Monster Paradise

by Stayrr

800 years ago, 3000 dimensional gates opened across the entire world. In that moment, it was as if 3000 different colored eyes opened across the world as hordes of monsters swarmed out of these gates like tears. Some could destroy city walls with one strike; They had bodies the size of a giant and fed on humans Some latched onto humans, absorbing their bodies’ nutrients and ensla

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Chapter 641: Seamless

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The Yao family heard about the news as soon as Lin Huang left the Abyss Brink. Instead of informing Yao Huanhuan, her parents contacted their elder daughter, Yao Lan, who was busy working.

"Lan Er, did you meet that Lin Xie kid at the Abyss Brink?" The mother asked during the call in the reading room.

"Yes, I did."

"What do you think about him?" The father asked directly.

"He's very powerful. I can't fight him even if we were on the same level," Yao Lan commented.

"It can't be. You're a supreme genius as well. How could you guys be so different ability wise?" The father frowned.

"It's not only his battle ability. He's much more powerful than normal holy fire-levels overall as well as being skilled in a variety of techniques… He's overall ability would top all supreme geniuses. Perhaps not more than five people of the same level could fight him in Division 3," Yao Lan gave an honorable comment.

"Did you fight him?" The father was surprised to hear her.

"No, I imitated what Huanhuan would say and do while I spent a day with him." Yao Lan smirked.

The parents were concerned. They did not expect their elder daughter to be this mischievous.

"His ability is indeed out of my expectations. He's a crimson flame-level who hunts for immortal-level rank-6 triple mutated Life Fire monsters. He even escaped from an imperial-level triple mutated monster. I think I wouldn't have been able to do it if I didn't use my ultimate move with my current abilities," Yao Lan shared what she observed after spending a day with Lin Huang.

Her parents, who were on imperial-level, were in disbelief about how powerful Lin Huang was after listening to what Yao Lan said.

"But the good news is that he's really not interested in Huanhuan." The parents were relieved by Yao Lan's conclusion.

"But the kid is back in Sweep City now for God-knows-what reason. We haven't told Huanhuan yet, but she's been bugging us to get the kid's whereabouts," the father said helplessly.

"This Lin Xie isn't a bad person, but it's better not to let Huanhuan get close to him. I couldn't get anything from his identity besides what's on the surface. Judging from his ability, he could be a Holy Son candidate trained by a top underground organization. We shouldn't offend the organization behind him."

"But Huanhuan…" The mother looked troubled.

"You guys have spoiled her. Why don't I talk to Huanhuan after I'm done with my stuff here a few days later?" Yao Lan told her parents.

"Stop investigating Lin Xie. It's better than we don't have anything to do with him. Don't say anything even if somebody asks us about him."

After hanging up, from a hotel room in the foothold near the second layer of the Abyss Brink, Yao Lan projected a gold list from her Emperor's Heart Ring. If somebody else had been there with her, they would have recognized that more than ten names on the list were famous supreme geniuses in Division 3. Yao Lan smirked while she moved her graceful fingers, adding 'Lin Xie' at the bottom of the list in gold ink.

Besides visiting the black market, Lin Huang had been staying in his hotel room ever since he returned to Sweep City. He had been getting used to the telekinesis ability before obtaining the telekinesis weapon. After spending two days practicing the Devil's Psykid's telekinesis, he had mastered 80% of it. The inheritance of monster tinder was different from the legacy of the human memory as the former was more than just a memory whereby the human could obtain the skill directly. Take an ordinary person obtaining the ability to make dual-vector foil out of nowhere for instance. He did not have to learn and understand the theory of making it. Gaining such an ability became part of his body; he could create a dual-vector foil by himself as long as he had enough materials. The only thing that he had to go through was to get used to the process of creation.

The inheritance of the human's memory allowed one to obtain the memory but not the ability. It was like obtaining all of the information on how to make a dual-vector foil, but you would have to learn and understand the information before creating the dual-vector foil itself. If one could not understand the theory of making it, he could not make the dual-vector foil even the information was in his brain and the materials were sufficient.

That was the main reason why Lin Huang had picked the Devil's Psykid as his Life Fire monster after listening to Bloody's explanation. Obtaining the Devil's Psykid's telekinesis would save him at least two years of training time. It was calculated based on Lin Huang's supreme genius standard. For others, it would take tens of years - even up to 100 years - to master the ability. Ever since he received the ability, he had mastered it from kindergarten-level to a highschooler's level within two days. Besides some detailed and complicated techniques that required more training, he had basically mastered it.

With his current mastery of Divine Telekinesis, he could easily kill an immortal-level rank-3 monster without using any telekinesis weapons.

"There are still some difficulties in mastering the details. I'll need at least a week to practice and familiarize the Devil's Psykid's telekinesis." Lin Huang was aware of his own progress. Although he had mastered 80% of the Devil's Psykid's ability, the remaining 20% required more time as it was complicated.

Besides possessing Divine Telekinesis himself, Lin Huang chose the ability to hide his identity as he also inherited memory of the demigod Qi Muxiong. Qi Muxiong was a master in telekinesis, so it was a no-brainer that his telekinesis power was mighty since he was young. Besides discovering many telekinesis techniques throughout his life, he had also come up with a telekinesis cultivation called Seamless. The cultivation would allow a person to channel telekinetic power into countless threads which could then be controlled from far away.

Qi Muxiong could divide his telekinetic power into 18,000 threads as well as controlling the threads to attack at will within the range of 30,000 kilometers. If he was on Earth, he could stand on his balcony and control the threads to pierce through any creature's head that was located in any corner on Earth. The level-1 of Seamless was to use telekinetic power to divide 300 threads. After two days of training and mastering the basics, Lin Huang finally proceeded to learn Seamless

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Chapter 642: A Massive Crisis

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The telekinetic division was a difficult task whereby it required detailed control ability in telekinesis. Before obtaining the Devil's Psykid's ability, training Seamless would be as tricky as a kindergarten child being asked to solve a high school academic question. However, it was not difficult for Lin Huang to train that now. Within a single morning, he managed to use his Divine Telekinesis power to divide a strand of thread into two, two into four, and so on… Eventually, he managed to divide the thread into 300 of them, completing level-1 of Seamless. Later on, he started practicing the controlling of the 300 threads.

When it was past 10 p.m., Lin Huang managed to control the 300 threads to dissect and sew monster carcasses. The poor White Night Wolf that he used to practice on was dissected more than 1,000 times. It was so disgusting that even the Eclipse Boa refused to eat it and Lin Huang had to dispose of it. The next morning, he began training level-2 of Seamless and dividing threads using Divine Telekinesis. Since he was now more in control of the mastery of his power, his speed of dividing accelerated. By the time it was past two in the afternoon, he had completed level-2 of Seamless and had managed to split 1,000 threads. He then began practicing the control of those 1,000 threads.

Just after five in the afternoon, Lin Huang's communication device rang. It was a message from Hu Lu with three documents attached.

"Mr. Lin, we've found three supreme telekinetic weapons in different forms for you. One is conical, one is star-shaped while another is in a flying dagger-form. You can take a look at the details of the three weapons. I'll arrange the purchase for you once you've decided."

Lin Huang looked at the three documents as soon as he read Hu Lu's message. The first one was the conical telekinetic weapon. It was made of 180 spikes that looked like beaks. The weapon was the fastest as well as the most penetrable one among all. Therefore, most of the psychics used weapons in such form. It cost 9.8 million Life Crystals.

The second document was of the star-shaped weapon made of 108 meteorites. The attack of this weapon was like the falling of meteorites, which required minimum control of telekinesis. It was easy to be mastered as it was mainly operated by the speed of telekinesis control as well as the weight of the meteorites. It cost 8.5 million Life Crystals. Each of the meteorites cost was higher than the spikes.

Finally, the third document was the telekinetic weapon in flying dagger-form which was made of 360 flying daggers. It required a high control of telekinesis. If one controlled his power well, the speed and penetrability were just as powerful as the conical weapon. Besides, it had more modes compared to the latter. However, if one could not master the power well, the impact would be worse than the star-shaped weapon. This was the most expensive one, costing 21.9 million Life Crystals.

Lin Huang picked the most expensive one without thinking twice as the flying dagger one would match his Sword Dao.

"Too bad it's too little. It'd be great if there are thousands or even tens of thousands of flying daggers in one of those." He thought of the time when the Sword Dominator controlled more than 3,000 flying daggers. The scene still impressed him until now.

After picking his weapon, Lin Huang called Hu Lu immediately. Hu Lu picked up his call with a smile in her voice.

"You've made your decision?"

"Yes, I would like the flying dagger one."

Hu Lu was not surprised at all. "Sure, I'll order it for you."

"No news on the ancient relic?" Lin Huang asked.

"Ancient relics are rare, let alone telekinetic weapons which hardly appear in a few years." Hu Lu shook her head.

"I'll keep an eye on that for you and inform you as soon as there's any news. The one you're ordering is a supreme one. You can use that first. Is there anything else that you need?"

"Erm…" Lin Huang hesitated before nodding. "Let me know if you can order more of this supreme flying dagger weapon. I'd like to get more of them."

"More?" Hu Lu was skeptical. She thought that Lin Huang wanted to resell the item. "If you're planning to resell them, you're not going to make much profit as the price is quite transparent. Moreover, such a supreme weapon is expensive. You'd be lucky if you could make 10% from it."

"That's none of your business. Just order it for me." Lin Huang did not bother to explain.

"Alright then, how many do you want?" Hu Lu asked unwillingly.

"Get me nine more to round it up to ten." Lin Huang smirked.

"10?!" Hu Lu thought Lin Huang had gone crazy.

"Mr. Lin, you can get two of them to test the market if you're really planning to resell them. If you buy ten of them, you might lose 200 million!"

Hu Lu had never expected that Lin Huang would buy all the weapons for his own use as most of the psychics could only divide 100 threads and even fewer of them could split more than 300 threads. The weapon was amazing enough for most of the psychics out there.

"That's my problem. I won't look for you if that happens. Just order them for me." Lin Huang smiled. "Let me know the price. I'll pay the deposit."

Hu Lu did not want to say any further since Lin Huang insisted. She did not understand how spoilt brats spent their money. After the call ended, Lin Huang transferred the 21.8 million Life Crystals to Hu Lu for the first weapon that he had ordered.

The next afternoon, Hu Lu dropped by the hotel Lin Huang was staying at just before he was ready to train level-3 of Seamless. She was there to pass the weapon to him.

After confirming that he wanted to order the other nine weapons, Hu Lu left full of doubts while Lin Huang stayed in the hotel to train his Seamless skill. Just as he wrapped up in the evening, he managed to divide more than 1,800 threads. He could clearly feel that he was getting better at controlling the threads as a whole. Three days passed, and Lin Huang had mastered 90% of the Devil's Psykid's ability. He figured he would achieve the Devil's Psykid's standard when he completed level-3 of Seamless and could control 3,000 threads.

Lin Huang began reading the news after washing up. It was a habit of his before he went to bed. Just when he opened the black market's page, the top news caught his attention immediately. The headlines were 'Mysterious Case in the Level-2 Abyss Brink'. Lin Huang frowned as he read the news. The mysterious case was actually the wall with Abyssal Mist in the cave where Devil's Psykid had entered. After Yao Lan had reported that to the Adventure Paradise a few days ago, besides the imperial-level people that were sent to investigate, even the Union Government and the Hunter Association had assigned more imperial-level people to check the case out.

The report showed that the cracks on the wall was nothing ordinary, but was a gap connecting to an unknown space. The cracks were slowly expanding. The Abyssal Mist that was seeping from the cracks was a level-5 contamination. Two imperial-level people had become fiends in less than ten minutes after accidentally touching the mist. It was irreversible, and what was worse was that the mist seemed to have an instinct whereby it would go for non-fiend creatures.

The incident had caught the attention of a couple of demigods who speculated that there was a perilous world on the other side of the cracks since they learned about the report. As the fissures enlarged, the creatures from the other side might head to the Abyss Brink and even access the humans' world from there. The humans' world might encounter a massive crisis that was just as catastrophic as the Virtual Eye opening 800 years ago

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Chapter 643: The Genius Organization

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

What happened in the second layer of the Abyss Brink brought people from the mainland to investigate. The conclusion was that although the cracks were expanding at a slow pace, it would take at least five years for the creatures from the other side to enter the Abyss Brink. The mainland even gathered a group of demigods to seal the space. Tens of techniques were used, but none of them worked.

The news soon spread and many transcendent- levels in the community found out about it. Besides the core zones, even the safe zones heard of the story. Under the Union Government's strict orders, the news did not spread to people below transcendent-level. Lin Huang could sense that the crisis was getting more intense. He heard about the catastrophe that had happened 800 years ago from Mr. Fu. If something similar happened, even Virtual Gods might not survive the disaster. He knew very well that the five-year period was not just hearsay.

"Seems like imperial-level isn't enough anymore. I must get to Virtual God or even True God within five years!" Lin Huang gave himself a new target. He did not have the ambition of saving the world, at least not now. All he hoped for was not to die in the coming war. Throughout the coming days, besides sleeping, Lin Huang spent his time training his telekinesis. His usual three meals a day were consolidated into a single breakfast for him. He even used his telekinesis to order take-out food for himself. If the lack of food did not affect his health, he might have even skipped breakfast. Skipping meals for a week would not affect holy fire-level humans, but it would be detrimental if it exceeded more than a week.

On the second day after the news of the Abyss Brink broke, Lin Huang had broken through level-3 of Seamless and managed to divide 3,000 threads. He had arrived at the Devil's Psykid's level. After that, he spent a week achieving the division of 8,000 strands. He could finally slow down at level-4 of Seamless training. Although his Divine Telekinesis was powerful, his spirit was restricted by his low combat level which resulted in greater thread division.

However, after ten days of non-stop training, Lin Huang's telekinetic power was strong enough to kill the immortal-level rank-6 Devil's Psykid that he had encountered earlier. Within that week, Hu Lu had ordered two supreme telekinetic weapons made of 360 flying daggers. By then, he had more than 1,000 telekinetic flying daggers with him. With the three weapons, his combat strength in telekinesis was nothing lower than his Sword Dao's.

After the ten days in Sweep City, Yao Lan finally contacted Lin Huang again. She sent a short message: "8 p.m. tonight, Sweep Gourmet. Room 301. There's something good for you."

He was not surprised that Yao Lan knew he was in Sweep City. After all, the city was the Yao family's territory, and nothing could escape them. Since his training had stagnated these two days, Lin Huang agreed to meet her right away since he was not busy anyway.

At 7.50 p.m., he arrived at the Sweep Gourmet ten minutes before the agreed time. A female staff brought him to Room 301. Just as the staff was serving him tea, Yao Lan walked into the room with a young man who looked like he was in his mid-twenties. The man was a rank higher than Yao Lan on immortal-level rank-4. Lin Huang had his guard up. Just in one glance, Lin Huang could tell that the man was also a supreme genius and his ability might exceed immortal-level rank-9.

"Lin Xie, let me introduce you guys. This is Huangfu Hao from the Huangfu family," Yao Lan introduced the both of them.

"Hao Zi, this is the Lin Xie that I told you about."

The Huangfu family was the second most prominent family in Sweep City whereby their overall ability was level with the Yao family, and they were not too far apart. Lin Huang had heard of Huangfu Hao before. He was a supreme genius among the Huangfu family's younger generation.

"I heard from Xiao Lan that you have a mind-blowing ability. Attack me with all you have," Huangfu Hao challenged directly after checking Lin Huang out.

