to breakthrough in the next three hundred fights.

'It's most crucial to not be anxious at moments like this.' Lin Huang was clearly aware that pivotal moments like this required him to stay calm. Otherwise, he might jeopardize his chances and mess up.

After Lin Huang composed himself again, he snapped his head toward Warlord

"Have you discovered other Sword Servants?"

"Currently, I have discovered eighteen suspicious locations. My surveillance bugs have all disappeared for no reason after getting close. There is a high probability that those are areas guarded by Sword Servants but there's still the possibility of strong competitors finding the surveillance bugs," Warlord replied instantly.

"There shouldn't be too many competitors who can do that. Let's go to each area and find out since most of those areas are almost certainly where the Sword Servants are standing guard. So what if they're competitors? We fight when we need to. We need to decide who wins and who loses eventually," Lin Huang said confidently. Then, he added shamelessly, "If I bump into a super-genius who can dominate this entire era, I'll just run away if I can't beat them. It won't be that hard to run away, right?"

Under the night sky, red lanterns bathed the rows of uneven buildings in a reddish glow.

Lin Huang slowed his pace, gaze stopping at a small upside-down three-story building not too far in front of him.

Based on what Warlord had described, the surveillance bugs had disappeared after venturing into this area. It was most probably the work of a Sword Servant who was standing guard here.

Immediately after Lin Huang stepped into the area, his Divine Telekinesis detected someone's presence in the inverted three-story building.

According to his Divine Telekinesis, this someone was a petite young lady who was currently sitting with her legs crossed in the middle of a living room located on the first story. Her eyes were closed, and she was pretending to be asleep.

After seeing this, Lin Huang could definitely confirm her identity as a guardian Sword Servant.

However, as soon as Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis registered her presence, the young lady detected the intrusion into her territory as well.

Her eyes snapped open. Despite having her back to Lin Huang, she merged her Sword Dao with a ferocious determination and sent it shooting toward Lin Huang.

In the blink of an eye, a flash of purple starlight streaked across thousands of meters like lightning, aiming directly at the point between Lin Huang's eyebrows.

Lin Huang responded almost immediately. Merging his will and his Sword Dao into a flashing blood-red gleam, he aimed a slash at the approaching beam of starlight.

In the void, a needle-thin purple glow and a hair-fine blood-red gleam collided with each other.

It was a pure clash of Sword Dao that was directed by sheer will. The attacks were devoid of Divine Power or sword gleam.

For sword cultivators whose Sword Dao had yet to reach level-6, they would be completely unable to see that small glowing purple dot and the faint blood-red gleam, much less go up against such power.

The two splashes of color canceled each other out as they clashed, without a trace of color or sound.

However, the aftermath of the clash between two Sword Dao of near-True Meaning Level rippled across the material world—a gale rose from between the rows of buildings, causing lanterns in the vicinity of several hundred kilometers to sway violently.

"A very keen stroke !" Lin Huang commented with a laugh.

He did not commend his opponent's speed nor praise his opponent for having impressive Sword Dao. In a sentence, Lin Huang had honed in on the direction of his opponent's Sword Dao cultivation.

Without haste, the petite lady stood up and turned around to look at Lin Huang. Her gaze seemed to pierce through the door and alight on Lin Huang's face.

"Yours isn't too bad either."

"Participant Xie Lin," Lin Huang introduced himself with a smile. At the same time, another god battle sword relic appeared in his hand.

The petite lady's battle sword rapidly materialized in her hand as well.

"Sword Servant under Master Great Heaven, Sword126."

Lin Huang experienced some surprise when his opponent announced her name.

He once heard a similar name—Sword11.

'Could it be that Sword11 is also a Sword Servant from Great Heaven?!' The thought flitted across Lin Huang's mind but was instantly suppressed. 'No, Sword11's real name is Liu Ren. He only changed his name to Sword11 after Swordfiend Abyss…'

Lin Huang did not brood on this. The idea only lingered in his head briefly before it was consigned to the back of his mind. After all, with a strong opponent in front of him, a small distraction could potentially cost him the entire fight.

The moment Sword126 spoke from a few thousand meters away, the main door to the first floor of the small building opened on its own.

Sword126 stood on the upside-down floor and gazed at Lin Huang who stood on the distant roof of another building.

Lin Huang focused his attention on Sword126 too.

Across from him stood a petite woman whose height reached slightly over a hundred and fifty meters. She had the youthful face of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl. Moreover, she had breasts that were disproportionately large compared to the rest of her body.

This woman who stood before Lin Huang perfectly encapsulated the phrase, "big boobs with a child-like complexion".

She wore a plain black Taoist robe that could barely contain her ample bosom, and she had shaved her golden hair like a boy. Her sharp eyes scanned Lin Huang up and down.

"What are you looking at?"

The woman's gaze became hostile when she realized Lin Huang's gaze was fixated on her chest.

"I like the way you carry your Taoist robe," Lin Huang hastily changed the topic. He was well aware that he could not tell the truth at moments like this, otherwise, this lady might butcher him. One could never underestimate a woman's wrath.

Based on her hairstyle and attire, Lin Huang knew this was a woman who prioritized Sword Dao more than anything. Paying attention to anything other than her Sword Dao would be a form of violation, as far as she was concerned.

Knowing Lin Huang was deliberately avoiding the question, the anger in Sword126's eyes showed no signs of diminishing.

"Participant, attack!"

"I won't hold back then." Lin Huang gave a brief nod.

His right hand gripped the hilt of his sword and unsheathed it the next instant. The flash of a red gleam blossomed like a new moon in the night sky.

Almost simultaneously, Sword126 unsheathed her sword too.

The sword in her hand was very unique—it had an extremely narrow body the width of two fingers; other than the spine of the blade, the body of the sword was all blade; the tip of the sword was as thin as a sharp needle.

Seeing the sword that was narrower than a saber, Lin Huang could not help raising a brow.

However, he immediately identified the approach she used in her Sword Dao.

Narrow swords like this were best suited for medium to short-range slashes and thrusts.

True to his expectations, the moment the narrow sword cleared its sheath, Sword126 trained the point of her sword on Lin Huang—this was Single Sword Thrust.

The point of the sword seemed to slice the air apart. Wherever the sharp edge of her sword sliced through, the body of the sword appeared as a blur, leaving only the sword tip blazing with an electric gleam akin to a flash of lightning.

The next moment, the electric gleam shot across the sky, triggering blasts of air around the body of the sword.

Despite making a move after Lin Huang, Sword126 moved much faster than him.

In the void, a blood-red new moon and a streak of purple lightning collided with each other.

In an instant, blinding rays of reddish-purple exploded into the air and lit up half the sky.

It was as though dawn had arrived in the surrounding areas.

It must be noted that they were not fighting in an empty space. The entire place was a sea of buildings. Despite the obstacles created by row upon row of interspersed buildings, the brightness of the rays still could travel hundreds of kilometers away, evidence of just how terrifying their moves were.

It was different from their first encounter, which was merely a clash of Sword Dao. This time, both of them went all out unrestrained.

Under the influence of two strong wills, maxed out Sword Dao and Divine Power were fully unleashed.

Explosive thunder boomed across the space tens of thousands of times. Countless buildings trembled as though there was an earthquake.

In the Competitive Trial space, there were many competitors near the place where Lin Huang and Sword126 were fighting.

The competitors freaked out when they sensed the anomalies that were happening.

"Who's fighting?! Why is the battle so terrifying?!"

"I can't even penetrate through the walls of the buildings here. Who in the world could cause such tremors?!"

"This isn't caused by mere mortals. I don't believe anyone has that sort of power. Yep, it must be an earthquake!"

"Great Heaven's inheritance lives up to its name indeed—it's hard to believe that there's such a powerful beast among us competitors. Who can it be, I wonder? Xie Lin, or Unrivaled Combat God? Or is it those fellows who've been training in secret?"

In the void, rays of purple and red flashed continuously like two moving spotlights.

It sounded like millions of thunderbolts booming loudly every time they crashed into each other.

To those who were unaware of what was going on, they might think there was a thunderstorm in the Trial space.

The battle between Lin Huang and Sword126 had already lasted for more than an hour.

Sword126 was undeniably strong but in a different way from the bearded middle-aged man Lin Huang encountered before. Similar to Lin Huang, the bearded man developed himself holistically with almost no short staves.1

Yet, Sword126 chose an alternative path. She only used only three attacks—thrusts, downward cuts, and upward cuts, with thrusts consisting of 80% of all her attacks. She only used cuts if thrusts were ineffective.

Of course, she had perfected her thrusts. Each one was blindingly fast and at an angle that was hard to deal with.

That was why Lin Huang was constantly kept on his toes when he was battling Sword126. A momentary distraction could lead to her piercing through his brain or heart in a single stroke.

In reality, Sword126's cultivation method could easily dispatch weaker opponents in no time. However, the tables could be turned easily if she met a match like Lin Huang instead.

No matter how powerful her thrusts or how varied her moves, her attacks were still too easy to read. In a fight where she faced an opponent equally as strong, as long as the opponent lasted a certain amount of time, understood the way she attacked, and got used to the rhythm of her attacks, she would be checkmated.

Lin Huang got used to Sword126's style of attack in a mere half an hour. The rest for the hour, he continued fighting her to learn her thrusts while using this fight to hasten the assimilation process of what he had learned from her.

Although Sword126 utilized various thrusts and cuts to fill in the weaknesses in her attack style—it was becoming obvious that the chances of her winning the battle diminished by the hour.

Even though it seemed like she came off more aggressive than her opponent, only the parties involved understood that it was Lin Huang who was in full control of the battle. He had familiarized himself with her combat style and secured his chances of winning.

Even if Lin Huang did not possess moves powerful enough to wipe her out and this stalemate could go on for an extended period, she had lost the battle. She had used up all of her moves but nothing affected Lin Huang.

Sword126 did not bother making things complicated. Once she was sure that she had no chance of winning, she swiftly dodged his attack and retreated to the small building where she stood guard. She returned to standing on the inverted floor and looked at Lin Huang from an upside-down position.

After sheathing her sword, she threw at Lin Huang expressionlessly, "You won."

"Thank you for going easy on me." Since his opponent had already surrendered, there was nothing Lin Huang could do but to sheathe his sword as well.

Initially, he had wanted to train as much as possible with her. Yet, the moment she realized there was no way she could win, she simply surrendered.

Lin Huang let it pass. After all, there were still 298 Sword Servants waiting for him. There was no need to stay here and try to wring blood from a stone.

"No need to be polite. You're not weak, that's for sure," said Sword126 bluntly, "However, if you're thinking about obtaining Great Heaven's inheritance, you still have a long way to go."

"I've heard the same thing from the person before you," Lin Huang smiled at her. He did not think too much about it because it was not her intention to insult him. She was simply telling the truth.

According to the bearded man, Lin Huang would have to achieve a breakthrough to Sword Dao True Meaning Level if Lin Huang wished to pass the final trial. Although Sword126 did not come right out and say it, Lin Huang knew what she implied. Otherwise, she would not have pointed out how far Lin Huang was from achieving his goal.

"Oh, that's right. I wanted to ask you. Do all Sword Servants have numerical names similar to yours?" Lin Huang could not help asking.

"Yes." Sword126 did not avoid the question.

"Is there one named Sword11?"

"Of course. Our names are listed in order starting from Sword1," Sword126 explained.

If she had been talking to a competitor, she would not bring up such matters. However, Lin Huang was the participant who initiated the Competitive Trial. Although his chances of success were very low, he was still the person who would potentially obtain Great Heaven's inheritance. Moreover, if the participants failed the Trial, they would probably die in the Trial as well. Even if they survived, their memories of anything related to the Great Heaven inheritance would be wiped clean. Therefore, there was no need to worry about participants leaking secrets about the Great Heaven inheritance to external parties.

Lin Huang was dumbstruck to hear Sword126's reply. He had asked the question out of curiosity but he did not expect such a startling answer.

Before hearing Sword126's reply, Lin Huang had always thought that it was a mere coincidence that Liu Ren had changed his name to Sword11. Now, it seemed like there was more to that than met the eye.

"Could you tell me what kind of rules are used to determine your name sequence then?" Lin Huang pressed.

"Of course it's based on our abilities, what else?" Sword126 retorted instead. Suddenly, as though she recalled something, she gave Lin Huang a wary glance. "That's all I can tell you. You can stop asking about Sword Servants now. If your abilities aren't powerful enough to obtain the inheritance, there's no point in you learning about all these things."

Sword126's response cut off all possibilities of Lin Huang asking more questions. Lin Huang thought he could ask more about Sword11, but it was apparent that she no longer wished to reveal more.

'Seems like I can only start looking for other Sword Servants and see if I can find out more,' Lin Huang thought.

Watching Sword126 slowly vanishing, Lin Huang's mind wavered.

There was something about Sword11 that he was concerned about.

However, seconds later, a push notification appeared and forced him to return to reality.

"Participant Xie Lin defeated BOSS, points accumulated: +100!"

It was yet another 'global' announcement.

After seeing this announcement, nearly three thousand competitors started to feel stressed out.

Those who suspected Lin Huang of cheating now held their tongues.

He might have cheated the first time, but he had now successfully eliminated his opponents twice.

He might have wormed his way through loopholes in the rules for the first instance. Yet, doing it for the second time sounded somewhat improbable. It was highly unlikely that a loophole as big as this existed in the trial rules. Therefore, the only explanation was that he was truly, undeniably strong.

Naturally, after knowing about this monster in the trial, many competitors retreated into spectator mode. After all, the possibility of them emerging as the champion was nearly zero now, so they might as well watch how things unfolded.

The ones who were most stressed out right now were none other than Unrivaled Combat God and the few who were trained in secret by various organizations.

When Unrivaled Combat God first climbed up the ranks, those who were secretly trained did not mind so much. Firstly, they knew the extent of his abilities. Secondly, the trial had only just started then. The difference between everyone's cumulative points was not that extensive. All of them thought the endgame fight for points between competitors was the real deal.

However, a newbie whom no one had heard of had appeared out of the blue and eliminated two BOSSes in a row. The difference in cumulative points between them and the number one ranking was far too steep now. They could hardly keep calm.

As an analogy, people from this particular group could be compared to those overachievers who obtained marks higher than 680 every time. All of a sudden, a new student transferred to their school and obtained more than 700 marks in two mock exams back to back. It was impossible to not feel challenged.

After defeating Sword126, Lin Huang hurried towards the next possible Sword Servant location with Warlord.

Lin Huang no longer considered hunting down other competitors.

Currently, all the competitors' accumulated points were still rather low and their Sword Dao was not as strong as Lin Huang's. The Trial would only last for ten days, so Lin Huang refused to waste his precious time on them. He would rather fight the Sword Servants, no matter what his accumulated points were. His priority right now was to ensure that he learned something from every fight.

After the hour-plus fight with Sword126, the number of potential Sword Servant locations had increased to thirty-one.

Lin Huang followed the route that Warlord had laid out and arrived at the next location in no time.

This time, the Sword Servant was located in a rundown double-story building. He was a lanky man dressed in a grey robe by the name of Sword33.

After hearing the number of his name, Lin Huang knew this fellow was much stronger than Sword126.

Lin Huang's assumption was proven right after they engaged in combat.

Sword33's Sword Dao path was very simple—if one move was all it took to solve the problem, never make a second move. If a straightforward attack was all it took to settle things, never deviate.

The only aim of his swordsmanship was to use the simplest move to achieve the best result.

His methods were unlike Sword126's more circuitous methods whereby her moves did not vary greatly and were executed in simple sequences.

The foundation of Sword33's Sword Dao was much stronger than Lin Huang's. Despite their simplicity, Sword33's moves were distilled from the essence of countless other sword moves. They were wildly versatile and had no set sequence.

To Lin Huang, this fight was much more difficult than his first two fights. All of Sword33's moves were terrifyingly efficient; it seemed as if every slash from him could end Lin Huang's life. Moreover, almost all of Lin Huang's attacks were countered by Sword33 in the most direct manner.

This fight continued for an entire six hours. As Lin Huang's cumulative points were static during that time, Unrivaled Combat God once again overtook Lin Huang on the leaderboard. Lin Huang's position dropped to first runner-up.

However, Unrivaled Combat God was only able to celebrate his victory for three minutes before Lin Huang's accumulated points surged ahead with another one hundred points, taking the lead once more.

After more than six hours, Lin Huang had nearly exhausted all of his Sword Dao moves and won by a hair.

The fight with Sword33 made Lin Huang realize his own weaknesses. His moves were not efficient enough; there were many sword techniques that he had yet to master, and he needed to be much more proficient in driving his Sword Dao with his will.

After the fight, Lin Huang sat on the rooftop of the double-story building with his legs crossed and used up three full hours to review the fight he had with Sword33. Then, he sped over to the next location with Warlord.

After encountering Sword33, Lin Huang bumped into Sword47, Sword163, Sword159…

He challenged all of them, one at a time.

In fact, he totally forgot about his accumulated points as he was on the road twenty-four hours a day, fighting, and assimilating everything he reaped from the fights. He would not waste a single second. He had no time to think about eating or sleeping; he had not even taken a single sip of water.

To further increase his travel speed, he summoned Thunder.

The first half of the Trial passed by in the blink of an eye.

Five days had passed already out of the ten set for the Trial.

Xie Lin's name remained on the top of the leaderboard no matter what, with a high score of 8937.

Other than defeating 89 Sword Servants, he had bumped into other competitors too during the last five days. Lin Huang had immediately cut them down so his time on the road was not affected. Read more chapter on NovelFull

As for the first runner-up, Unrivaled Combat God, the points he had accumulated were not so few either. He had 3341 points. Even though he tried his best to catch up, the gap between him and Lin Huang widened further and further.

Other than Unrivaled Combat God, there were still another four people who had earned more than 3000 points. The disparity in their cumulative points was very small. Three others obtained more than 2800 points (including one who got more than 2900 points). Fallen Star from Death Sickle was obviously among them.

Among the top ten—other than Lin Huang who scored a runaway win—the competition between them was extremely close.

The difference between their points ranged from the lowest— 17 points—to a maximum of only 81 points.

On this day, Lin Huang was on the road as usual when a push notification popped up before him.

"Competitor Forbidden Lamella defeated BOSS, points accumulated: +100!"

Lin Huang was startled when he saw the announcement. It was the first time he had seen another competitor successfully take down a Sword Servant.

'I'm not familiar with this name. Perhaps he's a local from the Great Heaven Territory?'

Lin Huang had not looked at the leaderboard since the first day. If he had, he would have noticed that this fellow named Forbidden Lamella was the previous second runner-up. Due to the sudden 100 point increase from beating the BOSS, he had overtaken Unrivaled Combat God to become the first runner-up.

However, this Forbidden Lamella was not local to the Great Heaven Territory.

It was understandable that Lin Huang had never heard of Forbidden Lamella. In fact, other God Territory competitors who joined this Trial in the Great Heaven Territory had never heard of Forbidden Lamella.

This was because Forbidden Lamella was the Sword Dao super-genius secretly trained by the grade-7 organization, Divine Clapnet.

Most God Territory competitors did not know what was going on with him, but some of them had formed at least some assumptions about his identity.

As the second runner-up, Forbidden Lamella had already been conspicuous since the beginning. Now that he had defeated a BOSS and risen to number two, he attracted even more attention.

Many people started to notice the anomaly in the push notifications too.

Previously, whenever Xie Lin defeated a BOSS, the message in the push notification had always referred to him as a "participant". After reading that 89 times, everyone had gotten used to the term "participant". Those who initially suspected Lin Huang's identity had almost forgotten about this anomaly.

However, the push notification that popped up after Forbidden Lamella's defeat of a BOSS specifically referred to Forbidden Lamella as a "competitor", which was clearly different from Lin Huang.

This spurred a lot of speculation among the competitors.

"Whenever Xie Lin defeated a BOSS, he was called a "participant" 89 times continuously but Forbidden Lamella was called a "competitor" instead. Something's going on with Xie Lin!"

"I always thought that participants and competitors refer to the same thing even though different terms were used. Now, it seems like a participant is a special designation."

"What makes him a participant while the rest of us are competitors?"

"Now that I think about it, five days ago, a notification popped up suddenly and asked if I'd join this Competitive Trial. Could it be that Xie Lin's the one who initiated this Trial?!"

…

Lin Huang did not know the "global" announcement triggered by Forbidden Lamella had spurred such great suspicion among the competitors about his identity. Lin Huang had only glanced briefly at the push notification, and had noticed the word "competitor". He did not brood about this Forbidden Lamella either. Lin Huang's only priority right now was to waste no time on anyone other than the Sword Servants.

Based on his calculations, he would not be able to challenge around two hundred Sword Servants in the five days he had left. Therefore, he had no time to lose. If he could challenge another Sword Servant, he would do it. He had no time to be concerned with other matters.

Ignoring all external interference, Lin Huang focused all his attention on challenging Sword Servants, not even bothering to check if there were any changes to his points. He even spent the whole journey on the road carefully absorbing his Sword Dao gains.

To increase his Sword Dao to the greatest possible extent, he never used anything other than his Sword Dao in every match no matter how challenging the situation was. He had not even used his God-slaying Power.

Onlookers only saw his continuous wins when they received "global" notifications and thought that he had won easily. Nobody knew that in reality, he had lost two rounds in the past few days — the first when he encountered Sword23, and the second when facing Sword29. After these defeats, Lin Huang did not waste any time getting upset, but straightaway moved on to his next target. Nevertheless, he did make a mental note to himself that he would return for a match sometime soon.

On the sixth day of the Competitive Trial, Lin Huang won another 11 battles consecutively. By the twelfth round, he encountered a strong opponent once again.

His opponent this time was Sword30.

Although he had only been through five days of actual combat training, Lin Huang's skills had improved by leaps and bounds. However, he was still at a disadvantage when going up against Sword30.

The fight had gone on for almost six hours before a single strike gave him the winning edge.

The moment he raised his sword to defeat Sword30, Lin Huang suddenly felt as if he just pierced through a paper window.

In an instant, everything he had ever learned about Sword Dao in the last four years surged into his mind. Every sword skill that he had picked up over the years since he began to cultivate Sword Dao now appeared to him from a new perspective as they were slowly integrated into his body.

Things he once found difficult became clear instantly and things he was familiar with, he now saw with new eyes and new understanding.

Lin Huang felt as if a veil had been suddenly lifted from his eyes and he could finally see clearly.

However, the moment of enlightenment lasted a mere second before he realized what was happening.

"This… Did I breakthrough to Sword Dao True Meaning?!"

Not far away, Sword30, who had not yet completely vanished, flashed Lin Huang a grin. "Congratulations, you've finally achieved Sword Dao true meaning! You might even stand a chance of obtaining the swordmaster's inheritance now."

"Thank you for your kind words," Lin Huang replied politely before sending his consciousness within him to check on the changes in his body.

Sure enough, the Sword Dao in his body had completely transformed.

The silver Sword Heart had become blood-red.

Its size, previously gigantic as a mountain, had now shrunk to a talisman the size of a fingernail now held in the palm of the small Sword Soul.

The small Sword Soul, who had originally looked about five or six years, now looked about 10 years old.

As the small Sword Soul continued holding the Sword Heart in his right palm, his left arm suddenly reached toward the sky.

Within seconds, a golden sword fell from the heavens. It shrunk rapidly as it fell, and in just a few seconds, it turned into a golden talisman the size of a finger and landed on his palm.

The small Sword Soul then clapped the talisman onto the Sword Heart's hilt with some force. A golden imprint slowly began to form on the hilt.

From what Lin Huang could see of it, the engraved imprint looked like a complex design of divine patterns with gold lines that swirled slowly through everything.

The moment the golden sword was fully transformed into the imprint, Lin Huang sensed a myriad of inherited sword skills flowing into his head.

These were not just swords skills of humans, but countless sword skills of monsters as well.

Lin Huang had completely forgotten that the golden sword was still in his body. Although his body had hosted this golden sword for so long, it had never brought him many substantial benefits so it completely slipped his mind.

It was only this moment when the Sword Scripture merged with the Sword Heart that Lin Huang suddenly recalled the existence of this item within him.

After just a brief inspection of these newly acquired Sword Dao inheritances, Lin Huang then quickly shifted his attention.

Although the blood-red Sword Heart seemed to have shrunk tremendously, Lin Huang could feel the obvious changes in his body. His Sword Heart was not just stronger than before, he felt reborn.

Slowly, he stretched out his right arm and a trace of blood-red sword gleam instantly formed into substance.

He was not using a single trace of his Divine Power at the moment. The glint of sword gleam was wholly the work of the Sword Dao.

The difference between Sword Dao true meaning and Sword Dao was that Sword Dao required a physical medium to be effective in the physical world. For example, it would have to draw support from Divine Power or a battle sword to exert its power. If Sword Dao was missing a physical medium, even a level-6 Sword Dao would be unable to interfere in or affect the material world.

Sword Dao true meaning, on the other hand, could be directly condensed into a physical substance even without the aid of a physical medium and could affect as well as directly interfere in the material world as well.

The blood-red sword gleam that had condensed in Lin Huang's palm was completely formed by Sword Dao true meaning. In fact, he could even touch it if he wanted to.

Looking up, he noticed that Sword30, who had been previously nearby, had now disappeared into thin air. A thought dropped into Lin Huang's head, and right away, the blood-red sword gleam in his hand shot out like an electric bolt.

The sword gleam instantly penetrated the wall of the small building where Sword30 was at.

The impenetrable building wall that Lin Huang had previously tried to pierce through was now as fragile as a sheet of thin paper under just one Sword Dao true meaning attack.

"If I use my sword, it shouldn't be difficult at all to slice through this entire building." Seeing the power of Sword Dao true meaning, Lin Huang gave a satisfied nod.

What Lin Huang found even more satisfying was that Sword Dao true meaning did not require the use of his will. Instead, he just needed to have a thought in mind and he would be able to command with ease as he wished.

Most importantly, the faster his thoughts, the faster the sword moved.

Of course, if he wanted to launch a stronger attack, Sword Dao alone would definitely not suffice. He could still merge it with Divine Power, God Rule Power, and even the Rule Bending Power that was contained in a battle sword.

After a brief moment of coming to terms with all the changes that had happened within him, Lin Huang was certain that his powers had once again skyrocketed.

However, the immense increase in his powers this time around came from within him and not from external forces of any sort, which pleased him even more.

Now that his Sword Dao had transformed into Sword Dao true meaning, Lin Hwang's final goal had been achieved, but he had not given up on his intention to continue challenging other Sword Servants.

Although it was highly unlikely for his Sword Dao true meaning to improve greatly in such a short period, Lin Huang was not going to miss the opportunity of dueling and learning from other Sword Servants.

After all, all Sword Servants were at Heavenly God combat level and they had mastered the highest level of sword cultivation of Sword Dao heavenly rule. Even if their overall powers were hugely restricted, there were still plenty of things he could learn from them.

Lin Huang thought of taking advantage of his breakthrough in Sword Dao to clear all the remaining Sword Servant levels in the next few days since his powers had soared and his combat efficiency had significantly increased.

Of course, aside from dueling and learning, he had other ideas for two certain Sword Servants.

"Sword23 and Sword29, I did say that I'd return sooner or later. Both of you can wipe your asses and wait for me in the next two days then… Hehehe…"

Ever since his Sword Dao reached True Martial Level, Lin Huang's speed in hunting down Saber Servants had increased considerably.

Five days ago, one match took him about an average of one hour, but he could now finish two matches in an hour instead. It was not that he could not finish his fights in a shorter time; he merely wanted to spend about half an hour per match to make sure that his opponent had gone all out. Only by doing so could he learn some useful tricks from his opponent.

After all, the set up in this stage of the tournament greatly restricted the actual strength of all Saber Servants, to the point where their Sword Dao could only be used if it was at True Meaning Level and below. If Lin Huang were to use his Sword Dao—which was now at True Martial Level—in his fight, it was almost certain that he would wipe out his opponent in just a second. The tournament would be pointless then as he would never be able to learn anything new from it.

However, Lin Huang's strength had still increased tremendously even though he had been suppressing his Sword Dao on purpose. This was because he did not need to have a strong will to power his Sword Dao anymore.

An average of only 20 minutes was needed in a battle with a Saber Servant whose serial number was over 100. As for those with serial numbers ranging from 30 to 100, an average of half an hour was needed. For those whose serial numbers were below 30, it would take Lin Huang at least an hour to finish each match.

Within the last two days, the most powerful Saber Servant Lin Huang had encountered had a serial number of 13. This Saber Servant, who was known as Sword13, forced Lin Huang to use his Sword Dao True Meaning after fighting for only 30 minutes. This Saber Servant even used his level-6 Sword Dao and was only defeated after fighting for nearly an hour with Lin Huang.

Apart from Sword13, Sword18 had also forced Lin Huang into using his Sword Dao True Meaning.

"During the matches where I didn't use Sword Dao True Meaning, the strength of my Sword Dao should be ranked somewhere around the twentieth Saber Servant. Well, well, it seems that there's still much room for improvement…"

Lin Huang's evaluation of himself was fairly accurate for the first part of his soliloquy, but the latter part could not help but seem as if he were belittling himself.

The comparison that he made about himself was actually a bit harsh.

After all, the 300-over Saber Servants under Great Heaven were all heavenly god-level powerhouses, so their actual Sword Dao level was at the level of Sword Dao heavenly rule. As a result, even though their Sword Dao was restricted to below True Meaning Level, their level of knowledge and experience with swords was not something that ordinary sword cultivators at virtual god-level could rival.

Lin Huang was already considered quite powerful, seeing that he still managed to get into the top 20 rankings even though all of his opponents' Sword Dao was at the same level as his, not to mention that they were heavenly god-level sword cultivators.

After all, Lin Huang had not even reached virtual god-level. If he somehow managed to reach heavenly god-level in a few years like these Saber Servants, it would not be surprising if he managed to place first in their midst, even after restricting his Sword Dao.

In the last two days, Lin Huang had challenged a total of 93 Saber Servants, and he had been on a continuous winning streak.

However, apart from Lin Huang, Unrivaled Combat God and other competitors had already begun to hunt for Saber Servants as well.

The competitor with the most number of hunts at the moment was Forbidden Lamella, who had prior experience defeating Saber Servants. So far, he had already defeated three Saber Servants.

Competitors with the second–most number of hunts were Unrivaled Combat Goduang and two other competitors. All three of them had defeated two Saber Servants each.

In addition to these four competitors, a group of five competitors, including Fallen Star, had also defeated one Saber Servant each.

However, Lin Huang could roughly speculate that those Saber Servants defeated by Unrivaled Combat God and the others were all ranked 200th and above. Some of these Saber Servants might even rank 250th and above.

As more and more Saber Servants were defeated by competitors, one would notice that the "global" announcement made by the system always addressed everyone as "competitors". Lin Huang was the only person who was addressed as a "participant" instead.

Almost every competitor noticed this anomaly, and all of them were convinced that Lin Huang was somehow different from the rest.

However, apart from the few competitors from Death Sickle, everybody else had never heard of the name Xie Lin before. Many people even started speculating about his identity.

Lin Huang paid no attention to any of this. All he cared about was to defeat as many Saber Servants as he could, non-stop.

After all, other competitors had already begun hunting for Saber Servants as well, and they had already defeated quite a number of them. However, from Lin Huang's point of view, each successful competitor meant that he would have one less chance to participate in actual combat. As a result, he would have fewer chances to learn new things too.

"Currently, Unrivaled Combat God and the others have defeated a total of 14 Saber Servants, whereas I've defeated 182 Saber Servants. In other words, there are only 104 Saber Servants left. It seems that I'll have to hurry up and defeat as many more as I can.