"Hao Zi, let's eat first…" Yao Lan frowned.

"Xiao Lan, I know you would prefer to take this slow, but you know that I'm impatient. I'm used to finishing business first." Huangfu Hao raised his hand to stop Yao Lan from talking. Then he looked at Lin Huang.

"If you manage to win my trust, I'll apologize for my absurd attitude later."

"So, this is the 'good' stuff you told me about?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrow as he looked at Yao Lan.

"This guy has a low EQ. Please don't take it personally," Yao Lan explained helplessly.

"Don't mind him. Let's eat first. We'll talk about it later."

"We don't have to do that. Let's get straight to business." Lin Huang took a sip of his tea and put the teacup down.

"Alright then." Noticing that the atmosphere was tense and nobody had the appetite to eat, she agreed to what Lin Huang suggested.

"We would like to invite you to join the Sweep Alliance."

"The Sweep Alliance?" Lin Huang had never heard of such an organization.

"The Sweep Alliance is a special organization that was founded by geniuses more than 300 years ago. All of the members of the organization are geniuses. There are supreme geniuses among them including myself and Huangfu Hao," Yao Lan explained.

"A genius organization?" Lin Huang had heard from Mr. Fu that it would be best if he could join such an organization when he arrived at the core zone because some of the rare ruins and special mysterious lands were opened only to genius organizations. However, different genius organizations would have different criteria whereby some of them would thoroughly investigate the person before allowing one to join. That was why Lin Huang did not have high hopes of joining any genius organization from the beginning as his identity was fake. It would mean trouble for him if he got investigated.

"Yes, our Sweep Alliance is more flexible. You can join as long as you have at least two members who recommend you. Although more than a third of the members are locals, we don't have any requirement about the member's origin, so we won't dig into your personal details. It's alright even if you're coming from an underground organization as long as you have impressive abilities and aren't involved in any other genius organizations. However, the reason why the terms are flexible is that our organization is less powerful compared to the other genius organizations," Yao Lan told Lin Huang the reason why she had asked him to join.

"The powerful genius organizations in Division 1 wouldn't need to recruit members as all the powerful geniuses would go to them on their own."

"Are there any restrictions after joining the organization?" Lin Huang asked.

"The management is very flexible as it's not a formal organization, but it still is a beneficial one. Let me send you the offer letter since it's nothing confidential," Yao Lan said and sent the offer letter to Lin Huang. He started reading it as soon as he received the document. There was nothing strict on the member duty list. There were only three requirements. The first one would be to claim the Stairway Tree as often as the member could, while another would be to explore the ruins and mysterious lands while the last one would be to join at least one battle hunt once a year.

"What's the Stairway Tree?" It was Lin Huang's first time hearing about that.

"It's no surprise that you've no idea what that is. The Stairway Tree is a tree in the virtual world that only genius organization members are eligible to climb. The higher you climb, the more points you'll get. Not only will it be added to your total points in the genius organization, but you can also use the points to redeem items. Those who rank on top will enjoy rewards every month. Ancient relics, demigod relics… As long as you have enough points, you can redeem almost everything at the Stairway Mall."

"I supposed it's not as simple as climbing a tree." Lin Huang knew instantly that it would not be that straightforward when he heard Yao Lan's explanation.

"Of course not. Climbing the tree is just the tip of the iceberg. The difficult part is fighting with the rest. The capacity of the tree is limited at different heights, so competition is inevitable. You'll know the exact rules when you get there," Yao Lan explained it vaguely.

"Sounds interesting." Lin Huang thought everything sounded fine after reading the offer letter that Yao Lan had sent him. He then turned around and looked at Huangfu Hao.

"So, you're the second referrer?"

"That's right, but you'll have to win my trust before I can recommend you," Huangfu Hao said directly.

"Sure, let's fight." It was clear that Lin Huang agreed to Yao Lan's invitation.

"Can't you guys fight after dinner? I'm hungry…" Yao Lan whined helplessly.

"No!" Lin Huang and Huangfu Hao exclaimed at the same time.

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Chapter 644: Joining the Sweep Alliance

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Don't hold back. Attack me with all you have. It'd be best if you could show me all of your techniques," Huanggu Hao said to Lin Huang.

"Should we do this somewhere else?" Lin Huang studied the room in the restaurant and looked at Yao Lan. Although the restaurant was a demigod relic itself, he was not sure if the building structure was stable. After all, the restaurant was the property of the Yao family. With the daughter of the Yao family there, it would be bad to destroy the restaurant in front of her.

"Don't worry, the restaurant is a demigod relic. There are special defenses in the rooms that make it indestructible to people below imperial-level. There's nothing valuable in this room anyway, and we can always replace them."

Yao Lan then mumbled to herself, "Luckily, the dishes have yet to be served…"

After confirming that the battle would not annihilate the restaurant, Lin Huang then stared at Huangfu Hao. A silver glow flashed in the air and appeared in front of Huangfu Hao at an instant.

"That's fast!" Yao Lan, who was watching, exclaimed.

Huangfu Hao's pupils shrunk as a gold shield appeared in front of his body when he extended his hand. The silver glow collided with the shield and sliced through the shield at an odd angle.

Huangfu Hao did not have the time to avoid the attack. All he could do was watch the silver glow glide by his arm, leaving a light trail. Yao Lan was shocked to see that happen. Lin Huang then retrieved his flying dagger and said to Huangfu Hao, "Is that enough?"

"Was that all you've got?" Huangfu Hao disabled his shield and fronted Lin Huang.

"Almost there." Lin Huang nodded. Neither did he release his Life Power nor his Sword Dao in his attack. However, he had given 90% of what he had in terms of speed and strength.

"Your speed is almost at the immortal-level rank-7 standard," Yao Lan concluded before Huangfu Hao could say anything, "But I can't determine your attack strength."

"Your attack strength is on immortal-level rank-7 as well. Most immortal-level psychics wouldn't be able to switch the attack angle just like you did. If we were on the same combat level, your attack just now could definitely kill me." Huangfu Hao made a fair comment.

"I would like to apologize for my absurdness earlier. Welcome to the Sweep Alliance," Huangfu Hao said and extended his hand for a friendly handshake. Lin Huang shook his hand.

"Your defense is terrifying. My flying dagger couldn't break through it," Lin Huang smiled when he said.

"My inherited ability is special. Although I'm only an immortal-level rank-4, nobody below imperial-level can break my defense." Huangfu Hao's poker face was long gone.

"Xiao Lan, why didn't you tell me that Lin Xie is a psychic? You only told me that he's a powerful Imperial Censor," Huangfu Hao turned around and asked Yao Lan.

"How would I know that he's a psychic? He never used any telekinetic power in front of me." Yao Lan glared at Lin Huang as his biodata did not state that he was a psychic; not even his Imperial Censor identity was revealed.

"Didn't you know that?" Huangfu Hao realized that it was a surprise to Yao Lan that Lin Huang was a psychic.

"How many flying daggers can you control?" Yao Lan questioned Lin Huang, perking Huangfu Hao's interest as well.

"More than 300." Lin Huang did not tell the truth since controlling 300 flying daggers were terrifying enough.

"You're crazily talented as a psychic! I've met a couple of immortal-level psychic geniuses. The most they could control were 280 psychic weapons. Most of them could only control within 180 to 240 weapons." Huangfu Hao could not be any happier that Lin Huang was joining the alliance.

"Let's scan your identity." Yao Lan was worried that Lin Huang might take his words back, so she protected the scan page immediately.

"Don't you want to eat first? I thought you're hungry!" Lin Huang teased.

"I'm not hungry anymore. Hurry!" Yao Lan urged.

Lin Huang projected his ID while Yao Lan and Huangfu Hao scanned theirs to apply for Lin Huang's membership together. In less than ten seconds, his application had been approved. An offer letter was sent to Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring.

"Have a look now. Sign your name if everything is fine and you'll be one of us." Yao Lan was impatient.

"Take a look first. Let us know if there's anything that you find unreasonable and we can get it amended," Huangfu Hao added.

Lin Huang nodded and started reading the offer letter. The terms of the offer letter were clear. It was basically the same as what Yao Lan had sent earlier.

After confirming that everything was fine, Lin Huang signed his name 'Lin Xie' on the offer letter and sent it back. Soon, an identity token was sent. There was a huge 'Sweep' engraved on the golden token. From the projection, the token was breathtaking. It was obvious that it was the work of a master.

"Here you go." Yao Lan flicked her finger and a golden ball fell into his hand. He opened his hand and saw that it was the physical version of the token that was half the size of a palm. It was almost exactly the same as the one that had been projected.

"It's just a collectible. Most of our activities are carried out on the Heart Network. Since the design of the token is pretty, many members wanted the physical one, so it was made later on," Yao Lan smiled as she explained.

The token was really beautifully designed with good material, Lin Huang observed for a while before keeping it into his Emperor's Heart Ring.

"Let's eat. We'll talk about the Sweep Alliance later while we eat." Yao Lan started ordering as she browsed the food menu.

After ordering food, Yao Lan spoke again, "Lin Xie, about the Abyss Brink, the Union Government will send the rewards within these two days. I'll bring them to you. As promised, you'll get the rewards and I'll get the points."

"What happened at the Abyss Brink?" Huangfu Hao asked.

"It was Lin Xie who found out about the cracks on the second layer of Abyss Brink and I reported it," Yao Lan explained.

Of course, Huangfu Hao knew about the cracks as every transcendent-level person knew about it since a few days ago. He did not expect that it was Lin Huang who had discovered it.

"You found out about the cracks?"

"It was just a coincidence. I was hunting a Life Fire monster and found out about the Abyssal Mist that was coming out of the cracks on the wall. However, I thought it was just a normal wall crack which might be connected to the ground, and that was how the Abyssal Mist came about." Lin Huang nodded as he explained.

"There will be a catastrophe coming in five years. All of the transcendent-levels are worried about their own lives. Many organizations are recruiting members to train more people to prepare for the war. The same goes for genius organizations. We need more resources to level up our abilities. This is the reason why the Sweep Alliance started the recruitment early this time."

"Nevertheless, we usually make an exception to recruit supreme geniuses even if the war isn't happening," Yao Lan smiled as she said.

"We don't have many members. Including you, there're only 36 of us and there're only four supreme geniuses. Besides the three of us, the other supreme genius would be Hao Zi's sister, Huangfu Lin. You're the second member that I managed to recruit."

"Aren't you shameless? The ridiculous list that you have are all supreme geniuses. It's your luck that you managed to get two," Huangfu Hao teased Yao Lan.

"Why would I want to waste my time if it's not for supreme geniuses?!" Yao Lan rolled her eyes.

"So, the first one that you recruited would be…" Lin Huang interrupted.

"Him." Yao Lan pointed at Huangfu Hao.

"Well, this girl insisted that I must join for the honor of Sweep City. After I rejected her, she followed me everywhere we went, even to the toilet. She even told me that the way I pee is wrong…" Huangfu Hao was pissed as he talked about it.

"I thought your sister got you to join." Lin Huang did not expect Huangfu Hao had such a terrible experience.

"This girl got me to bring my sister in as well. There was nothing that I could do, so I begged my sister. If I had known her well, I wouldn't have slapped this b*tch since the beginning."

Lin Huang was glad that he agreed to join, or else similar consequences would happen to him.

"Oh, right, you said there are only 36 members at the moment. Did they quit? We're there many of them?" Lin Huang asked.

"They didn't quit. They retired," Yao Lan shook her head and explained.

"All of the members of genius organizations will have to retire when you're above 40 or arrive on imperial-level. This rule came about as most of the members would be at immortal-level rank-9 when they're 40. Those who can't level up to imperial-level would waste the organization's resources if they stay while imperial-level people would need resources to sustain themselves. Since they have the ability as well as enough resources on their own, it would affect the resources for the new members if they continue to stay in the organization…"

The conversation with Huangfu Hao and Yao Lan went on until past 11 p.m. The dishes were amazing. There was even a soup made of an immortal-level rank-9 monster. However, Lin Huang focused more on the information that was provided by the both of them. The conversation had given him a better understanding of the genius organization and the Sweep Alliance. He had officially stepped into a brand new community.

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Chapter 645: I Think I've Been Tricked

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

On the second day of joining the Sweep Alliance, Lin Huang logged into the Genius Union's website through a unique site on the Heart Network after his breakfast. The website scanned the identity of the user automatically. Without registering via the genius organization, the page would not be found. Two options popped up on the main page once Lin Huang logged in: "Browsing Mode" and "Conscious Mode".

Lin Huang heard Yao Lan mentioned this yesterday. The browsing mode was available for people to browse pages, news, videos, and search for information without joining any activities while the conscious mode allowed the person to enter the Genius Union's virtual world with one's consciousness. The latter was the only way to participate in the Stairway Tree climb.

After summoning Bloody and Bai to protect himself, Lin Huang pressed the conscious mode button. In the next second, he appeared in a white space.

"We've detected that this is the first time you're logging in. You're given one complimentary opportunity to adjust your own height and appearance. Would you like to proceed with the adjustment?" A gentle female voice echoed.

"Yes." Lin Huang nodded immediately.

The wall transformed into a full-length mirror, reflecting Lin Huang's original appearance. As he was thinking how he would like to look like, the voice came again.

"You'll only have to think of the appearance and height that you desire, and we'll make the adjustments accordingly."

He then thought of Lin Xie's appearance that he had disguised as immediately. His appearance soon changed to how Lin Xie exactly looked like in the full-length mirror.

"Are you sure you want to make these changes? Please take note that once the change is confirmed, your appearance and height in Genius Union will be fixed. In the eyes of all Genius Union members, this is how your appearance will be unless you want to change it again using your Stairway points."

"Yes!" Lin Huang decided without any hesitation.

"Appearance settings completed. Please complete personal information privacy settings."

"Privacy settings available:

"Visible to everyone.

"Visible to friends.

"Only specific information are visible (to be selected manually).

"Confidential (Any information other than name and organization is not open to anyone else.)"

"I choose No.4. Confidential!" Lin Huang did not want his age to be revealed to anyone.

"Basic settings are complete. Please fill in your details below…"

After spending more than ten minutes completing all the settings, Lin Huang was finally sent into the virtual world of the Genius Union officially.

As he stepped out of the dimensional portal, it was as if Lin Huang had arrived in a bustling city which was as well-developed as Sweep City. Looking at the skyscrapers around and the people strolling on the streets as well as the breeze on his skin, it did not feel like a virtual world at all.

Ding! "You have a voice message. Would you like to play it?"

Lin Huang's attention was brought back by the prompt tone of the Emperor's Heart Ring. After playing it, Yao Lan's voice ordered, "Come to the Stairway Tree as soon as possible since you're here. Open the map on the Emperor's Heart Ring directly."

After listening to the voice message, Lin Huang opened the map of the Emperor's Heart Ring, finding the location of the Stairway Tree at the center of the map quickly. An option popped out after he clicked the Stairway Tree.

"Are you sure you want to be sent to the Stairway Tree?"

"Yes!" After Lin Huang clicked on the option, he was sent to the bottom of the Stairway Tree immediately.

"This transfer function is so useful!" After turning off the map, Lin Huang looked up at the moat-like Stairway Tree not far away from him.

The size of the tree was beyond his understanding. Besides not being able to see the top of the tree, he could not see the end of the 'wall' as he looked to the left and the right. He looked at the details of the giant tree and realized that the diameter of the trunk alone was more than 300 kilometers. The longest branch extended up to tens of millions of square kilometers, occupying the entire sky of the virtual city.