"Warlord, what are the coordinates of my next target?" Suddenly the ground began to shake right after Lin Huang finished his question.

Feeling puzzled, Lin Huang did a quick scan of his surroundings. Soon, he realized that all the buildings around him were shaking, not just the one he was in.

'Don't tell me that there's an earthquake?!'

Lin Huang did not sense any source of Divine Power around him, so he knew that the shaking was not caused by a battle. That was why he initially thought it was an earthquake.

However, this thought had barely crossed his mind when he suddenly sensed a violent fluctuation of space.

The next moment, Lin Huang realized that he was in a completely different environment.

The building he was standing in was still there, but when he looked around, he noticed that the other buildings were not the same anymore.

"What on earth happened? Did we just get teleported into a new place along with the building?" Lin Huang came back to his senses and noticed that some faraway buildings also looked different compared to earlier.

Warlord nodded and said, "I'm afraid so. I sense that the coordinates of the surveillance bugs released a few days ago are different now."

"Are you saying that we're not the only ones who were teleported?! Don't tell me the coordinates of other competitors, as well as other Saber Servants, are different too?!" Lin Huang made a bold guess.

As Lin Huang stared at a series of completely different buildings in the distance, a push notification suddenly popped up in front of him.

"There are only three days left before the end of this Competitive Trial. In order to have a more definitive result for this Trial, the rules are now modified as below:"

'1. The position of the participant, as well as all BOSSes and competitors, will undergo a random change every 24 hours.'

'2. The coordinates of the participant and all of the remaining BOSSes will be displayed. The coordinates of the participant will be displayed as a gold-colored dot, whereas that of the BOSS will be displayed as a red-colored dot.'

'3. The Trial will end as soon as the participant is dead or defeated. The competitor who successfully defeats or kills the participant will be the final winner of this Competitive Trial by default.'

'4. The Trial will also end if all BOSSes are dead or defeated. The participant or competitor who is ranked first on the leaderboard will then be the ultimate winner of this Competitive Trial.'

'5. In the eventuality where neither the participant nor all BOSSes are dead or defeated, a final decision will be made after 10 days. The participant or competitor who is ranked first on the leaderboard will then be the final winner of this Competitive Trial.'

'6. Competitors are allowed to form their own teams to hunt down the participant and the remaining BOSSes.'

'7. All players will have access to the GPS service. The coordinates of competitors can be located by searching for their names; their positions will be displayed as a white-colored dot. There is limited access to the GPS service, whereby each player can only use the search function three times, regardless of whether they are the participant or a competitor.'

'8. All BOSSes can now hunt freely with no restrictions. All BOSSes are no longer stationed at buildings and are free to hunt while on the move. All BOSSes will automatically recognize the participant and all competitors as hunting targets and will keep on hunting until its opponents are either dead or defeated. All BOSSes are prohibited from attacking each other, but they are allowed to hunt in groups.'

…

Lin Huang could not help frowning when he saw the new rules.

Due to many previous "global" announcements, Lin Huang had realized that the terms "participant" and "competitor" were used differently. He knew that his identity had been exposed.

One of the reasons why he had not been targeted by other competitors all along was because they had a hard time locating his whereabouts. Secondly, they also faced difficulties finding the right people to team up with in hunting him down.

However, under these new rules, Lin Huang had now become the opponent of all the remaining competitors.

Any competitor who managed to kill or defeat Lin Huang would become the final winner of this Competitive Trial.

Not only that, but Lin Huang's coordinates had also been made accessible to everybody else. All other competitors would know Lin Huang's whereabouts without having to waste their GPS searches. This made it very convenient for other competitors to hunt him down.

Besides, competitors could also search for the locations of their teammates and form a powerful team to hunt down Lin Huang, who was the sole participant in this Trial.

Of course, apart from being hunted by countless competitors, another thing that frustrated Lin Huang was that the Sword Servants were now free to move about.

Back when the Sword Servants were not allowed to move around of their own free will, all Lin Huang needed to do was to just head toward the location that Warlord had pinpointed and hunt them down.

However, now that the Sword Servants could move around freely, this meant that Warlord could no longer lock down their positions anymore (his surveillance bugs would be directly destroyed by the Sword Servants). As a result, it was now much more difficult to hunt down a Sword Servant compared to previously.

However, the free movement of Sword Servants was not good news for other competitors either. After all, a Sword Servant's abilities were quite terrifying. If a lone competitor happened to encounter a Sword Servant, it was certain that he or she would be eliminated on sight.

After thinking for a while, Lin Huang came up with the following conclusion:

'In these three final days of the Competitive Trial, there are basically two things I need to do. First, I'll have to deal with those competitors who have decided to hunt me down in groups. Secondly, I'll have to spend quite some time locating the whereabouts of the Sword Servants before I can hunt them down.

'The first part isn't so difficult, as most of the competitors are weaklings. The real issue is the latter part. I have a feeling that it'll be much more troublesome than before."

While Lin Huang was still thinking about the fastest way to locate a Sword Servant, a series of heated discussions had begun among the remaining competitors.

"Just like I suspected, the participant is completely different from competitors like us! I'd always known there was something fishy about this Xie Lin guy!"

"This participant is being treated exactly like a BOSS! Not only can we pinpoint his location, but we can also hunt him down in groups. He's even on the leaderboard and ahead of us all as well! Don't tell me he's the ultimate BOSS?!"

"I think I understand now. This so-called participant is actually the ultimate BOSS whose identity has finally been exposed! No wonder he was able to defeat so many BOSSes!"

"Let's team up and kill Xie Lin! I'll be the final winner of this Trial once I kill him with my own hands!"

…..

Meanwhile, the members of Death Sickle were speechless when they saw the modified rules.

"Well, well, as expected of Boss Xie Lin! I never thought that he might be treated like a BOSS!" Destiny said in admiration, as usual being the ultimate Lin Huang fanboy.

"This fellow is indeed the one who gained access to the Great Heaven inheritance!" Twin's two heads blurted out at the same time.

"Being hunted down by groups of competitors is not something to be taken lightly. Unrivaled Combat God himself is already very powerful. If somebody like him were to form a team with other powerhouses, I'm afraid that even Xie Lin would have a hard time dealing with them…" Fallen Star was slightly worried about Lin Huang's current situation.

Just as she closed the push notification, a figure suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Unrivaled Combat God?!"

"Hope you're doing well, Fallen Star," Unrivaled Combat God, who was dressed in a white robe, smiled and greeted her with a wave.

"Did you… clone yourself?" After scrutinizing him for a while, Fallen Star realized that the person standing in front of her was not the real Unrivaled Combat God.

"This is an awesome technique called shapeshifting that allows a person to create his own avatar to appear at a specific coordinate. I learned about it when I was bored back in the day, and I never expected it to come in handy right about now," Unrivaled Combat God laughed and explained.

"Anyway, what brings you here?" Fallen Star only now realized that he had managed to locate her by wasting one of his search chances.

"I'm thinking of teaming up with you," Unrivaled Combat God directly informed her about the purpose of his visit.

"Why don't you team up with your members from the Combat God Temple?" Fallen Star asked doubtfully.

"Well, first of all, they're not as skilled in combat as you. Secondly, we've known each other for years. I agree that we don't know each other very well, but at least I know a bit about your personality, so I don't think there'll be much of a problem when we team up. So the first person I had in mind was you," Unrivaled Combat God said earnestly.

"You're planning to kill Xie Lin?" Fallen Star blurted out.

"Of course, that's my final goal. In the first few days, we can hunt down some BOSSes together and build up our teamwork skills. We can accumulate some points as well." Unrivaled Combat God had obviously come up with a plan.

"Who else did you have in mind besides me?" Fallen Star asked.

"Forbidden Lamella and Frontier," Unrivaled Combat God told her upfront, "Although I don't know them at all, I heard that they are quite skilled in combat. Besides, we have the same goal, so there shouldn't be a problem when it comes to working as a team. By the way, let me know if you have anybody else in mind, and I'll inform them after you'd located their whereabouts."

Forbidden Lamella and Frontier were ranked first and third respectively on the leaderboard, whereas Unrivaled Combat God was ranked second.

"If I were to join, that's already a total of four members on our team, not to mention the other competitors we might recruit. Xie Lin is on his own though. How will you decide who kills him?" Fallen Star asked again.

"It'll be a fair competition among all of us. Whoever thinks they can kill him can take a shot. Oh, by the way, I have one condition: fighting among group members is prohibited."

Fallen Star went silent after hearing that.

At the moment, she was worried about Lin Huang, but Unrivaled Combat God thought that she was considering whether she should join his team or not. Unrivaled Combat God did not say anything else but waited patiently for her answer.

After a while, Fallen Star shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, but I don't intend to join. I've indeed known you for quite some time, but I don't trust the other two competitors. I wouldn't want to be stabbed in the back. If you ask me, I don't think you should trust them completely either."

Unrivaled Combat God had never expected Fallen Star to make such a decision.

"I understand what you're worried about, but I still hope that you'll reconsider. You should know how powerful a BOSS is, given that you've defeated one yourself. The fact that Xie Lin managed to defeat nearly 200 BOSSes proves just how powerful he is. This team that I'm forming might be the only team that can kill him."

Unrivaled Combat God continued to try and persuade Fallen Star. The reason why he desperately wanted Fallen Star to join his team was not only because he acknowledged her abilities; he hoped to be on the same page with her so that he could keep the other two unfamiliar team members in check.

"I'm sorry, but as I said, I don't intend to join your team," Fallen Star rejected the offer once again, "Indeed, your team might have the highest success rate in killing Xie Lin, but I simply can't trust strangers to watch my back."

There was a brief moment where Fallen Star actually thought of accepting the offer. By doing so, she would be able to help Xie Lin when he was in dire straits. However, after thinking it through, she realized that she might end up being held hostage by Unrivaled Combat God and his team members instead. There was a possibility that they would use her to threaten Xie Lin. Therefore after some consideration, she let go of the idea of being undercover.

"Alright then. Since you've made your choice, I won't force the issue." After hearing the determination in her voice, Unrivaled Combat God knew that it was pointless to persuade her anymore.

Gazing at Unrivaled Combat God's gradually disappearing avatar, Fallen Star furrowed her brows and said, "Well, well, it seems that Xie Lin really is in big trouble this time!"

The coordinates of the participant and the BOSSes were visible to competitors, but as the participant, Lin Huang was unable to see them. He could track neither the Sword Servants' coordinates nor his own location.

According to the new rules, the map of the Trial was now accessible to all competitors—the participant's coordinates would be displayed in gold whereas the BOSS' coordinates would be in red.

However, Lin Huang could not even access his map, let alone check the coordinates. This function was clearly not available to him at all.

He suspected that this might be Great Heaven deliberately raising the difficulty level of his Trial to avoid him defeating all the Sword Servants and finishing the Trial too early. This was perhaps also to make sure that he was not using the Sword Servants to shake off other competitors.

Seeing that he had no luck with the map, his only choice was to have an honest discussion with Warlord to find out how best to track down the Sword Servants.

"This Trial space is extremely restrictive toward Divine Telekinesis. The upper limit of one's Divine Telekinesis range is merely 1,000 meters. Under the restrictions, in any normal situation, you'd be able to monitor the entire trial space without being noticed as long as you send your surveillance bugs off into the sky to a minimum altitude of 1,000 meters. However, the problem now is that this trial space does not have a sky. The maximum gap between each building is around ten meters or so. It'll be too easy for your surveillance bugs to be discovered by Sword Servants who have strong senses."

"Previously, as long as you've discovered that your surveillance bugs have gone dead, it's easy to determine a nearby Sword Servant's position. It wouldn't matter if the surveillance bug was exposed and destroyed as well. However, it's different now. Sword Servants can move about freely, so even if a surveillance bug is destroyed, you wouldn't be able to detect the Sword Servant's location anymore. That's why we have to consider using other detection methods.

"So far I've thought of two ways to avoid being detected by a Sword Servant. The first is by using long-range detection, which can directly detect living things within the range of 1,000 meters and even more. Exceeding the Trial space's restricted Divine Telekinesis detection range in this manner wouldn't be detected by others. The other option, on the other hand, is much more secretive than the surveillance bug, and the best thing about it is that it can conceal Divine Telekinesis. With that, even when it enters the Divine Telekinesis range of a Sword Servant, they wouldn't be able to sense it either.

"Now it's up to you to decide which method to go with unless you have other suggestions." Lin Huang glanced at Warlord. He was simply laying out his options, but the final decision was still up to Warlord.

"It's extremely difficult to completely conceal Divine Telekinesis. After all, these Sword Servants were once heavenly god-level powerhouses. Their Divine Telekinesis senses are almost true god-level, but my current concealment method can at most deceive a Virtual God rank-9," Warlock responded, straightaway rejecting the second option.

"As for long-range detection methods, I actually have some ideas. There are many obstacles in this Trial space that can easily interfere with most detection methods. The best option I can think of at the moment is a type of aura-detecting robot. Their sensing radius goes up to tens of thousands of meters and won't be hindered by buildings or objects. However, there's just one disadvantage of this robot's detection. It can only sense the strength of one's aura but is unable to directly sense the target. Since Sword Servants can move freely now, it'll be hard to determine if the sensed target is a Sword Servant or a competitor."

After listening to Warlord's comments, Lin Huang thought for a moment before coming up with another idea.

"How about this—since the robot can only sense the strength of one's aura, you can use your own feelings as a guide to filter them through. You can mark out those that you feel are deadly and dangerous, and you can just ignore those that only have a certain degree of threat."

The reason behind Lin Huang's suggestion was that Warlord's current combat power was at Virtual God rank-8, so going against a Virtual God rank-9 would be no problem at all. However, if he was to encounter a powerhouse from the God Territory's Virtual God leaderboard, his powers would be no match for them at all. If he had to make note of every competitor of a higher threat level—which would be everyone from the God Territory, the Great Heaven Territory, and all the Sword Servants—the total number of these three groups would already surpass 300.

Lin Huang did not want to waste any time on the competitors because most of them were too weak in his opinion, so he would not learn anything from them even if he dueled them.

If Warlord increased and further enhanced his sensing conditions, he would be able to filter out the competitors. Although there might be a possibility of eliminating some relatively weak Sword Servants, it would not be a bad thing for Lin Huang.

After all, there were only three days left in the trial and the Sword Servants were now mobile. Lin Huang felt that it was most unlikely for him to be able to kill all the remaining Sword Servants.

He had to deal with the powerful Sword Servants first because they put up a better fight, which increased his learning efficiency when dueling with them. Moreover, if time was not on his side, he could simply give up on challenging the weaker Sword Servants. Even if he still had extra time after killing all the powerful Sword Servants, he could then have Warlord expand his filtering conditions and select again so he could go another round.

Warlord immediately understood Lin Huang's underlying plan.

"Alright then, I'll screen out the higher threats first, and that should leave us with 104 Sword Servants. I'll filter another 60 from there, then we should be able to leave all the competitors out so we won't waste time. Once we're done with the first 60, I'll expand the filtering conditions, run through another round of screening, and you can start your second round of challenges."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Lin Huang said with a satisfied nod.

Having obtained Lin Huang's approval, Warlord released his small robots without hesitation.

The small robots, the size of mosquitoes, flapped their wings and flew away in all directions.

Lin Huang also noticed that the small robots had radar-like heads and they had no features like a normal living creature would have.

"It will take some time to set up these aura-detecting robots. What should we do for the time being? Should we stay away from the other competitors?" Warlord asked.

"No, let's just find a place and wait. We can't say no to someone who volunteers themselves as a gift for us to obtain points." With that, Lin Huang swept his surroundings using Divine Telekinesis and quickly settled on a five-story building.

He leaped into the air and rushed straight toward the five-story building.

Seeing this, Warlord followed suit.

Lin Huang landed steadily with both feet on the top of the five-story building. He looked around before finally settling in a corner, lying down comfortably with his legs crossed.

Soon after he lay down, Lin Huang closed his eyes.

He was not sleeping, but merely closing his eyes to continue absorbing the Sword Dao he had obtained during this period.

With no other choice, Warlord sat down in the other corner, quietly guarding Lin Huang while tracking the small robots.

A few minutes passed but Lin Huang showed no sign of movement.

All the other competitors soon realized that the participant had been stationary for several minutes.

"Is Xie Lin baiting us now? How arrogant!"

"Xie Lin hasn't moved for five minutes now. No matter how self-confident he is, he can't possibly think that he can stand alone against several hundred others! Maybe he's been discovered by someone and is fighting now."

"Xie Lin's location is not far from me right now. I don't care if it's a trap or something, if I don't seize this opportunity, I might not have another chance in the future! I'll go over and have a look, then decide if I want to be involved after I size up the situation!"

…

Lin Huang's stop attracted the attention of many competitors. Those who were not too far away from him left straightaway and hurried in his direction for fear of missing something important.

Although Lin Huang could not see anybody else's coordinates, he was absolutely certain that many people would be making a beeline straight for him right now.

As expected, the first wave of "visitors" came after he had lain down for some mere ten minutes.

Two people approached Lin Huang in the first wave of challengers. One of them had bull horns on his head while the other had the head of a sparrow. However, the duo seemed mistrustful of each other. Although they arrived almost at the same time, they had been keeping some ten meters away from each other.

The monster with the sparrow's head halted when he sensed Lin Huang's aura from far away. Instead, he shouted at Lin Huang when he was at the periphery of Lin Huang's 1,000-meter sensing range.

"Mr. Xie Lin, we're just here to watch. We have no ill intentions, neither will we attack you."

"Yes, I agree with him. We're just here to watch so we can learn. We won't attack," the monster with the bull horns added hurriedly.

Lin Huang's lips twisted into a mirthless grin. Of course, he did not believe in the duo's nonsense.

If they were really here to watch the battle, it was impossible that they would have arrived so hastily. Even though they were close by, there was no need for them to get here at the earliest opportunity. Furthermore, if they were just here to watch, there was no need for them to stop at the 1,000-meter sensing range, as one could sense the battle situation through the energy waves from 1,000 meters away. These two had crossed into the 1,000-meter sensing range so they could check out the strength of his aura.

The reason why the duo did not attack right away was that they sensed Lin Huang's life-threatening aura. They knew that it was sure death for them. Perhaps they did not expect that they would be the first to arrive, neither did they dare to attack first. It was easy for Lin Huang to guess what they were thinking. They just wanted to wait for more people to come, and then they would participate in killing him together with the rest.

'Since you guys are already here, you may as well just stay here,' Lin Huang thought to himself. Instantly his Sword Dao coalesced into two blood-red gleams, shooting toward the duo before they could retreat out of sensing range.

The duo's Sword Dao was at level-5; they received a shock when they saw the blood-red sword gleams coming at them. Although they could not tell whether or not Lin Huang had broken through to Sword Dao true meaning, they sensed clearly that his Sword Dao was at least at peak level-6, based on the aura coming from the sword gleams. They knew that they were no match for him.

The sword gleams Lin Huang had activated with his Sword Dao traveled as fast as the speed of light. They reached the duo almost at the very moment he had thought of attacking them.

The bull-horned monster and the sparrow-headed monster suddenly realized that the sword gleams they had sensed were now almost simultaneously in front of them.

Since they did not have the time to dodge the attack, they tried to block it immediately by raising their swords.

Both of them were depending on sheer luck to carry them through.

'Although Xie Lin is powerful, it's impossible that we can't block such an unplanned attack! As long as we manage to block this, we can seize the opportunity to escape!'

However, the sword gleams accelerated the next instant and pierced straight through the duo's battle swords, impaling them.

Two monster heads shot into mid-air. The headless corpses toppled to the ground while fresh blood spurted furiously.

"Participant has killed a competitor, +41 points were gained."

"Participant has killed a competitor, +37 points were gained."

Lin Huang had killed the duo merely by using Sword Dao. He had not drawn his sword; in fact, he had not even gotten up.

It was not that he underestimated his opponents, it was just that he could now immediately tell the strength of a person's Sword Dao with a single glance.

The duo's Sword Dao was stagnant at peak level-5. They were not even level-6; nobody could blame Lin Huang for his lack of enthusiasm in wanting to fight them.

In the current line-up of competitors, there were probably only a few at peak level-6 who might pique Lin Huang's interest a little. After all, achieving peak level-6 was considered to be already at the threshold of Sword Dao true meaning. Fighting with one of those people could give him actual battle experience. If he was lucky, he might even be able to learn a thing or two.

From the very beginning of the Trial, Lin Huang had had no intention of plundering other competitors. His priority upon entering the Trial space was to battle with Sword Servants in order to learn. If not for the announcement of the new Trial rules, which meant that it took time for Warlord to locate Sword Servants, he would not have stopped hunting Sword Servants at all, let alone waste time on competitors.

Now that many competitors were coming at him, Lin Huang was not killing them to obtain points, but to avoid trouble. He would not start trouble with the competitors intentionally. However, he had little choice but to kill those competitors who came looking for him. That was about it.

In reality, even Unrivaled God and the other sword cultivator powerhouses who had reached peak level-6 were much less interesting than the Sword Servants. This was because Sword Servants were supreme powerhouses who had mastered Sword Dao heavenly rule. Even if these Sword Servants were under Sword Dao restrictions, Unrivaled God and the rest could not top their understanding of Sword Dao. To Lin Huang, who had already achieved Sword Dao true meaning, the benefits of fighting them were much higher than fighting with Unrivaled God and the rest.

After eliminating the first wave of challengers, which was the duo, the second wave of challengers arrived in less than five minutes.

This time, there were three of them, and they seemed to have formed a temporary team.

After all, it had been less than half an hour since the new rules were announced. Given the rush, it was quite impossible for them to locate teammates from the same organization, or friends whom they knew. In short, it was difficult to organize a temporary team within such a short period of time.

Lin Huang guessed that this was a temporary team because the three members did not really watch each other's backs. Furthermore, they were in a mini formation of one person leading when they approached Lin Huang's sensing range.

The three competitors looked rather sick after realizing that nobody else was there apart from their tiny team. However, they were smart enough to not step into Lin Huang's 1,000-meter sensing range, stopping a few hundreds of meters away instead. They hid in a small building to watch from afar.

"Judging from the coordinates on the map, Xie Lin should be hiding some 1,200 meters ahead. However, based on what we can sense right now, there aren't any other auras around, and there's no battle impact either. We seem to be the first ones to have arrived," a short, brawny man said while pointing at the map.

As Lin Huang had disposed of the two monsters' carcasses from the first wave of challengers, the short brawny man thought that the three of them were the first to arrive.

"We can't be sure that nobody else is coming. Maybe Xie Lin's already killed the ones who showed up before us. Or maybe some of the other people are already here, but they're using some special techniques to conceal themselves that Divine Telekinesis can't pick up," added a monkey-faced monster beside the brawny man.

"That's why I said we didn't need to hurry here, but both of you refused to listen to me," the bloated monster next to them complained.

"Quit the nonsense, let's talk about business first." The short brawny man glanced at the two monsters interrogatively. "So what do we do now? Do we attack first and try for the prize? Or do we wait and decide after letting the rest be guinea pigs?"

"Since we're already here, let's just do it!" the bloated monster said with a laugh. "It's three against one, we have the upper hand no matter what."

"If you want to die, be my guest. This is a monster that might be able to kill up to a hundred BOSSes. Do you really think we can kill him with our combined abilities?!" the monkey-faced monster declined the suggestion immediately, "What sort of nonsense is this—we have the upper hand just because it's three against one!"

After the monkey-faced monster finished speaking, he glared at the short brawny man. "I'll withdraw myself from this temporary team if you're dumb enough to go with his suggestion. Have fun, the two of you. I don't want to die just yet!"

The short brawny man smiled and nodded. "Actually I'm of the same opinion. If the two of you decide to go ahead and attack, I'll withdraw myself from the team and leave. Fortunately, there's only one of us who's as dumb as that. It's two against one now; let's just watch and wait to see if there's an opportunity for us to sneak in."

"There are only three of us here, who's the dumb one you're talking about?" the bloated monster asked, feeling puzzled.

Lin Huang lay on the roof, patiently waiting for Warlord's aura-detection results.

Although the sensing range of his Divine Telekinesis was limited to 1,000 meters, he had Warlord beside him, and Warlord was an aura-capturing robot that could sense all living things' energy waves within a radius of 10,000 meters.

He was very aware that many competitors were hiding 1,000 meters or more from him, waiting for the opportunity to attack.

Lin Huang paid no attention to these people. One of the reasons was because the Trial space limited his Divine Telekinesis, which hindered him from accurately controlling any attack trajectory outside the 1,000-meter range. If it was really necessary for him to attack, he would have to kill his opponents one by one. Another thing was that he did not think it was necessary to kill them. These sneaky spectators might choose to retreat immediately after seeing him attack or they might choose to watch without attacking. Not all had ill intentions and not all would do what they came for.

Apart from the trio in the second wave of challengers, there were some 30 people surrounding Lin Huang who had arrived one after another within half an hour.

The latecomers did not clamor and attack directly like the duo from the first wave as they seemed to have sensed the aura of the other competitors hiding nearby. Instead, they learned to hide like the rest. Since nobody was attacking at the moment, no one was willing to be the first guinea pig to test Lin Huang's ability.

Another half an hour passed rapidly. There were over a hundred competitors surrounding Lin Huang and watching, but nobody dared to attack first.

Warlord, who was on the roof of the small five-story building, spoke to Lin Huang through voice transmission all of a sudden.

"Three very strong auras are approaching, one of them has an aura that's very close to a Sword Servant. The other two auras are only slightly weaker than hers."

In reality, among the hundred-over people surrounding them, there were some 30 people that Warlord sensed to be threatening. However, only just now had he finally sensed an aura that was close to that of a Sword Servant.

Lin Huang immediately looked at the coordinates that Warlord had marked out. There was curiosity on his face.

"Who will it be, I wonder?"

Judging by Warlord's feedback, this team of three should be the most powerful team to show up within the last one and a half hours. Lin Huang was also rather looking forward to having a strong team to start things rolling, after being observed by the others for one and a half hours. It would be a warning to the rest when he had disposed of the team.

As the team of three approached, many competitors sensed the trio's compelling auras. Some of them even recognized the group.

"They're from Death Sickle!"

"Death Sickle's Fallen Star is ranked No.4 on the Virtual God Leaderboard. Twin and Destiny next to her are also top 20 powerhouses on the Virtual God Leaderboard. Now all three of them are here, it's going to be quite a showdown."

Those who knew about Fallen Star and the other two were anticipating a fierce battle. Those who knew nothing about the three were excited too as they sensed the trio's intense auras.

However, nobody expected that the three of them would stop at a tiny building 1,000 meters away from Lin Huang. They did not go any further into his sensing range.

"Let's just stay here, we'll be sitting ducks if we go any further," Fallen Star said to her two Death Sickle companions, "We can't let on that Xie Lin is a member of Death Sickle. Otherwise, we'll become targets for the other competitors as well."

"Would it be alright for Twin at this distance?" Destiny, who was beside Fallen Star, asked immediately.

"Shouldn't be a problem. Although my Secret Communication Skill's accuracy is affected by Divine Telekinesis sensing range, we can see Xie Lin from where we are right now. We can speak directly at him," Twin's both heads nodded at the same time.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang finally got a good look at the faces of the trio who had just arrived. He was stunned to see Fallen Star and the rest, then shook his head with a faint smile.

"I thought it's a team that I could challenge, I didn't expect it to be Fallen Star and the other two…"

"Do you know them?" Warlord asked immediately.

Lin Huang nodded. "I do, we're from the same organization."

The minute he finished speaking with Warlord, Lin Huang heard Twin's voice in his ears.

"Xie Lin, we hurried here to tell you that your identity as the participant has been revealed to all competitors. Many are forming teams to kill you, including Unrivaled God and the rest. At the moment, Unrivaled God has pulled in Forbidden Lamella and Frontier to form a team and hunt you. Apart from Forbidden Lamella and Frontier, he might be gathering other members."

"We're not sure about Forbidden Lamella and Frontier's abilities, but Unrivaled God is at half-step Sword Dao true meaning. Not only that, but he's also already mastered a God Rule Power. In the God Territory, he's one of the few virtual god-level powerhouses who possess the ability to kill True Gods. You must beware!"

"We suggest that you try your best to not fight them head-on. After all, there are so many of them. Temporarily avoiding trouble isn't something embarrassing…"

Lin Huang showed no response when he finished listening to what Twin had to say. Everything he did was visible 360 degrees to over a hundred people at the moment. If he made any reaction at all to Fallen Star and the other two, they would become targets for the other competitors.

He knew very well why Twin had chosen to stay 1,000 meters away—she was using a secret method to communicate with him.

Lin Huang thought for a moment. He then turned his body slightly so that his back was now toward Fallen Star and the others, hinting that he had received their message.

As for what Twin said about Unrivaled God, not only was Lin Huang not concerned at all, he was rather anticipating it.

According to what Twin said, Unrivaled God was at half-step Sword Dao true meaning. Meanwhile, Lin Huang had achieved Sword Dao true meaning. Unrivaled God had mastered a type of God Rule Power, while Lin Huang mastered God-slaying Power. He did not think he would lose at all.

As for Forbidden Lamella and Frontier from Unrivaled God's team, Lin Huang was familiar with both names.

He had seen the push notification that popped up when the duo killed BOSS during the

"global" announcement earlier.

Furthermore, he had checked the leaderboard one and a half hours ago and noticed that the duo ranked first and third respectively.

Lin Huang knew very well that both these competitors had powerful abilities since they had managed to kill Sword Servants, no matter what their rankings were.

As for whether he was confident to go one against three, he could not guarantee that he would definitely win. He could only say that he did not think that he would lose.

Time continued ticking on, and Lin Huang remained lying on the roof as usual.

Fallen Star and the other two knew that Lin Huang must have received their message seeing that he had turned around in the beginning. However, he remained still even after a few minutes.

"What's happening? Did he not get the message?" Fallen Star frowned a little; she was quite worried. Every minute Lin Huang stayed, the chances of Unrivaled God and the rest arriving grew higher.

"I don't think so, I'm very confident in my Secret Communication Skill. Furthermore, he turned around after hearing my voice transmission earlier. He was clearly hinting that he heard us," Twin said with certainty.

"I think Boss Xie Lin must've heard us. I'm guessing he's staying put because he's not going to avoid the fight," Destiny voiced his speculation.

As the three of them were discussing secretly, Warlord, who was on the roof where Lin Huang was, alerted Lin Huang through voice transmission suddenly.

"An extremely powerful aura is approaching at high speed! This aura is even more powerful than the lady earlier. It's an aura close to that of a Sword Servant!"

Lin Huang sat up right away as soon as Warlord was done speaking. His action immediately drew the attention of many of the competitors.

"What's happening? Why did he sit up all of a sudden?!"

"Is it because he saw Fallen Star's mini team?"

Amid everyone's confusion, very soon someone sensed a powerful aura approaching.

"Someone is coming!"

"This aura is terrifying, I'm afraid it's on par with a BOSS!"

The incoming person did not bother hiding his powerful aura at all.

Even Fallen Star and the other two looked serious as they sensed the incoming aura.

Initially, Fallen Star thought it was Unrivaled God who was coming. However, there was only one person approaching. Not only that, although the aura intensity was on par with Unrivaled God, it was also completely different from Unrivaled God's.

'Who can that be?!'

Almost everyone who sensed the aura had the same thought.

As everyone was wondering, a silhouette entered Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis sensing range and revealed himself before the competitors.

It was a young man whose body was as muscular as a leopard. He looked to be in his mere early 20s, with lightly tanned skin and fiery-red short hair.

From head to toe, he looked exactly like a human. He did not have characteristics of any other tribes.

Almost everyone present immediately recognized that he was a Protoss. However, everyone looked puzzled as his face was unfamiliar to them.

It seemed like all competitors from the God Territory and Great Heaven Territory looked puzzled as soon as they saw him.

The red-haired young man leaped on top of another five-story building approximately 50 meters away from Lin Huang and observed Lin Huang from a distance.

Only then did he glance around him and announce confidently with a smile, "Let me introduce myself, I'm Forbidden Lamella!"

"So you're Forbidden Lamella." Lin Huang did not doubt his opponent's identity at all. After all, among all the competitors, one could count on one hand the people who possessed such a powerful aura. With his abilities, there was no need for his opponent to steal Forbidden Lamella's identity.

"Unrivaled God said that your abilities are above us so he invited me to hunt you with him. I considered the invitation for a bit; I didn't decline," Forbidden Lamella directly disclosed this secret, which stunned everyone, "However, considering that I'm nearer to you than he is and I'm rather impatient, I thought I would come first and test your abilities. If you're so powerful that I'm no match for you, I can only fight you when Unrivaled God and the rest are here. If your abilities are less than mine, I'm more than happy to kill you and win this Trial directly."

"You're certainly straightforward." Lin Huang continued lying down. "Aren't you afraid that I kill might you before they come? To stop you guys from forming a team?"

"If you're really that powerful, I can only accept my destiny," Forbidden Lamella grinned while his consciousness had already activated his Sword Dao. He charged at Lin Huang, using his hand as the sword, sparking over a hundred golden sword gleams in the air.

Everyone watching was dumbstruck at his attack.

Even Fallen Star watched intently without a single blink, her expression deadly serious.

Lin Huang continued lying down as he watched the sword gleams that filled the sky, coming at him from different angles. He merely chuckled as he lifted his hand to point a finger into the more chapter on NovelFull

The next instant, blood-red sword gleams coalesced from thin air. They filled the sky too and attacked even more rapidly.

Many of the onlookers could not help letting out shocked exclamations.

Only now did many of the competitors realize the gap in their abilities compared with Lin Huang and Forbidden Lamella.

Those who joined the Trial were sword cultivators. Naturally, they sensed the golden and blood-red gleams that filled the sky. Almost all the sword gleams were accompanied by terrifying Sword Dao aura.

Apart from a minority including Fallen Star, most of them knew very well that they could not defend themselves against a sky full of sword gleams.

What was even more discouraging was that the duo attacked at the speed of light. Not only could they not follow the sword gleam trajectories with the naked eye, but even their Divine Telekinesis also could not react fast enough.

Most of them merely saw the golden and blood-red glows appearing and colliding in the next instant.

Dazzling golden and red sparks exploded in the air one after another like flourishing fireworks.

The explosions sounded as if there were tens of thousands of thunderclaps echoing through the areas hundreds of kilometers away. All of the spectators felt intense shockwaves in the buildings beneath their feet.

The strings of red lanterns hanging at the corners of the little buildings were blown horizontal by the strong winds from the energy impact.

What made the spectators even more speechless was that the fight was clearly just a test match for the two combatants, but it had already caused such a shocking effect.

This led many of the spectators to abort their previous plan of seizing the opportunity to attack Lin Huang.

They knew very well that the duo's abilities were on a different level compared to them. They would be going to their deaths if they decided to even try an attack.

The three members of Death Sickle looked shocked as well.

Lin Huang's attack had stunned all three of them.

"I've always thought that his power came from some other techniques, not Sword Dao. I never imagined that his Sword Dao was so powerful!" Twin exclaimed.

"He deserves to be called Boss Xie Lin; I'm guessing his Sword Dao is already halfway to Sword Dao true meaning." As a peak level-6 Sword Dao powerhouse, Destiny could naturally sense the Sword Dao levels of the two combatants.

"That's right, we can see Sword Dao true meaning's form from the attacks alone," Fallen Star agreed, nodding slightly. Her eyes betrayed a complicated mix of emotions. She had always thought that Lin Huang was powerful due to a combination of abilities, but that he was below her level in Sword Dao. She only realized how wrong she was at this moment.

Lin Huang did not use Sword Dao true meaning in this attack. Instead, he suppressed his Sword Dao to half-step Sword Dao true meaning. If he was to use Sword Dao true meaning, Forbidden Lamella might have already been ground to a pulp.

From the start, Lin Huang had no intention of killing Forbidden Lamella. It was hard enough to encounter an opponent who could teach him a thing or two. It would be a complete waste to kill Forbidden Lamella before wringing dry his knowledge of Sword Dao.

Lin Huang even planned to drag out the battle until Unrivaled God and the rest arrived. He wanted to see if the few of them could enlighten him further on Sword Dao if they were to fight him together.

However, Forbidden Lamella had no idea what Lin Huang had in mind at the moment. He did not even know that Lin Huang had suppressed his Sword Dao. He believed that, like him, Xie Lin had achieved half-step Sword Dao true meaning but had yet to break through.

"To be honest, I was a little concerned before attacking because I thought my opponent this time might've already achieved Sword Dao true meaning. But I can rest easy now." Forbidden Lamella said in relief, "Since your Sword Dao is still at half-step Sword Dao true meaning just like me, I don't need to fight this battle alongside Unrivaled God at all."

A battle sword coalesced in Forbidden Lamella's hand as soon as he was done speaking.

It was a black and gold battle sword, wide at the blade and over ten centimeters longer than a regular sword. The blade was the color of flame-gold, while the handle and the spine of the blade were inky-black.

With the infusion of Divine Power, the sword blade was soon suffused with a layer of gold flame. At the same time, Forbidden Lamella seemed to have been ignited, his entire body covered in golden fire.

"Now the warm-up is over, let's fight for real!" A deep yet husky voice drawled from the humanoid golden flame.

Forbidden Lamella, who thought he would definitely win after the initial exchange of blows, went all out immediately. He activated all of his Divine Power to maximum capacity, eager to defeat Xie Lin before Unrivaled God and the rest arrived.

On the other side of him, Lin Huang had finally stood up. A silver battle sword appeared in his hand.

The sword blade was soon enveloped in a layer of dark red Divine Power that surrounded a core of colorless Sword Dao. Lin Huang looked like a peerless sword of destruction himself. However, what differentiated Lin Huang from Forbidden Lamella was that he had no Divine Power cloaking his body at all.

His entire body was covered in a physical black cloak while his head was buried deep within the hood. With the addition of the black mask covering his face, nobody could recognize which tribe he belonged to at all.

Many spectators saw that Lin Huang's Divine Power only covered his battle sword; they secretly thought Xie Lin was being too reckless.

God rule relics were prohibited in this Trial, which was why everyone's armor was merely ordinary god relics. God relic-level armor could provide no defense whatsoever under Xie Lin and Forbidden Lamella's terrifying attacks.

This was also the reason why Forbidden Lamella was willing to expend Divine Power to protect his body and enhance his defenses.

As for Lin Huang, not using Divine Power meant that for defense, he relied solely on the god relic cloak that he wore. Without Divine Power as a buffer for his body, any injuries he suffered would be many times worse compared to Forbidden Lamella.

Many people also speculated that Lin Huang might have battle armor below his cloak. If so, it was probably a double layer god defense relic, which could explain why he was unwilling to expend more Divine Power.

In reality, apart from the rare, extremely risky situations Lin Huang encountered which made him put on battle armor beforehand, he was basically armor-less on normal days.

He had certainly put on battle armor at the beginning of this Competitive Trial before he challenged the first Sword Servant. However, after learning about the Sword Servants' abilities after a few consecutive battles, he had removed his armor completely. Since then, he had never put it on again.

Of course, there was a minority who agreed with what Lin Huang was doing. They thought it was wise not to waste Divine Power in such battles.

In a situation where both parties were on equal footing, the battle might last a long time. The higher the expenditure of Divine Power, the shorter the battle would be.

Naturally, Forbidden Lamella cared nothing about Divine Power exhaustion. He was a Protoss; the Divine Power within him was innately much more powerful than most of the other tribes. Apart from that, he had a backup team. His teammates Unrivaled God and the rest should arrive soon.

However, it was a completely different case for Xie Lin. He was alone. Not only did he have to face Forbidden Lamella's challenge, but he might also need to face a joint team of Frontier, Unrivaled God and the rest. There were probably more powerhouses watching undercover, waiting for the opportunity to attack.

Virtual Gods of any other tribes had limited Divine Power, which naturally included Xie Lin. Forbidden Lamella was not his only opponent; he would need to take later battles into consideration. It made sense that he could not simply splurge his Divine Power however he wanted.

The competitors that were watching had a lot on their minds. However, what Lin Huang had in mind was nothing so complicated.

He merely thought that Forbidden Lamella's ability was insufficient to hurt him so it was unnecessary for him to waste Divine Power in protecting his body.

On the roof, the duo readied their swords and stared at each other for a moment. Their auras were growing quickly.

Lin Huang kept his Sword Dao restrained to half-step Sword Dao true meaning. He did not use his God-slaying Power. However, the Divine Power within him was in full force. After all, his opponent was not a weak one.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Forbidden Lamella, who was enveloped in a golden glow, gave off an even greater aura. Not only had he activated the Divine Power in his body at full force, but his powerful will also held back none of his half-step Sword Dao true meaning.

In the time it took for just a few breaths, the auras of both silhouettes on top of the little five-story building reached their peak.

The next instant, both silhouettes moved almost simultaneously.

The spectators could only see two ferocious gold and red glows colliding immediately as if they had broken through the limits of space. The glows separated and collided again right away. This repeated over and over…

At the clash of the two battle swords, gigantic dazzling gold and red suns exploded in the air. They lit up the area within a hundred kilometers as if it were daylight.

All of the buildings quaked intensely from the clash between swords as if mountains were moving.

The strings of red lanterns hung on the awnings were all slanted horizontally as if from gravity.

Although there were impenetrable houses shielding them, the spectators retreated thousands of meters away, watching the battle from a distance.

If they were to suddenly activate Divine Telekinesis at such a time, they would only be harmed by the Sword Dao. Therefore, despite being within the range of Divine Telekinesis, some could only watch the battle with the naked eye. For those who retreated further away, their view of the battle was not much different from that of virtual god-level powerhouses as long as their line of sight was not obstructed. Furthermore, it was much safer compared to watching from within the battlezone.

In reality, most spectators were watching like they might a show. Only a handful of people including Fallen Star and Destiny could track the duo's movement trajectories with their eyes. There were even fewer people who managed to see the duo's attacks clearly. Fallen Star was possibly the only one among the hundred-over spectators who could do that.

Fallen Star kept her head lifted, watching the duo's battle without blinking.

She learned something almost every second.

"How can they swing their swords so fast?" Twin's icy-blue head could not help but asked all of a sudden. As a non-sword cultivator, she had limited knowledge about sword cultivators. However, what surprised her was that the fiery-red head next to her was also shaking her head in puzzlement. "I haven't the faintest idea how they're doing it."

Twin looked at Destiny and Fallen Star.

Fallen Star was almost entirely immersed in watching the battle. She watched, head lifted and eyes fixed; she did not hear the sisters' conversation at all.

As Destiny could not see the duo's attacks clearly, he did not have his full attention on the battle. He explained right after hearing the sisters' question.

"I've heard that one can control their Sword Dao with their mind alone as soon as they achieve Sword Dao true meaning. Sword Dao will reach wherever the thought can reach, as they say. Furthermore, those who are at half-step Sword Dao true meaning possess similar abilities. Although it's not as powerful as those who have achieved Sword Dao true meaning, their Sword Dao can reach wherever their will can direct. Naturally, it's much faster than us swinging our swords!"

In reality, Destiny had only heard about this, so the explanation was not entirely accurate.

"Sword Dao will reach wherever the thought can reach" referred to the use of pure Sword Dao alone. If one were to add Divine Power into the equation, it would cause a change of nature in Sword Dao and have a significant effect on one's speed. Just like Lin Huang and Forbidden Lamella at the moment—not only they were using Divine Power, they were using battle swords as their medium. Apart from that, they used their swords to battle directly. It made sense that their attack speed was affected, to where it was far removed from the standard of "sword Dao will reach wherever the thought can reach".

It was just that to other sword cultivators, the duo's attack speed was so fast it was terrifying.

Within a few seconds, the duo had clashed up to a million times.

Forbidden Lamella demonstrated all the sword skills and techniques that he had learned over hundreds of years. However, they failed to harm Lin Huang at all.

Although all the techniques that Lin Huang utilized were less powerful than Forbidden Lamella's, he managed to counter all of Forbidden Lamella's techniques with just a few basic sword moves. He did not even use any sword skills; it seemed effortless.

Forbidden Lamella was not the only one who could not understand this; even Fallen Star thought it was puzzling as she watched the battle.

'How is he doing that exactly? He's just simply launching an attack and he can counter Forbidden Lamella's exquisite sword tricks. It could be a coincidence if he only did it once or twice. But he's used the same way of countering over a million times now…can it be that this fellow's Sword Dao has moved to the next level?!'

Forbidden Lamella was also getting irritated. Initially, he thought that he would dispose of Lin Huang quickly. However, throughout the fight, he realized that Lin Huang's Sword Dao comprehension seemed to have surpassed his own significantly. Although they were both at half-step Sword Dao true meaning, Lin Huang's Sword Dao overpowered his. This was what he was most unwilling to accept as a sword cultivator.

However, Forbidden Lamella was not about to surrender so easily. Upon seeing that Lin Huang's body was not protected by Divine Power at all, a thought flashed through his mind. He could not help grinning.

Forbidden Lamella retreated quickly after forcing Lin Huang to back off with a swing of his sword. He retreated hundreds of meters away immediately and landed on top of a four-story building.

Seeing that, Lin Huang did not go after him. He thought Forbidden Lamella was going to showcase some unique technique. He decided to see what was going to happen and if there was anything worth learning.

However, he saw Forbidden Lamella swinging his battle sword from far away after retreating, and the space filled with sword gleams again.

This time, tens of thousands of sword gleams coalesced. Golden sword sparks covered the sky like stars.

'Since you're concerned about exhausting your Divine Power, I'll exhaust your Divine Power on purpose!'

Direct resistance was the only way to counter Forbidden Lamella's strategy this time. His goal was simple. He did not want to defeat his enemy; all he wanted to do was to drain his opponent's Divine Power.

He knew very well that as a Protoss, the amount of Divine Power he possessed was innately greater than most members of other tribes. Moreover, Lin Huang was most likely not a Protoss. If they were to compete purely based on whose Divine Power would be exhausted first, Forbidden Lamella definitely had the upper hand. All he had to do was completely drain all of Lin Huang's Divine Power and he would win the battle.

Although winning in such a manner was no glorious thing, having ample Divine Power was an advantage he was born with. Using one's innate advantage to defeat one's opponent in a real battle was a very normal thing; he was not burdened by it.

Many of the people who were watching the battle understood immediately what Forbidden Lamella was planning to do.

"Nice one! But it's quite shameless."

"If they were to compete based on whose Divine Power was exhausted first, the Protoss definitely has the upper hand. I thought Forbidden Lamella wouldn't stoop to using such an underhand trick."

"Even if he loses after draining Xie Lin's Divine Power, this fellow Forbidden Lamella is just laying the groundwork for the team that's on the way. Xie Lin's situation is even tougher now…"

Naturally, Lin Huang saw through his opponent's motives.

Initially, he thought his opponent was going to pull out some major move. Never had he thought his opponent would play so dirty.

However, Lin Huang had no plan of letting Forbidden Lamella do as he wished.

Theoretically, the most direct way of countering this trick was to exhaust his Divine Power to fight his foe, but Lin Huang chose a completely different way of handling things.

Suddenly, he swung his sword. A red glow shot forward, as thin as a hair and almost invisible to the naked eye. It penetrated layers of golden sword gleams at a terrifying speed, slicing directly at Forbidden Lamella's neck.

All that Forbidden Lamella saw was Lin Huang swinging his sword. Just as he was trying to track the sword gleam's trajectory clearly, that hair-fine sword gleam had already reached him.

Forbidden Lamella was entirely unable to dodge in time. The hair-fine blood-red gleam pierced through the golden Divine Power that enveloped his entire body.

The next instant, a bloody trail appeared on Forbidden Lamella's neck…

The minute the will driving the sword gleams dissipated, all the golden sword gleams that filled the sky exploded in midair before they could touch Lin Huang.

It seemed as if countless golden fireworks were exploding in the night sky, bathing the houses within several hundred kilometers in a sheen of dazzling gold.

"What happened? Why did Forbidden Lamella's attack go out of control suddenly?"

Most of them did not notice the bloody trail on Forbidden Lamella's neck.

A minority did, and were shocked; some were even in disbelief.

"Forbidden Lamella is dead?!"

After all, the battle with Lin Huang had gone on for a good amount of time and looked completely fair and aboveboard. However, one slash and Forbidden Lamella was now dead.

Lin Huang was the only one who looked expressionlessly at where Forbidden Lamella's "corpse" was.

"Stop hiding. If you're really dead, there should be a "You've killed the competitor" push notification popping up in front of me already.

"If you're not confident in yourself, then just back down already and fight alongside with Unrivalled God and the rest when they get here."

At Lin Huang's mocking words, Forbidden Lamella could stand it no longer.

"Who are you calling not confident?!"

The golden flames around Forbidden Lamella's "corpse" was burning even brighter now, a faint black mist beginning to waft forth.

At the same time, Lin Huang noticed that Forbidden Lamella's body seemed to be growing in size within the flames. His aura was growing even more powerful and violent.

"Xie Lin, don't you think you can talk to me so condescendingly just because you defeated that one attack of mine!"

Forbidden Lamella's voice was much rougher now with a low, indistinct humming under it.

"You're just an ant in my eyes!"

As he spoke, the flames around Forbidden Lamella blazed up full force.

The next instant, he charged towards Lin Huang furiously, his steps causing spiderweb-like cracks on the tiles of the roof, his body transforming into a stream of golden light.

Lin Huang moved almost simultaneously. He swung his long sword, which was completely enveloped in dark red Divine Power, leaving behind a trail of blood-red sword gleam.

The two silhouettes collided the next second.

Lin Huang caught a faint glimpse of a blurred face within the golden flames the moment their swords clashed.

Forbidden Lamella's face seemed to have grown scales.

Not only that, Lin Huang realized that the back of Forbidden Lamella's sword-wielding right hand was also covered in a layer of scales.

The scales bore a rough resemblance to dragon scales. As the flames licked over them, they shone bright gold like heated metal.

In the air, both gold and red Divine Power exploded right after the collision, transforming into a giant golden-red sun. This giant sun was even bigger and more dazzling than all the previous collisions.

The gigantic gold-red sun then exploded in all directions, forcing Lin Huang and Forbidden Lamella to retreat. However, Lin Huang retreated twice as far away as Forbidden Lamella.

Lin Huang stared silently at Forbidden Lamella's retreating body through the exploding sparks, feeling the soreness in his arm.

"His strength is almost double now, while his speed is more than that at the very least. Although his Sword Dao hasn't grown stronger, the density of his Divine Power seems to have boosted up…"

At present, Forbidden Lamella's ability was very obviously at least a level higher than before.

"Is this the God's form of the Protoss' three forms?"

It was Lin Huang's first time seeing a Protoss in this particular form. However, it was not hard for him to figure out that it was Forbidden Lamella's God's form used in battle.

The Protoss had three forms—the mortal form was their daily one, while the God's form was their energized battle form. Meanwhile, their origin form was the original form they were born with, which was typically very unusual.

When Forbidden Lamella used his God's form, every aspect of his body was almost completely elevated to the level of a True God. If God Rule Power was not a consideration, Forbidden Lamella could absolutely take on a first-rank True God with his current ability.

Many spectators from far away noticed Forbidden Lamella's unusualness as well.

After all, many of them had dealt with Protoss before while some of them were Protoss themselves. Naturally, they recognized at a glance that Forbidden Lamella had activated his God's form.

"Forbidden Lamella's aura is as powerful as a True God when he activates his God's form!"

"See as if that sword attack earlier must have been pretty powerful, judging by how far Xie Lin's retreated. I wonder if the tables will turn?"

Most of the spectators had lost their confidence in Lin Huang now that Forbidden Lamella had activated his God's form.

However, Forbidden Lamella's performance did not frighten Lin Huang at all. Instead, he was excited.

'Finally, you're something that I can anticipate.'

Forbidden Lamella's abilities were already at peak virtual god-level. Now that he had activated his God's form, his abilities were boosted even further. Even though he did not have God Rule Power, he was almost like a True God in every other aspect.

If they were to compare all physical bodily aspects, Forbidden Lamella was slightly superior to Lin Huang.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang's Sword Dao was more powerful than Forbidden Lamella's. That was his advantage. Although he had restricted his Sword Dao to the same level as his opponent, his Sword Dao basics, experience and consciousness were more powerful than Forbidden Lamella.

Upon comparison, in reality, it was hard for one to predict who would win or lose.

The reason why Lin Huang was excited when he saw Forbidden Lamella using his God's form was mainly that he had felt no pressure at all battling with Forbidden Lamella earlier. Now, he was finally put under pressure.

He figured he would only be able to assimilate whatever Sword Dao comprehension that he had yet to absorb if he were put under pressure.

In the air, the red and gold sword gleams collided repeatedly.

Lin Huang enveloped only his battle sword in Divine Power, just like he had earlier. Meanwhile, the flames on Forbidden Lamella's body were several times fiercer than before. Compared to the fair match previously, Forbidden Lamella was oppressively forceful at the moment. Almost every collision sent Lin Huang flying.

Seeing that Xie Lin had seemingly become the weaker opponent, many of the spectators began thinking to themselves.

Initially, they had been shocked by Lin Huang's ability. Some of them were uncertain about if they wanted to pursue their goal of attacking him, while some even chose to give up on the thought of fighting him directly. However, now that they saw Forbidden Lamella was even more powerful, they discovered that Xie Lin was not as terrifying as they imagined. As such, they began entertaining all kinds of thoughts.

Some daring ones were even thinking about whether or not they could snatch Forbidden Lamella's prey from under his very nose.

After all, whoever killed Xie Lin would become the final winner of this trial right away. Being the final winner meant that the trial would end very soon and everyone would be teleported out. Therefore, they would not have to worry about Forbidden Lamella's revenge.

Only the few members from Death Sickle were worried about Lin Huang.

The might that Forbidden Lamella demonstrated had shocked them. If Forbidden Lamella alone was hard for Xie Lin to handle, he might not have any chance of winning at all when Unrivaled God came.

"I'm afraid Xie Lin might be at risk in this battle…" Twin's icy-blue head could not help exclaiming. Although she did not cultivate Sword Dao, she could read the battle situation.

"This Forbidden Lamella's Sword Dao isn't as powerful as Xie Lin's but I'm afraid all aspects of his body might be at True God-level already. It might be difficult for Xie Lin to win." The fiery-red head nodded right away in agreement.

"Maintaining God's form drains Divine Power immensely. I think the only way for Xie Lin to win is to drain his opponent's Divine Power." Fallen Star frowned slightly; she too had lost confidence in Lin Huang now. "However, even if he manages to defeat Forbidden Lamella, there will be Unrivaled God and Frontier later…"

Destiny was the only one still rooting for Lin Huang the underdog.

"If Boss Xie Lin weren't conserving his Divine Power for the battles later on, this guy named Forbidden Lamella wouldn't be a match for him at all!"

The gold and red sword gleams continued exploding in the air.

The strong winds caused by Divine Power collisions sounded like giant beasts howling at each other ferociously. The tiny buildings beneath the spectators' feet seemed to quake.

Although Lin Huang was at a disadvantage throughout all of these attacks, the battle intent in his eyes did not fade at all. Instead, it kept growing.

He performed different sword techniques each time; some of them were not even complete techniques. In reality, he was continuously integrating the sword skills that he had learned before and trying them out on Forbidden Lamella.

However, as his mastery of each of these skills was high, all of them seemed to be complete techniques. As a result, nobody could tell anything was out of the ordinary.

However, Forbidden Lamella slowly began noticing that something was off, even as he continued fighting Lin Huang.

After all, he was a sword cultivator whose Sword Dao was at peak level-6. Not only that, but he had also been fighting Lin Huang for quite some time now.

"Damn it, you're treating me as your sparring partner?!"

Lin Huang did not mind that his opponent had seen through his motives.

"Yes, what else did you think? It's rare enough that a sparring partner turns up on my doorstep, it makes sense for me to seize this opportunity to practice!"

Lin Huang was telling the truth. In reality, Forbidden Lamella had not piqued Lin Huang's interest to practice at all until the latter had transformed into his God's form. He had not immediately killed Forbidden Lamella because he wanted to see what sword skills Forbidden Lamella comics on our

He had only treated Forbidden Lamella as a proper sparring partner after the latter had transformed into his God's form.

Forbidden Lamella flew into a towering rage as soon as Lin Huang gave him the definitive answer from the horse's mouth.

It was a moment before he was able to snarl, "Treating me like a mere sparring partner? In your dreams!"

His aura suddenly flared up terrifyingly as he finished speaking.

Sensing the change of aura, Lin Huang looked faintly bemused.

"Is that…God Rule Power?!"

In reality, Lin Huang had expected this, as it was not easy at all to defeat a Sword Servant. Forbidden Lamella defeating three Sword Servants proved that he possessed power that surpassed virtual god-level, even if the Sword Servants were ones who ranked at the very bottom.

Moreover, there were indeed a handful of Protoss recorded in history who could use God Rule Power when they were at virtual god-level; this was no secret.

Lin Huang also knew that Unrivaled God from the Combat God Temple possessed God Rule Power.

Meanwhile, since Forbidden Lamella's accumulated points were higher than Unrivaled God's, it made absolute sense that he possessed God Rule Power.

Apart from Lin Huang, many spectators present also sensed the aura of God Rule Power right away.

After all, they were all outstanding Virtual God powerhouses. They came into contact with True Gods occasionally so it made sense that they were familiar with God Rule Power.

Low murmurs were heard among the spectators.

"As I expected, this fellow's mastered God Rule Power!"

"This guy's points are even higher than Unrivaled God's. He killed more BOSSes than Unrivaled God too, isn't it a given that he's mastered God Rule Power?"

"Do you guys think Xie Lin's mastered God Rule Power too?" After all, given Lin Huang's previous battle results, their speculations were to be expected.

On top of a three-story building, the golden Divine Power flames that enveloped Forbidden Lamella faded slowly, revealing a body covered with golden scales.

His sword-wielding right hand was no longer a human hand; it was more like the talons of a dragon.

Even stranger was that the black-and-gold battle sword was slowly being enveloped in a layer of black flame. Although it was only a thin layer of flame, somehow it felt a few hundred times more dangerous than the golden flame from before.

As soon as the black flame appeared, the temperature within the radius of several hundred kilometers went up at least ten degrees celsius.

There was no flame on Forbidden Lamella's body at all but he gave everyone the illusion of a fire god arriving in the world. Even his silhouette looked elusive from the extreme heat distortion.

"So this fellow's God Rule Power is a type of flame?" Lin Huang raised his brows as he watched. One might have a layer of skin burnt off if they came into contact with this sort of God Rule Power.

One could only defend themselves against God Rule Power with power of the same level.

Since his opponent had revealed his God Rule Power, Lin Huang did not dare delay any further. His blood-red God-slaying Power gradually enveloped the blade of his sword.

As soon as his God-slaying Power surfaced, Lin Huang's inherent killing intent skyrocketed. He seemed to have transformed into an ultimate god of slaughter, which was shocking.

At the same time, almost all the spectators sensed that the surrounding air seemed to be much thinner now, and vaguely suffocating.

God Rule Power was the fundamental reason why the disparity between true god-level and virtual god-level was so wide, and why it took incredible amounts of effort to bridge the gap.

God Rule Power was, in essence, an elementary Rule Bending Power.

The so-called Rule Bending Power was a special power that could interfere with the material world directly.

For instance, gravity on earth was directed towards the ground; this was a type of rule. If the rule was changed, whereby gravity was directed towards the sky, seawater would pour down while people would float. The entire world would be completely different.

To a certain degree, Rule Bending Power could not be fought. Just as the flora and fauna on earth would be affected by earth's gravity eventually, as long as they were on earth and within the parameters of such a rule, this fact would not change.

God Rule Power was a completely different type of power altogether.

If a person mastered a God Rule Power by which anyone would be turned into a rock whenever he set eyes on them, the person being stared at would turn into a rock as soon as he was glanced at. It did not matter how much Divine Power, strength, speed, or Telekinesis power the person possessed. This was how compelling God Rule Power was, to where it did not matter how powerful or weak the person who had mastered it was.

The God-slaying Power that Lin Huang possessed was a god rule under the Kill Rule. It belonged to an attack subset of god rule which was particularly suitable for combat.

The terrifying thing about this type of god rule was that one would die soon as one suffered a cut from the God-slaying Power, even Gods. Even if one merely had a bloodless nick on one's skin, the God-slaying Power would destroy both the victim's body and soul.

Naturally, this only held true if the person who was being slashed had not mastered any God Rule Powers.

If they had, the God Rule Powers would offset each other.

However, not all God Rule Powers could kill the opponent directly like the God-slaying Power. Many God Rule Powers could not kill the opponent immediately.

This was like Forbidden Lamella's God Rule Power. It was called the Divine Lamella Fire and was a god rule under the Fire Rule.

A living thing's skin would quickly turn into black flaming scales as soon as the Divine Lamella Fire's God Rule Power made contact. These scales would absorb energy in the host's body automatically. They would spread throughout one's entire body, exuding extremely high heat. These flaming scales would not only harm the flesh, but they would also burn one's soul, causing intense torment.

When the Divine Lamella Fire spread over the epidermis, it would soon sink into the subcutaneous layer of skin before spreading through the flesh and organs, then the bones and the brain…the flaming scales would spread within and without a person's body.

Eventually, not only would the infected victim die of extreme burns, their body and soul would go through a change of form from the Divine Lamella Fire. They would turn into a monster with black scales all over their body and become the Divine Lamella Fire's slave.

Naturally, Lin Huang had no idea what Forbidden Lamella's God Rule Power was called, neither did he know what kind of ability such a God Rule Power came with.

However, fire-type God Rule Powers usually involved extreme heat. Once one had come into contact with it, even if they possessed God Rule Power as a defense, it was a very unpleasant experience.

Even Lin Huang had to be on guard.

As soon as their God Rule Powers surfaced, the duo could be considered to have shown their trump cards.

The spectators around watched with wide eyes. It was the first time that most of them had had the opportunity to watch a battle that was close to true god-level.

"No wonder Xie Lin and Forbidden Lamella managed to defeat the BOSSes; they've both mastered God Rule Powers!"

"If that's the case, could Unrivaled God and the rest of them who defeated BOSSes have mastered God Rule Power too?"

The competitors who were watching debated heatedly among themselves. They all thought that Lin Huang and Forbidden Lamella had managed to defeat BOSSes because they had mastered God Rule Powers.

On Death Sickle's side, Twin and Destiny could not help but turn their heads to look at Fallen Star. After all, she had also defeated a BOSS.

Noticing the duo's stare, Fallen Star shook her head expressionlessly.

"I haven't mastered any God Rules."

"So how did you defeat the BOSS?" Destiny asked immediately.

"I used all of my trump cards and with a little bit of luck, I was fortunate enough to win that battle," Fallen Star answered very straightforwardly. Noticing that the duo was still staring at her after she was done speaking, she added rather helplessly, "In reality, I've encountered three BOSSes before. The second one was the weakest, but I spent over 30 hours before I finally won by the barest margin.