Not only could he not see the treetop by gazing up, but he also could not even see the end of this wall as he looked around horizontally.

"The area of the treetop is even larger than the continent of China on Earth…" Lin Huang thought it was incredible.

"I had the same reaction as yours the first time I saw this tree." A female voice came from behind.

Lin Huang turned around immediately and saw Yao Lan who he was expecting.

"You're 5 minutes and 18 seconds late," Yao Lan glanced at the time and said to him in all seriousness.

"I'm sorry. There was some delay with the settings when I came in." Lin Huang forced a smile, knowing that he was late without having to look at the time. He initially thought he could make it on time since he had entered ten minutes ahead, but he did not expect that the settings would have delayed him by 15 minutes

"Don't worry about it. I forgot to tell you about the information settings yesterday." Yao Lan waved her hand. "Let's get a drink and then I'll show you around."

Yao Lan brought Lin Huang to an open-air bar and sat down. She ordered a glass of mixed fruit juice while Lin Huang ordered a glass of green juice.

"Since you were late, the drinks are on you," Yao Lan said as a matter of fact.

"Sure," Lin Huang replied.

He was curious as the seats were almost fully occupied in the bar as well as in the stores around. The streets were crowded too.

"Didn't you say that all people are geniuses in this virtual world? Why are there so many people everywhere?"

"The people that you see aren't human but are virtual humans. Some of them are service staff providing various services to us. For instance, the bar owner and waiters as well as the staff in the stores over there. Besides them, the rest are virtual residents who don't do anything. After all, there are limited geniuses in this world. It'd be pretty empty if we place limited geniuses in this city that's the size of an A-grade foothold. I think that's the reason why they came up with virtual residents.

"Also, there's a rule in this virtual world. We're not allowed to fight the virtual humans, or else, we'll be banned from entering," Yao Lan reminded Lin Huang while they were on the topic of virtual residents. He was not interested in the virtual humans at all as he looked at the Stairway Tree nearby. People were climbing the tree.

"I supposed we're not allowed to fly up the tree?"

"Yes, anything that flies is prohibited on the tree. Not only that, teleportation is prohibited too. All you can do is climb." Yao Lan nodded.

"Can I ride my summoning monster then?" Lin Huang asked.

"Yes, you can, but your flying summoning monster won't be able to fly near the tree. Besides, there's nothing that we can do about the gravity over here. Apart from summoning monsters that can climb, the rest won't apply to the tree," Yao Lan explained.

"But even if you have a summoning monster that can climb, you'll be attacked by the other climbers much more easily."

"They can attack as they wish?"

"Of course, competition on the tree is intense. As long as you have sufficient abilities, besides attacking, you can kill as you wish. You'll gain half of the points of the other person if you kill him. As soon as the person dies, not only will his accumulated points in the year be cut by half, he'll half to climb from the very bottom again. Although the points can be used to redeem items, the monthly rewards are based on the height climbed. That's the reason why many people would prefer to be robbed by half of their points instead of getting killed and starting from the bottom."

"Why are you at the bottom of the tree?" Lin Huang was curious.

"I used my points to redeem a virtual clone. My real body is on the tree. Do you really think I'd come all the way to the bottom to welcome you? There are different difficulties at different heights where we'll have to try a couple of times before succeeding. It's difficult to go back to how far you've climbed when you're starting all over again."

"A virtual clone?" Lin Huang could not tell that she was just a clone.

"I used my points to redeem it. The clone is just an empty shall with my aura without any combat ability," Yao Lan confirmed.

"How do we get points?" Lin Huang asked.

"You'll obtain basic points from climbing different heights. Killing the monsters on the tree will earn you points. You can kill or rob the others to get points too. You can also use items to redeem points on the system or trade with others. Those are the four ways of getting points," Yao Lan explained in detail.

"Climbing the Stairway Tree basically depends on yourself. The most we can provide you with are some strategies. Unless we're climbing on the same height, there's nothing that we can do to help you. We don't have many members in the Sweep Alliance. Unlike those powerful genius organizations in Division 1 and Division 2, they have 18 supreme geniuses with 15 immortal-level rank-9s among them. Each of them can kill imperial-level humans."

"Seven of the top 10 genius organizations come from Division 1 while three are from Division 2. The No. 1 in our Division 3 is only ranked No. 12 on the leaderboard."

"Where does the Sweep Alliance sit?" Lin Huang asked.

"Erm… No. 180…" Yao Lan scratched her nose out of embarrassment.

Lin Huang felt that he had been tricked into this organization after hearing the ranking.

"No wonder the Huangfu siblings were unwilling to join…"

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Chapter 646: Climbing the Stairway

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

There were more than 120 genius organizations in Division 1 alone and more than 80 in Division 2. Although there were lesser in Division 3, there were still more than 40 of them. Meanwhile, the remaining nine divisions outside the core zones had a total of 12 genius organizations. There were a total of 268 genius organizations in the Genius Union.

The Sweep Alliance ranked No. 183 due to two main reasons. One was their low number of members. Half of the 268 genius organizations had more than 100 members while the Sweep Alliance only had 36 members. They ranked No. 240 based on their number of members, coming in at almost the last 20. Another reason was that the did not have a really powerful member. Huangfu Lin was the only one in the Sweep Alliance that could kill imperial-levels. Her combat level was only on immortal-level rank-7. Immortal-level rank-9 supreme geniuses led the top-ranking organizations, and they even had more than one immortal-level rank-9 supreme geniuses.

Lin Huang understood where the Sweep Alliance stood after hearing Yao Lan's explanation. She was picky when it came to picking members while Huangfu Lin did not bother about that at all. Among the 36 members, besides some of them that had been recruited by Huangfu Hao, most of them joined on their own. Some of them joined before Yao Lan did and they had yet to retire.

However, due to the war that was coming within five years, the Genius Union would need more resources. She had lowered her criteria in recruiting to get more members for the Sweep Alliance. Besides personal rewards for higher positions, there were also rewards for team ranking. The benefits were definitely attractive. After completing the basic explanation, Yao Lan brought Lin Huang to the Stairway Tree.

"You can start climbing today if you're not too busy. Rewards will be given 20 days later, and your result will be added to the points for the month." Yao Lan sounded impatient.

"Alright, I shall warm up today." Lin Huang nodded and summoned a golden-haired ape.

It was one of the Monster Cards that he had obtained after killing the Triheaded Ape earlier. After Xiao Hei's amendment, the apes' genetic issues had been solved. Besides that, one of them obtained an ancient Mighty Ape's bloodline during its triple mutation while another obtained the bloodline of an ancient Frost Flame Ape.

The golden-haired ape was the one that had obtained the Mighty Ape's bloodline. It was more than 200 meters tall like a little mountain. Many people exclaimed when they saw it.

"That's a triple mutated ancient monster's bloodline!" Yao Lan was stunned when she saw the golden-haired ape. Some of the people who were climbing mid-way and those ready to climb looked enviously at the ape. None of them planned to capture it as the Mighty Ape's aura was an immortal-level. Besides, from its size alone, it seemed like a bad idea to offend it.

"Let's go!" Lin Huang waved at Yao Lan and hopped onto the Mighty Ape's shoulder.

"Herculean King, let's climb trees today!" The Mighty Ape (the ape only had the bloodline of the Mighty Ape, but not a genuine one as it was just a temporary name) that was summoned by Lin Huang was excited as it was its first time being summoned. It pounded its chest after hearing his instruction and roared into the sky before climbing.

Although the branches of the Stairway Tree were as thick as a wall, the barks were not as smooth as the surface of a wall. The cracks in the barks were the best climbing points of the tree. Although the Mighty Ape was huge, its ape instinct still made it much agiler than the people who were having a hard time climbing. Because of its massive size, in less than one minute, it had climbed thousands of meters high and disappeared into the clouds.

The people below were envious as they watched the ape disappear. Yao Lan, who was watching at the bottom of the tree, smiled and she shook her head.

"At this speed, he should face his first challenge soon."

There would be checkpoints every 10,000 meters on the Stairway Tree. The higher it was, the more difficult it was to go through the checkpoint. Besides abilities, most of the checkpoints would require specific skills or strategies to be exact. The lower checkpoints were public whereby everybody knew the usual modus operandi, but up to a certain level, the strategies were kept private by the organizations and would not be leaked to other organizations. Some of the organizations would sell the strategies at a high price, but only some of the top organizations had the strategies to the more difficult checkpoints. They were not lacking points and did not wish to be on par with other organizations.

The first checkpoint that was 10,000 meters above ground was the Fog Cloud level. It was the layer of white clouds that Lin Huang had seen when he was at the bottom of the tree. The cloud was thousands of meters thick. Entering the cloud was like entering fog that made everything poorly visible. Most importantly, the fog had an intense hallucinogenic effect that penetrated directly into human bodies and could not be avoided.

Those who were not aware and breathed normally would accelerate the hallucinogenic effect once the fog was in the lungs. In the fog, let alone holy fire-level human, an immortal-level person would be affected if they stayed. It was easy to get lost in the thick fog, and with the hallucinogenic effect, many holy fire-level humans would be stuck on this level.

Yao Lan had planned to give the strategy to Lin Huang, but he did not ask for it. He even refused to hear anything about the checkpoint. He thought it would be more exciting and new that way. He wanted to know how far he could go with his own ability and without any strategies that were told by someone else.

As soon as he entered the clouds, Lin Huang sensed something odd in the fog. As a psychic, his sense was much more powerful than the average person. He could sense clearly that there was an odd energy in the fog that was trying to penetrate his body.

"This hallucinogenic cloud should be the first checkpoint. It will definitely affect those who have weak spirits. Normal people should be slower than me if they're not riding a summoning monster as I do. The longer one stays in this cloud, the more one will be lost," Lin Huang analyzed the complication of the checkpoint.

Before he could analyze further, the Mighty Ape had gotten out of the clouds and climbed further up. Clearly, the hallucinogenic effect could do little to no harm to immortal-level humans in such a short period of time.

"I wonder what the second checkpoint is going to be..." Lin Huang stopped looking at the clouds beneath and looked up into the sky. There was a layer of dark clouds on top of his head. Suddenly, it was snowing…

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Chapter 647: God Relic — Emperor's Heart

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"It's snowing?" Lin Huang frowned as he looked at the nebulous cloud that was getting thicker on top of him. As the Mighty Ape was climbing higher, the cloud got darker. In less in than a minute, the sky was so dark that it looked like it was dyed in black ink. The day became night in an instant. Lin Huang realized that the absurd change of weather was not natural at all.

"This should be the second checkpoint."

The higher they went, the lower the temperature became. There was a layer of white frost on the tree bark.

"It's a little cold up here."

Soon, he felt a chilly breeze penetrate his body. The cold breath that he exhaled became frost. He opened the thermometer on his Emperor's Heart Ring. It measured -80 degree Celsius and was still descending.

Although Lin Huang's body was immune to the cold since he had a layer of Life Power covering him, the cold was draining his Life Power. In less than half a minute, he had drained almost one Life Wheel of Life Power. The Mighty Ape had frost on its body too. However, it did not affect it as much as the Mighty Ape was an immortal-level. It started climbing slower as the surface was getting slippery. However, the wind was blowing strongly, and the snowfall was getting heavier as they ascended. The Mighty Ape missed its steps a couple of times as its vision was affected.

Noticing that, Lin Huang recalled the Mighty Ape and summoned the Frost Flame Ape. Because the Frost Flame Ape was a monster with frost attributes, the weather could do nothing to it. With its thick, white fur, every breath it took absorbed the cold around it, and every exhalation released heat. It was like a giant air conditioner that absorbed and release heat. It felt like spring in winter as Lin Huang rode on its shoulder as his Life Power that had been draining went back to normal.

The Frost Flame Ape was excited to be summoned. It started climbing as soon as Lin Huang instructed it and it was no slower than the Mighty Ape. It did not have to climb using the cracks as frost formed on its palms and feet that clung onto the bark as soon as they touched its surface. Climbing was like walking on flatland to it. The chilly wind that was blowing on top could do nothing to the Frost Flame Ape that was exhaling heat.

In less than five minutes, the Frost Flame Ape brought Lin Huang to arrive at the dark cloud. The black fog lingered around the ape and still could not defeat the heat that it was breathing out. Suddenly, the Frost Flame Ape slowed down its pace and said to Lin Huang, "Master, the black fog is beneficial to me. I would like to stay here for a while to absorb the cloud."

Lin Huang know that he could not deny the Frost Flame Ape's request.

"This is a virtual world. Theoretically, your real body won't be affected if you absorbed the cloud here. Give me a minute. Let me ask someone about this." Lin Huang then contacted Yao Lan.

As soon as the video call was connected, the first thing Yao Lan noticed was the change of color of the ape.

"Eh, how come your ape's color has changed? Wasn't it gold earlier? Does it have color-changing abilities?"

"This is another ape that I have…" Lin Huang answered helplessly. "Let's not talk about that now. I have a question."

"Do tell."

"Whatever that we get from this virtual world will lose its effect in the real world, right?" Lin Huang asked.

"Why are you asking this? Did you get anything worth keeping?" Yao Lan asked with her eyes wide open.

"No, my monster would like to stay in the second checkpoint," Lin Huang said and switched the angle of his question. "If it doesn't work in reality, I shan't stay here any longer."

Yao Lan was shocked when she saw where Lin Huang was. She suppressed her curiosity and answered his question, "The cultivation in the virtual world will be the same as in reality. Everything that you get, including items, can be brought into existence.

"It can't be. I can understand the projection of items from the real world into this world, but not virtual items into reality. Is that even possible?" Lin Huang thought he would just confirm with Yao Lan, but she gave him an answer that he never expected.

"Are you messing with me?"

"I might mess with you on other matters, but not this as it will affect your Stairway points and our accumulated Sweep Alliance points." Yao Lan did not look like she was joking.

"All of us have an Emperor's Heart Ring with us, but most of the people don't know that the ring was made of a god relic called the Emperor's Heart. The virtual world of the Genius Union is also made of the Emperor's Heart. The power of the Emperor's Heart isn't the Heart Network that's used by all humans, but the ability to make virtual items into reality. All of the items that we obtain here are real. All of the things that we consume here will work on our bodies in reality. All of the ancient relics and demigod relics will become real in reality!"

"Making virtual items into reality… That's too mind-boggling even for a god relic."

Yao Lan's explanation made Lin Huang's jaw drop. He thought such an ability was even more powerful than Xiao Hei his Goldfinger.

"The Emperor's Heart shouldn't be a god relic. It's impossible for an ancient god relic to make virtual items real. Even I can only use part of the virtual world to make a slight shift in reality. There is a 99.998% possibility that the Emperor's Heart is a Goldfinger that was manufactured from the same place that I was."

Xiao Hei's notification popped out of Lin Huang's eyes all of a sudden.

"Then, how about the 0.002%?" Lin Huang asked secretly.

"The 0.002% could possibly be a relic that's gone through an advanced evolution either on its own or through the powerful people that owned it and eventually were got rid of, but the likelihood of this is almost impossible."

"However, there's a condition to bringing virtual items into reality. You must place the items into the storage space in your Emperor's Heart Ring. If you hold the items in your hands or hide them in your clothes as you exit the virtual world, the items won't be brought into reality. The next time you log in, the items that you didn't place in your Emperor's Heart Ring would have disappeared," Yao Lan added.

"So, whatever that you got in the virtual world… either use them immediately or keep them in your storage space. Don't bring the items that you'd like to trade with you. Only bring them out from your Emperor's Heart Ring when you're ready to trade."