"As for the other two, I wasn't in their league at all. The first one dominated me entirely after a few rounds of combat. Fortunately, I managed to retreat and escape the room that he was guarding. He didn't come after me. The third one emanated a life-threatening aura after merely releasing his Sword Dao. I'd just taken half a step into his sensing territory, so I retreated without hesitation."

As the Death Sickle members were chatting, Lin Huang and Forbidden Lamella had already begun a new round of battle not so far away.

The red and black sword gleams in the air collided at even more terrifying speed.

Half the sky was soon filled with glaringly bright sparks of blood-red and inky pitch-black.

The energy from the collision between the two sword gleams sliced sword marks onto the roofs and walls of the surrounding little buildings. Some of the marks were merely a few centimeters in length while others were a couple of meters long. However, all were etched deeply into the surfaces.

Many of the watching competitors were terrified when they saw the sword marks.

Even if they were to swing their swords at full force, they might not be able to leave such deep marks on those houses. Not only that, but these sword trails were also merely an effect of the energy produced from the duo's battle.

Most of the spectators retreated even farther away after seeing the sword marks, worried that they might be affected by the battle impact. If they were unlucky enough to be struck by any of the resulting energy bursts, they might be killed instantly.

The red and black sword gleams collided in midair over and over again. Endless thunder-like booms reverberated to and fro.

The strong whistling sound from the winds caused by the energy impact was like the howling of a million demonic armies from hell.

Under the gale-force winds that blew from every direction, the rows of lanterns hanging on the building awnings would swing here and there, as if the gravity in the area was constantly changing direction.

The houses had not stopped quaking since the beginning of the battle. Given that many of the houses had been scarred by the sword marks left behind from the energy impacts, it felt more like an earthquake now than before.

Due to his advantage in strength and speed, Forbidden Lamella was still in top form.

However, Lin Huang was slowly reaching his peak state.

As both of them were using God Rule Power, Lin Huang was slightly more serious than before as he was unwilling to come into contact with the Divine Lamella Fire.

He moved much more than before as well compared to earlier. Even his sword swings were more serious than before.

In each previous collision, he had retreated hundreds of meters away. Now, however, he retreated less—maybe only about a hundred meters, about on par with the distance of Forbidden Lamella's retreat.

However, only Forbidden Lamella knew himself that it only looked as if he had the upper hand. Xie Lin was still using him to practice his sword skills. Although he was slightly more serious now, nothing much had changed—Lin Huang was still controlling the tempo of battle. No matter how hard Forbidden Lamella tried, Lin Huang did not seem to be treating him like a real opponent who required one's full effort to stay alive during combat.

In reality, Forbidden Lamella was unaware that Lin Huang was not purposely underestimating him. It was merely that Lin Huang had treated all of his opponents as sparring partners since his Sword Dao had elevated to Sword Dao true meaning, even if his opponent was a Sword Servant under Great Heaven in the top 20 rankings. He would only use actual techniques to defeat his opponent when he was almost done learning everything about the opponent's Sword Dao.

The reason that Lin Huang did not kill or defeat Forbidden Lamella after learning about his level of Sword Dao was that Lin Huang was still waiting for Unrivaled God and the rest to arrive. He wanted to see what the effect would be if they were to fight him together and how much pressure they would give him. Moreover, Warlord's detection results were still pending and he was bored anyway. A sparring partner to study new sword skills from was a good thing.

Some ten minutes into the duo's intense battle, Lin Huang heard Warlord's voice transmission in his ears all of a sudden.

"There's a team of three approaching. The trio's aura intensity is almost on par with Forbidden Lamella!"

Lin Huang raised his brows at that.

Unrivaled God and the others had finally arrived!

The three silhouettes that Warlord had picked up on soon came into the sensing range of many of the spectators, including the three members from Death Sickle.

"Unrivaled God and the rest are here!" Fallen Star's expression changed slightly. She was very familiar with Unrivaled God, identifying him almost as soon as he stepped into her sensing range.

"The other two—if I'm not wrong, the man should be Frontier while the other lady is most probably Departed Feather who's ranked No.5 on the leaderboard," Twin voiced her speculations even though she had never heard of the duo.

"Both of them should be like Forbidden Lamella—Sword Servants who were secretly trained by grade-7 organizations. The thing is, I'm not sure if they're from God Capital, Divine Clapnet, Xeno or Precious Treasure Pavilion," Fallen Star frowned a little as she spoke.

"The Combat God Temple already has Unrivaled God, there's no need for them to train another secret Sword Servant. As for God Capital, those pureblood fellows who are so proud of their bloodline aren't into training Sword Servants," Twin took over the conversation, "If I'm not mistaken, Forbidden Lamella, Frontier and Departed Feather should be from Divine Clapnet, Xeno, and Precious Treasure Pavilion respectively. I'm just not sure who belongs to which organization though."

"Together with Unrivaled God, that's four against one. That's outrageous!" Destiny was indignant on Lin Huang's behalf.

Even he had confidence in Lin Huang, he did not think that Lin Huang could win if the four joined forces.

After all, to Destiny, it looked as if Lin Huang was expending a lot of energy to take on Forbidden Lamella at the moment.

"This is the inheritance of Great Heaven, the No. 1 Sword Servant among the Heavenly Gods in the God Territory! Everyone is desperate to gain his inheritance as long as they're a Sword Servant. Moreover, the purpose of this Trial is for the competitors to challenge the participants so the participants can achieve the Trial quota. Let's not talk about four against one; even if it's four hundred against one, it's still in line with the Trial rules."

Twin did not feel there was anything unfair about this. By achieving the Trial quota Xie Lin had proved his ability. This Trial was just to test whether or not he was really worthy. If not, it made sense that he would be replaced. After all, Great Heaven, who had dominated other heavenly god-level powerhouses for an era, would definitely wish for his heir to be the most powerful contender.

"So what should we do now? Do we help?" Destiny looked at Fallen Star.

"Unless we really have to intervene, we try to stay out of things as much as possible. As soon as we show our hand, Xie Lin's identity as a Death Sickle member would be completely exposed. At that point we might become the other competitors' common enemy," Fallen Star said, shaking her head, "However, if they're going to kill Xie Lin, we'll just have to break cover and stop them. The best would be if we can convince Xie Lin to surrender and give up on his Trial quota. With the potential that Xie Lin is showing at the moment though, as long as he's alive, even if he doesn't achieve the level of a Lord, at the very least he'll be another Buried Heaven. We can't give up on him unless it's a very last resort."

As the three Death Sickle members were discussing ways of handling what might happen later, Unrivaled God and the duo had already come into Lin Huang's sensing range, finally revealing themselves in front of everyone.

Unrivaled God was dressed in white, his sleeves fluttering in the wind.

With him were another man and a lady.

The man wore a denim jacket over a white t-shirt and faded jeans. He had dark brown hair that came to his shoulders. His expression was somewhat dissolute, giving the impression that he was a rock-and-roll youngster.

Meanwhile, the lady had blonde hair, a curvaceous figure, and was clad in silver armor. She wore a silver necklace on her fair neck and a pair of black hoops in her ears. Her nails were painted blue. Her left little finger and middle finger were adorned with a ring each, and she wore a ring on her right index finger as well.

"I think that lady is definitely from the Precious Treasure Pavilion. Look at her, she sparkles from head to toe," Density said to Fallen Star and Twin softly.

The two ladies ignored him.

Twin was observing the few adornments that the lady wore, while Fallen Star was frowning slightly. She could sense that this lady's abilities seemed to be above her own level.

Sensing Fallen Star's scrutiny, the lady glanced in her direction but looked away immediately after.

Unrivaled God merely nodded slightly when he saw Fallen Star. He then looked over to where Lin Huang and Forbidden Lamella were.

Meanwhile, the long-haired man paid no attention to the people around him. As soon as he stepped into view, his eyes were fixed on Lin Huang.

The three of them did not immediately join in the battle. Instead, they stood on top of a five-story building while observing the fight between Lin Huang and Forbidden Lamella from not too far away.

However, the appearance of the three created an immediate stir amidst the crowd.

Nobody knew who the other two were, but almost all the members from the God Territory knew who Unrivaled God was.

He was No. 1 on the God Territory's Virtual God leaderboard and was also the No. 1 Sword Servant among the virtual god-level powerhouses in the God Territory.

"Unrivaled God is really here! Seems like what Forbidden Lamella said earlier about joining forces was true after all."

"The man and lady who arrived with Unrivaled God won't be any less powerful than Unrivaled God and Forbidden Lamella, I fear."

"I think Xie Lin will lose this time no matter how powerful he is."

"If it's an issue for Xie Lin to handle one opponent now, he'll definitely lose if it's four against one."

The battle between Lin Huang and Forbidden Lamella was still going on in midair.

Unrivaled God and the other two who were observing the battle had not yet joined in. The three of them were focused on watching the battlefield. To be exact, they were focused on watching Lin Huang.

"This fellow is very powerful! His sword comprehension is obviously higher than Forbidden Lamella's given that their Sword Dao intensity is the same," the initially careless Frontier said in all seriousness.

"He's very powerful indeed, he's controlling the entire tempo of the fight," Departed Feather who was in silver armor nodded lightly as well, "If not for the advantage in strength and speed, I'm afraid Forbidden Lamella would've been defeated early on."

"That's not the reason why Forbidden Lamella hasn't been defeated yet," Unrivaled God shook his head while frowning a little, "If I'm not mistaken, that fellow's purposely waiting for us to fight him."

Lin Huang's shout came all of a sudden as soon as Unrivaled God finished speaking.

"Are the three of you done watching? Come fight me together when you've seen enough."

He did not bother masking his shout at all, so all the watching competitors heard it loud and clear. They were speechless.

Never had they thought that Xie Lin would initiate a challenge to Unrivaled God and the other two at such a time.

"Is he out of his mind?!"

"He must be lying! If he really can fight four people on his own, why didn't he kill Forbidden Lamella first and get rid of one burden?!"

"Is he full of himself just because he defeated so many BOSSes?"

…

"Xie Lin, you're a little too full of yourself," Frontier, who had shoulder-length long hair, yelled back right after hearing Lin Huang's shout, "Your Sword Dao comprehension is stronger than ours but this Trial isn't purely a test of Sword Dao."

"Whether or not I'm full of myself, you guys are going to fight me together anyway, right?" Lin Huang smiled at Unrivaled God and the other two, "I'm just being honest; you might actually be able to defeat me if you take me on together."

Including Forbidden Lamella, all four of them understood the underlying meaning of what Lin Huang had said—"If you don't fight me together, it's impossible for you to defeat me".

Frontier and Departed Feather's expressions were sour. After all, they were top Sword Servants secretly trained by grade-7 organizations. It was a little embarrassing that they had to join forces to take on a single opponent right now.

However, Unrivaled God's expression displayed nothing out of the ordinary. He messaged the duo through voice transmission though.

"We all know how powerful the BOSSes in this Trial are. Since this fellow's managed to defeat so many BOSSes, he's definitely not revealing the extent of his abilities at the moment. Don't be triggered or puzzled by what he said, just be prepared to fight at a moment's notice. The best would be to discover any of his flaws and go in for the kill!"

Unrivaled God and the other two had arrived but, being cautious, they did not enter the battlefield just yet.

Not only that, but Lin Huang had also said, "You guys might actually be able to defeat me if you take me on together".

This caused many of the spectators who could not understand the battle situation to speculate about Xie Lin's ability all over again. However, there was still a minority who speculated that perhaps Unrivaled God and the rest were unwilling to fight, not because Xie Lin was too powerful, but because the few of them had yet to discuss how to divide the rewards.

On the other hand, the three members of Death Sickle were relieved. Naturally, Fallen Star and the rest hoped that if Unrivaled God and the rest did join the fight, the later the better. The best would be if they did not come to Forbidden Lamella's aid and only fought if Forbidden Lamella was killed. If that was the case, the pressure on Xie Lin would lessen slightly.

Meanwhile, Forbidden Lamella was rather upset with the situation. He had noticed that Xie Lin had completely controlled even his own tempo of battle from the start. Although on the surface he seemed to have the upper hand, in reality, the tables could be turned anytime. He was initially relieved when he saw Unrivaled God and the rest arriving, expecting to finally break the awkward impasse. In the end, all three of them just stood by as if watching a show, with apparently no intention of intervening. As Forbidden Lamella had his pride, he naturally would not ask for help. When one party was unwilling to ask for help and the other party was casually watching the proceedings, it made for a very awkward situation indeed.

Lin Huang too was unsatisfied with the current situation. He had been purposely dragging out things out so that Unrivaled God and the rest could join Forbidden Lamella on the battlefield when they arrived. In the end, Unrivaled God and the other two were content to be mere spectators, unwilling to make a move.

Lin Huang was trying to verbally provoke the three of them to attack him. However, all three still held back.

Since provocation had failed, Lin Huang thought quickly and soon came up with an idea.

He moved and charged directly in the direction of Unrivaled God and the others in an attempt to force all three of them into battle.

Upon seeing this, Forbidden Lamella was elated—he had wanted to drag the three of them into the fight anyway. He did not stop Lin Huang; instead, he followed along.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the duo's battlefield had suddenly shifted.

Unrivaled God and the rest barely had time to react before they found themselves right in the middle of the battle zone.

The spectators were dumbstruck to see this change in the situation.

"What's Xie Lin doing?! Is he trying to get himself killed?!"

"He's fixated on this idea. Unrivaled God and the other two weren't thinking of attacking but Xie Lin challenged them himself."

"Forbidden Lamella had the chance to stop it but he didn't. Seems like he really doesn't have the confidence to defeat Xie Lin."

The most speechless ones were the three Death Sickle members. Fallen Star and the other two totally could not understand why Xie Lin would initiate the challenge with Unrivaled God and his companions.

Even Destiny, who had been confident in Lin Huang all this time, had no idea what to say now.

Unrivaled God and the other two had completely not expected this.

The three of them had initially planned to just watch the battle from the sidelines. They wanted to see what techniques Lin Huang possessed and were also waiting for the best time to attack.

However, this sudden move on the part of Lin Huang and Forbidden Lamella completely messed up their plans and they were now forcibly dragged into the fray.

Lin Huang swung his sword four times in succession as soon as the battlefield shifted.

These four swings of his sword were incredibly fast. Blood-colored sword gleams driven by peak level-6 Sword Dao and the God-slaying Power of God Rule Power shot forth like lightning.

In an instant, the sword gleams sliced through the void and appeared right in front of Forbidden Lamella, Unrivaled God and the rest.

Forbidden Lamella immediately raised his sword to block the attack. Meanwhile, Unrivaled God and the rest had a slight change of expression while their auras instantly skyrocketed to peak level.

The three of them knew very well that this was an attack using God Rule Power. There would be terrible consequences if they were careless.

The three of them swung their swords without restraining any of their power. These attacks were also reinforced by peak level-6 Sword Dao and God Rule Power.

In the void, four blood-red gleams exploded almost simultaneously like four giant, blood-red suns, bathing the entire area in red light.

Forbidden Lamella and the other three retreated several dozen meters away, dodging the core area of the energy explosion.

Lin Huang landed firmly on the roof corner of a five-story building after using his attack to force his four opponents into retreating. He looked at the four of them condescendingly and grinned, his black robe fluttering loudly in the strong wind.

Unrivaled God and the other three took a corner each, forming a square that surrounded Lin Huang. However, the expressions of all four were very serious.

Not only that, but the four of them were also in their God's form at present. Lin Huang's earlier attack had forced Unrivaled God and the other three to go into their God's form to fight him.

Unrivaled God's God's form was a white-haired human monster in a white robe and a white mask over his face. If one ignored the white mask with its blood-red designs, he looked a little like an immortal.

Frontier's God's form was a blood-colored one-eyed asura. He had purplish-red hair and a single scarlet eye on his triangular face, which was otherwise featureless. He wore blood-colored armor and his entire being radiated tremendous bloodlust.

Departed Feather's God's form was an angel with 12 wings. She had blonde hair and wore a white dress. The 12 white wings on her back fluttered lightly and there was a golden halo above her head. She looked extremely pure and holy.

Lin Huang's four sword attacks earlier were no longer at the level that he had been using to fight Forbidden Lamella.

It took Unrivaled God and the others just that single counter against Lin Huang's attack to realize that they might have run into an enemy of a power level they had not encountered before.

All the spectators present, nearly 200 all told, were shocked and stunned to see the reactions of Unrivaled God and the other two.

Fallen Star and a handful of the spectators could tell that Lin Huang's sword attacks were now different. Their eyes betrayed their shock.

"What's wrong with Unrivaled God and the rest? Why do the four of them look like they've encountered a powerful enemy?" Twin's icy blue head could not help but ask.

"Xie Lin's four sword attacks were perfection." The blood-red head next to the blue head had her eyes unblinkingly fixed on Lin Huang.

"That's not perfection, that's peak level and terrifying!" Fallen Star spoke up suddenly to correct Twin, "If I hadn't sensed that his Sword Dao remained at peak level-6, I would suspect that he might have broken through to Sword Dao true meaning already."

"I think I might not be able to reach that level even after a hundred years," Destiny joked self-deprecatingly, smiling.

On the battlefield, the auras emanating from Unrivaled God and the other three caused hearts to quail. At the moment, the faint aura traces from the battle swords in their hands conveyed a sense of intense threat to many of the watching competitors. The sword blades were clearly enveloped in a layer of God Rule Power.

Only Rule Bending Power could go up against God Rule Power.

The sword gleams that Lin Huang had produced earlier were driven by God-slaying Power. Unrivaled God and the other three had no choice but to defend with God Rule Power, otherwise, they would be killed instantly.

Watching the various battle swords, many spectators secretly speculated about what type of God Rule Power each of the four had mastered and what kind of effect these powers would have.

Lin Huang too shot a glance at Unrivaled God and the other three. In reality, except for Forbidden Lamella, he was rather curious about what kind of God Rule Powers the three of them had mastered.

However, it was only a quick flicker of curiosity, after which Lin Huang snapped back to his senses.

This was because Unrivaled God, Frontier, and Forbidden Lamella had all attacked at the same time…

In the void, all three auras from the three sword gleams were completely different.

The black flame-like sword gleam came from Forbidden Lamella, still imbued with terrifying heat from the Divine Lamella Fire.

The white sword gleam came from Unrivaled God. The elegant blade stroke almost seemed to float like a cloud, as if an immortal had attacked so perfectly there were no sparks at all.

The God Rule Power contained in Unrivaled God's attack was called the Sensation God Rule. A single strike could randomly cut off any single one of an opponent's physical senses, for instance, loss of sight, loss of hearing or even losing one's sense of time. However, Unrivaled God could not completely control this power at present. He could only realize an effect at random.

Meanwhile, the red sword gleam came from Frontier. The blood-colored sword gleam was potent in the extreme; not only was it imbued with endless bloodlust, but its aura filled the air, striking fear into the spectators' hearts.

The God Rule Power in Frontier's attack was called the Asura God Rule. Like Lin Huang's God-Slaying Power, Frontier's god rule was also a type of battle god rule. The effect of the god rule was that the more blood on the blade, the more powerful his sword would be. Furthermore, the wielder's body was immune to pain throughout the duration of the god rule. The wielder would not be affected by injuries either and could remain in peak battle condition.

Lin Huang could not determine the effects of these God Rule Powers that his three opponents had mastered. However, he knew that he would not have to worry about being affected by the god rules as long as he was not hit.

Under normal circumstances, sword skills would be the most powerful battle technique for sword cultivators who cultivated close-range combat. When they integrated god rule into their sword blades, this would naturally be the most powerful combination to boost one's ability to its peak. Therefore, most sword cultivators would directly integrate the god rules that they mastered into their battle swords.

Of course, there were exceptions to the rule. Unrivaled God and the rest were clearly not among these exceptions.

Three of the four attacked, yet Lin Huang did not panic at all. He shot a glance at Departed Feather who had yet to show her hand and fired off four consecutive strikes with his sword.

The four blood-colored sword gleams shot forth like lightning, their speed several times faster than the sword gleams that forced Unrivaled God and the others into battle.

Although he attacked later, Lin Huang's sword gleams reached Unrivaled God and the rest within seconds, as if he had been the one who attacked first.

The reason why he attacked Departed Feather despite her inaction was that she had not yet attacked, and he had misgivings about this. He thought it better to involve her in battle to avoid any tricks she might play when the other three surrounded him.

Departed Feather had not expected that she would be attacked too even though she had not done anything yet.

In a rage, she launched an attack with her sword.

A pure white sword gleam pierced through the air at extreme speed like a feathery arrow. Amazingly, it was as fast as Lin Huang's attack.

The God Rule Power in this attack was called the Holy Feather and was a type of Purification God Rule. There were actually two kinds of effects in Holy Feather's purification power. One was positive, whereby it would cleanse bad things to assist in recovery, such as toxins, contamination or evil thoughts. The other kind was negative and would purify everything. Regardless of whether it was energy, one's mind or substances, all of it could be purified into nothingness.

In the past, some people had said that the negative Holy Feather God Rule's effect was vaguely similar to the Fire God Rule. In reality, the Holy Feather God Rule's nature was that of the Fire God Rule. To be exact, it was a subset under the Holy Flame God Rule.

Lin Huang knew very little about god rules. He had no idea what kind of god rule Departed Feather had mastered even if he saw the form the god rule had taken, neither did he have any idea of the god rule's effect.

However, he had a rough understanding of this angel's Sword Dao cultivation direction upon witnessing Departed Feather's sword speed. In actuality, he had some basic understanding of Unrivaled God and the other two's Sword Dao now, not just Departed Feather's.

"Unrivaled God is taking the comprehensive path just like me. His Sword Dao has almost no obvious disadvantages at all. Frontier and Forbidden Lamella are the same; they go for close combat. Their emphasis is on strength, explosive force, and attack force. Departed Feather's going for extreme speed. She wants to achieve ultimate sword speed. Her attack force would be relatively much weaker. It makes sense that this beauty is unwilling to participate in a team kill. There's not much difference with or without her in this siege party. Her function is to pick up on my flaws, as well as to interfere with and contain me with her extremely swift sword speed."

After confirming the four's Sword Dao cultivation direction, Lin Huang was even more convinced that it had been a smart move for him to attack Departed Feather earlier. He was exposing a potential dark horse.

Watching the sword gleams collide and explode in the void, Lin Huang initiated the attack once again without hesitation. He cloned thousands of shadows on his right hand immediately, blood-colored sword gleams glinting countless times.

Within a split second, Lin Huang seemed to have transformed into Thor, the god of thunder. The battle sword in his hand seemed like Thor's hammer, shooting forth several thousand bolts of blood-colored more chapter on NovelFull

The next instant, countless blood-colored bolts of lightning shot towards Unrivaled God and the other three in an erratic route, enveloping all of them as if in a net.

The rain of blood-colored lightning bolts submerged Unrivaled God and the other three, shocking the surrounding spectators.

"Is that Xie Lin's actual ability?! It's terrifying! That's totally something that Virtual Gods shouldn't be able to do!

"My god, all those thousands of lightning bolts each contain terrifying power. I think even one of them could kill me instantly. That would instantly kill off anyone's will to fight. Can Unrivaled God and the rest handle this?!"

"I think I would be killed instantly by such speed before I could even react! It's completely surpassed the speed that my Divine Telekinesis can discern, let alone the speed of my reactions!"

…

The three members from Death Sickle were dumbstruck as they watched.

Initially, the trio had been concerned about Lin Huang. They were worried that he could not fight the team of four, but the scenario that had just happened right in front of their eyes completely shocked them.

"No matter how much I raise my expectations in regards to his considerable abilities, it seems I still underestimate him no matter what…" Fallen Star's throat was a little dry. She had always known that Lin Huang was very powerful, but certainly not as powerful as this.

"This is completely beyond a Virtual God's level; he could be a first-rank True God based on that attack alone." Twin was shocked as well.

Destiny was the only who remained as thick-skinned as ever. "He's definitely the slayer of Bug Queens and Bug Kings! I knew I was right about him!"

…

Lin Huang had not used any sword skills at all when fighting with Forbidden Lamella earlier. He had dragged things out on purpose, holding back to wait for Unrivaled God and the rest to come.

Now that Unrivaled God and the rest were here, he naturally would not have to restrain his abilities any longer.

However, Lin Huang knew very well that Unrivaled God and the rest could not be killed so easily. He did not expect that one major move alone could kill the four of them. Instead, he was quite excited to see what techniques the four of them would use to survive.

After all, the quartet were powerhouses whose Sword Dao was at peak level-6, and their skills were valuable for Lin Huang to learn and adapt from. Not only that, but he also could not kill any BOSSes now. Since he had nothing to do anyway, naturally he did not want to miss the opportunity to spar with the four of them in order to learn.

Lin Huang's Bloody Lightning Genesis technique was delivered at practically full strength, apart from the fact that he had restricted his Sword Dao to peak level-6.

Although the surrounding spectators could not see Lin Huang's attack with the naked eye, they saw Lin Huang's Thor form. They also saw the terrifying scene of several hundred thousand lightning bolts striking at once.

While the spectators were having an exciting time watching, Unrivaled God and the other three who were fighting Lin Huang found themselves in a bad situation.

No matter how high they had gauged Xie Lin's ability, they had not expected his powers to be so terrifying.

All four of them had a dramatic change of expression upon seeing blood-colored lightning raining down on them like a fierce storm. Not only that, but the aura of each bolt of lightning was also at least as strong as any of their full force attacks combined. Immediately they utilized their own divine abilities to counter Lin Huang's deadly move.

Unrivaled God's Sensation God Rule filled his entire body in an instant, spreading out to a radius of 1,000 meters immediately. Under the Sensation God Rule, the trajectories of all the blood-colored lightning bolts became clear to him. He dodged quickly while raising his sword to block those that he could not dodge.

However, no matter how fast he was, he was still slower than Lin Huang's sword speed. Although he could see the lightning bolt trajectories clearly under the Sensation God Rule, his body could not react in time. Despite using everything he could to dodge and defend himself, he only managed to dodge less than half the lightning bolts, while the remaining ones struck him all the same.

Feeling helpless, Unrivaled God had no choice but to stubbornly take the blows with his physical body. He tried his very best to shield his vital parts, forming a defense layer of Sensation God Rule on his body to filter out some of Lin Huang's God Rule Power and prevent irreversible harm to his flesh.

Meanwhile, the god relic armor he wore disintegrated completely after taking merely one hit from a blood-colored lightning bolt. After all, it was just a god relic and could not stand up against God Rule Power.

Unrivaled God cut a sorry figure, while Frontier, not far from him, was in even worse straits.

As the lightning bolts came down, Frontier swung his sword without hesitation and severed his left arm.

As the Asura Blood was activated, the Asura God Rule's power skyrocketed to its peak instantly.

At the same time that he became immune to pain, Frontier's abilities reached their peak. Body movement or sword-swinging speed alike, he was over a level more powerful than Unrivaled God. Although he was still subpar compared to Lin Huang's sword speed, he was not too far off.

Frontier dodged almost 80% of the blood-colored lightning bolts, while the destructive capabilities of the remaining 20% were weakened considerably by the Asura God Rule that enveloped his entire body.

However, he had paid a hefty price for his power; he had lost his left arm. This limb, sacrificed to the Asura Blood, could not be regenerated merely with Divine Power. He might need at least three years of rest to fully regrow his arm again.

Of the four of them, Forbidden Lamella's way of handling the attack was the most dangerous.

Seeing the multitude of lightning bolts coming down, he spread Divine Lamella Fire all over his body, knowing that he would not be able to dodge or handle Lin Huang's attack. He elementalized his flesh into fire, his entire body becoming a ball of Divine Lamella Fire.

Although Lin Huang's blood-colored sword gleams were powerful, they were completely engulfed when they encountered the Divine Lamella Fire, becoming ineffective.

On the surface, it appeared that Forbidden Lamella was unharmed. In reality, however, each second that his flesh remained elementalized meant that his flesh was engulfed even further by the Divine Lamella Fire.

As much as the God Rule Elementalization made him immune to Divine Power and Sword Dao, it could not entirely make him immune from the side-effects that came from Lin Huang's God-slaying Power.

Each time the God-slaying Power hit his elementalized flesh, Forbidden Lamella could almost feel the God Rule Power of the Divine Lamella Fire weakening a little.

Although the weakening of his power was minor in terms of a single attack, given that as many as 1,000 attacks rained down at once, he estimated that his God Rule Power would be weakened at least by half.

His expression was terrible to look upon, but he knew that there was no other way.

Of the four of them, surprisingly enough it was Departed Feather, the weakest, who paid the least in terms of personal cost.

The 12-winged angel's 12 pinions fluttered intensely as soon as she saw the lightning bolts approaching.

A fierce stream of white sword gleams instantly sliced through the air, swallowing up the blood-red lightning bolts.

Departed Feather was extremely quick; her sword speed alone could hold its own with Lin Huang's current sword technique. She knew very well that her weakness was insufficient attack force. Therefore, she countered Lin Huang's attack close to ten times more in quantity.

Feather-like white sword gleams sped towards the blood-colored lightning bolts like moths to a flame.

The lightning bolts became paler each time a feather hit them, vanishing completely when hit by almost ten feathers consecutively.

Departed Feather was the only competitor who was unharmed during Lin Huang's current attack. She was also the only one who intercepted all the lightning bolts from Lin Huang's Bloody Lightning Genesis.

However, this did not come at no cost to herself. To counter this attack, she had drained her Divine Power and God Rule Power almost ten times more than Lin Huang.

A moment later, the battlefield fell silent again as the lightning bolts dissipated completely.

Many of the spectators finally caught a glimpse of what the four looked like now after they had been engulfed by Lin Huang's lightning bolt attack.

Frontier looked the worst; he had lost his left arm and his clothes were stained with blood.

Unrivaled God's white robe was torn without a single inch of fabric that was not tattered. He had suffered many injuries and his body was covered in sword wounds.

Although Forbidden Lamella did not seem to have suffered any sword injuries, his face was extremely pale. There was blood at the corner of his lips and he was not very stable on his feet. From the looks of it, he had suffered internal injuries.

Departed Feather was the only one who looked no different, apart from panting heavily and being soaked with sweat. She glared in Lin Huang's direction, but rage was not the emotion in her gaze—there seemed to be slight fear and hatred too.

"Who would've thought this would be the result of Xie Lin versus four enemies?!"

"Frontier is already handicapped; I think Unrivaled God no longer has the will to fight. Forbidden Lamella and Departed Feather look fine, but I think they're hurt pretty badly internally. Xie Lin's ability is terrifying!"

"Seems like Xie Lin didn't lie after all. He really wasn't using his full abilities when he fought Forbidden Lamella earlier."

"No wonder Xie Lin was chosen to be a candidate! No wonder he defeated so many BOSSes! He really has the ability! Those who said that he cheated should slap themselves now right?!"

Fallen Star and the other two Death Sickle members were completely speechless.

They were already shocked at Lin Huang's sword swings earlier. They could not say anything at all now after seeing the effects of his attack.

"This fellow can't even be described as a genius anymore. With his abilities, he could well dominate all Virtual Gods in the entire God Territory!" Fallen Star muttered softly after a long silence.

Unrivaled God and the other three competitors were catching their breath on the battlefield. The four of them were slightly relieved when Lin Huang did not come after them.

Lin Huang stood at a corner of an awning on a five-story building. He swept the area below with a condescending glance and pinpointed the four's current condition right away.

"I suppose the four of you must have done some preparation before coming here since you've dared to challenge me. If you've got any techniques that you haven't used, now's your chance. If you don't use them, I'm afraid you might not have the opportunity to do so again."