"Alright, I understand now. Thanks for reminding me," Lin Huang said.

Lin Huang was shocked to find out about that from Yao Lan. He took a while to calm himself down after hanging up the call and said to the Frost Flame Ape, "You can stay here to absorb the cloud then. I'd love to conduct an experiment as well."

As soon as getting Lin Huang's permission, the Frost Flame Ape started absorbing the black fog around it. Lin Huang then left its shoulder and climbed down to leave the dark cloud. Under the snow, he found a crack in the bark and hid in it. He activated his Army Attack Tactics to recover his Life Power. The experiment he was trying to conduct was to give himself pressure in the cold weather to see if he could accelerate his cultivation in the Army Attack Tactics as his Life Power was rapidly draining.

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Chapter 648: Difficulty Beyond His Expectations

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As Lin Huang sat in the crack of the bark, he was activating his Life Power to prevent the cold from entering his body. He was like a candle swaying in the wind, and he looked like he was going to be put out anytime. Without the Frost Flame Ape's protection, he was exposed to -200 degree Celsius conditions. The draining of his Life Power was much faster than before.

In such a horrible environment, Lin Huang activated the Army Attack Tactics' rotation. He did not want to stay there, but he wanted to see if he could accelerate the speed of his Army Attack Tactics' card accumulation under such circumstances. If this worked, he planned to train his Army Attack Tactics there whenever he had the time.

This only proved that Lin Huang's speculation was true. Under the quick draining of his Life Power, the Army Attack Tactics level-9 which required one second to complete a cycle was increased in less than five minutes to 0.5 seconds per cycle. Besides, it was not the end yet. He could feel that the speed was accelerating. Noticing that his last Life Wheel was depleting, he used a Life Power Refill Card immediately and climbed back to the Frost Flame Ape immediately.

As soon as he got back to the Frost Flame Ape, Lin Huang started the rotation of his Army Attack Tactics again to restore the Life Power that was depleted. Without the pressure, the rotation went back to one second per cycle. Time went by on the Stairway Tree. The gigantic Frost Flame Ape attached itself on the bark as it absorbed the black fog with its mouth wide open. Lin Huang had no idea what the fog was, but he could feel the deadly threat looming behind it. He could also feel the chill when he used the telekinetic thread to touch it. He figured he might become frozen if his body were to touch the fog.

Lin Huang and the Frost Flame Ape were stuck at the second checkpoint for more than three hours. The ape stopped absorbing the fog, and it seemed like it was now full with the fog in itself. Meanwhile, seven out of ten Life Wheels in Lin Huang's body were filled. It was past noon when he checked the time. He did not plan to stay any longer, so he instructed the ape to move on. In less than three minutes, they passed through the second checkpoint. Looking at the area that was covered in black fog beneath, Lin Huang knew that he would be back one day. However, he shook his head while forcing a smile when he recalled the chill in his bones.

"I guess many geniuses that are below immortal-level will be stuck in this checkpoint for a while…"

Just when they left the second checkpoint, the Frost Flame Ape spoke to him., I'm sorry, Master. Since I've absorbed a massive amount of black fog earlier, my bloodline thickness is going to level up soon. I might not serve you at the moment."

"Don't worry about it. Focus on breaking through." Lin Huang nodded and leaped to a crack in the bark. He summoned the golden-haired Mighty Ape again after recalling the Frost Flame Ape.

"Let's go up!" Lin Huang climbed on top of the Mighty Ape's shoulder and instructed.

The Mighty Ape was exuberant as it claimed. It was worried that Lin Huang might not summon it again since it had made mistakes earlier. Without the snow, the Mighty Ape's performance peaked as it was reaching more than 30,000 meters. Lin Huang looked up as he noticed that the reading on his Emperor's Heart Ring showed 30,000 meters. He could not wait to see what the third checkpoint was about. The clouds were gray this time, and it looked like it was going to rain.

"It was a snow storm on the second checkpoint. Could this be rain?" Lin Huang thought it would be lack of creativity if the third checkpoint were as he speculated.

Just when he was going to get the Mighty Ape to pass through the cloud, there were purple flashes of lightning on top of the clouds coming towards them. The Mighty Ape sensed danger by instinct and leaped aside, managing to dodge the attack.

However, that was just the beginning. Right after the Mighty Ape dodged it, the gray cloud was like an angry beast that was awoken as purple lightning bolts struck towards them. It felt like there was a giant purple squid on top of the sky that was attacking Lin Huang and the Mighty Ape with its lightning-like tentacles.

"It's useless to hide like this. Let's go through it." Noticing that the Mighty Ape was dodging the attacks clumsily, Lin Huang thought avoiding was a waste of time and strength as they could not move with the lightning bolts striking them.

The Mighty Ape noticed that it was impossible for it to dodge every single lightning bolts that were coming their way at such a high frequency. It made more sense to just go through it. After hearing Lin Huang's instruction, the Mighty Ape gave up on dodging and proceeded to climb up after covering its body with a layer of Life Power. Lin Huang, who was sitting on the ape's shoulder, activated his Dark Mirror as his defense.

Along the way, the purple lightning bolts hit the Mighty Ape's body, but it did almost nothing to it as it was an immortal-level. After confirming that the lightning was not a threat, the Mighty Ape climbed as fast as it could. Lin Huang was a smaller target. Although he was hit by lightning occasionally, the lightning would be reflected away by the Dark Mirror. This checkpoint was nothing difficult for him. However, the deeper the Mighty Ape got into the gray cloud, the purple lightning turned into blue, and it was more powerful now.

Every strike of blue lightning would drain tens of times more of the ape's Life Power than before. The bolts of lightning could occasionally break through the Mighty Ape's Life Power shield and cause it to be stiff. Lin Huang could feel that the Life Power of the Mighty Ape was tapering and its body was stiff. He did not expect that it was merely the third checkpoint that would be such trouble to an immortal-level Mighty Ape. He then urged the Mighty Ape to climb at its peak speed.

As the Mighty Ape climbed as fast it could, they finally passed through the gray cloud more than two minutes later. After passing through the third checkpoint, Lin Huang had a new understanding of the challenges of the Stairway Tree. It was a few times more difficult than he imagined. The third checkpoint could stop more than 90% of holy fire-level humans and even some less powerful immortal-levels. They might even be stuck at the second checkpoint.

"The third checkpoint is already so difficult, but some people managed to get to the 72nd checkpoint when they're only on immortal-level rank-9…" Lin Huang was impressed by those people who had managed to pass through 70 checkpoints in history. Although they depended on strategies on some of the levels, looking at how difficult they were, they're not easy to go through even provided with strategies.

Lin Huang had heard from Yao Lan that the 72nd checkpoint was the highest checkpoint anyone had ever gotten to in history. However, the highest checkpoint that the current genius organizations members managed to climb to was only the 63rd checkpoint. They could not pass through that despite being provided with strategies. After some realization, Lin Huang snapped out of his thoughts and looked up to the sky, knowing that the fourth checkpoint would be even more difficult than before!

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Chapter 649: Increasing Difficulty

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As the Mighty Ape was clambering up, Lin Huang heard an odd sound that he could not identify. It sounded like a collision on the ground. It was so insignificant that nobody could probably notice it. At first, he thought it was just the sound of the wind, but soon he sensed something had entered his territory.

"Is there something in the bark?!"

Lin Huang clearly sensed that something was moving through the cracks not far above. They were not moving fast, but there were many of them. Looking at the way they traveled, they did not seem like humans.

"Be careful," Lin Huang was alert as he warned the Mighty Ape. He had a couple of telekinetic flying daggers in front of him.

He heard from Yao Lan that killing monsters on the Stairway Tree would earn him points. Since the moving objects did not look like humans, they must be monsters then. The Mighty Ape took a few leaps and climbed more than 1,000 meters high. Just when it was bounding in the air, a couple of white silk threads shot out of one of the cracks, heading towards the Mighty Ape. A couple of silver lights flashed in the air and sliced the threads, then shot towards the cracks where the threads originated from.

Soon, groans were heard. Lin Huang instantly killed the monsters that had attacked the Mighty Ape. He knew that the monsters would attack, so he reacted as soon as they made their move. He had no idea what the monsters looked like; all he did was to identify their locations with his Territory skill and killed them with his flying daggers.

It was a battle model that he had come up with earlier which seemed to work for now. However, the coverage area was small at the moment. Even since Lancelot had leveled up to immortal-level rank-2, his territory coverage had increased from 1,000 meters to 2,000 meters together with Lancelot's Saber Dao Territory, but he thought it was still insufficient.

After killing the faceless monsters, Lin Huang was not relaxed at all because he felt that something was wrong when he heard the groans. Just when he wanted to get the Mighty Ape to leave the area, the monsters that were hiding in the bark cracks acted up. The groans of the dying monsters were like pebbles that were tossed into the calm water, creating ripples.

Within the coverage of his territory, Lin Huang sensed that all of the monsters that were hiding in the bark were starting to dash out.

"Let's get out now!" Lin Huang shouted at the Mighty Ape when the threat intensified. The ape seemed to sense the danger as well, so it started climbing as fast as it could. Standing on the ape's shoulder, Lin Huang finally saw how the monsters looked like.

Worms were coming out of the cracks of the bark everywhere. Although they were crystal white in color, they had a sticky mucus on their bodies which was disgusting. The worms looked like maggots that were hundreds of times bigger. The smaller ones were two meters long while the longer ones were above five meters. As they got out of the cracks, they crawled sturdily towards Lin Huang and the Mighty Ape. Some of them stuck their lower bodies to the bark and spat white threads at the Mighty Ape.

Lin Huang did not hold back anymore as he got all 300 of his flying daggers to cut off the threads and kill the worms, clearing a path for the Mighty Ape. However, Lin Huang was horrified when the tens of worms exploded upon being killed. Green mucus shot everywhere before the carcasses disappeared. The corrosive slime sizzled as it clung to the bark and green smoke danced out of it.

Lin Huang activated his Dark Mirror that looked like an umbrella and held it on top of his and the Mighty Ape's head. A few drops of the green mucus fell on the ape. After switching the Dark Mirror to transparent mode, the ape's vision was no longer blocked and it started climbing up again as it ignored the corrosive pain from the mucus. Meanwhile, Lin Huang was controlling his hundreds of telekinetic flying daggers to kill the worms as he defended themselves with the Dark Mirror.

Without the Dark Mirror and the flying daggers, Lin Huang might not have been able to go through the fourth checkpoint as the least powerful worm was on gold flame-level while many of them were on immortal-level rank-1 and rank-2. There were tens of thousands of them in Lin Huang's field of vision and they were coming everywhere for him and the Mighty Ape. The mucus that was produced after the worms exploded was extremely corrosive. The Mighty Ape was unfortunate to get a few drops on it and those spots were now bald. Its skin was decaying too. Luckily, the wounds were small and with the Mighty Ape's Enhanced Regeneration, the corrosion on its skin was healing albeit at a slow pace.

Within the short seven to eight minutes, Lin Huang had killed at least thousands of worm monsters while the Mighty Ape managed to pass through the worms and complete the fourth checkpoint. After they got through, the worms did not come after them and returned to the cracks in the bark. In less than 20 seconds, the barks that were filled with white worms were nowhere to be seen. It felt like everything had just been a figment of Lin Huang's illusion. If not for the wounds on the Mighty Ape's skin caused by the green mucus, he would have really thought that it was all an illusion.

"There are already immortal-level monsters at the fourth checkpoint. Although the worms were slow and their defenses were weak, there were just too many of them and the corrosive effect was terrifying. It's not easy for an immortal-level rank-4 person to win this," Lin Huang concluded about the fourth checkpoint. The higher he climbed, the more respect he had for the people who made it to the 60th to 70th checkpoints.

After breaking through the fourth checkpoint, Lin Huang rode on the Mighty Ape and got to the fifth checkpoint soon. They encountered a star-beaked bird beast that Lin Huang had never seen in the monster encyclopedia before at the fifth checkpoint. It was in between immortal-level rank-1 to rank-3 and was remarkably agile. The Mighty Ape suffered at this checkpoint while Lin Huang remained safe thanks to the defense of the Dark Mirror.

It was proven that the no-fly condition on the Stairway Tree only applied to humans and summoning monsters, but not the local creatures on the tree. The bird beast was flying territorially at this checkpoint. After passing the arduous fifth checkpoint, Lin Huang rode on the Mighty Ape's shoulder and passed through the sixth, the seventh, and the eighth checkpoints…

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Chapter 650: The 21st Checkpoint

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After 6 p.m., Lin Huang had finally broken through the 20th checkpoint and arrived at the 21st checkpoint. He had primarily managed to break through each checkpoint within ten minutes for first to the ninth checkpoints. However, he and the Mighty Ape took more than 15 minutes to get through each checkpoint since the 10th one; some even took more than 20 minutes to break through, especially the 20th checkpoint that they had just passed. For that particular one, they needed half an hour to break through it.

From the 21st checkpoint onwards, there were finally branches on the Stairway Tree. Lin Huang looked up at the branches that extended up to the sky. All of them surpassed his field of vision. They were like pillars that disappeared into the sky. It felt like they were scaling a massive wall when they were climbing on the trunk earlier. In no way did they think that they were climbing a tree. When he saw the branches, he finally realized that they were not climbing a tree, but an ancient, gigantic tree. He finally had a sense of the proportion of the Stairway Tree.

"Yao Lan said that places above the 21st checkpoint with leaves are safe. There's an isolation bubble on the last leaf of each branch. Those are the refuge spots for humans. The Life Power in the isolation space can accelerate our recovery, and we won't be attacked by monsters when we're there. It even isolates humans from attacking us. Even an imperial-level human can't break through it."

Although Lin Huang did not see leaves anywhere, he knew that the place must be the gathering point for humans. Below the 30th checkpoint, only the 21st checkpoint had branches. It was the first formal gathering point for humans on the Stairway Tree, and it was also the most crowded point. As soon as he arrived at the checkpoint, Lin Huang did not plan to climb further up. It was late, and the parasitic monsters on the tree would be out hunting for food when the sky turned dark. He would be digging his own grave if he were to climb the tree at night. Moreover, he wanted to see how the human gathering point looked like.

Lin Huang then instructed the Mighty Ape to head to the branch that was nearest to him. Riding on the Mighty Ape, they soon arrived at that branch, and the ape leaped onto the branch. The Mighty Ape's appearance caught many people's attention. Many of them were afraid as they thought it was a local monster from the Stairway Tree while some of them noticed a person sitting on its shoulder and realized that it was a summoning monster.

Lin Huang jumped onto the branch and just when he was ready to recall Mighty Ape, a young man in white shirt walked towards him. The man was an immortal-level rank-1.

"Name me a price for the giant ape." The man in the white shirt was apparently from a wealthy family as he sounded obnoxious.

"You want to buy it?" Lin Huang thought that was a ridiculous idea. Then he looked at the Mighty Ape. "It depends if he wants to go with you."

The Mighty Ape shook its head immediately and glared furiously at the man. It did not want to leave Lin Huang as he had made it into a triple mutated monster as well as obtaining the Mighty Ape's bloodline which gave it the possibility to level up to a quadruple mutation. It was natural that it did not want to leave its master. Even without all those advantages, a Monster Card would usually have 100% loyalty towards its master (except for special conditions).

"Did you see that? It doesn't want to go with you." Lin Huang turned around and smiled at the man.

"10 million Life Crystals." The man did not give up and named his price.

10 million Life Crystals was a high offer. Although an immortal-level triple mutated monster was rare, the market value of an immortal-level rank-3 monster would usually cost around 5 million. Even a monster with ancient monster blood would require, at most, 8 million. It would not exceed 9 million if it were sold at an auction. Since the man offered 10 million, it was clear that he knew the market value.

All of the people watching discussed among each other when they heard the offer. Many of them knew the man in the white shirt and his background, so they knew he could afford the ridiculous price that he offered.

"Take a good rest, Herculean King," Lin Huang ignored the man and said to the Mighty Ape, "We shall continue tomorrow."

He then recalled the Mighty Ape into its card form.

"12 million!" The man in the white shirt insisted.

"Not selling." Lin Huang glared at him and left without bothering to talk to him.

The onlookers buzzed with conversation.

"The guy is stupid to not sell it for 12 million. He'll be lucky enough if that triple mutated ape can be sold for 9 million at auctions."

"The guy is an Imperial Censor. Perhaps he has feelings for his pet."

"What can feelings do? Can that compare to money? That's 12 million Life Crystals! He could get a pretty impressive ancient relic with that money."

"15 million!" The man in the white shirt teleported and blocked Lin Huang's way, glaring deadly at him.

"You must know that 15 million is enough to purchase an immortal-level rank-9 triple mutated ancient blood monster. Your ape is just an immortal-level rank-2. If you miss this opportunity now, I won't offer such a price anymore."

"I've told you that I'm not selling!" Lin Huang stared into the man's eyes. He lost his patience with the man's stubbornness.

"Is it so hard to understand?"

"How dare you talk to me like that? You're only a blue flame-level. Do you want to die?" The man became mad. On the one hand, he was repeatedly rejected by Lin Huang while on the other hand, he did not like Lin Huang's tone.

"You can try and see who'll die first." Lin Huang grinned as he did not mind sending the man to the beginning point of the Stairway Tree as he would obtain half of the man's accumulated points.

The people who were watching were excited. Some of them pulled out chairs from their storage space while some even started munching on snacks as they watched.

"They're going to fight! Who wants to bet? 1-5 for the new kid and 1-1.2 for Sun Yu!"

"1-5 for the new kid? Isn't that way too low, Zhao San? It should be 1-10."

"1-10? You'll take the lead then!" The guy named Zhao San glared at the other man who spoke.

"Never mind, I'll bet 10 points on the new kid that he'll win!" The man, who had shouted earlier, said.

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself for betting only 10 points?!" Zhao Yan rolled his eyes.

"Hehe, then I won't lose much, and I'll get 50 points if the new kid wins."

"I'm betting 100 points on Sun Yu!"

"I'm betting 200 points on Sun Yu!"

"I'm betting 300 points on Sun Yu!"

Most of them bet on Sun Yu while only some of them bet on Lin Huang. Those who bet on Lin Huang were only wagering with 10 and 20 points. Only one person placed an ante of 30 points.

Zhao San was grumbling, "What the hell? Wouldn't I lose a lot as a maker?"

"Hey, can I join the bet as well?" Lin Huang asked Zhao San as he noticed that everyone was betting.

Zhao Sun was shocked to hear that, and he nodded immediately. "Yes you can, but you can only bet on yourself."

"Then, I'll be betting with all of my points." Lin Huang was confident in himself.

"No, you can only bet on half of your points. If you're killed, half of your points will go to Sun Yu, and you'll only be left with half," Zhao San explained.

"You don't have to transfer your points to me. I shall hold your account since everyone is watching. There's nowhere you can run to later."

"Sure, let's do that." Lin Huang nodded.

"What're your total points?" Zhao San wanted to record Lin Huang's points. Since he was a newbie, he thought Lin Huang would not have that many points.

"5,728 points," Lin Huang declared.

Besides Zhao San, all of the onlookers were shocked when they heard the figure. Even Sun Yu raised his eyebrow.

"How is that possible? Is that a mistake?" Zhan San went to Lin Huang and looked at the personal details that Lin Huang projected. Besides his name Lin Xie and the organization that he belonged to, there was only the total of his points showing. The figure was indeed 5,728 as Lin Huang had announced earlier.

"How is it possible that you already have so many points when you're new here?" Zhao San was skeptical.

"I killed some monsters along the way," Lin Huang explained.

Each checkpoint from the first to the 10th checkpoint earned one point. From the 11th to the 20th checkpoint, one would receive 10 points per checkpoint. Killing a holy fire-level monster would only gain one point, 10 points for an immortal-level rank-1, 20 points for an immortal-level rank-2, and 30 points for an immortal-level rank-3. The points would double up accordingly for every rank.

Lin Huang managed to get so many points because he had killed many monsters along the way. The least powerful one was a holy fire-level while the most powerful one was an immortal-level rank-3. Besides the monsters that he killed, the monsters that the Mighty Ape killed would add to his total tally as well.

However, Zhao San and the rest did not think that Lin Huang obtained the points by himself. They doubted that his points came from his summoning monster that would have helped him killed the monsters. They reasoned that to get more than 5,000 points below the 20th checkpoint would mean he had killed a massive amount of monsters. Many of them speculated that Lin Huang had acquired the points from other members of the Sweep Alliance. Even Sun Yu thought the same as he did not believe that Lin Huang could depend on an immortal-level rank-2 ape to obtain that amount of points.

"Half of my total points would be 2,864, so I'll bet on that. Please record this down for me." Seeing that Zhao San had confirmed that what he said was accurate, Lin Huang proclaimed the points that he was betting on out loud.

"If that's what you want, I shall give it to you then." Sun Yu laughed.

"I have 12,000 points now. I'll bet 6,000 on myself!"

"Sure! I've recorded both your points. After the battle ends, the loser will transfer the points to me!" Zhao San agreed on their bets. Soon, the people gathered to watch the show. Lin Huang and Sun Yu stood 30 meters across each other, and Zhao San who was the maker became the judge of this battle.

"3, 2, 1. Fight!"

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Chapter 651: Tens of Thousands of Points

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As Zhao San counted down, Sun Yu hurtled towards Lin Huang without waiting for him to summon his monster. Sun Yu thought it was impossible for Lin Huang to have gotten to the 21st checkpoint on his own since he was only a blue flame-level. He had experienced it himself, and he knew how difficult it was to get through the 20 checkpoints. It was impossible for a holy fire-level to get there on his own.

Among the active members of the Genius Union, the last holy fire-level who managed to get there was a golden flame-level seven years ago. It was a supreme genius from Division 1. Now that seven years had passed, the person had already got to the 63rd checkpoint, and he was now an immortal-level rank-9. Sun Yu did not think that Lin Huang was on par with the man. He thought Lin Huang must have depended on the triple mutated immortal-level rank-2 gigantic ape. To him, most of the Imperial Censors were merely adequate. Without their powerful summoning monsters, they were just garbage.

As soon as the countdown ended, Sun Yu attacked first so that he could kill Lin Huang before Lin Huang could summon his monster. He was sure that Lin Huang was incapable of fighting without his summoning monster. Many onlookers who bet on Lin Huang were concerned as they watched Sun Yu advance before Lin Huang did. They did not have faith in Lin Huang, but they believed in his Mighty Ape. To them, Lin Huang's combat level was too low as an Imperial Censor. He could not fight Sun Yu even though he was a genius.

After all, everyone who got to this virtual world was a genius. Although Sun Yu was only an immortal-level rank-1, his ability was actually on immortal-level rank-4. Even though Lin Huang was a supreme genius who was able to fight someone one level above him, he as a blue flame-level could only fight an immortal-level rank-3. He definitely could not fight Sun Yu. In this battle, the only way for Lin Huang to turn the tables around depended on whether he had the time to call for his summoning monster.

If Lin Huang managed to summon the ape before Sun Yu killed him, the battle would be a great show with unpredictable results. However, if Lin Huang did not manage to summon the ape, there was nothing to watch in this battle as Lin Huang would definitely lose! All of the onlookers assumed that Lin Huang was incapable by himself as an Imperial Censor. Many of them smiled and shook their heads when they watched Sun Yu dash towards Lin Huang before he could summon his monster. The poor kid's points would go back to zero soon. Those who had bet on Lin Huang felt their hearts skip a beat as they realized they would lose their wager.

However, a silver glow flashed in the air. Some of the onlookers were shocked by the sight of this. Sun Yu brushed shoulders with Lin Huang while the latter stood where he was without moving. Sun Yu was appalled as he spat a mouthful of blood. They then noticed that there was blood blooming out of his left chest.

"So, you've been hiding your abilities…" Sun Yu clenched his teeth as he glared at Lin Huang.

"You're the one who asked for this." Lin Huang turned around and smirked at Sun Yu. "I shall take your 6,000 points then."

As soon as Lin Huang said that, Sun Yu's body faded into sparks and disappeared entirely within seconds. A notification from the virtual system came to Lin Huang's ears.

"You've obtained 6,102 points from killing Sun Yu!"

Those onlookers were shocked to see that Sun Yu was killed in an instant. Although some of them noticed the silver glow, they had no idea what exactly it was.

"What exactly happened?"

"Did that guy cheat?"

"What was that silver glow that came out of nowhere? Is that the new kid's technique?"

"How could an Imperial Censor be so powerful? I thought he's just a blue flame-level.

The people started discussing among themselves, most of them not knowing how Lin Huang managed to win.

"Alright, stop guessing among yourselves. This new kid is a powerful psychic. The silver glow was a flying dagger. As Sun Yu rushed towards him, the flying dagger pierced through his heart. That was how Lin Huang killed him," a tall, bald, middle-aged man among the crowd spoke. He was an immortal-level rank-4, and it was clear that he knew what Lin Huang did just now.

"I'm sure some of you recorded the battle just now. Just play the video at a slower speed, and you'll see."

Some of them who had recorded the fight then played the video. Zhao San, who started the bet, played the video ten times slower and saw the flying dagger that appeared before Lin Huang piercing through Sun Yu's chest. Many of them underestimated Lin Huang, so none of them expected such a result. The blue flame-level newbie standing in front of them was not only an Imperial Censor but also a psychic who managed to kill the immortal-level rank-1 Sun Yu in a flash.

"He's a supreme genius!" Someone exclaimed after a moment of silence. Besides fear, they now looked at Lin Huang with respect. It was rare to find a supreme genius outside of core zones, and they were lucky to see one or two occasionally. There were not many supreme geniuses in the core zones. There were only 50 supreme geniuses in the Genius Union in Division 3. All those people who were stuck on the 21st checkpoint were mostly geniuses outside of the core zones. To them, supreme geniuses were hard to come by, so it was natural that they would hold such respect for Lin Huang.

Lin Huang ignored the people's discussion about him, and he walked over to Zhao San.

"You're giving me the 2,864 points that I bet on, right?" Lin Huang asked Zhao San.

"Yes… Yes!" Zhao San nodded immediately. His ability was just slightly more powerful than Sun Yu. If he denied what he promised, this newbie would definitely send him to the bottom of the Stairway Tree.

"Five times of 2,864 will be 14,320. Deducting the deposit that you haven't paid, I'll need to give you 11,456 points."

Zhao San transferred the points immediately after he had done the calculation. Lin Huang was thrilled to see the 6,000-odd points from Sun Yu being added to his 5,000-odd points, together with more than 10,000 points that he had won from the bet.

The sky was getting dark. Lin Huang looked at the time and thought he should log out now. Zhao San noticed that Lin Huang was opening the log out page, then he quickly went to him.

"Mr. Lin, are you interested in joining our hunting team?"

"Hunting team?" Lin Huang looked skeptically at Zhao San.

"It's a temporary team that we formed to hunt at night," Zhao San explained to him since he was new. Lin Huang understood what he meant after Zhao San clarified. Usually, many monsters came out to look for food at night, so it was difficult for people to climb the tree. However, it was the golden hour to kill monsters for points too.

The people could hunt for monsters from sunset to just before midnight when the number of monsters had yet to reach a peak. Therefore, many people would form hunting teams on their own at the 21st checkpoint to kill the monsters together. The points would still be the same as usual, but creating a team made hunting easier, and they could look after each other.

"We'll leave to the isolated space when the monsters get out of hand during midnight, and we'll leave the virtual world. It's pretty safe if we stick together," Zhao San explained further.

"Thanks for your invitation, but I don't plan to stay any longer below the 30th checkpoint. However, I'll stay together to hunt together just for the experience." Lin Huang rejected Zhao San's invitation, but he decided to join them for the night.

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Chapter 652: Zhao San's Hunting Team

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Zhao San's real name was actually Zhao Shan, but due to his mispronunciation, people started calling him Zhao San instead. As time went by, his real name did not matter anymore. Although Lin Huang had rejected his invitation to join the hunting team, Zhao San brought him to the hunting team's gathering point. There were a total of six members in Zhao San's team which consisted of five men and a lady. All of them were on either immortal-level rank-2 or rank-3. They were ranked on top of the 21st checkpoint as a team.

The teammates were excited as they saw Zhao San bringing Lin Huang with him. They had participated in the bet earlier and had witnessed how powerful Lin Huang was. None of them doubted his ability. The female member named Jiang Xin could not help but to pipe up, "Brother San, is this handsome hunk joining our team?"

Before Zhao San could reply, the tall, skinny man, who looked like he was in his early 30s, smiled as he spoke, "Since Zhao San brought him here, that definitely means that he's joining us."

The teammates were excited that they had a powerful addition to the team. After all, there was no conflict of interest in the team as everyone would get points for the monsters that they killed. All they wanted was to look after each other. Moreover, Lin Huang was a psychic who was skilled at long-range attacks. With him, their safety was upgraded to the next level.

"Erm… Mr. Lin Xie isn't joining us," Zhao San told the truth helplessly as he peeped at Lin Huang.

"I'm sorry. It's my first time in this Genius Union virtual world. There are many things that I need to learn. I heard from Zhao San that you guys are hunting tonight, so I've decided to take a look. I'll leave the 21st checkpoint tomorrow morning," Lin Huang explained. Since everyone was friendly to him, he thought he owed them an explanation.

The teammates could not hide their disappointment. All of them thought that Lin Huang was joining their team when they saw Zhao San bringing him here.

"Mr. Lin, you mean you've gone through 21 checkpoints since your first day in the virtual world?" Jiang Xin was the first one to speak after a moment of silence.

"Mm-hmm." Lin Huang nodded. He thought there was nothing to hide about.

"Incredibly powerful!" Jiang Xin exclaimed. The Genius Union was a competitive place where powerful people were respected regardless of one's combat level.

"Not many people can pass through 21 checkpoints within a day. Most of them would take at least a week to get here from the first checkpoint on their first attempt." Zhao San forced a smile, thinking how different they were.

"It took me eight days to get to the 21st checkpoint. I've been defeated twice, and I had to start from the bottom again. Getting here took me three days."

"It took me five days to get here, but I was defeated a couple of times later on. It took me a few days to get here from the bottom," the immortal-level rank-3 man said.

Although Lin Huang was not one of the teammates, they started talking as the topic was relatable.

"Mr. Lin you must be from a genius organization in one of the core zones. Didn't your partner from the same organization tell you about the rules of this virtual world?" Zhao San was curious as Lin Huang had asked something quite fundamental about the virtual world.

"I come from Division 3. My partner only managed to guide me through roughly as her time was limited. I didn't manage to ask about the details," Lin Huang explained.

"She only told me that there are leaves at the 21st checkpoint and that's the first gathering point for humans on the Stairway Tree. The leaves are safe as the isolation bubbles on the leaves will block out the monsters as well as humans…"

"No wonder you didn't know about the hunting at night…" Zhao San thought Lin Huang's partner was not reliable after hearing what he said.