"If you've got any techniques that you haven't used, now's your chance. If you don't use them, I'm afraid you might not have the opportunity to do so again."

Lin Huang had said something similar half a minute ago. However, at the time, almost everybody thought he was lying.

Even Fallen Star and the other two from Death Sickle had thought he was boasting.

However, merely half a minute later when he repeated this, nobody thought he was spouting nonsense any longer.

What happened earlier when he injured Unrivaled God and the other three with just a single move had proved that he really had the chops to say something like that.

None of the watching competitors doubted his abilities any longer. By now almost all of them had given up on planning to ambush Xie Lin. They knew very well that even if he was severely injured, he might be able to kill them anyway.

Unrivaled God and the other three looked grim when they heard what Xie Lin had to say.

He had spoken to them in the tone that the strong would use to speak to the weak.

Although the four of them were indeed weaker than Xie Lin, they were naturally upset at being spoken to in such a manner.

After all, the four of them were the top favored ones in the God Territory; they had been trained by grade-7 organizations like Holy Sons. If one did not count Lin Huang, the four of them more or less had the abilities to be ranked No. 1 on the Virtual God leaderboard.

Even ordinary True Gods would speak to them as if they were of the same status; they would only acknowledge heavenly god-level powerhouses as seniors. Meanwhile, Xie Lin was merely a Virtual God of the same combat strength as them. It made sense that they were upset.

It was not just Forbidden Lamella and the rest; even Unrivaled God, long since over his fame, had a very ugly expression flicker over his face.

Lin Huang did not attack further, waiting patiently instead. He wanted to see if they could surprise him.

Up on the roof of a four-story building, Unrivaled God and the other three exchanged glances and soon came to a decision.

The four of them had already discussed their strategy before coming here.

After all, considering Lin Huang had defeated so many BOSSes, they figured he might have some terrifying moves.

They had indeed come with trump cards that they would only use as a last resort.

Now it seemed like Xie Lin was far more powerful than all four of them had expected. All of them would either die or lose all of their will to fight if Lin Huang used that same technique twice at most. There would be no chance for them to turn the tables if that occurred.

In order to win this battle, the only option now was to bring out their trump cards before their abilities suffered serious damage.

If they waited until Xie Lin attacked with Bloody Lightning Genesis for the second time, they might not have sufficient strength to play their hand.

Now was the best time to bring out their ultimate move. If they missed this opportunity, just like what Xie Lin said, they might not have the chance again.

As the four of them glanced at each other, they finished communicating via Divine Telekinesis. They had unanimously agreed to play their hand now as they were very aware of the current situation.

The moment they came to an agreement, all four moved almost simultaneously.

All of a sudden, a terrifying aura gathered above the heads of all four.

"Sword formation?" Lin Huang looked up. He could not help raising his brows as he saw what coalescing so quickly in the void, "It's quite something for them to come up with this sword formation in such a short time."

Under normal circumstances, consolidating even a simple sword formation would take a team three to five days of cooperation. To use it with full familiarity was almost impossible if they did not spend at least ten days to half a month to acquaint themselves with it. The more complicated the battle formation, the longer the time needed.

Although this sword formation of Unrivaled God and his companions was only made up of four people, judging by the aura, it was clearly a complex sword formation.

It had been less than two hours from the time Lin Huang's identity as the participant had been exposed. Unrivaled God had definitely spent some time to form the team, which meant that all four of them had only had less than two hours to familiarize themselves with this sword formation.

What Lin Huang did not know was that in reality, Unrivaled God and the other three had not familiarized themselves with the sword formation at all.

This formation came from Unrivaled God, who had simplified one of the battle formations from the Combat God Temple. He knew the entire battle formation like the back of his hand. Therefore, he had come up with an easily understood version with that specific battle formation as its core.

To help Forbidden Lamella and the rest create the sword formation, Unrivaled God had cloned nine shapeshifts to simulate the sword formation and model it for the others.

The main work after simplifying the sword formation was completed mostly from Unrivaled God's battle formation core. Meanwhile, Forbidden Lamella and the other two only had to remember the path of the formation pattern and release Divine Power, Sword Dao, and God Rule Power.

As prodigies in the God Territory, naturally, Forbidden Lamella and the other two did not have to spend much time to remember the paths of the formation pattern. Given that there were three shapeshifts simulating the sword formation, the three of them spent less than an hour to successfully master it.

Although the sword formation looked simple on the surface, it had been derived from a true god-level battle formation. At full power, it was sufficient to kill a ninth-rank True God.

Now that it had been simplified by Unrivaled God, its initial power was considerably diminished but a portion of its function remained. The fact that it could integrate God Rule Power alone meant it already surpassed the standard of a virtual god-level battle formation.

In the void, the sword formation soon coalesced into a silhouette as Unrivaled God and the other three continuously fed Divine Power, Sword Dao, and God Rule Power into it.

The resulting form was a humanoid monster in black armor. It stood on two legs and was some three meters tall with four silver-white swords in place of arms. Its entire head was featureless apart from eight blood-red eyes. Clearly, its mouth was not on its head.

Lin Huang's eyes lit up when he finally got a good look at the monster that coalesced from the sword formation. He recognized it as soon as he saw it.

He had just seen such a monster not so long ago on the monster guide he had recently obtained.

"Four-armed Sword Fiend, class-5 supreme god-level Fiendish Corpse!"

Lin Huang was over the moon, it was his first time encountering a class-5 supreme god-level monster, though this one was just a phantom consolidated from a sword formation.

What one had to be aware of was that apart from Bai, most of the Monster Cards he had were quadruple mutated mythical-level. Even Bai was just class 4.5 pseudo-supreme god-level, not a true class-5 supreme god-level.

He was excited firstly was because it was his first time seeing a class-5 monster. The other reason was that Lin Huang clearly sensed a powerful threat from this phantom.

The threat was what he wanted. He could faintly sense that the silhouette before him could force him to absorb all of the Sword Dao comprehension within his body that he had yet to assimilate completely.

"Xie Lin, this is the feast that the four of us have prepared for you." The compelling power coming from the sword formation's silhouette gave Unrivaled God the vague illusion that he was invincible. The fear and hatred that he initially had for Lin Huang vanished completely for now. "I wonder if you can digest it!"

As soon as Unrivaled God finished speaking, the Four-armed Sword Fiend's four arms shook slightly. It looked as if it had never moved but yet at the same time it seemed as if a scattered shadow flashed by.

The next instant, four black sword shadows flashed indistinctly through the air like the Grim Reaper's sickle. The sturdy little buildings were sliced apart wherever the sword shadows passed through…

For Virtual Gods, the buildings in this trial space were almost indestructible.

Even if Unrivaled God and the rest attacked at full force with their abilities, as long as there was no God Rule Power in it, the most they could do was leave a few centimeter-long cuts on the walls. The attacks would not even penetrate the walls.

Only powerhouses who had mastered Sword Dao true meaning or Rule Bending Powers such as the God Rule Power could damage the buildings here substantially.

However, the Four-armed Sword Fiend in front of Lin Huang straight away sliced apart dozens of small buildings. Many of the watching competitors were dumbstruck at the sight.

The maximum damage most of them could do at full force was merely a deep one to two centimeter cut on the walls of those buildings.

The disparity in ability was at a completely different level altogether.

Everyone who saw this had the same question pop into their heads simultaneously—could Xie Lin counter such an attack?!

Meanwhile, Lin Huang's pupils contracted slightly at seeing the creature's attack, even as he was standing on the awning. Subsequently, he raised his sword without hesitation.

A blood-red sword gleam blossomed from the blade of the sword, turning the entire space blood-red in an instant.

The dazzling red light grew brighter and brighter. People could still look at it in the beginning, albeit with difficulty. However, its brightness peaked a second later. It was 100 times more glaring than the sun, causing many spectators to close their eyes.

Lin Huang swung his sword leisurely as the four black shadows arrived in front of him.

The tiles beneath his feet cracked apart, countless pieces floating into the air as if in slow motion…

The moment he trained the point of his sword on the Four-armed Sword Fiend, a stream of dazzling blood-red shot forth from the sword hilt like a laser cannon. In the blink of an eye, it completely engulfed the Four-armed Sword Fiend and the four black sword gleams.

This potent sword attack could not be directly looked at. Most spectators could only watch the battle through their Divine Telekinesis.

Although they could not track the duo's attack trajectory, they could roughly see the battle situation.

All of the spectators went completely silent upon seeing the power of Xie Lin's attack.

Even Forbidden Lamella and the rest of them were not exactly sure who would win this round.

Everyone waited with bated breath for the result of the collision.

A moment later, the spectators had their answer.

The potent blood-red sword gleam in the void was sliced apart. The Four-armed Sword Fiend which had been completely engulfed by the blood-red "laser cannon" slowly came into view.

Meanwhile, Xie Lin, on the other side, was sent flying. He crashed through three buildings consecutively and landed on the fourth building.

"Xie Lin has lost?!"

Almost all spectators were in disbelief. After all, Lin Huang had demonstrated overwhelming power earlier; the impression he gave everyone was that he was invincible.

Unrivaled God and the other three heaved a sigh of relief.

In reality, even Unrivaled God, who had initiated this sword formation, had been more than a little worried before Lin Huang was sent flying.

In a two-story building, Lin Huang emerged slowly from being buried in rubble.

From a distance, he looked past the wall in the Four-armed Sword Fiend's direction.

"This sword formation is really something. It integrated Unrivaled God and the other three's Sword Dao almost to its peak. The four attacks earlier were integrated into one final attack, while the Sword Dao intensity was boosted to Sword Dao true meaning level within seconds. The power of the attack is equivalent to the power of both Sword Dao true meaning and God Rule Power doubled…

"Although it's a fake Four-armed Sword Fiend, this sword formation phantom's ability is on par with a class-5 monster!"

Lin Huang instantly saw through the nature of the Four-armed Sword Fiend's attack.

He did not really mind that he lost this round.

The move he had used earlier was the peak of his strength, but it was the peak of strength below Sword Dao true meaning. He did not use Sword Dao true meaning, instead maintaining the combination of peak level-6 Sword Dao and God Rule Power.

Initially, he thought it would be sufficient to defeat his opponents.

He had not expected that the Sword Dao of Unrivaled God and the other three would undergo a fundamental change in nature after integrating with the sword formation, causing their Sword Dao to reach the level of Sword Dao true meaning.

In reality, Unrivaled God and the rest had not expected such a result either.

However, Lin Huang did not find it odd after thinking about it.

After all, Unrivaled God and the other three's Sword Dao had reached peak level-6. They were only a step away from breaking through to Sword Dao true meaning. Given that the four of them had combined their abilities with the sword formation, the change of nature made perfect sense.

Lin Huang's will to fight surged higher as he figured out what happened.

Initially, he intended to restrict his Sword Dao because he assumed Unrivaled God and the other three's Sword Do was not powerful enough. If he did not restrain himself and killed them instantly with a single blow, he would not get a real taste of battle at all.

However, this sword formation phantom that Unrivaled God and the other three had created was imbued with Sword Dao true meaning.

This excited Lin Huang. He had never encountered any other opponent who had mastered Sword Dao true meaning like he had.

In reality, even he had no idea what his limits were after achieving Sword Dao true meaning.

Now there were finally people sent to his door to be his sparring partners.

After brushing dust off himself, Lin Huang ignored the injuries on his body and finally unsealed the Sword Dao that he had been suppressing.

As soon as it was unsealed, a terrifying aura filled the entire area.

All of the competitors within a 1,000-kilometer radius felt an aura that made their hearts quail.

They knew that it was Sword Dao. However, this Sword Dao was so powerful it caused people to shudder in terror. Nobody would even think of attempting to defend themselves against it.

'Somebody has broken through to Sword Dao true meaning?!'

All of the competitors who sensed the aura had the same thought flash through their minds almost at the same time.

Even Unrivaled God and the other three were clearly stunned. Subsequently, they looked in Lin Huang's direction with shock on their faces.

"Xie Lin has broken through his Sword Dao?!" Departed Feather asked Unrivaled God and the other two, wide-eyed.

"It can't be. Could it be that our sword formation helped him instead?!" Forbidden Lamella too was in disbelief.

"That's possible. After all, this sword formation is the integration of our Sword Dao, and that sword attack earlier reached True Meaning level. Perhaps he felt something from that attack earlier," Unrivaled God suggested rather helplessly.

"This punk is so lucky!" Frontier said unwillingly while clenching his teeth.

The four of them had completely overlooked the possibility that Lin Huang might have suppressed his Sword Dao completely. Although they had initially speculated that Xie Lin could have achieved breakthrough already, the four of them discarded the thought after seeing what had just happened. They believed that Xie Lin had only just broken through.

"Don't be distracted, continue to attack him. Kill him before he masters Sword Dao true meaning!" Unrivaled God snapped back to his senses after a moment of distraction. "This might be the only chance to defeat him. We'll definitely lose when he has mastered Sword Dao true meaning completely!"

Forbidden Lamella and the rest put aside their thoughts immediately after Unrivaled God finished speaking. Together with him, they activated the sword formation phantom again.

Unrivaled God took a step forward before Lin Huang could walk out of the building while Forbidden Lamella and the rest helped with the transformation.

A tall Four-armed Sword Fiend about three meters in height leaped out from the void suddenly. In a flash, it arrived at the building where Lin Huang was. It swung its four sword arms quickly and continuously, sending out countless sword shadows that swallowed up the entire building…

Indistinct black sword shadows quivered like swaying tree branch shadows on the walls. Heavy black shadows swallowed up entire buildings as the Four-armed Sword Fiend shook its sword arms…

Just when many spectators thought Xie Lin had yet to complete his breakthrough and had no more power to fight back, a piercing blood-red glow lit up the few windows in the building. Almost at the same time, countless blood-colored lightning bolts spread through the house and lit up the entire space instantly.

On the building's walls, countless blood-colored lightning bolts fought the black shadows. It was like a mad rave party where everyone was dancing their lungs out.

The battle between the blood-red gleams and black shadows only lasted for a moment. Less than two to three seconds later the entire building collapsed completely with a rumble and became a ruin.

The blood-red gleams and black shadows that lingered in the building vanished almost simultaneously. The blood-red light and the darkness from the black shadows disappeared at the same time and the entire area was once more quiet and calm.

Meanwhile, a silhouette in a black robe stood in the middle of the building ruins.

Under the moonlight, one could faintly see that the face under the hood was covered completely by a black mask as if it were obstructed by the surface of black water.

Lin Huang reappeared, looking as if he had taken no harm whatsoever.

Not only that, but his aura was also completely different than before.

Lin Huang, who had activated Sword Dao true meaning, gave the impression that he was an ultimate sword that had been unsheathed from its scabbard.

Many of the spectators present were sword cultivators. At the moment, they could not take their attention off Lin Huang.

"Such terrifying aura; he's clearly broken through to Sword Dao true meaning!"

"So this is a powerhouse who has mastered the Sword Dao true meaning? I feel so puny standing before him!"

"I used to think if level-6 Sword Dao was an ever-flowing river, then Sword Dao true meaning should be an endless ocean. Now I realize I was wrong; Sword Dao true meaning isn't an ocean, but a starry sky!"

…

Unrivaled God and the other three wore indescribable expressions. They had thought they would stop Xie Lin leveling up by attacking him before he had completed his breakthrough to Sword Dao true meaning. However, now it seemed like the plan had failed entirely. Xie Lin had clearly completed his breakthrough to Sword Dao true meaning.

What they did not know was that Lin Huang was only unlocking his Sword Dao seal. This process only took a second to complete. The boost in aura was misleading; it came from his unlocking the Sword Dao seal and his aura rising again. Even if his aura did not rise back to its peak, it would not affect his use of Sword Dao true meaning at all.

"What do we do now? Xie Lin's completed his breakthrough to Sword Dao true meaning!" Forbidden Lamella asked the other three through voice transmission. He had been the first to fight Lin Huang out of the four of them so he was already a little afraid of Lin Huang's ability. Seeing that Lin Huang had broken through to Sword Dao true meaning, he could not help but consider retreating.

"What else can we do? Do you think he'll let us leave in one piece if we surrender now?" Frontier mocked.

"He's only just completed his breakthrough, he'll need time to get familiar with Sword Dao true meaning. Moreover, we have the sword formation phantom; our brute abilities aren't below his level either. There's still a chance for us to win." Departed Feather was clearly unwilling to surrender.

After voicing their opinions, the three of them turned their heads to look at Unrivaled God who had yet to speak.

Noticing the trio's stare, only then did Unrivaled God say slowly, "I feel that I can certainly lose, but I can't retreat. I must maintain my Dao. To retreat even just a step might be a humiliation for my Sword Heart and I might not have the opportunity to achieve Sword Dao true meaning again! Therefore, personally speaking, no matter what your final decision is, I'll go on with the battle myself!"

What Unrivaled God said gave the three of them considerable pause for thought.

As a weapon, a sword was used to advance and forge ahead in battle.

No matter what path of Sword Dao cultivation, if one did not dare to unsheathe one's sword when facing enemies, it might leave an indelible shadow in one's heart. When the time came, it would be really difficult for one to break through to Sword Dao true meaning.

After Unrivaled God enlightened the three of them about this, they all stood in their battle formation once again without hesitation.

"Charge!"

As Unrivaled God bellowed, the sword formation changed again.

In the void, the phantom Four-armed Sword Fiend plunged toward Lin Huang. Its four sword arms turned into scattered shadows all over the sky…

Lin Huang swung his sword too, a blood-red glow blossoming on the blade…

The power of that sword technique was completely different from before since he had now unsealed his Sword Dao true meaning.

The two silhouettes disappeared right after the collision. The next second, they appeared on another roof. Another head-on collision later, the duo separated and collided on the second roof after they charged again…

The entire space was completely filled with black and red light; other colors might not even have existed.

Rumbles echoed continuously. The spectators heard little else apart from the sounds of endless deafening explosions.

Buildings collapsed and disintegrated, turning into dust and ruins wherever the duo passed through.

The energy wave caused by the duo's collisions forced most of the spectators to retreat up to a hundred kilometers away.

The endless strong winds sounded like a million demons moaning at the same time…

Lin Huang's courage picked up; it was his first time fighting with such ability since mastering Sword Dao true meaning. The more he fought, the more at ease and elated he felt.

On the other side, Unrivaled God and the other three looked worse than before.

Maintaining this sword formation alone drained a great amount of Divine Power, with even more being drained during battle. Practically every time the sword formation shadow attacked, the Divine Power of all four was drained over ten times their full force.

Moreover, Unrivaled God, who was the core of the formation, carried an even greater burden as he used Divine Telekinesis to gather the sword formation integration and track Lin Huang's movements and attack trajectory. The exhaustion on his spirit was certainly several dozen times more than a normal battle.

In less than five minutes after the battle started, the four of them were already feeling exhausted.

One party was fighting more and more courageously, while the other side was drained. From a fair match initially, Lin Huang had gradually taken control of the battle.

Sensing the exhaustion from Unrivaled God and the other three, Lin Huang did not immediately end the battle with an ultimate move. Instead, he was squeezing whatever remaining value he could from the sword formation shadow little by little.

This sword formation shadow integrated all of the sword techniques the four mastered. As they incorporated it with Sword Dao true meaning, he had seen many things that were worth copying and learning.

Just like that, the battle was 'stagnant' for close to half an hour because Lin Huang was holding back on purpose. If he were to fully unleash his power, Unrivaled God and the rest of them would have been defeated some ten minutes ago.

A message came from Warlord all of a sudden just as Lin Huang decided he would proceed to squeeze the remaining, limited value out of Unrivaled God and the rest.

"60 suspected BOSS quotas have been filtered out!"

Lin Huang did not bother wasting his time on Unrivaled God and the rest any longer after hearing that message.

After all, it was the last two days before the end of the Trial. A minute wasted here might lead his hunting one less BOSS.

At this thought, Lin Huang unleashed his full fighting power.

The battle sword in his hand suddenly emitted terrifying red sparks from its hilt. In less time than it took to breathe, the spark had transformed into a laser cannon aimed right for the sword formation phantom.

He had just used this technique not so long ago. However, it was at least several dozen times more powerful this round.

The diameter of the red spark was considerably bigger than before, with a faint black mist surrounding it. In the blink of an eye, the sword formation phantom, already slightly slower than before, was engulfed completely in a terrific shockwave which went through over a hundred buildings further away.

The dumbstruck competitors who were watching witnessed the buildings disintegrating and crumbling within seconds of impact.

The power of the attack had completely exceeded everyone's expectations.

In barely the time it took for two breaths after the sword formation phantom was engulfed by the red shockwave, the sword formation of Unrivaled God and the other three disintegrated instantly. The four of them violently spat out a mouthful of blood, their auras plummeting. Their Divine Power was almost entirely drained; they could barely even stand now.

A moment later, the red glow in the air faded, leaving behind a faint smell of burning.

The spectators lifted their heads to look in the direction of where the sword formation phantom had been standing earlier. There was nothing there—not even a trace of aura remnant was left.

"I'm sorry, I have some business to handle so I have to end this battle with all of you in advance."

Lin Huang sheathed his sword back into its scabbard while hovering in midair. He looked down at Unrivaled God and the rest who were now completely dispirited.

"You guys have already lost. According to the Trial rules, I can kill all of you and take your points but I'm giving you another option now."

Unrivaled God and the rest had thought they would definitely die. When Lin Huang mentioned another option, they lifted their heads to look at him.

"I'm not asking for much, ten complete true god-level sword skill inheritances in exchange for one life! The four of you would add up to 40 sword skills. You can gather it yourself or you can buy it from others who are watching if you don't have enough. Once the deal is done, as long as you don't deliberately cause trouble for me, I'll leave you all alone.

"But my time is limited now, so I'm giving you all three minutes to prepare. After three minutes, whoever can't surrender ten sword skill inheritances will be killed."

Lin Huang looked down at his wristwatch after he was done speaking. "The time starts now!"

The reason Lin Huang did this was that killing the four of them would definitely mean vengeance from the grade-7 organizations and they might come after him. After all, the four of them were proteges that the organizations had trained at the cost of countless resources and efforts.

If he really killed the four of them, he was afraid that even Death Sickle could not protect him. It would also be hard for him to move around the God Territory in the future.

He had considered directly retrieving the quartet's memories. However, he figured that grade-7 organizations would probably have some unique techniques to protect their core members' spiritual space. These four were protégés; there must be similar techniques implanted within them. That was why he had abandoned this idea.

Threatening the four of them to sacrifice something in exchange for their lives was feasible because all treasures and equipment above virtual god-level could not be used in this Trial space. Protective gear, even if it was a god sequence relic (heavenly god relic) would not work. Only a master god-level treasure could break the rule that Great Heaven had set.

If the four of them did have master god-level treasures with them, even if it was a disposable treasure, they would definitely not be willing to give it up just like that. Compared to such treasure, true god-level sword skills were something totally insignificant.

Naturally, the four of them might have mastered some life-saving techniques. However, all of them had drained their Divine Power and spiritual power in the attack earlier. They still could do nothing even if they had mastered any such techniques.

Lin Huang had asked for ten true god-level sword skill inheritances because he knew very well that for a grade-7 organization, true god-level sword skills were not considered to be anything overly precious. If they could trade true god-level sword skills for their lives, even if the number was a little excessive, the four of them would most probably agree to that.

"Ten is a little too much; can it be less?" Forbidden Lamella tried to bargain after thinking about it.

"No, I've said that you can buy them from others if you don't have enough," Lin Huang grinned and announced the time again, "You have 174 seconds left!"

"Alright, if you want ten inheritances, ten inheritances it is! I hope you do as you promised! You can't attack us after the deal is done!" Departed Feather scoffed.

"Of course. There are many pairs of eyes watching. I can't kill all of them," Lin Huang smiled, nodding.

Departed Feather was the first to complete the deal after hearing that.

Frontier was next. He said nothing at all, merely gave up his sword skills expressionlessly.

The third one was Unrivaled God who tried talking Lin Huang up while smiling faintly.

"I have a question I'm hoping you can answer before the deal is done."

"One true god-level sword skill per question," Lin Huang said, not standing on courtesy.

Unrivaled God was stunned for a second but nodded in agreement anyway.

"My question is, did you only use two techniques from start to finish when you fought us?"

"You noticed that?" Lin Huang nodded cheerfully, "One of them is called Thunder Eclipse, it's an extreme speed technique. All of the blood-red lightning bolts were derived from this technique. The shockwave that I used later is called the Sword Waterfall. It's an extreme strength technique."

Lin Huang was not worried that Unrivaled God would copy him. Even if he taught the techniques to Unrivaled God, the power that Unrivaled God generated would definitely be lower than his.

"Are there any other techniques?" Unrivaled God asked further in curiosity.

"That's the second question, are you sure you want to ask that?" Lin Huang smiled while looking at Unrivaled God.

Unrivaled God hesitated for a moment and shook his head, "Forget it, I won't benefit from knowing anyway."

After that, he gave up 11 true god-level sword skills without hesitation.

The last one to complete the deal was Forbidden Lamella. He only had eight true god-level sword skills. He spent a hefty sum to buy two from Unrivaled God to make it up to ten, then gave them to Lin Huang.

'I think asking for ten is too little…' Lin Huang thought to himself, watching Unrivaled God handing over 13 true god-level sword skills so easily

However, Lin Huang was over the moon at obtaining 41 true god-level sword skills.

He was not concerned that Unrivaled God and the rest would seek revenge later. After all, robbing the four of them was not crossing the line for grade-7 organizations such as the Combat God Temple. To them, it was a grudge between juniors at most. Furthermore, it would be humiliating if such news were to spread. There was a much higher chance of them doing whatever they could to suppress this incident.

Moreover, he had Death Sickle supporting him. If somebody really came after him, Death Sickle would definitely be on his side. After all, as a grade-6 organization, it was rare for Death Sickle to have the opportunity to throw cold water in the face of a grade-7 organization. To Death Sickle, this incident was something glorious, not shameful.

After completing the deal with Unrivaled God and the rest, Lin Huang left at once without even a glance at the surrounding spectators.

The reason why he did not meet Fallen Star and the other two was to prevent Unrivaled God and the other three going after them.

Under Warlord's guidance, he hurried in the direction of the closest BOSS impatiently…

"There's a four-story building 18,214 meters from us at two o'clock. There seems to be a humanoid Sword Servant there, a bald man who looks about 40 years old. He's 1.82m tall and plump. He's wearing a dark-green top with cloud patterns and he's standing on the balcony of the fourth floor…"

As he targeted the coordinates of suspected Sword Servants, Warlord also reported that person's characteristics.

The suspected Sword Servant was merely 18 kilometers away from Lin Huang's battlefield with Unrivaled God and the rest. Clearly, he had blended into the crowd to watch the battle.

In reality, however, according to Warlord's detection results, there was more than one suspected Sword Servant secretly watching the battle like this bald man. There were four of them in total. They most probably had sensed the battle impact since they were not too far away and had decided to come to check things out. As there were many spectators around and people rushing over, nobody noticed them blending in.

This was mainly because everyone had their attention on Lin Huang, Unrivaled God, and the rest, watching the battle. Given that the few Sword Servants came rather late in the game, none of the spectators who came earlier checked their maps at all. Otherwise, there should have been people noticing that there were BOSSes blending in since the beginning. After all, all of the competitors could see the obvious red dots which denoted the BOSSes on their map.

Among the four suspected Sword Servants, the bald man was the closest—so naturally, Lin Huang chose to target him first.

After Warlord reported the bald man's coordinates, Lin Huang moved instantly in the direction of the Sword Servant.

All of the spectators thought Lin Huang would leave the area after defeating Unrivaled God and the rest. However, they noticed that he had unsheathed his sword after leaping a short distance. Simultaneous as he accelerated towards the four-story building, he swung the battle sword in his hand. His target was a bald man who was watching from the building's balcony.

Seeing that, the first thought that popped into almost all the spectators' heads was, 'This guy Xie Lin is attacking spectators now. Is he trying to blackmail all of us?!'

Some of them turned around and fled far away immediately upon seeing that, not daring to stop at all. They were afraid that they would be the next target to be blackmailed.

Even Unrivaled God and the other three were stunned to see what was happening; they entertained similar thoughts to the spectators. After all, the four of them were too far away from the bald man and could not sense the anomaly.

However, the bald man whose identity Lin Huang had exposed did not dodge at all as Lin Huang charged at him. Instead, he instantly unleashed terrifying Sword Dao.

Overpowering Sword Dao spread throughout the entire area. Unrivaled God and the other three instantly realized what was going on.

"So that guy is a BOSS!" Frontier raised his brows.

"I really thought Xie Lin was trying to blackmail him…" Forbidden Lamella was rendered speechless.

"He sensed the anomaly from so far away?" Departed Feather frowned lightly.

Although the competitors had the BOSS' coordinates on the map, it was impossible for them to locate the BOSS' exact coordinates from 20 kilometers away. Furthermore, there were a couple of spectators in that direction and the closest was standing less than ten meters away. It was very difficult for them to discover who among those few spectators was the real BOSS by relying on the map's coordinates alone. Departed Feather, therefore, found it odd that Lin Huang had managed to pinpoint the BOSS from 20 kilometers away.

"Perhaps participants have some privileges that we don't have…" Unrivaled God hazarded a guess, "Otherwise, he would never have managed to kill so many BOSSes before the map was made public!"

Unrivaled God had thought all along that Lin Huang managed to kill so many BOSSes in just a few short days because he had privileges as a participant, which allowed him to target the BOSSes' coordinates directly. Perhaps these privileges even provided extra details about the BOSS.

However, the reality was far from his assumptions. Lin Huang did not have so-called "participant privileges" at all; he did not even have a map.

As soon as the other spectators sensed the powerful Sword Dao from the Sword Servant, the excitement in the air rose several notches.

Even those with low IQ could guess what had happened.

"D*mn, a BOSS blended in to watch the battle!"

"I've just brought up the map for a look. It's not just one; there's a total of four BOSSes watching the battle!"

The crowd was thrown into confusion; many of them fled immediately once they realized there were BOSSes around.

One thing to be aware of was that BOSSes could take the initiative to hunt and kill according to the Trial rules this round. Nobody wanted to fall under the BOSS' blade and become a departed spirit.

Unrivaled God and the few of them frowned lightly after finding out about the handful of BOSSes. The battle with Xie Lin earlier had drained their Divine Power completely. It would be big trouble for them if they were targeted by any of the BOSSes.

However, fear attracted fear.

No sooner had the thought occurred to the four of them, three silhouettes charged from three different directions not so far away.

"There are three coming at us now!" Frontier exclaimed, his expression rather unpleasant.

"Apart from Xie Lin, the four of us have the highest points of everyone present. Maybe their hunting gains are related to their prey's points," Unrivaled God analyzed calmly. It explained why the three BOSSes were coming at the four of them.

"What do we do now? We've traded ten true god-level sword skills for our survival trump card. It's been less than a minute, do we really have to use it now?" Forbidden Lamella said looking irritated.

"We'll ask for help if we really can't take it," Departed Feather hesitated for a moment and said spoke her mind anyway, "After all, there are over 100 competitors who haven't left yet. As long as they're willing to help, we might be able to kill the three BOSSes."

"Ask help from the spectators?!" Forbidden Lamella sounded disgusted.

"How about you suggest something else we can do now? With so little remaining Divine Power, we can't even run, let alone fight," Frontier turned his head to ask Forbidden Lamella.

Forbidden Lamella was about to retort but Unrivaled God interrupted.