"Mr. Lin, since you're from Division 3, you must have the detailed strategy of the 30th checkpoint? Could you sell me a copy?" The tall, skinny man in his 30s asked.

"I'm sorry, I really don't have the strategy." Lin Huang shook his head.

"I rejected the strategies my partner sent before entering the Stairway Tree. Until now, I've no idea what's at the 30th checkpoint, let alone the strategy."

"So, you didn't use any strategies to get to the 21st checkpoint today?" The tall, skinny man raised his eyebrow. He thought Lin Huang had come up with the excuse so that he did not have to sell him the strategy.

"No." Lin Huang smiled as he shook his head.

"I figured it wouldn't be fun if I knew what it's going to be beforehand. I prefer surprises."

The man did not speak further since Lin Huang was determined. Including Zhao San, everyone on the team was skeptical about what Lin Huang said. Even though he had shown how dominant he was in the battle, they did not believe that he managed to get to the 21st checkpoint without using any strategies. Lin Huang could tell from that they were doubtful from the way they looked at him. He did not bother to explain as he had already said what he was supposed to say. It was up to them to believe him.

Although the tall, skinny man did not pick a fight with Lin Huang for not selling him the strategy, he was now cold towards Lin Huang. The rest did not speak further about the strategies. After all, the selling of strategy had to go both ways. If Lin Huang was unwilling to sell, there was nothing that they could do. All of them actually had the strategy for the 30th checkpoint with them, but they failed to pass through with the strategy. That was the reason why the tall, skinny man had asked Lin Huang instead,

Although it was awkward, they had a sumptuous dinner together. The sky was dark by then. Hearing the monster roars from above, Lin Huang knew that it was time for the monsters on the Stairway Tree to hunt for food.

"Is the 21st checkpoint about killing the parasitical monsters?" Lin Huang asked Zhao San.

Zhao San thought it was an odd question, but he explained anyway, "The 21st checkpoint isn't about killing monsters. These monsters that are hunting for food at night come from the 23rd checkpoint while some of them are from the 29th checkpoint."

The other teammates thought that Lin Huang was still going on with the lie that he had made up earlier and was pretending not to know. Lin Huang just learned from Zhao San that the 23rd and 29th checkpoints were going to be chockful of monsters.

"The monsters are here!"

Soon, there were shouts from not far away. Hearing the movement from the other teams, they headed towards the source of the sound.

"Let's go!"

Zhao San nodded at Lin Huang and commanded the rest before dashing forward. Lin Huang and the other five members followed.

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Chapter 653: The Tentacle Beetle

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Soon, Lin Huang followed Zhao San's hunting team to a branch nearby. There were more than twenty hunting teams who patiently lay in wait for the monsters to come down from the branches. Lin Huang looked up at the branch and saw hideous beetles surrounding the entire branch. The combat level of the beetles were all immortal-level rank-3 and rank-4. They were around two to three meters long and were covered both black and white spots on their backs.

The only thing worth mentioning about this monster was the weapon in their mouth. The outer layer of the weapon looked like an octopus tentacle while the inner layer looked like a meat grinder lined with sharp blades. Lin Huang figured that this was one of the methods these bugs use that he had never seen in the monster encyclopedia. They would basically grab their prey with the tentacle before the prey are pulled in and ground in their mouths.

"We must be careful during the battle. Try not to touch the Tentacle Beetle's tentacles. Their tentacles can be both soft and hard. Aside from capturing prey like insects usually do, they can be used to pierce through bodies of its prey. Nobody below immortal-level rank-5 could break their tentacles. Even if anyone managed to break them, the Tentacle Beetles could regenerate new ones immediately." Zhao San reminded Lin Huang and the rest.

"The Tentacle Beetles only have two weakness. The first was the point where their head connects to their back while the second was located within their mouths. Usually, we'd only manage to attack the connecting point while others who excel in long-ranged attacks could try their hand at attacking the insides of their mouth. There was a gun master last year who managed to shoot into their mouths whenever it opened. All of them died immediately, and that particular gun master alone was more efficient than the entire team added up." Zhao San used a tone of respect every time he spoke of the gun master.

"Is the gun master still here?" Lin Huang asked. It was natural for him to be interested in other gun masters as he was a gun master who had never obtained an official license.

"He left since the very beginning and had only stayed on the 21st checkpoint for three days. The gun master left after asking around for some stuff. I heard he broke through the 30th checkpoint without stopping or he would've come back again." Zhao San smiled as he shook his head.

Lin Huang had expected this before he even asked his question. A powerful person would not stay too long on the 21st checkpoint. After a short conversation, the first Tentacle Beetle horde arrived from the branches. The hunting teams dashed toward the beetles accordingly. Since the sky had just turned dark, the Tentacle Beetles seemed to have only woken up and were moving slowly. It was the perfect time to kill them.

"The first monster horde is basically giving us points for free! Let's start killing." Zhao San stopped chatting with Lin Huang and dashed toward the monsters along with the rest. Lin Huang followed suit shortly after. The first monster horde seemed to be rather underwhelming. Although the combat level of the monsters was rather high, they were basically sheep ready for slaughter. There were less than thirty teams of over 200 people going against a horde of tens of thousands of monsters. However, the hunting teams were like tigers among the goats where all of the monsters were killed and disappeared immediately.

Zhao San's team was performing well. The six of them had managed to kill all the Tentacle Beetles they faced with one hit. Zhao San was an expert with the sword, and was at level-3 of the Sword Dao. He had trained extensively in speed, allowing him to move at breakneck speed while still maintaining the efficiency of his attacks. His attacks were accurate, and pretty much severing the heads of the beetles from their backs with just a slash. He would require explosive strength to be able to achieve such a feat if he were going up against another person as this attack of his would definitely fail if it was defended against.

Jiang Xin who was the only lady in the team was using a rather special weapon. She used a pair of short blades that were more than thirty centimeters long and two centimeters wide. Her movement seemed to match her weapon, making her look like a silent spirit when she was drowned in battle. She would stab her blades through the point that connects the beetles head and back. She lost the gentleness she had from when she was speaking to Lin Huang earlier.

The rest of the team was performing well too. The most powerful among them was the immortal-level rank-3 hunk who was holding a gigantic ax and managed to chop off the beetle's head with almost every slash. Meanwhile, Lin Huang seemed rather uninterested in killing the monsters. All he did was follow the rest from the back, killing the monsters that the other's had missed out on. He was so relaxed that he looked like a tourist who had just wandered his way into the midst of a war.

With Lin Huang's help in killing the monsters, Zhao San and the rest did not have to worry about the monsters that they missed. This allowed them to move twice as fast as they usually were. Since they did not miss many monsters, Lin Huang was only killing the stragglers with his telekinetic flying dagger. The flying dagger would pierce through the mouth of the beetle before it came out from its head. All of them were killed by their exploding heads. To Lin Huang's flying dagger, it made no difference regardless if the beetles' mouths were opened or not. Apparently, his method of killing was much crueler than the gun master they encountered a year ago.

Soon, an hour and a half had passed. The first monster horde finally ended when it was almost 9 p.m.

"The first monster horde is usually the easiest. The upcoming ones would get increasingly difficult. Each horde would usually end in an hour an a half to two hours, and we'd usually stay until the third horde before we leave halfway through." Zhao San and the rest gathered once more as Zhao San explained how they did things to Lin Huang before the second monster horde came.

"Why do we have to leave halfway through the third horde?" Lin Huang could not understand.

"The monsters in the first horde are usually not from this zone so they're basically free points. However, the monsters in the second horde are kind of hyperactive, like they've been drugged or something. The third monster horde will be rather difficult since there'll be some monsters from the 29th checkpoint." Zhao San explained.

"Are the monsters in the 29th checkpoint very powerful?" Lin Huang had no idea what kind of monsters were there on the 29th checkpoint.

"The monsters on the 29th checkpoint include the Velocious Swordfiend. They're immortal-level rank-4 but their speed is on par with monsters from immortal-level rank-6. Not only can they jump exceedingly far, they can fly as well. Their four sword arms are as powerful and sharp as a supreme relic." Zhao San explained.

"Another monster that's not in the monster encyclopedia…" Lin Huang imagined the monster's appearance in his mind after hearing the explanation.

"The monsters aren't that scary but they're quite sly when it comes to battles. They'd usually hide among the insects while waiting for the perfect opportunity to launch an attack. If we show just a slight flaw in our formation, we might actually be killed by the monsters immediately." It was clear that Zhao San had seen such monsters before as he explained in all seriousness.

As they were chatting, there were bugs chirping coming from the branches above. The second monster horde had arrived!

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Chapter 654: The Second Monster Horde

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It was still the Tentacle Beetles that attacked in the second monster horde. However, they were different this time. Standing near the branch, Lin Huang noticed that the Tentacle Beetles were almost twice as fast compared to the first wave. Moreover, they were more than double the sizes before, and all of them were roaring curiously. Lin Huang also noticed that what used to be white spots on their backs were now bloody red spots.

"Collective Infuriation?" Lin Huang could not understand what he was seeing. He did not find it odd as he had never seen such a monster in the monster encyclopedia, so he had no idea what kind of ability the monsters had, and the individual phenomenon was not surprising to him. What he found astonishing was the tens of thousands of monsters becoming infuriated together. It was his first time witnessing this. The infuriated Tentacle Beetles were different from before as they were now all pumped up.

Before the beetles even got to the branches, from tens of meters away, they started jumping toward the people. Now, Lin Huang finally understood why the hunting teams retreated to a distance before the second monster horde arrived, leaving a gap between the trunk and the branches. If they had been standing where they were, many of the beetles would have attacked them directly from behind.

As soon as the first batch of Tentacle Beetles pounced down, they did not charge toward the beetles immediately. Instead, they waited for the beetles to come nearer to attack them.

"Follow us from behind. Don't go among them. If you step into their jumping territory, they'll jump at you in a frenzy. No matter how powerful you are, you'll be drowned by the mass of beetles." After Zhou San explained it to him, Lin Huang finally understood why the other hunting teams patrolled the perimeter around the beetles without going in.

Lin Huang nodded and started killing the monsters together with Zhou San's team. He remained relaxed with his single flying dagger. However, Zhou San and the rest were not as laid-back as before. The infuriated Tentacle Beetles were not only exuberant, but they were also at their peak performance whereby their speed, strength, and defense levels were doubled and even tripled compared to before. Even the regeneration of their tentacles was a few times quicker than before. They almost fully healed within a second.

Their 12 tentacles dashed forward, some of them pliable like rattan while some were hard as thorns. They used various modes to fight the humans that were coming for them. Zhao San and the rest were pressured since the Tentacle Beetles were infuriated as they were now challenging to kill compared to the kills they made in a single blow earlier. Now, Zhao San needed at least three slashes to kill one beetle. His movement was just mediocre, and avoiding the tentacles became strenuous for him.

Although Jiang Xin's moved like a phantom, her efficiency had dropped immensely. Ever since the beetles' defense became more powerful, she failed to pierce through the connecting thorax of the beetle's head and back in one slash. Now, she needed two to three attacks to kill one beetle. The entire team saw a drop in efficiency, including the most powerful hunk with the giant ax. Although he was still destroying the beetles in a blow, his weak movements made him clumsier than Zhao San under the beetles' siege.

Lin Huang looked away from Zhao San and the rest while he studied the other teams. They were experiencing the same thing. In the first monster horde, everyone was like a warrior dashing into the beetles. They were glorious and brave. However, they now looked serious and tensed. They would avoid the creatures as much as they could whenever the beetles moved. It was apparent that they had lost the courage they possessed before.

Lin Huang became the most relaxed person in the battle. He was the only one who was calm. The flying dagger floated in front of him like a living thing as it pierced through all the monsters that attempted to come near him. His strategy remained the same whereby the flying dagger would pierce through the beetles' mouths and come out from their heads which exploded. A radius of ten meters around him was empty. He followed not far behind from Zhao San and the rest. Whenever tentacles surrounded them, Lin Huang would kill those monsters for them. Besides that, Lin Huang did not interfere with their battle with the monsters at all. They knew that if Lin Huang were to kill the monsters together with them, they would not be able to touch any of them at all.

Soon, more than two hours had passed. The second monster horde finally came to an end when it was past 11 p.m. The hunting teams retreated immediately as soon as the monster horde stopped.

"So, are we giving up now?" Lin Huang raised the question as he followed Zhao San and the rest to leave the place.

"Retreating is a better solution." Zhao San did not explain any further.

The 28 hunting teams soon came to a fork in the branch and proceeded to the branch on the right.

Zhao San finally explained further, "Most of the monsters will go along the main branch to look for humans. That's the reason why we come here to reduce the number of monsters that come for us. Fighting here is less pressure than fighting on the main branch."

Lin Huang finally understood that the main branch was like the main water pipe while they hid in one of the smaller pipes. The monsters were like a stream of water flowing toward the main pipe, so hiding in the smaller pipes would mean fewer monsters.

"That's a great idea."

Lin Huang had to admit that the idea was brilliant especially to relieve some stress off everyone.

"One senior from Division 6 came up with this idea more than 20 years ago. It was said that many people were disqualified from this round of monster horde due to the number of monsters, so they decided to give up. As soon as the second monster horde ended, they either logged out of the virtual world or retreated to the isolated space in the leaves." Zhao San was proud when he recalled the senior who came from the same division that he did.

"The senior made it to the 63rd checkpoint and stayed there until he was 40 before he retired from the Genius Union."

As he listened to Zhao San, Lin Huang could not help but think about Division 7. He thought of his sister Lin Xin and his friends such as Leng Yuexin and Yi Yeyu.

"If I manage to make it to the 63rd checkpoint one day, all of the newbies from Division 6 will definitely remember my name," Zhao San said to himself.

"Isn't your name Zhao San? It's a number. How difficult it is to remember that?" The man with the giant ax teased.

"Damn it! My name is Zhao Shan!"

Soon, a loud voice came from not far away as the both of them exchanged banter.

"Buckle up! The third monster horde is coming!"

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Chapter 655: The Velocious Swordfiend

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The 28 hunting teams waited patiently on the branch opposite the main branch on the 21st checkpoint of the Stairway Tree. The third monster horde was more arduous than the second one. Besides the furious Tentacle Beetles, there were also the Velocious Swordfiends from the 29th checkpoint. The Velocious Swordfiends were immortal-level rank-4 creatures that possessed terrifying speed like an immortal-level rank-6 monster. Half of the 200-strong crowd could not fight the Velocious Swordfiend on their own. It was even trickier as the Velocious Swordfiend would always hide among the monsters and attack sneakily.

All of them had grave expressions as none of them wanted to die there. If they were killed, not only would they be sent back to the first checkpoint of the tree, 50% of their points would be deducted. Soon, the monster horde finally came. Countless black beetles were leading the pack. Lin Huang was watching from a distance, but he did not see the Velocious Swordfiend that Zhao San mentioned.

The hunting teams did not move as well. They only started attacking when the beetles got nearer to them. However, the teammates were not fighting on their own anymore. Instead, they were split into two groups. The same happened to Zhao San's group whereby the six of them formed three groups. They ignored Lin Huang completely. Judging from Lin Huang's ability to kill the furious Tentacle Beetles within a second, he had proven that he was much more powerful than them. They were sure that as a psychic, Lin Huang could control at least hundreds of telekinetic weapons by himself. However, he had only been using one telekinetic flying dagger so far and did not show what he was really capable of. Therefore, they would rather focus on themselves than on him.