"Right now we have no other options; we can only ask for the spectators' help. We don't have to beg them, just give them appropriate guidance to help them realize that this is a good opportunity to kill a BOSS. They'd naturally be willing to fight…"

The four of them noticed that the few BOSS were getting closer to them as they communicated through Divine Telekinesis for a quick moment. Unrivaled God began encouraging the remaining spectators to kill the BOSS for points.

As his persuasive words continued, many people who were initially planning to flee from fear of the BOSS decided to remain. A minority of them such as Fallen Star decided to stay too despite seeing right through Unrivaled God's plan. Besides, they had been planning to hunt BOSSes anyway! After all, the more teammates they had, the better. They did not expose the reason for Unrivaled God's persuasiveness since they needed all the numbers they could get if they wanted to confront the BOSSes.

Within some short ten seconds, Unrivaled God managed to gather a group of people together.

The three BOSSes had initially come because of Unrivaled God and the rest's high points. The BOSSes had not expected on arrival that their prey would have gathered close to a hundred people together.

The three were unwilling to give up on the hunt just like that. They unleashed the full force of their Sword Dao and charged into the crowd…

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lin Huang and the bald man's battle swords collided almost at the same time…

After suppressing his Sword Dao to peak level-6, Lin Huang and the bald Sword Servant soon engaged in an intense battle.

The bald Sword Servant's abilities were not considered powerful among the many Sword Servants. Lin Huang roughly speculated that this person should rank between 100 to 120. However, his abilities were actually above Unrivaled God and the rest.

Lin Huang also noticed that the other Sword Servants were fighting with Unrivaled God and his team. His rough guess was that the three Sword Servants' ability ranked between 100 to 200, so their individual abilities would be slightly more powerful than Unrivaled God and his team.

Based on abilities alone, Unrivaled God and the other three ranked roughly between 200 to 300 among the Sword Servants.

The one with the most powerful combined ability was actually Unrivaled God because he was an all-rounder. His ability ranked roughly around 200 among the sealed Sword Servants. The weakest one was Departed Feather, her combined ability was ranked somewhere around 300. Frontier and Forbidden Lamella's combined ability were similar, whereby they ranked roughly between 240 and 260. The duo's Sword Dao strengths were obvious but so were their flaws.

If not many spectators participated in the battle, Unrivaled God and the other three would have a tough fight on their hands even if they had been in peak condition, what more now when all four of them had drained so much of their Divine Power and their God Rule Power.

However, even though they had gathered close to a hundred people including Fallen Star and other powerhouses, Unrivaled God and his team had yet to suppress the three BOSSes. After all, these competitors—nearly a hundred of them—all had opinions of their own and they did not trust each other. There was no effective cooperation.

Lin Huang did not pay attention to the battle situation on Unrivaled God's side. To him, it did not matter how many competitors died; moreover, Sword Servants were not easy to kill.

He concentrated fully on fighting the bald Sword Servant.

The bald Sword Servant's Sword Dao cultivation direction was rather similar to Lin Huang's. He had mastered a wide variety of sword skills and techniques and was able to use them all. His style of fighting was more towards close-quarter combat.

Although he had suppressed his Sword Dao and swung his sword at the bald man with ease, the direct clash without any fancy effects elated Lin Huang. He did not have to think overmuch, he could just swing his sword recklessly.

Intersecting red and green glows exploded in the air; the force of the battle was nothing compared to when Lin Huang had unleashed his combat strength fully. However, it was more powerful than the first round of battle with Unrivaled God and the rest. The force even overpowered the hundred-person battle going on 18 kilometers away.

The Sword Servant laughed uproariously as he wielded his weapon.

"It's been a long time since I've had such fun swinging my sword around like this! Hahahahaha…."

"Me too," Lin Huang agreed; he felt the same way.

The duo's sword battle lasted for over half an hour with still no clearcut winner or loser.

Meanwhile, the battle on Unrivaled God's side was starting to see some improvement. After over 30 people died, everyone finally started pulling together.

Fallen Star and the other two from Death Sickle formed a team and kept one BOSS occupied.

The remaining two BOSSes were attacked by two teams comprised of over fifty people who formed eighteen mini sword formations with the people they knew. As everyone was not familiar with each other and did not really trust each other, they could only fight in their individual ways since they had no time to learn one common sword formation right now.

Unrivaled God and the other three seized the opportunity to replenish their Divine Power and God Rule Power.

However, under the current circumstances, to Lin Huang, it was only a matter of time before Unrivaled God and the other three were defeated.

The problem was not with Fallen Star's small team, but the other two teams.

Although there were mini sword formations compromised of people who were familiar with each other, there was no cooperation between them as the nine little sword formations fought the BOSS together. Not only that, but their abilities were also uneven—a mix of strong and weak. Despite some having come up with a sword formation, they found it difficult to defend themselves against even a single move by the BOSS.

Lin Huang could almost foresee that the two BOSSes would definitely break down the weaker sword formations first and reduce their opponent's numbers one by one. That would make it hard for the remaining powerful sword formations to take down the BOSSes on their own.

Unrivaled God and the rest noticed that too but they had no effective solution. They only hoped that they could buy enough time to allow the four of them to recover their abilities a little more.

Over on Lin Huang's side, the battle was still going on.

As the pair continued with their heated battle, the bald man asked suddenly, "I've a question. You probably didn't newly break through to Sword Dao true meaning when you were fighting those four earlier, right?"

"What do you think?!" Lin Huang smirked.

"I think my guess is correct." The bald man looked at Lin Huang confidently, he wanted to see if Lin Huang's expression would give him any hints. However, there was only a faint smile on Lin Huang's face; he did not show any noticeable reactions.

"The way you unleashed Sword Dao true meaning just now gave the impression you'd already mastered it earlier. You were merely unsealing it," the bald man guessed, hitting the nail on the head, "The skyrocketing Sword Dao caused by the unsealing is indeed similar to when one has just broken through. Furthermore, it's hard to tell them apart."

"However, after you "broke through" to Sword Dao true meaning, there was no unfamiliarity in the way you used it. You were even more familiar with that than using Sword Dao, which made me suspect that you'd already broken through prior to that. No matter what kind of prodigy you are or what talents you have, nobody can master a new ability like this perfectly when they've only just broken through to Sword Dao true meaning."

"Great analysis," Lin Huang smiled but he did not give his opponent a clear answer.

"I've another question." Although the bald man did not get a clear response, he already knew that his guess was very close to the truth. "Why didn't you use Sword Dao true meaning right away when you started fighting me?"

"What kind of benefit would I get from that?" Lin Huang asked him back with a smile.

"You can gain points quickly…" the bald man stopped suddenly right after the words left his mouth. He realized Lin Huang's real goal instantly and said while smiling and shaking his head, "I've underestimated you. Points aren't the reason why you're hunting us."

"If the Trial points are what I wanted, I wouldn't have made Unrivaled God and the rest stay," Lin Huang answered, still smiling, "Compared with points, Sword Dao inheritances are naturally more attractive."

The reason Lin Huang said that was because it had been impossible for anyone to surpass his points for quite a while. He had already defeated 182 Sword Servants and accumulated over 18,000 points.

There were a total of 2,999 competitors, which meant that the most points they could get from hunting each other would only be 2,999 points. Even if they defeated the remaining 104 Sword Servants (14 of them were defeated by Unrivaled God and the rest), the most points they could get would be over 13,000.

Therefore, as long as Lin Huang was not defeated or killed, his No.1 ranking was stable. No matter how the rest fought for it, the highest they could get to would be No.2.

"You're using me for actual combat practice?" The bald man understood why Lin Huang had not straight away used Sword Dao true meaning.

"Practical combat training is one thing, there's also surreptitiously learning sword skills and battle techniques," Lin Huang said with complete honestly, "Therefore, I hope that all of you don't hold back; it would be ideal if you could demonstrate whatever techniques you have—the more, the better!"

"Your honesty would cost you friends," the bald man said while smiling, "But I like honest people!

"As you wish then. I'll show my best ultimate move under my sealed condition. Let's see how much you can learn from it."

The next instant, a green glow blossomed rapidly on the battle sword in the bald man's hand. He brought his breathing under control. Lin Huang could even see faint green steam subtly coming out of his nostrils.

Almost simultaneously, he moved.

In the blink of an eye, he reached Lin Huang immediately as if he had leaped through space.

"That's so fast!" Lin Huang could not help exclaiming in astonishment.

The sword speed from the bald man was at the same level as his Thunder Eclipse. However, this move was even more perfect, having reached its peak in all aspects.

That was the ultimate move that Lin Huang was after; it was just that he had not yet come up with one.

As his pupils contracted slightly, the battle sword in Lin Huang's hand turned into a blood-red lightning bolt the next instant. The scarlet lightning bolt was several times faster than the green sword glow from the bald man.

Yes indeed, Lin Huang had used Sword Dao true meaning.

This was because the bald man's attack was such that Lin Huang had no way to meet it at peak level-6 Sword Dao. He could not counter or dodge; the only way was to unleash his Sword Dao true meaning.

Only at that moment did Lin Huang realized that the bald man had been masking his ability.

On the surface, the bald man's battle abilities seemed to be ranked at approximately 100 to 120 among the Sword Servants. However, his real ability might be around 30 or so, and his perfect move earlier might well be in the 20s.

Blood-red lightning shattered the green sword glow instantly.

Lin Huang squinted slightly at the bald man. His smile was cold. "You almost killed me, you hid it very well!"

"Everyone is cunning on the path of cultivation. I, Sword12, count it a pleasure to meet the future swordmaster," the bald man said, smiling faintly.

"Do you think you can calm my rage by buttering me up?" Lin Huang was actually quite angry; he had almost been tricked by the bald man.

The bald man's conversation with him, battle mode, ability, and seemingly straightforward character were all fake!

"Someone will teach you this lesson sooner or later, master. If you want to take the swordmaster's position, ability and talent aren't enough. You need some tricks."

"Are you really hoping I'll become swordmaster?" Lin Huang's tone was rather sarcastic.

"It's not my wish that you take swordmaster's position. In reality, I don't mind anyone taking it. You're the closest to it after over 300,000 years. The position has been vacant all this time. We've been waiting for more than 300,000 years, we really don't want to wait any longer."

Lin Huang could no longer tell if the bald man was telling the truth or faking it. He decided to play it safe and did not respond.

"It's the second last stage of the Trial now. It's only a matter of time for master to pass this stage. The thing that master needs to take note of is the last stage," Sword12 continued.

"What? Are you going to tell me what's in store for the last stage?" Lin Huang said while smiling. Even if the bald man did tell him, he would not dare to believe him.

"I can't reveal what's in store for the Trial. The person who reveals it would die instantly but the even more important main reason is that once the Trial proceedings are leaked, there will be a definite change in the Trial, and the difficulty level would go up."

Lin Huang snickered out loud, "Then what can you do for me?"

"I can answer every question you have within limits," Sword12 said while bowing slightly.

Lin Huang squinted slightly. He stared at Sword12 for a while before finally asking, "If that's the case, tell me about Sword11."

"Oh, Sword11. What would you like to know?" Sword12 enquired.

"Everything," Lin Huang said without hesitation.

"I'll tell you whatever I'm allowed to tell you then. Where should I start…" Sword12 gave this some consideration; he seemed to be sorting out his thoughts. He then said slowly, "There are a total of 365 Sword Servants under the former swordmaster. Since his death, however, the 365 Sword Servants separated into two sects as time went by."

"One of the sects is called the Regression Sect. They hope to revive the swordmaster with some special technique or find his reincarnation so he can rule the Great Heaven Territory again. The other sect is called the Succession Sect. They hope that a junior with outstanding talent and the potential to inherit the swordmaster's inheritance will appear to take over the Great Heaven Territory.

"Sword11 is like me, we're members of the Succession Sect."

Lin Huang ignored what Sword12 said about being a part of the Succession Sect and brought up a point of doubt that had occurred to him.

"Why don't the Succession Sect members want Senior Great Heaven to return?"

"It isn't that we don't want it, but we know that chances are slim. To be elevated to a Lord, a Heavenly God needs Dao unification. If that Dao unification is destroyed, that's theoretically the ultimate death. There wouldn't even be any remnants of a soul left! How could he be revived? As for searching for his reincarnation, since his soul has already died completely, how could he be possibly reincarnated? Even if he was lucky enough to have a tiny fragment of soul remaining from the Dao unification failure and was successfully reincarnated, given the billions of living things in the Great Heaven Territory, how are we supposed to find him?! Every one of us Sword Servants can't leave the Great Heaven Territory. What if he reincarnated somewhere outside the Great Heaven Territory? How could we possibly locate him?

"Besides, the swordmaster had sorted everything out before attempting Dao unification. He said he would leave the inheritance behind in case his Dao unification failed. Whoever obtains the inheritance will be the next swordmaster. We in the Succession Sect are fulfilling the master swordmaster's dying wish."

Lin Huang nodded at the end of Sword12's explanation. He could understand why both sects thought the way they did.

"If I managed to obtain the inheritance successfully, would the people from the Regression Sect be upset?"

"They won't be. After all, everyone hopes to have a swordmaster reigning again. At most, they would give you some small amount of trouble in the assessments and increase the assessment difficulty. If someone managed to pass all the assessments that the former swordmaster left behind and obtain the inheritance, it's impossible that they would deny the ability of the swordmaster's heir.

"When that happens, matters will be set. Most Regression Sect members will give up on the thought of waiting for the former swordmaster to return; there definitely will be a few stubborn ones who are loyal to him. However, the most they'll give the new swordmaster in terms of bad attitude would be sloppiness and negativity. They won't outright disobey. After all, the former swordmaster wrote it down clearly in his will that his heir would be the new swordmaster."

Lin Huang was relieved when he heard that.

"Let's talk more about Sword11 then."

"As a member of the Succession Sect, Sword11 put in a lot of effort to find a suitable candidate to be the swordmaster's successor. He even left a level-6 Sword Dao sword trail in the Swordfiend Abyss for narrowing down candidates whom he deemed to have potential. However, he did something daring a few years back by teleporting his consciousness out of the Trial space with some special technique. He said he had gone to the Great Heaven Territory to look for a suitable successor."

At this point in Sword12's narrative, Lin Huang more or less understood what had happened with the Sword11 he had encountered in the Great Heaven Territory.

That Sword11 was no longer the original Liu Ren. Instead, he had been replaced by Sword11 through some specific technique.

However, one could imagine Sword11's inherent talents and abilities, since he had transformed someone with mediocre Sword Dao talent into the No.1 Sword Dao genius through his consciousness alone.

"You bumped into Sword11 in the Great Heaven Territory?" Sword12 probed.

"I did. He was the one who told me that the Swordfiend Abyss is the Trial venue for the Great Heaven inheritance." Lin Huang did not think he had to hide that fact.

"I thought the fellow had died after he escaped as he did." Sword12 was surprised to hear the news.

After confirming Sword11's identity, Lin Huang no longer had the desire to learn more about Sword11.

However, Sword11 was already a class-5 genius. This made Lin Huang even more curious about the top 10 Sword Servants.

"Tell me more about Swords 1 to 10 then."

"I can only give you a rough idea about them; I can't reveal their personal details." Sword12 suddenly looked very serious.

"During each term of the swordmaster's reign, the fighters who became Swords 1 to 10 were his personal bodyguards. Not only do they have the most powerful abilities, but the most basic condition is also that they have to be at least a class-5 genius.

"What's a class-5 genius? A class-5 talent and potential would be cultivated as a Holy Son in any tribe or organization in the great world. They would be supreme god-level among Protoss, but every one of them would be nurtured as Sons of God. If there are any in the Bug Tribe, they would be on the same level as the Bug Queen, in an exalted position—nothing lower than the Queen Mother that controls the hive. They would be the mate that almost all Queen Mothers dream of…"

"I remember that Sword11 is also a class-5, am I right?" Lin Huang could not help asking.

"Yes, he's a replacement bodyguard. The swordmaster has a quota of only 10 bodyguards and they must be the ten with the most powerful abilities. The extra ones would be the replacements. So what if they're class-5? I'm class-5 too!" Sword12 said in a rather dissatisfied manner.

"You're class-5 as well?! Apart from the ten bodyguards, how many more Sword Servants are class-5?"

"Only me and Sword11. Sword13 to Sword37 are class-4.5 while the rest are normal class-4." Sword12 did not conceal this.

"Are there any class-6 geniuses among Swords1 to 10?" Lin Huang proceeded to ask.

"No! If there really are, the swordmaster would've made them his disciples," Sword12 asserted, shaking his head with wide eyes, "Do you think class-6 is as common as vegetables at the market?! Any class-6 would be the supreme powerhouse of the era and could dominate the great world! Let me give you a rather unpalatable example. If there's a class-6 Bug Emperor in the Bug Tribe, the tribe would destroy the entire great world as soon as the Emperor achieved lord-level!"

"Then was Senior Great Heaven a class-6?" Lin Huang asked at once.

"None of us know. The swordmaster never mentioned it, and we never dared to ask," Sword12 said, spreading his hands to indicate that he had no idea.

"Since both of you are class-5 and your combat strength is similar, your ability and Sword11's shouldn't be too different from Sword10 and the rest, should it?"

"The disparity's like night and day! Although the difference in our talents and potential is minor, those ten were able to have the swordmaster's guidance once every year. Meanwhile, we only got that guidance once every 100 years. Apart from that, Sword2 and Sword3 would always give them special treatment. We can't compete with that. They were also able to obtain several dozen times more resources than us…" Sword12 sounded bitter as he continued his explanation.

Lin Huang had some idea of this disparity now. It would be the equivalent of students of the same grade going to school—but the wealthy ones could hire professional homeschool teachers to tutor them every day, as well as buy all sorts of academic resources to catch up with what they had missed in class. Meanwhile, since the poor ones could not afford tutors and extra learning materials, they could only depend on the classes in school and self-study. Three years down the road, the results of their final exams would naturally be different.

"Can you tell me exactly how strong they are?" Lin Huang proceeded to ask.

"Let me put it this way. That attack you used earlier, using Sword Dao true meaning? Sword10 could do that even without using Sword Dao true meaning."

Lin Huang's pupils contracted when he heard that. The ability of Great Heaven's bodyguards exceeded anything he could possibly have imagined.

Sword12 seemed to be fearful when he revealed Sword10's ability. "That's all that I can reveal to you about Swords 1 to 10…I can't tell you anything further even if you ask."

Lin Huang thought for a moment and followed up with another question, "Earlier you told me that you can't reveal any details of the final stage; I don't need you to tell me that. All I want to know is, does it have anything to do with the 10 bodyguards?"

Sword12 kept his lips sealed and stayed quiet; he did not answer.

However, Lin Huang had guessed the answer from his response.

His heart began to sink as he recalled Sword12's earlier description of Sword10's abilities.

Lin Huang had learned many secrets from his conversation with Sword12.

Apart from the matters regarding Sword11 and the swordmaster's bodyguards, Lin Huang also asked a few other questions afterward, which Sword12 answered one after another.

Once he had answered all the questions put to him, Sword12 voluntarily conceded defeat and soon vanished in front of Lin Huang.

Seeing the push notification about defeating a Sword Servant, Lin Huang then turned his head and looked over to where Unrivaled God and the rest were.

The situation was getting more and more dangerous for Unrivaled God and the others. Apart from Fallen Star's team of three, the remaining two groups were having a hard time of it. Out of 18 mini sword formations, there were only 10 left currently. At the moment, almost all the members of the 10 mini sword formations were thinking of how to escape. They had completely lost their will to fight. If not for Unrivaled God and the other three who would come in occasionally, the two teams would have been defeated by the two BOSSes from the start.

Lin Huang also noticed that Unrivaled God and the other three had not recovered much of their Divine Power at all. However, he had already expected that. After all, most of their Divine Power had been drained completely. They would need at least ten hours to fully recuperate.

Seeing their situation, Lin Huang smirked slightly and made his way unhurriedly to the scene of battle. He watched, standing on a roof not far away.

Only when Lin Huang made his way back did everyone realize that Xie Lin had taken care of another BOSS. They had had no time to look at the recent push notification at all. However, it was not hard for them to guess what the push notification said, seeing that Xie Lin was now here.

Lin Huang watched the battle in silence. It seemed as if he had no intention of interfering.

Unrivaled God and the other three had thought Lin Huang would join the battle. When he still did nothing after they waited a moment, they finally could not help but communicate with him through voice transmission.

"Xie Lin, we'll yield all three BOSSes to you."

"I can't do that. After all, these three BOSSes came for you guys," Lin Huang replied through voice transmission, smiling. He still had no intention of joining the fight.

Unrivaled God and the other three cursed secretly to themselves. They roughly figured that not only did Xie Lin want the BOSS, but he wanted other benefits as well.

As the four of them fell silent, some of the competitors from the two teams fighting noticed Lin Huang. Someone immediately shouted to Lin Huang, "Mr. Xie Lin, please kill these BOSSes for us. We really can't take it any longer!"

"That's right, come help us now!"

Many people among the crowd voiced their agreement one after another. They had completely lost their mood after being beaten up by the two BOSSes. Right now they could not even escape, as the BOSSes had them completely at their mercy.

"Help you? What's in it for me?" Lin Huang asked in a deep, serious voice.

"These three BOSS are yours, we won't fight with you over the points! After you've picked a BOSS, we can even keep two of them occupied for you so that you can fight at ease," a clear-headed young man in the crowd shouted immediately.

"There's no need for that, I can fight three on my own," Lin Huang declined the suggestion right away, "I'd just have to wait until the BOSS killed all of you, and then he'd be mine. You could help me as well by draining the BOSSes' Divine Power while you fight; why would I be against that?" Lin Huang switched topics after that, "But of course, I can help you too if you really want me to. However, my fee is very high…"

The crowd immediately realized that Xie Lin wanted to seize the opportunity to extort them, and their expressions turned sour right away.

"Which is more important, your money or your life? Think about it for a while; I'm not in a rush anyway. These three BOSSes will still be mine when you're all dead."

In reality, Lin Huang was anxious because every hour he wasted, the less time he had to kill every other BOSS. However, he could not show it at the moment or he might end up being delayed for a few hours by these people. The less nervous and more apathetic he seemed, the more anxious these people would be, and the more valuable the items he could ask for in exchange.

As expected, Unrivaled God's team could no longer take it after he waited for two to three minutes.

"What do you want? Name your price," Unrivaled God said expressionlessly.

Lin Huang grinned, "How about this—we'll calculate on an average of how many people are present now. Since there are so many of you, I'll give you a discount—five true god-level sword skill inheritances per person!"

"Why don't you just rob someone?!" Forbidden Lamella shouted unwillingly.

"How could I earn so much from mere robbery?!" Lin Huang responded while smiling. Forbidden Lamella was so infuriated he was lost for words.

"Isn't it unethical for you to take advantage of us right now?" Departed Feather's expression was grim as well.

"Hey, let me make this clear. I'm not friends with competitors like yourselves. Not only that, but we're also enemies in this trial. Have you forgotten that you teamed up to kill me around half an hour ago?

"Now that you guys are in trouble, it's not my job to bail you out for free. Given that I'm proposing you hire me to help you, I'm already not taking into account past enmity. Even normal families pay nannies to look after their children, and you want me to save your lives for free?!"

Unrivaled God and the rest present were bereft of speech at Lin Huang's little speech.

"It's not that we want you to help us for free, but your fee is a little too high," Frontier could not help interrupting, "Furthermore, we've paid you ten sword skill inheritances earlier. We really don't have that many sword skills left. The others don't come from grade-7 organizations like we do. They're considered to have gone through intensive training if they manage to master two to three true god-level sword skills while they're at virtual god-level."

"Yes, he's right!" A group of bystanders agreed immediately.

"Xie Lin, why don't we give you two sword skills each? That should be within the range of what everyone can afford," Unrivaled God added on quickly from his place on the sidelines.

"Since that's the case, I'll compromise. Three per person. That's my final offer. If you disagree, I can only wish you guys the best," In reality, three sword skills were the figure he had in mind. He knew that no matter how many he asked for, Unrivaled God and the rest would definitely bargain. Therefore, he thought he would name a high price of five each, "You can leave after you've paid, I don't need you guys to buy time for me."

After a moment of hesitation, Unrivaled God and the rest finally agreed. In reality, the price Lin Huang named was within their expectations. They had already foreseen that Lin Huang would bargain when Unrivaled God proposed two sword skills each.

Including Unrivaled God and the other three, there were a total of 43 people present. Lin Huang delivered three consecutive slashes with his sword, throwing out the three BOSSes and appearing before Unrivaled God in a flash.

After quickly paying up their three true god-level sword skill inheritances, the other competitors fled the scene.

Lin Huang ran a scan with Divine Telekinesis after getting all 129 sword skills. After verifying that the sword skills were fine, he released Unrivaled God and the other three to go on their way.

Just as Unrivaled God and the other three left, a BOSS chased after them while another two blocked Lin Huang's way.

Lin Huang scoffed, using Sword Dao true meaning to toss aside the two BOSSes who were obstructing his path. The next instant, he appeared before the BOSS who was chasing Unrivaled God's group, blocking his way.

"I'm sorry, they've sold the three of you to me!"

After passing the job of getting rid of all three BOSSes to Lin Huang, Unrivaled God, the other three and the rest of the competitors beat a hasty retreat.

Apart from Lin Huang, the only ones who remained were Fallen Star and the other two members from Death Sickle.

However, Fallen Star and the other two did not participate in the one-against-three battle. Instead, they watched on the sidelines. Only after making sure that all of the competitors had left the sensing zone did they speak to Lin Huang.

"Xie Lin, we can't make it apparent that we know you. Otherwise, we might be targeted by all of the other competitors. We hope you'll understand."

"I know," Lin Huang nodded.

"We finally have a chance to speak to you alone," Twin's icy blue head on the left said while smiling.

"You've pretty much secured the No.1 ranking in this Trial now!" Twin's fiery red head on the right seamlessly continued the conversation, "Nobody can surpass you currently."

"Boss Xie Lin, I never thought your real abilities would be even more powerful than my expectations!" Destiny took over the conversation immediately, "You can participate in the Great Heaven Trial if you achieve the No. 1 spot! It'll be a piece of cake for you to get the Great Heaven inheritance!"

Lin Huang shook his head, smiling, "If it were really as easy as you say, that would be fantastic."

"Xie Lin, you're a participant, which is different from us. If I'm not mistaken, the Competitive Trial being initiated has something to do with you?" Twin could not help asking. She had wanted to enquire about this a few days ago, although, in reality, she had already guessed the truth. She just wanted to hear the confirmation from the horse's mouth.

"Yes, I initiated the Competitive Trial." Lin Huang did not deny it.

"So that's it. No wonder you're the only candidate, Boss Xie Lin, while the rest of us are competitors!" Destiny had an epiphany.

"Once this Trial ends, let us know if you need our help with anything," Fallen Star said after falling silent for a moment, "You can look for us if you need help in the Trial later too."

"I will," Lin Huang nodded, "However, apart from this Competitive Trial, the other stages for the Great Heaven inheritance are all designed for a single person. I don't know what the assessment will entail for the later stages. I'll contact you if I really need help."

"Are you confident about the stage after this?" Fallen Star asked again.

"To be honest, no," Lin Huang shook his head with a forced smile, "According to some information that I obtained, I more or less know that the stage afterward will be very difficult."

"Try your best then," Fallen Star comforted, "It'd be great if you can get the Great Heaven inheritance. If you can't, don't force it. You only need to fight to the best of your abilities; leave the result to fate."

"That's what I think too," Lin Huang smiled while nodding.

He never had been a sore loser. The main goal when he entered the Swordfiend Abyss was not for the inheritance, but to elevate his Sword Dao and ability, because he knew from the beginning that the Great Heaven inheritance was definitely difficult to obtain. Of course, if he really did manage to get the Great Heaven inheritance eventually, that would be an amazing extra reward.

Fallen Star and the other two left, but only after chatting for some time with Lin Huang.

Lin Huang then focused entirely on fighting the three BOSSes.

Unlike Sword12 earlier, the abilities of these three BOSSes were similar to what Lin Huang had expected—roughly between 100 to 200 among the Sword Servants.

Lin Huang did not use Sword Dao true meaning. Instead, he maintained his use of peak level-6 Sword Dao from the beginning until the end. He only defeated all three Sword Servants teaming up to fight him after one and a half hours of battle.

"Candidate Xie Lin has defeated a BOSS, he has obtained 100 points!"

"Candidate Xie Lin has defeated a BOSS, he has obtained 100 points!"

"Candidate Xie Lin has defeated a BOSS, he has obtained 100 points!"

Lin Huang raised his brows as he watched the three "global" announcements popping up. It felt like the same announcement had been repeated three times.

Some competitors who were far away and had no idea what had happened thought it was strange.

"That's some special treatment alright! Three announcements for killing one BOSS?!"

"Why did the "global" announcement pop up three times when Xie Lin killed a BOSS this time?! Can it be that the BOSS he just killed is special?"

"Being a participant is really something else. Kill a BOSS and there are three announcements. Wouldn't our screens be occupied if he killed three BOSS and nine announcements popped up?!"

Only some of the competitors who knew what happened guessed the truth.

"Three announcements at once—did he defeat three BOSSes at once?!"

"Xie Lin is really something. We can't even fight one BOSS and he defeated them one against three!"

"I've always thought that Virtual Gods who got to the level of Unrivaled God and the rest would have reached their ultimate peak. Now that I've seen Xie Lin, I realize that I was too naive…"

…

Unrivaled God and the other three who were now far away from battlefield looked rather sour.

The four of them knew very well that the three BOSSes who had come after them had personal abilities higher than all of them put together. However, the BOSSes had still lost to Xie Lin even though all three of them took him on at once. Clearly, Xie Lin had not depended on luck to defeat Unrivaled God's group of four.

Forbidden Lamella and Frontier might have felt somewhat dissatisfied earlier, thinking they might have been able to win if they had sufficient time to prepare and familiarize themselves with the sword formation, or even use a more powerful sword formation. However, upon consideration now, they realized that the disparity between their personal abilities and Xie Lin's was far too great.

Lin Huang knew that he would definitely be discussed this time but he did not care at all.

"11 o'clock, 517 kilometers from where we are now. There's a suspected Sword Servant who's coming in our direction at high speed. He seems to have been attracted by the unusual phenomenon that was generated by the battle earlier. This fellow is a humanoid monster. His head looks a little like a red octopus and he has a beard on his chin that looks like multiple tentacles…"

After defeating three BOSSes, Lin Huang did not linger around. With Warlord, he headed to the next destination.

A few minutes later (everyone's flight speed in the Trial space was significantly slower since they needed to travel through the interiors of many houses in their journey), Lin Huang met the octopus-head.

After roughly half an hour of intense battle, Lin Huang defeated the fifth BOSS.

He did not linger either but proceeded straight to the 6th target.

Warlord had earmarked a total of 60 suspected Sword Servants as targets, while Lin Huang only had some 60 hours left. If he wanted to defeat all 60 suspected BOSSes, he could only spend an hour on each BOSS. That included traveling time, which made his schedule very tight.

After defeating the octopus-head, Lin Huang fought the sixth target soon after. It was a monster that looked like a crocodile but walked on two feet just like a human.

The crocodile's abilities were very powerful—his ranking was Sword21. Lin Huang spent a full one and a half hours before achieving a final hard-won victory without using Sword Dao true meaning.

After defeating Sword21, Lin Huang headed to the next target immediately.

He fought one battle after another. In the space of the next two days, Lin Huang had to spend almost 39 hours without rest before he managed to defeat all 60 suspected Sword Servants that Warlord had targeted.

In reality, all the 60 suspected Sword Servants were actually Sword Servants. Warlord had made no mistakes in his filtering. It was fortunate that none of the 60 were hunting targets of Unrivaled God and the others.

Later on, Lin Huang spent almost 20 hours to hunt down the second round of suspected Sword Servant targets that Warlord had come up with. A push notification popped up when he defeated the 37th Sword Servant.

"Congratulations to the participant and all competitors; all 300 BOSSes are defeated. This Trial ends ahead of time!"

COMMENT

Lin Huang was not surprised when he saw the pop-up push notification. This was because he had seen announcements popping up several times throughout his two-day hunt about Unrivaled God and the rest successfully killing BOSSes.

The Trial ended in advance approximately an hour before the official ending time. Of the 44 Sword Servants, apart from the 37 Sword Servants that Lin Huang had killed, it was obvious that Unrivaled God and the rest had killed the remaining seven.

"Congratulations to the participant for defeating 279 Sword Servants and obtaining a total of 27,911 points. He is ranked No. 1 in this Competitive Trial!"

"Congratulations to the candidate for becoming the champion of this Competitive Trial and achieving the qualifications for the final Trial!"

Lin Huang finally looked serious after seeing the two notifications that popped up one after the other.

A massive mountain sat in plain sight under the scorching sun.

Lin Huang stood at the foot of the mountain, unable to stop from squinting as he looked up at its lofty peaks.

He had not seen the sun throughout his ten days in the Competitive Trial space. Now that he had been suddenly teleported into a new Trial space, he was slightly uncomfortable.

The mountain before him was massive. The area above the mountainside was almost entirely wreathed in clouds. Even Lin Huang could not tell just by looking how much more of the mountain there was above the clouds. He could only vaguely see a gigantic shadow.

"A mountain…can the last trial be hiking?" Lin Huang also noticed that the entire mountain was covered in lush trees. If the assessment really did involve hiking, there must be obstacles in this dense jungle.

As his mind was occupied with multiple thoughts, trying to figure out what the assessment was, a push notification popped up before him again.

"The last Trial – the Ten Palaces!"

"Golden Crow Mountain is the courtyard of the Great Heaven Palace. This is where the swordmaster's bodyguards are stationed. It is also the usual domicile of Swords 1 to 10, under the command of the swordmaster, and is known as the Ten Palaces."

"Among the Ten Palaces, the First Palace is the highest while the Tenth Palace is the lowest. They are guarded by Swords 1 to 10 respectively. There are many God's Servants (not necessarily Sword Servants) all over Golden Crow Mountain, all under the command of the ten bodyguards."

"As the participant's combat strength is on par with Virtual God rank-9, all of the swordmaster's bodyguards and the God's Servants under them have an average combat strength of Virtual God rank-9."

"It has been detected that the participant's Sword Dao has been elevated to True Martial Level (level-1 of Sword Dao true meaning). The swordmaster's bodyguards and God's Servants will have their Martial Dao level capped at True Martial Level in this round of the Trial."

"It has been detected that the participant has mastered preliminary God Rule Power. The swordmaster's bodyguards and God's Servants may use God Rule Power that is on the same level as the participant in this round of the Trial."

…

"All of the participant's techniques are allowed (excluding heavenly god-level techniques) in this round of the Trial. You may use god rule relics and other treasures of the same level. The swordmaster's bodyguards and God's Servants are entitled to the same treatment as the candidate."

…

Lin Huang could not help but frown even more after reading all of the Trial rules.

According to Sword12, even Sword10, the weakest among the ten bodyguards, had peak level-6 Sword Dao on the same level of intensity as Lin Huang's Sword Dao true meaning attacks.

In this trial, all the Sword Servants' Sword Dao was now uncapped to True Martial Level, just like Lin Huang. This meant that their overall abilities would be boosted a full level.

A Sword Servant's ability at peak level-6 Sword Dao was already terrifying, what more the most powerful ten Sword Servants among the swordmaster's bodyguards. Lin Huang felt he might not win even if he were to fight a swordmaster's bodyguard who was using peak level-6 Sword Dao, let alone a swordmaster's bodyguard whose Sword Dao was elevated to True Martial Level.

The elevation of Sword Dao alone at this stage of the Trial had doubled the pressure on Lin Huang.

Apart from Sword Dao, being able to use God Rule Power now would boost the Sword Servants' abilities even further.

In the previous Trial stage, apart from having their Sword Dao capped, Sword12 and the rest of the BOSSes were prohibited from using God Rule Power at true god-level ability. The main reason why Unrivaled God and the rest could defeat the Sword Servants was because of God Rule Power. If the BOSS could use God Rule Power too, Unrivaled God and the rest would probably not have defeated even a single Sword Servant.

However, since the ten swordmaster's bodyguards could use God Rule Power in this stage of the Trial, this was certainly bad news for Lin Huang.

On a certain level, mastering God Rule Power was almost like being a True God. The differences lay only in the strength of the flesh and soul, as well as no Divine Fire within the body. One's Divine Power quality was weaker, as well as one's endurance. However, based on technique alone, it would be no different in nature than a first-rank True God.

However, Lin Huang had not used God Rule Power at all when fighting the Sword Servants in the previous stage. The most he had used was Sword Dao true meaning.

Another thing that concerned Lin Huang was that apart from the ten swordmaster's bodyguards, there were God's Servants under their command with powerful abilities.

Even though these God's Servants' true abilities were nothing as powerful as the Sword Servants who ranked 200 to 300, their Martial Dao true meaning and God Rule Power would be sealed in this stage of the Trial. Even if their combat strength was capped at Virtual God rank-9, their overall ability would still be above most Sword Servants from the previous round.

"I wonder how many God's Servants there are and if they would create battle formations to surround me…" Lin Huang could not help frowning slightly at this point in his thoughts. To tackle the sword formation that Unrivaled God and the other three created, he had used most of his Sword Dao techniques. If these God's Servants created battle formations, the strength of the formations could only be more powerful than the previous formation he had encountered.

Lin Huang was not concerned with losing. He was worried that he would drain too much Divine Power when fighting the God's Servants, which would affect his battle with the swordmaster's bodyguards later on.

However, the rules for this stage of the Trial were not entirely disadvantageous to Lin Huang. At least the fact that he could use god rule relics was an advantage.

God rule relic armor was sufficient to defend against attacks that utilized God Rule Power and Sword Dao true meaning. The most one would suffer would be the draining of a great deal of Divine Power but no direct harm.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang had Divine Power within his body as well as ten Life Wheels. The amount of Divine Power within him even surpassed most Protoss. Were he to be attacked by the swordmaster's bodyguards eighty to a hundred times, the Divine Power in his body might not even be exhausted.

However, the Divine Power within the swordmaster's bodyguards, who also wore god rule relic armor, would most probably drain completely after being attacked 20 to 30 times at most.

Lin Huang had the upper hand on that.

Furthermore, the last rule mentioned that no techniques were prohibited.

This was a great boost for the ten swordmaster's bodyguards and God's Servants' overall ability because apart from Sword Dao, they could use other techniques as well. The ten swordmaster's bodyguards who were under the command of a Heavenly God would have mastered unimaginable techniques apart from Sword Dao over such a long period.

A rule like this was definitely a disadvantage to Unrivaled God and the others.

To Lin Huang however, this was an ideal rule.

One must know that he was a man with cheat codes. The existence of such a rule meant that he could use all of his Function Cards as long as their power was below heavenly god-level.

To be frank, Lin Huang did not have much confidence that he could win this Trial without that last rule. However, that rule was the equivalent of putting a loaded gun in his hand.

It did not mean that he could not use his Function Cards if the rule was not there. Lin Huang was unwilling to use them because he was afraid the Trial system would fault him for cheating. Under such circumstances, his previous efforts would have been wasted.

However, he had no such concerns now. As long as he was willing, he could absolutely use his cheat codes publicly in the coming Trial.

Lin Huang ran at lightning speed through the dense jungle. He stepped on big trees and snapped them one after another, targeting the top of the mountain.

According to the description of this stage of the Trial, Golden Crow Mountain was actually a self-contained world of its own with an extraordinary Space Rule. As long as the Ten Palaces were not visible, Lin Huang could not get to the top of the mountain even if he was to run for a million years at the fastest possible speed.

In reality, the Ten Palaces were not located anywhere on this great mountain. The swordmaster's bodyguard would only materialize with the Palace when Lin Huang defeated the God's Servant under the command of that particular bodyguard.

Beginning with the Tenth Palace, Lin Huang could only enter the next Palace for the challenge when the swordmaster's bodyguard gave permission.

To put it simply, the entire process would be thus: Defeating the God's Servant under Sword10—the Tenth Palace materialized—obtaining Sword10's permission (where Sword10 was either killed, defeated or battled into submission)—defeating the God's Servant under Sword9—the Ninth Palace materialized—obtaining Sword9's permit…and so on. Lin Huang would only be considered to have completed the final Trial when he obtained permission from Sword1 from the First Palace.

Although this round of Trial did not restrict Divine Telekinesis at all, Lin Huang was only able to scan an endless sea of plants after sending out his Divine Telekinesis. He did not sense even a single monster.

As such, he chose to run in the dense jungle. He even damaged it on purpose, making loud noises to activate the Trial as soon as possible, as well as accelerate the appearance of the God's Servant.

If it had been anyone else, the person would definitely be cautious, making as little commotion as possible to prevent being surrounded and killed by the God's Servants. The person would then take the initiative to find the God's Servants and defeat them one after another a step at a time.

However, Lin Huang harbored no such concerns. Instead, he hoped that all of the God's Servants could come at him at once. This way, he would save time and kill all of them in one go.

His deliberate strategy of making a commotion worked very soon. In less than a minute, several overpowering auras appeared, heading in Lin Huang's direction at high speed.

"There are only four of them?" Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis picked up the auras as soon as they appeared. He could also clearly sense that the four people's auras alone were above Sword12.

It did not mean that their overall abilities were definitely more powerful than Sword12. It was the unsealing of Martial Dao true meaning and God Rule Power that gave them a direct, significant boost to their auras.

As soon as the four auras appeared, Lin Huang halted immediately. Sword in hand, he waited patiently for the four of them to come.

All four God's Servants arrived almost simultaneously in the time it took for a few breaths.

Lin Huang did not wait for them to attack; he swung his sword as soon as he saw the first person appear.

He performed Thunder Eclipse at peak speed as soon as he attacked.

A blood-hued sword gleam cut through the void like terrifying lightning. Not only it was charged with full force Divine Power, but it was also powered by Sword Dao true meaning and the God-slaying Power under God Rule Power.

He did not hold back at all in his attack; he charged at full force.

The newcomer apparently had not expected Lin Huang to attack directly, neither had he expected the attack to be so fast.

A mere moment of being stunned, and he failed to dodge or defend himself.

The blood-hued sword gleam sliced through the void like lighting and impaled the newcomer. His gigantic head with six eyes flew into the air.

The muscular body that was running ahead stopped abruptly. It stood there, spurting blood for a moment before it collapsed onto the ground.

Within a split second of contact, one of the four God's Servants was killed.

The remaining three stopped immediately and did not dare to approach any further. They had fear in their eyes when they looked at Lin Huang now.

Sensing the swiftly-fading vitality, Lin Huang glanced over the remaining three God's Servants without even a look at the headless body.

These three God's Servants were not in normal human form.

One could even say that they looked odd.

However, this did not confuse Lin Huang. All Protoss had human forms but most Protoss were too proud to become somebody else's God's Servant.

Being a God's Servant would mean becoming a vassal and losing most of their freedom.

Under normal circumstances, apart from a minority who would surrender themselves to a strong powerhouse to become a God's Servant, most of the God's Servants were forced to sign an agreement. They would usually die if they refused to sign it, therefore they had no choice but to surrender themselves.

Lin Huang had no idea which category of God's Servants the three of them were. However, he was quite sure that the abilities of these three were most probably below Sword10.

There was a female among these three monsters.

She looked a little like a mantis but had a dark-purple body. The lower part of her body above the waist was that of a human female; she even had breasts similar to a human female. The only things that differentiated her from humans were her arms that were similar to a mantis' thorny legs. Below her waist were four long and curved insect legs. One could tell that they possessed explosive and powerful leaping force.

One of the remaining two male monsters was a beast-man with a feline head, four big eyes and tiger stripes all over his body. The other one was a black dog beast with five heads and three tails.

Lin Huang merely gave them a cursory glance and soon targeted the mantis lady.

This was because she looked as if she had the weakest defensive ability.

As soon as he locked onto his target, Lin Huang attacked again. The battle sword in his hand turned into blood-colored lighting again as it sliced through the void.

He was still using Thunder Eclipse!

He used this extreme speed technique in the hopes of killing his enemy as swiftly as possible.

A blood-red gleam shot through the air like lightning, targeting the mantis lady.

However, the mantis lady, who had seen her partner being killed, was prepared. She moved almost at the same time the lightning flashed. The four wings on her back fluttered slightly and she leaped with all four legs using God Rule Power. She dodged Lin Huang's sword attack easily.

The best way of using Thunder Eclipse was in a stealth attack. It was hard for one to launch a successful killing attack when the opponent was prepared.

Lin Huang realized that his plan had failed since his attack had missed. He had merely considered that the mantis lady might have the weakest defense, but he had not expected her to have such terrifying speed of movement.

It was not that he had not considered her speed of movement before he attacked. It was just that he assumed very few could dodge the speed of his Thunder Eclipse even when it was a head-on assault.

The mantis lady's speed obviously surpassed the peak of normal virtual god-level.

"Is this a Speed God Rule?" Although Lin Huang was not sure what kind of god rule his opponent had mastered exactly, he was sure that she had used a Speed God Rule.

After a moment of thought, Lin Huang shot a glance at the other two God's Servants and soon made up his mind.

The next instant, blood-red lightning lit up the sword blade again. However, this time, Lin Huang did not swing the sword. The blood-red lightning grew brighter and brighter; within the time it took for a few breaths, one could no longer look at it directly. It was like a red sun surrounded by countless blood-red electric arcs sparking in all directions.

The mantis lady and the rest attempted to attack but they were blocked by the electric arcs. They did not dare to approach Lin Huang.

Meanwhile, the initial sunny, cloudless sky above Lin Huang's head was suddenly covered in dark clouds without anyone realizing it. These depressing dark clouds blanketed the entire sky, turning daylight into darkness immediately.

Faint blood-red lightning flashed above the clouds.

"I didn't want to waste my Divine Power on this technique but fighting Speed God Rule is really annoying and you all can escape at a moment's notice. To make sure you stay put, I've no choice but to use this sort of containment attack…"

Lin Huang swung his sword again once he was done with his soliloquy.

A glaring, gigantic sun exploded the moment he aimed the point of his sword at the mantis lady. It transformed into countless electric arcs and spread in all directions like a flood.

At the same time, the blood-red lightning above the dark clouds in the sky rained down like a storm. They turned the entire space into a prison made of lightning!

By the time he blood-colored lightning had faded, the three God's Servants' auras had vanished completely.

Lin Huang glanced at the three carcasses, then closed his eyes where he was to activate the Divine Fire within him so as to replenish the Divine Power that he exhausted earlier.

A moment later, he opened his eyes all of a sudden and stared at a spot not too far in front of him.

A black palace had appeared right across from him without him realizing it.

The palace was massive, suspended in midair. It looked as if it were completely fashioned from some kind of black metal.

It was a lifeless thing but it gave Lin Huang a faint sense of oppression. However, when he probed deeper into it, he sensed nothing.

"A god sequence palace relic…" Lin Huang, who had come into contact with Thousand Face before, immediately recognized that the palace before him was not some building, but a god sequence relic.

Lin Huang felt slightly tongue-tied at seeing such an item. To him, such a thing was incredibly costly.

Be it a god sequence relic, god rule relic, normal god relic or relic, generally, weapons and armor would be the cheapest. Telekinetic weapons were much more expensive, not to mention there were similar weapons which could be put together in a combo package. However, the most expensive were not telekinetic weapons nor combo packages but spaceships or buildings, because both used a great amount of material and the building process was tedious. Not only that, but they also took a great deal of time to make.

A normal god sequence relic was at least 10,000 Divine Crystals (the equivalent of up to 100 billion Divine Stones but Divine Stones were not used for trading) in the God Territory. A god sequence telekinetic weapon relic would be at least hundreds of thousands of Divine Crystals. Meanwhile, it would be normal for spaceships and building god sequence relics to be sold for millions or even several dozen millions of Divine Crystals.

Meanwhile, if Lin Huang were to add up all the Divine Stones that he had in his storage space and trade them for Divine Crystals, he would not even have 10,000.

In his eyes, this palace in front of him was absolutely an item that only tycoons could afford.

However, he also knew that he could not compare with how fast heavenly god-level powerhouses earned money.

As Lin Huang was completely swallowed by envy, the black palace slowly descended from midair, crushing the plants on the ground into nothingness.

The entire edifice landed accompanied by a rumbling sound like an earthquake and the palace's door was pushed open slowly as if by an invisible force. It sounded ponderously heavy in the extreme.

Very soon, the door was completely opened. Lin Huang could no longer look away from what lay behind the door.

He felt a terrifying aura spreading forth from deep from within the door. The aura was weak at first, so weak that it was almost unnoticeable. However, it was skyrocketing every second, as if there were something frightening in this palace that was waking up quickly.

Lin Huang's heart beat faster and faster as he sensed the growing aura.

"So powerful!"

In just the time it took for a few breaths, the aura hit its peak.

Just by sensing the terrifying aura alone, Lin Huang was sure that this was a powerful enemy he had never encountered before. This person's ability was much higher than all of the opponents he had encountered so far in this Trial.

Lin Huang forced his legs to stir and walked slowly to the palace after getting his breathing under control.

His leaping heart eased a little every step he took and his emotions gradually calmed themselves as well.

By the time he arrived at the palace entrance, his heart was beating normally again while his emotions had settled into a calm like still water.

He stood at the entrance for a moment. Just as he was about to step through the threshold, he sensed an intense wave of approaching danger.

Lin Huang squinted slightly and saw a colorless, formless sword gleam coming straight at his face.

This was an attack of extreme speed, no slower than Lin Huang's Thunder Eclipse. Not only that, but it was also unpredictable.

However, Lin Huang did not even dodge it. His battle sword was already out of its scabbard and in his hand the minute he stepped forward.

A blood-red lightning gleam shot forth like a spirit snake, no slower than the colorless sword gleam.

The two sword gleams collided almost as soon Lin Huang stepped forward. As soon as the sword gleams faded, a fierce wind arose, flapping his clothes violently.

However, he did not even blink, taking a second step while returning his sword to its scabbard and stepping through the door.

Lin Huang did not turn his head when he heard the sound of the door being closed slowly behind him. Instead, he lifted his eyes to observe the environment that lay behind the door.

This was a massive palace, the interior completely different from its dull exterior. Instead, it had a sumptuous, dazzling vibe. However, apart from several dragon pillars, there was nothing else in the entire palace. It was empty.

The palace ceiling was over 30 meters high. Judging by what he saw, Lin Huang estimated the place was least 3,000 to 4,000 square meters in size.

However, Lin Huang knew that this was just the size on the surface.

There would always be dimensional formations inscribed inside of a palace god relic. Not only that, but there would also be space attribute materials within the construction material itself. The actual interior size of this palace was definitely several dozen or even several hundred times larger than it looked.

Not only that, but this palace was also a god sequence relic that only a heavenly god-level powerhouse could activate. There was definitely a dimensional sequence rule inscribed. It would not be surprising if the interior could contain a planet; it might even be larger than that.

"Over 300,000 years and finally someone's managed to make it to the final Trial…" A voice suddenly drifted in when Lin Huang was studying the palace. A silhouette had appeared in the middle of the palace—he had no idea when.

Lin Huang stared at the silhouette but discovered that the person did not look at all like what he was expecting.

Initially, he thought that Great Heaven's bodyguards might not necessarily have supreme charisma, but they would at least have a dignified appearance.

However, this man before him who was supposedly Sword10 was a sloppy middle-aged man.

He had chestnut-colored hair with a side fringe; it looked as if he had not washed his hair in a long time. The dark circles below his eyes were so intense they were frightening. His eyes were rather bleary; he looked like he was still half-awake or had indulged in too much debauchery. His voice sounded a little dispirited as well.

Most importantly, he was short. He looked merely 175 meters tall.

Although his aura was powerful, his entrance gave very little oomph.

"Your response was not too shabby against that attack," the sloppy man said while yawning, "If you had chosen to dodge, I would have shut the palace door right away. That would have been the furthest you could go. Fortunately, you chose to fight head-on. That's more like it."

"Refusing the candidate's entrance, does it fit the rule?" Lin Huang asked, raising his brows.

"Theoretically, no," the sloppy man was stunned for a second at the question. He then shook his head while smiling, "If you dodged my attack, the Trial system won't announce that you failed the challenge. However, I could close the palace door, letting you think that you failed the challenge and thus choosing to be teleported away. If that's the case, it would mean that you gave up the challenge yourself and lost your qualifications for the Trial. I can make you leave on your own without lifting a finger, isn't that great?"

Lin Huang was bereft of speech at the explanation.

"Oh yes, let me introduce myself. I'm Sword10. It's just like the thought that's popped into your head right now, I'm the weakest bodyguard under the swordmaster." Sword10 seemed not at all to mind the fact that he was the weakest. He even emphasized it on purpose.

This soliloquy made Lin Huang speechless again.

"You can say that my assessment is pretty simple. I'll let you through as long as you satisfy me. However, I must tell you this unpleasant fact—I'm not an easily satisfied man…"

"Among the swordmaster's ten bodyguards, I have the weakest combined abilities and miscellaneous abilities. I don't like to learn only one thing and I've never been a fan of specializing in any specific path. However, I rank No.2 under the swordmaster on the number of sword skills I possess. I know a bit about all sorts of sword skills too."

"That swing of the sword you used earlier upon entry could be considered within the threshold of rapid speed. Let me see first how fast you are then!"

Sword10 delivered his monologue and swung his sword without waiting for Lin Huang to respond.

To an outsider, he seemed to have only swung his sword once.

However, to Lin Huang, Sword10 had actually swung his sword up to a hundred times within the blink of an eye. As each swing had a subtle change that the naked eye could barely discern, it made it seem like these hundred or so sword swings were merely one swing. If there was a cultivator who had stellar vision here, even if he were not well versed in Sword Dao, he would have been able to see the battle sword in Sword10's hand shudder for a fraction of a second at the moment he swung his sword. Up to a hundred shadows reverberated at minimal amplitude.

Just this one swing proved to Lin Huang that Sword10's Sword Dao basics were far ahead of him.

This was not only about the speed of the swing but also extreme control while using rapid speed.

At the very least, Lin Huang could not do what Sword10 had just done. He figured the most that he could conceal in one sword swing of a similar technique would be 50 sword swings. People would be able to clearly see there was more than one sword swing if he did more than 50.

Up to a hundred colorless, formless sword gleams pierced through the air as Sword10 swung his sword. It was just as fast as the sword swing he had delivered at the door earlier, except that there were now a hundred times more sword gleams.

Lin Huang did not mind that he could not do what Sword10 had just done. He picked up his sword and swung it over and over again. Dense sword shadows filled the void.

One could say his technique was nothing in comparison with Sword10's sword swing. Lin Huang knew that he was subpar in this aspect compared to his opponent; he did not bother to compare at all. Although he might lose in terms of skills, it would be enough as long as the actual combat results were not inferior to those of his foe.

Furthermore, from an outsider's point of view, Lin Huang's sword swing was even cooler.

To them, Sword10's sword swing would be just a normal attack. However, Lin Huang's sword swings looked like they were ghostly aftereffects. The visual impact was much more powerful than Sword10's sword swing.

Countless blood-red electric arcs spread out like spider webs. They soon collided with the colorless, formless sword gleams and exploded into blood-red fireworks that filled the heavens.

Lin Huang seemed like he was in deep thought as he watched the blood-red fireworks exploding in the sky.

Although Lin Huang knew that Sword10's sword swing at the door earlier had utilized rapid speed, he had not managed to observe the exact specifics of the attack.

However, he had finally figured out what some of it entailed.

"It seems to be a wind attribute Elemental Enlightenment. The attack's effect of rapid speed seems to come from Wind Elemental Enlightenment…"

According to general classification, Elemental Enlightenment was actually a type of god rule power. However, unlike most god rule powers, the elements were a category with very clear rules. Therefore, someone took the elements out of the messy god rule power system and made them an independent system that people later called Elemental Enlightenment.

In reality, following general classification from earlier days, all sorts of Martial Dao true meaning were considered god rule power as well. It was only later on that people grouped them into an independent system.

Elemental Enlightenment powers usually came with very clear elemental features.

In the technique that Sword10 executed, for example, the sword gleam that contained Wind Elemental Enlightenment not only inherited the wind's rapid speed, but also its unique invisible feature.

Right as Lin Huang finally understood the secret behind Sword10's attack, Sword10, who was not far away, laughed all of a sudden.

"Pure rapid speed Sword Dao technique, that's rare!

"If I'm not mistaken, there's no Lightning Elemental Enlightenment. You've only imitated the lighting concept and created a rapid speed sword technique that's similar to a lightning strike."

Lin Huang was not surprised that Sword10 had seen through the secret of Thunder Eclipse.

No matter how his opponent suppressed his cultivation base, he was still a top heavenly god-level Sword Cultivator by nature and still possessed keen eyesight.

Sword10 proceeded to speak before Lin Huang could confirm his speculations.

"I'm a lazy person. Imitating Sword Dao to create sword techniques takes too much effort and time. I'd have to make mistakes and adjust over and over again. Meanwhile, my rapid speed is powered directly with Elemental Enlightenment, it's much easier.

"You must have seen that the sword swing earlier has a rapid speed effect resulting from Elemental Enlightenment. I've another sword technique that's also rapid. It's rather similar to your technique…" Truth to tell, Lin Huang could roughly guess what Sword10 was trying to do when he said that.

"Let's see which is more powerful—my rapid speed from Lightning Elemental Enlightenment or your rapid speed that imitates lightning!"

Purple electric arcs began sparking from Sword10's body after he said that.

Purple electric arcs, easily seen with the naked eye, radiated from his body instantly. Even the silver battle sword that he was holding was soon enveloped in a layer of purple plasma.

From far away, Lin Huang sensed the dangerous aura coming from the purple electric arcs. Lightning was the most powerful attack ability among all the Elemental Enlightenments. Techniques that came from such Enlightenment had terrifyingly powerful attacks.

As Lin Huang had his guard up, Sword10 smirked lightly and suddenly charged, battle sword in hand.

It was a thrust attack!

Charged with Lightning Elemental Enlightenment, this technique was already at its peak; Sword10's thrust attack boosted his sword's speed even more.

The extremely high-speed sword swing gave the illusion of being slow.

It seemed as if Sword10's sword swing was executed in slow motion, to the point that each image was crystal clear.

All of a sudden, the sword point seemed to pause in midair and countless purple electric arcs surged wildly from it. They turned into overwhelmingly dense webs that charged toward Lin Huang

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lin Huang seemed to have grown hundreds and thousands of arms in the blink of an eye. They were swinging hundreds and thousands of blood-red battle swords. With every sword swing, blood-red lightning sparked randomly as if a giant tree made up of hundreds and thousands of scarlet lightning was spreading its branches to the heavens.

In the void, blood-red and purple occupied half of the sky respectively. They then expanded towards each other's territory. The two colors intersecting dazzlingly in the air, continuously entangled.

The entire palace interior was as bright as day under the dazzling red and purple gleams. Here and there the faintest hint of haze hung in the air.

A long time later, both colors vanished gradually after the collisions, and the deafening thuds finally stopped.

Lin Huang stood where he was, looking rather serious now.

He had held almost nothing back throughout the two attacks earlier—at least he had not held back anything in Sword Dao. He had charged with Sword Dao true meaning and God-slaying Power, as well as all the Divine Power within him. Despite that, he had not managed to do anything to Sword10.

Meanwhile, Sword10 was still faintly smiling. He seemed to have restrained his abilities still.

"Your rapid speed has a great deal of room for improvement. Since you're imitating lightning concept sword skills, if you can add on Lightning Elemental Enlightenment, this sword technique's speed and power won't even begin to compare with your current technique.

"Of the ten bodyguards under the swordmaster, there are four who can perfectly integrate sword skills with Elemental Enlightenment. Sword2 is the top one among these, his rapid speed sword skill is integrated with Light Elemental Enlightenment. Both of us can't compare with his sword speed. I'm not exaggerating at all when I say that you would be killed by him in one sword swing if you encountered him now!

"Also, the two sword swings earlier were just warm-ups. My sword can be even faster than that!"

"The core of my rapid speed technique is wind attribute and lightning attribute Elemental Enlightenment. You've experienced two attacks previously, the next attack is the real sword swing at peak speed!"

As soon as Sword10 was done speaking, countless purple electric arcs began to radiate from the silver battle sword in his hand. However, the purple of the electric arcs soon faded into colorlessness very rapidly.

Lin Huang's pupils contracted slightly as he witnessed this.

His opponent had very obviously integrated Wind Elemental Enlightenment and Lightning Elemental Enlightenment, which was why the lightning arcs in his Lightning Elemental Enlightenment were now colorless.

As a result, it seemed as if Lin Huang was currently looking at a silver sword in Sword10's hand with no trace of energy at all surrounding it. Of course, this was merely an illusion. His Divine Telekinesis and perception could clearly sense the energy waves coming from the battle sword that Sword10 held.

It was definitely impossible that the integration of two types of Enlightenment would only have the effect of turning the electric arcs colorless. Lin Huang could almost guess that there would be a fairly good cumulative effect from the two Elemental Enlightenments.

If not, Sword10 would not say that this was his fastest attack.

Seeing that Sword10 had entered battle mode once again, Lin Huang did not dare to hold back at all.

If he failed to defend himself against the attack, it was possible that he might be killed by Sword10 right away.

The Divine Power within Lin Huang's body surged forth unrestrained, as he utilized Thunder Escape in a sword swing that encapsulated his most powerful Sword Dao and God-slaying Power.

To accelerate his sword speed further, Lin Huang had even activated Seraphic Speed—something that he had not used for a long time.

This Seraphic Speed ability came from Kylie.

To be exact, the Seraphic Speed that Lin Huang had retrieved from Kylie was not a Monster Skill, but a Life Seed Skill which was part of one of Kylie's core abilities.

As Kylie elevated in rank, her combat strength had increased as well, which meant that the Seraphic Speed within Lin Huang's body had also undergone continuous transformation. When Kylie elevated to virtual god-level, this Seraphic Speed had evolved entirely into a divine ability.

Not only that, but Kylie also belonged to the Nephilic Judge Tribe—one of the most ancient Pure Blood Protoss bloodlines.

Even though her current combat strength was merely at the level of Virtual God rank-8, the effect of the core Seraphic Speed divine ability was similar to the effect of a true god-level god rule.

With the support of Seraphic Speed, Lin Huang's Thunder Eclipse had instantly surpassed the original limits of its speed.

A blood-colored sword gleam flashed through the air; the speed of the electric arc was now many times faster than before.

Sword10 could not help raising his brows upon seeing this. "Seraphic Speed?!"

As a veteran heavenly god-level powerhouse, he had seen many divine abilities. A glance was all it took for him to identify that Lin Huang added the Seraphic Speed divine ability into his sword swing.

Almost simultaneously as Lin Huang launched his attack, Sword10 sliced down with his battle sword. A colorless sword gleam charged with double Elemental Enlightenment surged out from the sword point.

The next instant, blood-colored and colorless sword gleams both collided violently in the void.