Just like before, Lin Huang walked before Zhao San's team like a tourist. He was like an odd species among the people who were fighting the beetles to death. All of the Tentacle Beetles that dashed toward him died following a silver glow that flashed by. There was nothing alive ten meters around him besides the fading monster carcasses.

As he walked further into the monster horde behind Zhao San's team, he realized he had yet to see the Velocious Swordfiend.

"Are the monsters so skilled at hiding or are they not even here?" Lin Huang was interested in the unknown monster as he had never seen it in the monster encyclopedia. On the other hand, the monster's attack technique was a sword skill. Just as he was thinking to himself, a couple of black silhouettes darted out from the monster horde. They were like black bolts of lightning that were advancing toward him.

Lin Huang noticed the black figures as soon as they appeared. He knew that those were definitely not the Tentacle Beetles as they were not that nimble.

"They're finally here!"

Lin Huang smirked as two more flying daggers appeared before him. The three silver glows aimed for the three black shadows that were coming toward him. In the next second, the silver glows pierced through the black shadows and groans were heard. The cries did not sound like the screeching chirps from the Tentacle Beetles when they were killed. They sounded more like groans of ferocious beasts.

Many of the humans looked at Lin Huang's direction when the odd groans broke out. Even Zhao San and the rest turned around to look. Suddenly, a couple of black figures hurtled toward Zhao San and the rest who were not paying attention. Seeing the black glow heading toward them, it was too late for them to do anything although they noticed them at the last second.

The three silver glows in front of Lin Huang barreled at a speed faster than before. Just when the black shadows almost got to them, the three silver glows cleaved through the black shadows as Zhao San, and the rest gaped in shock.

In less than two seconds, Lin Huang had managed to kill six Velocious Swordfiends. All of the people around watched with their jaws slack. Even some of them who had not noticed him as a newbie were stunned by how powerful he was. Zhao San and the rest had a new impression of Lin Huang's real ability. However, Lin Huang did not bother about what the others thought about him as he watched the Velocious Swordfiend's carcass that was fading away. He finally got a decent look at how the monster looked like.

The Velocious Swordfiend had a triangular head with its eye occupying half of its face. It had a saw-like mouth, and its upper body was covered in a hard pod with four sharp sword arms and a pair of black wings. On the lower part of its body was a pair of long, spiky legs which could undoubtedly jump impressive heights. Although the monster walked on both legs, from its body structure, it resembled an insect. It was completely different from what Lin Huang's imagination illustrated from Zhao San's description.

"I thought it was a human-form monster, but it's an insect instead." Lin Huang shook his head in disappointment. He now understood why he had not noticed their existence as the Velocious Swordfiend possessed a dynamic mimicry ability which allowed it to blend into the environment without being noticed.

"It's got great speed and amazing mimicry, but overall, such a monster is only talented at assassination," Lin Huang mumbled to himself after having overcome the Velocious Swordfiends.

"Its attacking ability isn't bad, but it has a weak defense. Its ability is just mediocre as a whole. As soon as its killing plan failed and it revealed itself, it was easily killed by people who are skilled in close-range attack."

However, the hunting teams on the 21st checkpoint were afraid of such a monster's abilities. As soon as Lin Huang killed the six Velocious Swordfiends, the beasts knew that he was tough and did not target him anymore. They vented their anger on other humans instead. Many of the teams were attacked by the Velocious Swordfiends, and some of them were killed. Unfortunately, Lin Huang did not manage to save them.

As he witnessed more and more people getting disqualified while Zhao San and the rest attempted to retreat, Lin Huang thought he had to offer his true abilities.

"Come out, Lancelot." Lin Huang waved and summoned the Ruthless Sword Dominator Lancelot. He was now almost two meters tall in his maroon armor and exuded a dangerous aura. Some of them, who were sensitive to the change, noticed something odd coming from Lin Huang and looked at Lancelot.

"Kill all those monsters with the mimicry ability as fast as you can. As for the rest, kill them if you want to or just leave them to the others," Lin Huang instructed.

Lancelot nodded and stared at the monsters. He held his sword in front of his cheek and raised it above his head as he mumbled to himself. Soon, nine sword servants appeared and squatted in front of him in a single line.

"Kill them!"

The blue glow in Lancelot's eyes sparkled as he pointed his sword at the monsters. The nine sword servants then stood up and lunged toward the monsters. Lancelot followed behind them.

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Chapter 656: Kill All the Bugs!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Although Lancelot was only an immortal-level rank-2, he was a triple mutated god's blood monster after all. He was like a ferocious tiger prowling into herds of goats. All of the monsters were killed wherever his sword swung. Although his nine sword servants were only on double mutated immortal-level rank-2, they were no slower than Lancelot as they fought together. In less than a minute, Lancelot and the nine sword servants were deep into the monster horde and had left Lin Huang's sensing coverage.

Lin Huang was not worried about Lancelot as he had his Dark Mirror, so the monsters could not break through his defense at all. After summoning Lancelot, Lin Huang got busy himself as he planned to kill the Velocious Swordfiends to relieve the teams of their stress. He greeted Zhao San and circled the team while killing the Velocious Swordfiends that were hiding around. He then proceeded to help the next team.

Although the Velocious Swordfiends' mimicry ability was powerful, Lin Huang's ocular skill was just as terrifying as the Velocious Swordfiends could not escape from him. The next hunting team was less than 300 meters away from Zhao San's team, and three Velocious Swordfiends were attacking them. They were suffering as the monsters surrounded them. Once attacked, The Velocious Swordfiends would usually back off. If they missed their strike, they would hide and find another opportunity to attack again.

The eight members of the hunting team had their guards up against the three Velocious Swordfiends as they were busy killing the Tentacle Beetles. As soon as Lin Huang got to them, he headed straight towards the Velocious Swordfiends that were hiding among the monsters. With his ocular skill, the Velocious Swordfiends that were cloaking themselves were like candle lights in the dark.

His three telekinetic flying daggers shot out in three silver glows. The Velocious Swordfiends that thought were invisible did not expect the three silver bolts of light to assault them in an instant. However, it was too late when they sensed the danger upon them as the silver glows slashed right through their heads. Their carcasses faded into pieces and disappeared.

The eight members of the hunting team did not even see the three Velocious Swordfiends that were being cloaked. All they saw were the disappearing monster carcasses after witnessing the silver flashes. They then realized that it was Lin Huang who had helped them.

"Bro, thanks!" A person shouted at Lin Huang while the rest looked at him in gratitude. Lin Huang nodded at them and looked around. He then killed another two Velocious Swordfiends before leaving for the third hunting team.

In less than a minute, Lin Huang had helped the third hunting team kill the Velocious Swordfiends that were surrounding them before heading to the fourth and fifth hunting teams. As the 28 teams were not too far apart from one another, he spent around half an hour killing all of the Velocious Swordfiends that were hiding. Most of the teams were grateful for his help as they would not have been able to hold on for long if not for his support.

Without the Velocious Swordfiends, the killing efficiency climbed up again. Lancelot and the sword servants seemed to be doing well. In the next hour, the 28 hunting teams soon cleared all of the monsters on the branch. It was their first time managing to kill all of the monsters on the branch as they would usually only last for half an hour and leave the virtual world or hide amongst the leaves when it got too overwhelming.

After clearing the branch, there were not that many monsters left on the main branch. The 28 hunting teams charged into the monsters, and the third monster horde was over in 20 minutes. That night saw the highest number of kills that most of them achieved on the 21st checkpoint. Zhao San and his team were excited as they had never obtained so many points at once before. Lancelot then recalled his sword servants and returned to Lin Huang.

Many were envious of the handsome human-form summoning monster in dark red armor. Lin Huang did not recall or compliment Lancelot. Instead, he handed him a packet of dried vegetables. Lancelot took the dried vegetables blissfully and started eating while he stood where he was. The onlookers pitied Lancelot as they thought he had decided to follow a cheapskate master who rewarded him with dried vegetables instead of dried meat.

"Erm, is that dried vegetables?" Zhao San, who was watching, could not help but to ask. He was hoping to hear something else such as it actually was some other food that resembled dried vegetables.

"Yes." Lin Huang nodded, but he soon noticed that the people were looking at him like he had done something wrong, so he explained further, "That's his favorite."

"Yeah, right!" All of them had the same thought when they heard what Lin Huang said.

Lin Huang noticed their doubtful expressions, but he did not bother to explain and changed the subject instead.

"What're the monsters in the fourth monster horde?"

"I don't know. Nobody knows." Zhao San shook his head helplessly.

"Ever since the Stairway Tree existed, nobody on the 21st checkpoint managed to witness the fourth monster horde. Not only this branch, but it's also the same with the other five branches. Everyone was either disqualified in the third monster horde or logged out of the virtual world. The fourth monster horde won't come if the third one isn't completely cleared, so even the people hiding in the isolation bubbles in the leaves have no idea what the fourth monster horde is like. We're not even sure if there'll ever be one."

"We shall wait and see then. I'll log out to sleep if nothing happens in ten minutes." It was 12.30 a.m. when Lin Huang checked the time. He planned to get a good night's sleep and proceed to climb the tree tomorrow. All of the other hunting teams did not log out as well. It was not that they were confident of beating the next monster horde, but they wanted to witness how would the fourth monster horde looked like. After all, nobody had ever seen that before. Staying here would make them witnesses of history.

After they waited for two to three minutes, the monsters' roar was finally heard. They craned their necks to look in the distance, trying to see how the fourth monster horde looked like. Lin Huang activated his ocular skill and soon saw the so-called fourth monster horde. To his surprise, the monsters that were coming were still Tentacle Beetles and Velocious Swordfiends. However, there were many more Velocious Swordfiends this time. During the third monster horde, there were only one or two occasionally, but they now occupied half of the mob.

The Velocious Swordfiends no longer hid themselves among the monsters. Instead, they formed an army. Their black eyes were blood red, and even their four sword arms were carmine, seeming like they were splashed in blood.

"The Velocious Swordfiends are infuriated as well…" Lin Huang turned serious. The average Velocious Swordfiend was already fast, but now that they were infuriated, their speed must be accelerated. Perhaps not many among the teams would manage to hold up for long with this horde.

"Let's retreat. There's no way that we can win this time," Lin Huang said to Zhao San. From a distance, Zhao San and the rest noticed that the Velocious Swordfiends were infuriated. They were concerned while the other teams were attempting to retreat too.

"Retreat!" Zhao San nodded and made his decision.

They then logged out of the virtual world one-by-one.

"I shall leave too. I'll see you tomorrow morning then," Zhao San said to Lin Huang and logged out.

The other hunting teams noticed that many teams had retreated, so they logged out as well because it would be meaningless for them to stay. Soon, only Lin Huang was left on the branch. He smirked as he looked around.

"I shall get all the points this time!"

His summoning monsters were summoned one by one in front of him — Bai, Charcoal, Tyrant, Kylie, Clown, Bloody…

"Our mission today is to kill all the bugs!"

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Chapter 657: Lin Xie Cheated?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Looking at the monsters coming their way, Lin Huang used his ultimate move by summoning Bai, Charcoal and the rest. He summoned a total of ten of them. It was the first time in history that he was summoning the maximum number of monsters that he was allowed to. Tyrant was now in his original giant form as he dashed towards the monsters like a gigantic tank. Even though he was only an immortal-level rank-2, the immortal-level rank-3 and rank-4 bugs could not do anything to break through his defense. All he had to do was to wave his hands, and the bugs were slaughtered.

Bai, who was not far away, transformed the 12 bloody wings at his back into blades and sometimes into sharp thorns. The monsters that passed through were slashed into halves, or their heads were pierced through. None of them managed to escape. Bloody appeared as a cloud of purple haze in the battle as it extended its hundreds of purple tentacles everywhere. While its tentacles pierced the monsters, they were cast with parasites at the same time. If Bloody were not restricted to only cast parasites on monsters that were on immortal-level rank-2 or below, the number of monsters that were available there might not satisfy Bloody.

Meanwhile, Charcoal returned to its body length that was thousands of meters long among the monsters. Although a part of its ability was restricted since flying was prohibited on the Stairway Tree, its Dragon Flame was as powerful as ever. The black Dragon Flame burnt the monsters into ashes. Its efficiency was just as mighty as Tyrant that was killing like a human tank.

Kylie, who was decked in black armor, flapped the dozen black wings on her back and dashed out like a bolt of black lightning. There was an army of 300 in silver armor who were on the same combat level as her following behind. They transformed into silver lightning bolts as they rushed forward. Even Kylie and her army were affected by the restriction. Although they looked like they were flying, all they did was move at the speed of light. The paths were destroyed as they made strips of holes among the monsters.

In his dark red armor, Lancelot led his nine sword servants as they marched into the monster horde. To increase the efficiency of killing them, he used the Sword Dominator's Sword Manipulation as hundreds of Life Power swords came out of his body and pierced through the monsters' bodies. Among the monsters, the Clown was the most independent one as he danced around the monsters while singing. All of the monsters became frantic and started killing each other. None of the monsters managed to escape his Deception Magic. He would occasionally control the monsters with his hands like a kid playing with puppets. The battle turned into his playground while the monsters were his toys.

The Sanguine Overlord and the two fiends joined the battle too. They were performing well. The Malachian Fiend's defense was just slightly weaker than Tyrant's. It was also charging among the monsters like a tank while the Hellion Imp summoned a meteorite to hit the ground, creating a wide range of damage while the Sanguine Overlord took the monsters' Life Power away with his Punishment Chains and burned them into ashes.

As soon as the ten summoning monsters appeared, Lin Huang was on the winning end of the battle. Although all of the monsters were infuriated and more powerful than before, they were helpless under the siege of Lin Huang's triple mutated monsters with advanced bloodlines. The battle lasted for more than three hours. When it was almost 4 a.m., all of the monsters on the branches were killed and had disappeared.

After the fourth monster horde ended, Lin Huang recalled all ten of his summoning monsters. He did not care if there was a fifth monster horde or not as he did not plan to fight anymore. The sky was getting bright, and the people who logged in might see him if he proceeded to fight. He then looked at his accumulated points. The entire killing spree had given him a boost in his points, totaling over eight million. What made him speechless was that he was now ranked No. 2 on the leaderboard.

"No. 2: Lin Xie"

"Organization: Sweep Alliance"

"Points: 8,211,586

"Current Checkpoint: 21"

"Oh, I've now become high profile again…" Lin Huang did not expect to be getting such recognition. All he wanted was to collect points to redeem resources when nobody was around, but he clinched the No. 2 spot on the leaderboard. He was only less than 300,000 points behind the person who ranked No. 1 and more than a million points ahead of No.3.

He was just surprised at the results, but he did not dwell on it. Lin Huang then logged out of the virtual world so that he could get some rest to continue climbing tomorrow. As he logged out, he took a shower and fell asleep when it was around 4.30 a.m. After sleeping for two hours, he was woken up by the vibration of his Emperor's Heart Ring before 7 a.m. He glanced at it with his bleary eyes and realized that it was Yao Lan who was calling. Figuring that there might be an emergency, he picked up the video call.

"Hey, Lin Xin, did you cheat yesterday?" Yao Lan asked directly.

"What? Cheat?" He asked her back while yawning. Lin Huang thought what she was accusing him of was ridiculous.

"Your points… How did you manage to get more than eight million points without cheating?" Yao Lan asked as though what she was asking was not wrong.