As the sword gleams collided, blood-colored and colorless electric arcs sparked wildly in all directions. They looked like countless electric snakes crawling distortedly everywhere.

Oddly enough, the energy impact from the electric arcs and energy waves would vanish at once whenever they came into contact with the ground or the dragon pillars. No damage was done at all.

This was not because the duo's collision impact was weak. If the battlefield between the two was somewhere without Rule Bending Power limitations, the damage done in combat would spread as far as 10,000 kilometers.

Each electric arc that sparked from this collision of sword swings could collapse mountains and evaporate seas, destroying everything it came into contact with.

However, in this god sequence palace relic, mere true god-level power could not do anything to this place. It was even insufficient to activate the palace's defensive system. The internal construction material itself was immune to the duo's battle impact.

Lin Huang was in the midst of battle and did not notice these details at all, otherwise, he would have been envious all over again.

After that first clash of swords, he moved almost at the same time as Sword10.

The sword speed collision between the two was of equal power, therefore this battle of rapid speed transformed into an even more intense collision.

In the void, Lin Huang transformed into a blood-red electric arc and charged. Meanwhile, Sword10 vanished completely.

With Wind Elemental Enlightenment support, Sword10 turned completely invisible.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang had turned into a bolt of blood-red lightning.

The two silhouettes collided wildly over and over again in the void.

If one was to observe with the naked eye, they would only be able to see a blood-red lightning bolt flickering non-stop. It would pause for a moment each time as if it had collided with an invisible wall. Right after that, dazzling blood-red lightning would explode in all directions.

This happened again and again, repeating almost several thousand times per second.

It was like an intense battle between a raging blood-red thunder god and an invisible deity.

Within a short four to five seconds, these high-powered collisions happened over 50,000 times.

In reality, Lin Huang's speed was subpar in comparison with Sword10.

After all, Sword10 had the effect of double Elemental Enlightenment in his sword swing. Not only that, but he had also mastered this technique for many years. Meanwhile, Lin Huang's Seraphic Speed divine ability was not a real god rule or Enlightenment power; he was still breaking in his divine ability and sword skills and had yet to reach perfection.

The single collision earlier might not have been enough to identify any disparity. However, as the duo charged at each other using rapid speed, even if a sword swing was just a little slower, the cumulative attacks finally exposed the gap between Lin Huang's rapid speed and that of Sword10.

Cold sweat broke out on Lin Huang's forehead as an invisible electric arc charged past his left hand and sliced through a little bit of his sleeve. The battle that had lasted less than five seconds paused all of a sudden.

Suddenly, Sword10 retreated hundreds of meters away and stood there after sheathing his sword.

"I could have severed your left hand with that attack earlier. It would end this way—your speed would drop further and you would be entirely dominated by my rapid speed. You would have lost your chance of turning the tables completely." Sword10 had no intention of going after Lin Huang. Instead, he began chatting with Lin Huang, entirely at ease. "There's a lot of room for improvement in your rapid speed."

"First of all, you don't have a thorough understanding of your Seraphic Speed divine ability or how to use it effectively. You're just using it to boost your speed. However, the Seraphic Speed divine ability can actually be a rogue element if you truly know how to use it. Not only it can accelerate, but it can also decelerate, change speed, enable explosive speed, enable rapid change of direction as well as space flickering… You haven't broken in your sword skills and divine ability properly either. You're completely at a beginner's level…

COMMENT

"In reality, as long as you familiarize yourself with how to fully utilize Seraphic Speed, you can absolutely offset the rapid speed gap between us. However, you'll be at a dead-end when you encounter Sword2 later on.

"There are only two ways for you to pass him. You can either elevate your Seraphic Speed divine ability to a god rule or gain understanding of a type of Speed Elemental Enlightenment. Otherwise, you won't even be able to counter one attack from him."

Lin Huang had an epiphany at this point. He had finally discovered Sword10's approach. Hurriedly, he asked, "You must be in the Succession Sect, am I right?"

"Seems like you know about the Succession Sect and the Regression Sect." Sword10 nodded slightly.

"Sword12 told me about this," Lin Huang explained.

"That's great, it saves me wasting words to explain." Sword10 glanced at Lin Huang and continued, "Our rapid speed sparring will end here. I already know what level you're at so we'll move on to the next round!"

"Force-type attack is different from the extreme sword speed and agility required for rapid speed in that it aims for the ultimate charge in an attack. You would need extreme strength and force, even extreme usage of Divine Power…"

Lin Huang was completely focused as he listened to Sword10's explanation.

Previously, he had never given these matters much thought. Although he knew that there was force-type cultivation direction in Sword Dao, his understanding of force meant fighting his opponent in the most unyielding manner! He thought that a force-type attack was swinging his sword with all his might and not holding anything back!

Sword10 seemed to know what was going through Lin Huang's mind. He continued, "Many people think that force-type attack means fighting without thinking. The assumption isn't exactly wrong, but real force-type attack isn't merely mindless combat.

"To me, a real force-type attack should have extreme strength, extreme explosive ability, extreme physical capabilities, and extreme usage of Divine Power… It's a combination of all these extreme elements; there should be no shortcomings whatsoever.

"If only a single aspect reaches its peak, or there's a clear flaw, that would not be considered a genuine force-type attack. At most that could be called a strength-type, explosive-type or Divine Power-type attack…"

After Sword10 finished this earnest explanation, he looked at Lin Huang across the distance. "Next, let's see what sort of level you're at for your force-type attack!"

As soon as he was done speaking, Sword10 withdrew the silver battle sword he held from its scabbard once more. Divine Power slowly spread from the sword hilt to the very tip of the blade. As Divine Power enveloped the blade of the sword completely, a layer of red flame surged up around it as well. At the same time, wispy blood-red sparks appeared

Lin Huang only needed a glance to tell that that Sword10 had not only added Fire Elemental Enlightenment to his weapon, but he had also endowed it with Lightning Elemental Enlightenment.

"The red Lightning Elemental Enlightenment seems to be different from the previous purple Lightning Elemental Enlightenment. The same type of Elemental Enlightenment probably has subdivisions of different functions and effects. He was using the purple Lightning Elemental Enlightenment earlier for rapid speed, which resulted in a boost to his sword speed. Now that he's using red Lightning Elemental Enlightenment for a force-type attack, the effect might be different…"

Lin Huang did not have a detailed understanding of Lightning Elemental Enlightenment. However, he knew that Sword10's sword power would certainly be terrifying with the addition of both Fire and Lightning Elemental Enlightenments.

In an instant, the battle sword in Lin Huang's hand was also enveloped in blood-red Divine Power. With the addition of Sword Dao true meaning and God-slaying Power, the blood-red glow on the blade was even more intense than before.

The blood-red glow very soon transformed into a state resembling flame and enveloped the entire blade.

This layer of "red flame" was naturally not a real flame like that of Fire Elemental Enlightenment. Instead, Lin Huang used Charcoal's Dragon Flame as a model and simulated the flame with Divine Power.

"I definitely can't fight his double Elemental Enlightenment attack with my God-slaying Power alone…" In his mind, Lin Huang was rapidly searching for skills and divine abilities that could be added to his force-type attack. He soon found the answer.

The Superhuman Strength divine ability!

The Superhuman Strength was a natural talent originally from Gong Sunying, who was born with this innate ability. However, when Tyrant elevated to virtual god-level and his Immense Strength skill evolved into Superhuman Strength, the Superhuman Strength natural talent integrated automatically with his Monster Skill to become a new Superhuman Strength divine ability.

Tyrant had the Celestial Giant bloodline, which meant that Superhuman Strength—his core skill—was no less powerful than God Rule Power itself.

The effect of Superhuman Strength on Lin Huang's attack was very obvious.

One could say that both combatants held nothing back in this attack.

In the void, two red gleams lit up half the sky. One was rather dim, while the other was as bright as a flame; they lit up the palace so brightly that there were no shadows anywhere.

The next instant, both red gleams transformed into two meteors and shot through the air, colliding with each other.

The second the dim and the bright red gleams collided, dazzling red light was released. At that moment, the red gleam was even faintly tinged with white. Endless bursts of red light surged in all directions like flowing water, completely blanketing all the spaces within the palace in the blink of an eye, turning it into a blood-red edifice.

If there were other living beings in this place, the residual red gleams of light emanating from the sword swings would instantly turn anyone below true god-level into dust…

The collision of these two similar red gleams came to an end in no more than ten seconds. However, a glaringly bright red afterglow remained where the point of impact had been.

Suddenly, a black silhouette shot out from the afterglow, landing hard onto the ground and stirring up a cloud of dust.

"Let's continue!" The silhouette slowly clambered up from the dust and stood up.

All of a sudden, it moved again, stepping out of the dust-covered area.

A figure in a black robe emerged; it was Lin Huang.

Lin Huang did not seem to mind being defeated in this first round of combat. He drew himself up without hesitation and initiated battle again.

Sword10 raised his brows slightly but did not say anything. He transformed into a stream of light again and charged at Lin Huang.

In the void, the dim and the bright gleams collided over and over. As a result of the tremendous impact, dazzling red star-like sparks illuminated the air continuously.

However, Lin Huang was repeatedly forced to retreat due to his opponent's attacks.

The first dozen or so times, Lin Huang was immediately sent flying. However, he was gradually starting to retreat less and less far away.

By the time Sword10 sheathed his sword and exited the battlefield, Lin Huang had reduced the distance of his retreat to within ten meters.

"Although I'm a Protoss with a naturally powerful physique that gives me a natural advantage in force-type attacks, if I compare myself to a genuine force-type powerhouse, there's still significant room for improvement.

"Of all those under the swordmaster, Sword3 is the person who has gone the furthest in force-type ability. Out of the ten of us bodyguards, he's also the one with the most in-depth comprehension of force-type attacks.

"He has the Celestial Giant bloodline, which means his strength, explosive ability and physique have surpassed even the Protoss. Given that he was able to cultivate using the Celestial Giants' methods, he's much more powerful in Divine Power usage compared to ordinary Protoss. You could say that he's reached the peak in all aspects of force-type ability.

"If he used no other technique except force-type Sword Dao to fight, at my ability level I would probably only be able to sustain three sword attacks from him at most. Even if I brought out all of my techniques, he would only need around ten sword attacks to kill me.

"Going by your current force-type level, you might be able to take one sword attack from him…

"If you'd like to take steps for a breakthrough in this area, overall, there are only two ways to go about it. You either achieve a breakthrough with your Superhuman Strength divine ability so it becomes a rule—or you can master another God Rule Power or Elemental Enlightenment that can be used in force-type attacks. An example would be the Fire Elemental Enlightenment; it would be quite effective if combined with simulated Dragon Flame…

"Of course, everything I've mentioned is based on my personal understanding. They're just some suggestions; they're not necessarily correct. If you have ideas of your own, you can try them out and find a suitable breakthrough method that best suits you."

"The three main cultivation directions for Sword Dao are rapid speed, force-type, and ultimate dao-type.

Rapid speed requires ultimate attack speed, force-type requires the ultimate output, while the ultimate dao-type requires the ultimate Sword Dao.

Cultivators who go for the ultimate dao-type tend to elevate the level of their Sword Dao true meaning as much as they can. While they are still at the same rank of Sword Dao true meaning, they pursue the mastery of more sword skills and sword skills of a higher grade. Some even learn a great many effects and other divine ability skills that are helpful for Sword Dao.

However, ultimate dao-type isn't an easy path to master. Talent and hard work are essential; you can't have one without the other. If you have insufficient talent, you might be several dozen or even a hundred times slower in cultivating sword skills compared to people with innate talent. Even if you've spent a great amount of time cultivating many sword skills, it's difficult to actively use them all in actual battle. That's why taking this particular path is a difficult journey for anyone who doesn't have the talent. On the other hand, if one doesn't work hard enough, having talent alone is just futile. No matter how prodigious one's talent is, as long one's foundation in Sword Dao isn't strong enough or one hasn't accumulated enough sword skills, it's almost impossible to build something out of nothing and become a genuine Sword Dao powerhouse.

"Since you've managed to get to the final Trial of the Great Heaven inheritance, this is sufficient proof that you have stunning talent and Sword Dao potential. However, I would only be able to judge where you're at in Sword Dao through actual combat."

Sword10 spun the battle sword in his hand as he finished speaking, tracing a sword arc in the void.

"Let's spar with pure sword skills this round. We won't use any God Rule Powers, Elemental Enlightenments, or any other skills. We'll spare only with pure sword skills containing Sword Dao true meaning and the lowest level of Divine Power! What do you think?"

Lin Huang agreed right away to what Sword10 suggested.

He did so because this rule was beneficial to him. Although he had ample Divine Power in his body and Divine Fire to replenish it, he still had to face ten Sword Servants after all, not just Sword10 alone. Naturally, the less he needed to exhaust Divine Power the better.

After agreeing on the rules of engagement, the duo soon went into battle mode.

Naturally, this round of combat was not as colorful as the previous two.

There was no ultimate speed, no clash of ultimate force, and no dazzling sparks coming from intense Divine Power collisions…

There were merely battle swords imbued with Sword Dao that were swung with the lowest possible level of Divine Power.

In the void, two silhouettes collided over and over again.

Lin Huang attacked repeatedly in earnest; likewise, Sword10 did not dare to delay.

Although this battle was less visually interesting than the two previous ones, if one were to talk about Sword Dao skill, then this was the climax of all three battles.

If there had been other sword cultivators present, this third battle would definitely be the one that they would most willingly watch because they would be able to see the clash of tens of thousands of sword skills. Even if they only managed to assimilate one percent out of everything in the entire battle, that in itself was a significant amount of knowledge reaped.

Lin Huang delivered blow after blow with all of the sword skills that he had ever learned.

Meanwhile on the other side, Sword10 would always find ways to counter Lin Huang's attacks.

In the void, the two silhouettes leaped continuously, battle swords clashing again and again.

However, over two hours later, Lin Huang had utilized all of the sword skills that he had ever learned in his life but had not even managed to graze the corner of Sword10's shirt.

Upon observing that Lin Huang had exhausted his sword skills, only then did Sword10 sheathe his sword back in its scabbard and initiate a retreat from battle.

Lin Huang did not insist on continuing the fight after that.

He knew very well that Sword10 had obviously mastered way more sword skills than he had.

"There are two main issues in your ultimate dao-type attack.

One is that you've mastered too few sword skills; another is that you're lacking in the mastery of high-grade sword skills.

Both these problems are why your Sword Dao true meaning is constrained by limits.

Going by your talent and potential, once you've mastered sword skills in sufficient number and at a high enough grade, it might be possible for you to breakthrough to Sword Dao true meaning from Sword Dao and straight away achieve peak True Martial Level. However, your Sword Dao true meaning is only average at present.

However, the good news is that you're the participant in this Trial round. Therefore, the Sword Dao true meaning of the guardians in this round will be capped to the same level as when you were when you entered the final Trial.

Even with that, however, your lack of accumulated sword skills is also your biggest flaw. I can even say without exaggeration that this might be the biggest obstacle for you in obtaining the swordmaster's inheritance.

Each of the swordmaster's bodyguards has mastered at least 300,000 sword skills. Some of them have even mastered over a million skills. If you can conclude a battle within a short period of time, you'd naturally have no issues later on. However, as soon as you enter the exhaustion stage of the battle, it would take two hours at most for your combat style to be seen through completely.

However, the biggest issue now is that this flaw of yours can't be fixed within a short period of time…" Sword10 frowned hard.

"So from your perspective, the chances of me obtaining the swordmaster's inheritance are extremely low?" Lin Huang asked after a moment of consideration.

"It's not extremely low, it's basically zero," Sword10 said honestly.

"There's no need to even talk about other people; you definitely won't be able to pass the battle against Sword1, the most powerful bodyguard under the swordmaster. Of all the ultimate dao-type powerhouses under the swordmaster, Sword1 is the most powerful of them all. He's mastered at least a million sword skills. Not only that, but he's also integrated all of the sword skills that he has mastered. Any kind of sword skill in this world he can counter immediately the next round, after engaging in battle just once.

Sword1 looks down the most on Sword Dao cultivators with insufficient sword skills because to him, it's proof that one's Sword Dao foundation isn't solid.

As far as you're concerned, there's another worse piece of news—Sword1 is a loyal member of the Regression Sect.

As a Regression Sect member, he'll judge all candidates by the strictest and most difficult assessments.

Even if you're lucky enough to overcome all the other nine palaces, you absolutely won't be able to get through the last one!"

"You really have such low confidence in me?" Lin Huang said with a smile while scratching his nose.

"It's not that I don't have confidence in you; I'm just telling you the facts that I'm absolutely certain of." Sword10 sighed rather helplessly. "In reality, as a Succession Sect member, I, more than anyone else, hope that you can pass this and obtain the swordmaster's inheritance. I hope that the swordmaster's mantle can be passed down to his heir; I also hope that these 300,000 years of waiting can finally end… However, it's a pity but I don't see the possibility of you obtaining the swordmaster's inheritance."

"Is there a time limit for this final Trial?" Lin Huang asked suddenly.

"There's no time limit. Moreover, since Golden Crow Mountain is within the boundaries of Great Heaven Palace and the swordmaster predicted that the final Trial might take a long time, the time flow is 1,000 times faster than the outside world."

"Since it's been 300,000 years in the outside world, have all of you actually been guardians in here for 300,000 million years?" Lin Huang asked, eyes wide.

"Theoretically, you could say that. However, we're in hibernation most of the time. In the beginning, we'd still observe the trials in the Swordfiend Abyss—we would wake up to watch every time someone participated. However, we stopped checking as time went by. If you hadn't managed to make it all the way to the final Trial, the ten of us wouldn't have woken up at all."

"Since there's no time limit, I have a ridiculous request to ask of you, Senior," Lin Huang said with a smile before uttering his request, "I hope that Senior Sword10 will be my sparring partner!"

"Huh?!"

Sword10 was dumbfounded.

After some gentle persuasion, Sword10 could not help but agree to Lin Huang's ridiculous request.

The main reason was that he knew very well that if he waited for the next candidate to show up, it might be another 300,000 years or even three million years.

As a member of the Succession Sect, since 300,000 years ago he had been hoping for someone worthy to come and take over the swordmaster's inheritance. Now that 300,000 years had passed, his hopes regarding the arrival of the swordmaster's heir had become even more pressing. He really did not want to wait any further.

Another reason was that he had been incredibly bored over these 300,000 years.

It would not matter even if he spent time training Lin Huang and the lad failed to obtain the swordmaster's inheritance in the end. At least Sword10 would have something to occupy his time for a while.

If Lin Huang was ridiculously lucky and really did manage to obtain the swordmaster's inheritance at the end of it all, then he and his old comrades could finally end their mission as guardians once and for all.

After a brief moment of consideration, Sword10 agreed to Lin Huang's request without much hesitation.

…

"Senior, earlier on in battle you already brought up the issues I had.

"First would be rapid speed. The main direction of improvement that you suggested would be mastering speed-type God Rule Power or Elemental Enlightenment. At this moment, apart from possessing the Seraphic Speed divine ability, I have the light attribute skill (Divine Purification) and the lightning attribute skill (Lightning Lord). Therefore, my main cultivation direction in rapid speed should be the exploration and usage of the Seraphic Speed divine ability. Ideally I would be able to elevate it to a God Rule Power. Another direction would be going in-depth into the light and lightning attribute skills. It would be best if I could elevate them to Elemental Enlightenments.

"Next would be the force-type attack. You mentioned that advancement in this direction would still take the form of God Rule Power or Elemental Enlightenment. I have the Superhuman Strength divine ability and the lightning attribute skill (Lightning Lord). There's potential for elevating the Superhuman Strength divine ability into a God Rule Power; there's also the possibility of elevating the lightning attribute skill to Elemental Enlightenment.

"Lastly would be the ultimate dao-type attack. I definitely have mastered too few sword skills and I'm severely lacking in high-grade sword skills. In reality, however, I've obtained many sword skill inheritances, quite a few of them in the previous Trial, but I haven't had the chance to assimilate them yet. Now that I have you to practice actual combat with, I should be able to accumulate many more sword skills very rapidly…

"At the moment, I think as long as I'm given enough time, I should be able to improve these flaws that Senior Sword10 mentioned." Lin Huang felt fully confident in himself.

At least he had cheat codes for the learning of skills.

"Tell me how you want me to spar with you." Sword10 did not have confidence in Lin Huang but he did not crush his enthusiasm.

"I'll cultivate the ultimate dao-type attack first to remedy my unstable foundation." Lin Huang wanted to seize the opportunity of having a sparring partner to digest all of the Sword Dao inheritances that he had obtained so far.

He had actually prepared his plans very thoroughly in advance. Even if his cultivation in rapid speed and the force-type attack failed later on, causing him to lose out on Great Heaven's inheritance, at least he would have some solid improvement in his Sword Dao ability.

Sword10 had no objections to that. After all, the main factor in elevating divine abilities to God Rule Power or elevating elemental skills to Elemental Enlightenment was a thorough understanding of divine abilities and elements. Compared to other methods, one would see results faster by cultivating sword skills. He was not surprised that Lin Huang chose to do this first.

After discussing the general direction of cultivation, Sword10 did not say much more but immediately went into sparring mode.

Meanwhile, one by one, Lin Huang began to utilize the sword skills that he was unfamiliar with.

The next few days had Sword10 completely in shock.

He was a genuine Sword Dao genius as well, but Lin Huang's speed in cultivating sword skills stunned him.

The lad was clearly a beginner in almost all sword skills when he utilized them for the first time. However, he would basically master them on the second try and use them in a familiar manner by the third try, as if he had been training in those sword skills for dozens of years, even up to a century.

Even Lin Huang himself was shocked. His sword training progress with Sword10 was much more efficient and effective than when he was training on his own. The improvement in his sword skills would skyrocket with each sparring session.

For context, of all the sword skills that he was practicing currently, the lowest grade was legendary-level. There were also many pseudo-mythical-level and mythical-level sword skills.

He would basically master legendary-level sword skills entirely after training with them just once. He only needed to practice pseudo-mythical-level sword skills three times; for mythical-level sword skills, at most, he needed only five practices to fully master them.

In the first 24 hours of his training, he had mastered a total of 358 new sword skills.

Over the next two days, this number settled to a steady 350 sword skills per day.

Given how fast Lin Huang was picking up, Sword10 could find nothing to complain about at all.

Although he knew that Sword1 could also perform similar feats of learning, Sword1's combat strength was already at peak heavenly god-level by the time he was able to do that. Moreover, he had accumulated terrifying ultimate dao-type attacks which were sufficient for him to deconstruct the nature of most sword skills.

However, Lin Huang was currently only a beginner in Sword Dao true meaning while his Sword Dao accumulation was nothing in comparison with any of the Sword Servants under the swordmaster. By managing to achieve such results, he had proved that he had terrifying talent and potential.

Sword10 had initially not placed any great hope in Lin Huang. After witnessing how fast Lin Huang picked up sword skills, however, his dead hopes ignited once more and he became increasingly enthusiastic as a sparring partner.

As time passed, the number of sword skills Lin Huang mastered increased rapidly.

By the time 200 days had passed, Lin Huang had finally mastered 100,000 sword skills. That was almost ten times more than what he possessed before he entered the Great Heaven Trial.

Not only had he entirely assimilated all of the sword skills that he had obtained in the Great Heaven Trial, but he had also assimilated many of the inheritances from the golden sword.

Lin Huang could even clearly sense that his current Sword Dao was much more powerful than before.

"Previously I kept putting off cultivating true god-level sword skills. Now it's almost time to assimilate all of my true god-level sword skill inheritances."

Throughout around 250 days of cultivation, Lin Huang had been putting off the cultivation of true god-level sword skills. Now he finally decided to assimilate all of those inheritances.

In this next stage of true god-level sword skill cultivation, Lin Huang's progress slowed down significantly.

Previously, for mythical-level sword skills, he usually only needed to practice them five times; he would master them after six or seven practices at most. However, for true god-level sword skills, he could basically only master each one after practicing up to a hundred times. Not only that, but his practice speed was also much slower than before.

On the first day of his next stage of training, Lin Huang only managed to master two true god-level sword skills.

Upon observing this, Sword10 made him rest for a day to relax his tense nerves.

On the third day, Lin Huang began practicing true god-level sword skills once more. He finally completed cultivating three sword skills within a day.

Since then, Lin Huang maintained a steady cultivation speed of three sword skills per day.

Not only was there a significant elevation in Sword Dao true meaning through practicing true god-level sword skills, but Lin Huang could also clearly sense that his Sword Dao true meaning was advancing every day.

After close to two months, Lin Huang had assimilated all of his true god-level sword inheritances.

By then, his Sword Dao true meaning had elevated to full True Martial Level.

Over 300 days cultivating with practically no rest had completely remedied Lin Huang's flaw of his lack of mastered sword skills. Apart from that, he had also elevated his Sword Dao to full True Martial Level.

After witnessing Lin Huang's rapid advancement, Sword10 began to think that the lad really might have the qualifications to inherit the swordmaster's position after all.

"My Sword Dao true meaning is at peak True Martial Level—my shortcoming in ultimate dao-type has basically been remedied. It's rather meaningless to continue cultivating sword skills any further because, at such short notice, it's quite impossible for me to break through from Sword Dao true meaning to the second level, which is the True Meaning Level.

"In that case, let's begin the cultivation of rapid speed next. We'll begin with the utilization of the Seraphic Speed divine ability…"

After a full day of sleep, Lin Huang got Sword10 to cultivate with him first thing in the morning for this next round of his training.

Since he had such powerful innate ability and his pet monsters carried out many things for him, apart from Sword Dao, Lin Huang did not often utilize many of these skills at all.

This was even more so for speed skills such as Seraphic Speed. As a result, Lin Huang was miles away from Kylie and the rest, as far as the usage of various Monster Skills and divine abilities were concerned.

However, to force himself to explore the usage of rapid speed techniques such as Seraphic Speed, Lin Huang trained his rapid speed attack by having Sword10 use Elemental Enlightenment without holding back.

Time passed by. Under Sword10's repeated suppression, Lin Huang spent merely three days to get his Seraphic Speed divine ability to its peak.

For a week or more after that, he trained his lightning and light elemental skills to their peak through rapid speed attacks.

After this Lin Huang spent some ten days perfecting the integration of his lightning and light attribute elemental skills with Seraphic Speed divine ability and Thunder Eclipse.

Although he had yet to elevate his Seraphic Speed divine ability to a God Rule Power and his lightning and light attribute elemental skills had yet to evolve into Elemental Enlightenment, Lin Huang's current rapid speed level had surpassed that of Sword10.

To advance his breakthrough, Lin Huang initially began using Seraphic Speed or Thunder Eclipse with a single attribute elemental skill added on. However, he did not achieve a breakthrough even after trying for close to half a month.

Feeling helpless, Lin Huang had no choice but to temporarily set aside his cultivation in rapid speed; he began to elevate his ability in force-type attack.

It had to be said that Sword10 was indeed an excellent sparring partner. His abilities in all aspects were very balanced.

Lin Huang's cultivation in force-type attack went on for over half a month. At the end of this time, he had at last perfectly integrated his use of Superhuman Strength divine ability with lightning elemental skill and sword skills.

However, just like his cultivation in rapid speed, his Superhuman Strength divine ability had yet to evolve into a God Rule Power. Meanwhile, his lightning elemental skill had not yet elevated to Elemental Enlightenment either.

Sword10 was astonished as Lin Huang had only spent less than 400 days to surpass him in all aspects.

Whether it was rapid speed, force-type, or ultimate dao-type, Lin Huang currently completely dominated him. With the elevation of his Sword Dao true meaning, Lin Huang's overall ability was over several times more powerful than when he had just entered the final Trial.

"Your overall ability has already completely surpassed me now. You've spent less than 400 days to achieve this. To be honest, this is completely beyond my expectations." Sword10 sheathed his sword in its scabbard. He knew that he was no longer of much use as a sparring partner now.

"Your Seraphic Speed, Superhuman Strength, and light and lightning elemental skills haven't had any breakthroughs in their nature. However, your overall abilities have been elevated so completely, it's as if you're a brand new person compared to before. With your current ability, anyone below Sword3's level shouldn't be an obstacle for you. However, the Trial will get more and more difficult for you from Sword3 onward.

"My job as a sparring partner has ended; I can't elevate you any further. However, your cultivation isn't done just yet." Sword10's eyes gleamed faintly from his sloppy face. Even the dark circles under his eyes seemed to be less obvious than before. "Next, I'll give you one last Trial mission."

Lin Huang looked at Sword10 in confusion. He had no idea at all what kind of mission Sword10 would give him.

"Your mission is to make every guardian in the remaining rounds your sparring partner. Try your best to suppress them to learn from them. Also, before meeting Sword1, you must complete your breakthrough in rapid speed and force-type attack! Otherwise, you'll have no chance of winning at all!"

"I'll definitely remember that!" Lin Huang nodded and agreed earnestly after he heard that.

"Lastly, I'd like to give you a gift!" As soon as Sword10 was done speaking, in a flash, he suddenly appeared in front of Lin Huang.

Lin Huang instinctively wanted to draw his sword, but he firmly suppressed this impulse.

Sword10 extended his index finger and touched it to his own forehead.

The next instant, a sea of sword skill inheritances flooded Lin Huang's mind.

This was a heavy load of inheritances; it even made Lin Huang briefly blank out for three seconds.

When he snapped back to his senses, Sword10 had turned around and was walking back into the depths of the palace.

He waved without even turning around. "I've lost this Trial, send him out!"

Before Lin Huang could respond, the palace disintegrated immediately. It transformed into countless mosaic-like pieces, vanishing while flying into the sky…

Lin Huang only felt a faint sense of melancholy at that moment. The next instant, his surroundings had reverted to dense jungle just like before.

Everywhere there was lush greenery; there was no trace at all of the black palace; it was as if the palace and Sword10 had never been there.

"Congratulations to the participant for making it past the Tenth Palace!"

A notification box popped up, snapping Lin Huang out of his reverie.

He did a scan with Divine Telekinesis but did not sense any living beings. Lin Huang did not proceed further after that. Instead, he stood where he was and spread his consciousness within him to see what inheritances Sword10 had left for him.

He was shocked by what he found.

"Damn! There are over 800,000 sword skills…"

Sword10 left behind over 800,000 sword skills of all sorts. Moreover, the lowest grade was pseudo-mythical-level. There were over 8,000 true god-level sword skills alone while there were over 70 heavenly god-level sword skills.

Only now did Lin Huang truly understand that none of the Sword Servants under Great Heaven were weak in their abilities.

Judging by Sword10's terrifying Sword Dao background, he could almost imagine that Sword10's combined abilities would definitely be in the top ranks of the heavenly god-level powerhouses.

Powerhouses with such rich accumulation of skills would grow even more powerful as time went by. However, they might not have Lin Huang's immense talent and potential, to begin with. Therefore, under the restriction of rules, it was not surprising that Sword10 lost to Lin Huang.

"Judging from my previous cultivation speed, I'd need a few years to completely digest this inheritance of his…" Lin Huang shook his head while forcing a smile.

He would never forget Sword10's generosity to him, however.

Without these last 400 days of practice day and night with Sword10, the chances of him obtaining Great Heaven's inheritance would be very slim. Even though he had greatly improved in his abilities now, he still did not have an absolute guarantee of obtaining the Great Heaven inheritance.

"Oh that's right, I forgot to ask earlier which of the bodyguards under the swordmaster are in the Succession Sect and which of them are in the Regression Sect," Lin Huang mumbled softly in the direction of where the Tenth Palace had appeared earlier, "It's alright though; I'll just treat everyone as a sparring partner!"