"You sure have got balls! You're now ranked No. 2. The Genius Union is now in chaos since morning. All of the people who logged in are talking about you especially those from Divisions 1 and 2. I've heard that many people have reported you. I guess you might be disqualified from the Genius Union today…"

"Tsk, tsk, look at you. Why can't you be more low profile since you're cheating? Nobody might notice if you cheated by 100,000 to 200,000 points, but you cheated all the way to No. 2 on the leaderboard. Karma is here for you now," Yao Lan lowered her voice.

"Since you'll be removed from the organization soon anyway, why not you tell me how you cheated so that I can get myself some points to rank higher on the leaderboard?"

"Who told you that I cheated?" Lin Huang raised an eyebrow.

"Nobody told me, but everyone in the Genius Union knows that. Do you think we're idiots to believe that you managed to get eight million points within a night?" Yao Lan rolled her eyes.

"I got those points from killing monsters last night," Lin Huang told the truth.

"You're too much! To be able to get eight million points, you'd have to kill 100,000 immortal-level rank-4 monsters worth 80 points each on the 21st checkpoint. Even an infuriated immortal-level rank-4 monster is worth only 160 points, which means you'd have to kill more than 50,000 of them. Since you're only a blue flame-level, I believe you can kill one or two immortal-level rank-4 monsters, but tens of thousands of them?! I don't believe you!"

"It's your problem that you don't believe me. What I told you is the truth." Lin Huang did not bother to explain further.

"Alright, I'll go back to sleep. I'm going to climb the tree again after lunch." He covered himself in his blanket and fell asleep after hanging up.

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Chapter 658: Leaving the 21st Checkpoint

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The Genius Union was in chaos since the wee hours of the morning as there was an unfamiliar name that popped up on the leaderboard. It was normal for the rankings on the leaderboard to change and it was not that surprising when a black horse appeared occasionally. However, the unfamiliar person that everyone was buzzing about was a person who was stuck on the 21st checkpoint on the Stairway Tree. To those on the 50th to the 60th checkpoints, anyone who was stuck on the 21st checkpoint must be a weakling. It was ridiculous for such a person to obtain more than eight million points overnight and rank No. 2 on the leaderboard.

"Since he's so shameless, why didn't he get No. 1 instead?"

"Eight million points overnight! Wouldn't he be a god if he's given a year on the tree?"

"This kid is too much! I'm on the 59th checkpoint, and I can't get 800,000 points if I were to kill monsters for the entire night. How could he get eight million points?"

"I'm not going to say anything anymore. I've reported him!"

"Report 1. This kid is waiting to be suspended!"

The only topic in the Genius Organization that was on everyone's lips that day was Lin Huang. The same happened in the virtual world whereby everyone was talking about how Lin Huang cheated to get his accumulated points. Up to tens of thousands of people reported the issue, asking the Genius Union to suspend Lin Huang. Some of the geniuses from Divisions 1 and 2 even humiliated the entire Division 3 and the Sweep Alliance, saying that there must be more cheaters besides Lin Xie. It caused an uproar between Divisions 2 and 3 while the safe zones outside of the core zones were enjoying the show.

It was past noon when Lin Huang woke up. He set his communication page to silent mode since he ended the call with Yao Lan. He noticed there were five missed calls when he checked his device. Three were from Yao Lan, one was from Huangfu Hao, and there was one unknown number. Lin Huang ignored all of the calls as he knew that Yao Lan and Huangfu Hao must be contacting him about the Genius Union while the unknown number must be a mistake.

He took a shower and had a sumptuous lunch while he relaxed. He then logged into the virtual world after returning to his room. As he appeared on the 21st checkpoint on the Stairway Tree, Lin Huang noticed that many people were gawking at him. He figured that it had to do with his ranking on the leaderboard. After all, he was now ranked No. 2, so it was natural for people to stare at him. Although he had helped many of them during the monster hordes last night and they had witnessed Lin Huang leading the teams to kill the third monster horde for the very first time, most of them still thought that he had cheated to obtain more than eight million points overnight.

Lin Huang did not care about what people thought of him. The truth was the truth. No matter how the rumors were spreading like wildfire, time would reveal the truth. As soon as he logged in, he did not plan on staying on the 21st checkpoint. He walked towards the gathering point where Zhao San's team was so that he could bid them farewell. As he arrived at the gathering point, he noticed all six of the hunting teammates there. They walked towards Lin Huang when they saw him.

"No matter what other people are saying, I, Zhao San, believe that you've never cheated!" Zhao San declared directly.

"Although I've no idea how you did it, I know you didn't cheat." Jiang Xin looked at Lin Huang in all seriousness with her beautiful eyes.

"Those who are doubting you will realize that they're wrong one day."

All of the teammates chose to believe that Lin Huang did not cheat. It was out of his expectations because he was unfamiliar with Zhao San and the rest after all. He did not even know some of their names. He only knew them by the nicknames that Zhao San called them. However, these people, who had only spent a night with him, chose to believe him while the rumors were rife.

"Thanks." Lin Huang felt a warmth flooding his heart. He did not say anything else after thanking them.

"I'm leaving the 21st checkpoint."

"Make yourself known. Show everyone that you deserve to be ranked No. 2 on the leaderboard!" Zhao San patted his shoulder.

"What I want isn't No. 2." Lin Huang raised his eyebrow. Zhao San was surprised to hear what Lin Huang said and gave him a thumbs up.

"All the best. I believe you can do it!" Jiang Xin was his little fan.

After bidding farewell to them, Lin Huang returned to the Stairway Tree's main branch and started climbing again. It was not difficult to go through the 21st to the 29th checkpoints. Lin Huang had passed through the nine checkpoints before 6 p.m. and arrived at the 30th checkpoint where many geniuses were stuck. However, Lin Huang did not hear anything about this checkpoint when he was on the 21st checkpoint.

Standing on the Mighty Ape's shoulder, Lin Huang looked up when he arrived at the 30th checkpoint. There were dark clouds above him that seemed similar to those on the second checkpoint.

"Is it going to be another snow storm?" Lin Huang still remembered the chilly weather on the second checkpoint.

As the Mighty Ape climbed up, it started to rain. The higher they went, the stronger the torrents.

"If it's just rain, no one should be stuck here for too long. There should be something else." Lin Huang knew that the checkpoint would not be this simple or else, tens of thousands of people would not have gotten stuck on this checkpoint.

Soon, Lin Huang found out what was so tricky about this checkpoint. As the Mighty Ape climbed less than 1,000 meters up, the rain poured down like a waterfall. The higher they went, the stronger the water flow. Due to the constant wash of water, the cracks between the barks became slippery, which caused the Mighty Ape to slip occasionally. As the waterfall was pouring down like a tsunami, the Mighty Ape held tightly onto the bark. It was already difficult enough for it just to stay put.

Meanwhile, Lin Huang held the Dark Mirror in his hand to prevent himself from falling off the Mighty Ape's shoulder.

"It seems like we can't just go through it this way." Lin Huang knew that the Mighty Ape was already doing its best and he should not go on with this anymore.

He then held the Dark Mirror on top of the Mighty Ape's head as he shook his head to form a giant umbrella. The water that was pouring down was blocked entirely out now, while the steady flow of water poured on the other side of the mirror where Lin Huang was bearing less than 1% of the flow. The Dark Mirror had solved the issue that caused so many others to be stuck on this checkpoint easily. Soon, the Mighty Ape passed through the clouds in less than five minutes, and they made it to the 31st checkpoint.

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Chapter 659: The Second Report

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Eh, I thought Lin Xie was still on the 21st checkpoint at noon. Why's he on the 31st checkpoint now? Did I misread or something?" A person mumbled to himself as he noticed the changes on the checkpoint that Lin Huang was currently on when he logged into the virtual world after 6 p.m.

He was not the only one who noticed the changes. Many people had been paying attention to Lin Huang ever since the rumor spread. They noticed that the checkpoint that Lin Huang was on kept changing since the afternoon. They saw that he passed through one checkpoint every half an hour.

Many people thought that Lin Huang would be stuck on the 30th checkpoint, but they did not expect him to go through it in 20 minutes, which was even shorter than the time he took for the previous checkpoints. The person who noticed that spread the news and accused Lin Huang of cheating again. Before the first heat was over came the second one when Lin Huang was minding his own business.

However, Lin Huang logged out of the virtual world when he arrived at the 31st checkpoint as the sky was getting dark. Many people on the Stairway Tree were still discussing the same topic.

"In just one afternoon, less than six hours, and he managed to climb from the 21st checkpoint to the 31st checkpoint? Furthermore, he only used 20 minutes to get through the 30th checkpoint. This guy must have cheated again!"

"He managed to get through ten checkpoints in one afternoon. That would mean 20 checkpoints in a day. Looking at his progress, wouldn't he get to the 80th checkpoint in four days?!"

"Not only did he cheat on the way he got his points, but now he's also cheating to pass through checkpoints. This guy is so shameless!"

"Let's report him again!"

"I've reported him!"

"Report him 1!"

In reality, it was pretty easy for people who were on the 50th to the 60th checkpoints to get through ten checkpoints in one afternoon. One reason was that they were already on immortal-level rank-8 or rank-9. Some of them even had the ability of an imperial-level, so the checkpoints below the 50th were nothing to them. On the other hand, all of them had strategized. Therefore it was easy for them to climb the stairs again. It was possible for one to climb from the first checkpoint to the 40th in one day, let alone ten checkpoints in an afternoon.

What everyone was mad about was that Lin Xie had appeared out of nowhere. Since everyone was convinced that he had cheated earlier, they believed that he had done it again to get through ten checkpoints in one afternoon. Once he made such a terrible first impression, whatever he did, later on, would be judged anyway. Many people had heard about Lin Xie due to the "cheating" incident. With that impression, no matter what Lin Xie achieved after that, he would always be accused of cheating.

However, a person from Division 3, who was on the 61st checkpoint, spoke up after hearing about the second accusation.

"It's nothing for an immortal-level rank-8 or rank-9 to climb from the 21st checkpoint to the 31st in one afternoon. It's achievable even without any strategy."

Some of the people from Division 3 supported what the person said.

Soon, a person who claimed to be on the 21st checkpoint revealed that Lin Xie was only a blue flame-level instead of immortal-level. Later on, more people who were on the 21st checkpoint revealed more about Lin Huang, including how he looked like, his identity as an Imperial Censor and a psychic.

Those from Division 3 who spoke for Lin Huang became silent.

"I don't believe that a person who's only on blue flame-level could get to the 31st checkpoint without cheating!

"I couldn't even pass the second checkpoint when I was on blue flame-level, and I only managed to pass through the 10th checkpoint when I was gold flame-level. Even if he's a supreme genius, it's impossible for him to get to the 31st checkpoint when he's only a blue flame-level."

"Now, it seems like he didn't just cheat his way from the 21st to the 31st checkpoint. I bet he even cheated his way up to the 21st checkpoint."

Zhao San and the rest attempted to reveal the truth on behalf of Lin Huang, but it backfired. Their comments were drowned in those hateful comments that the others posted.

"This Lin Xie won't be around for long. The Emperor's Heart will act on the reports within 24 hours. People have been reporting him since six in the morning. I bet his account will be suspended tomorrow morning."

"That's what I'm talking about!"

"I shall report him again before he gets suspended!"

Lin Huang had no idea that his getting to the 31st checkpoint had caused another uproar. He had dinner after logging out of the virtual world. Yao Lan called again when the sky was getting dark. Lin Huang hesitated before picking up the call.

"What's wrong with you? Why didn't you pick up my calls earlier? Are you afraid of being criticized?" Yao Lan said with a huge grin.

"Scared, my a*s! My communication page was on silent in the morning, and I spent my afternoon climbing the tree. I've been busy. What do you want from me?" Lin Huang asked.

"I want to know where you got those strategies."

"What strategies?" Lin Huang raised his eyebrow.

"The strategies to climb the Stairway Tree. We have the strategies to pass through the 21st to the 30th checkpoint with us, but we're not able to do that within one afternoon. Your strategies must be coming from some top organization. Can I buy a copy from you? I want those after the 40th checkpoint," Yao Lan told him her intention.

"There's no strategy." Lin Huang shook his head.

"I don't even know what's going to happen at any of the checkpoints. How would I have the strategies?"

"Selfish. You'll be suspended tomorrow morning anyway. Why would you want to keep them to yourself?" Yao Lan huffed angrily.

"Don't you worry. I won't be suspended." Lin Huang was sure as he had read the suspension criteria on the Emperor's Heart. Those who were reported would not be suspended directly but would be investigated instead. If the account were found to be cheating, a suspension would be the solution. However, accumulating points by summoning monsters was not deemed as cheating. The verdict was not determined by what the people said, so he was not worried that he would be suspended.

Yao Lan did not dwell on it since Lin Huang did not want to admit that he had his own strategies.

"Oh yeah, there's another thing that I need to inform you. Huangfu Lin will return to Sweep City later, and she wants to see you."

"I'll spare some time to see her," Lin Huang agreed immediately. He wanted to see how the most influential person in the Sweep Alliance, who managed to kill an imperial-level when she was only an immortal-level rank-7 looked like.

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Chapter 660: The Heaven Alliance

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang received a notification when he woke up the next morning. It was the Genius Union who sent the notification, Lin Huang read it out of curiosity and found out that it was sent to the masses and was related to him.

"Dear members, we've investigated and reviewed our member 'Lin Xie' who was heavily reported recently due to an allegation of him cheating on the Stairway Tree, and we've concluded that he did not cheat. Lin Xie went through the checkpoints and obtained the points with proper methods which are aligned with the conditions. End of notice!"

Lin Huang grinned as he shook his head after reading the message. He figured that would be the verdict as well. Besides Lin Huang, all of the members of the Genius Union received the same notification at the same time.

"He didn't cheat? How is that even possible?!"

"How could a blue flame-level manage to get more than eight million points overnight without cheating?"

"Even with strategies, it's difficult for a blue flame-level person to get from the 21st to the 30th checkpoint in one afternoon. What I don't understand is how did he manage to get more than eight million points overnight."

"I think either the Emperor's Heart is faulty or this Lin Xie really is something."

"We've been slapped by Emperor's Heart! My cheek hurts. Someone, please comfort me…"

"Please, your ass! I have a 21-centimeter steel rod that could comfort you!"

"Oh no, the ride has departed. Please buckle up guys."

"This is not my ride to the kindergarten. Pull over!"

On the 63rd checkpoint was the Heaven Alliance from the foothold of Division 1. Three immortal-level rank-9s had promised to meet in the morning. They received a notification on their Emperor's Heart Rings when they were just starting to chat. They read it immediately when they realized that it came from the Genius Union. The three of them frowned after reading the notification. The allegation about Lin Huang was the hottest topic for the past few days. While they knew about it, they did not follow the case. On the 63rd checkpoint, everyone was occupied with how to break through the checkpoint, and they were not really interested in what was happening below the 60th checkpoint.

The three of them had briefly discussed how Lin Huang managed to get more than eight million points overnight yesterday and they were convinced that he had cheated. Besides cheating, there was no other explanation for Lin Huang's achievement. They were surprised to see the verdict as they read the notification.

"A blue flame-level got more than eight million points overnight, and the Emperor's Heart said he did it without cheating. The Emperor's Heart must be broken!" A man wearing a long-sleeved printed tee guffawed.

"Have you ever heard about the Emperor's Heart being broken throughout the 800 years of history?" A man in a white shirt raised his eyebrow.

"So, you think that Lin Xie achieved what he did just with his own ability?" A man in a trench coat asked in all seriousness.

"Stop messing around. You and I can kill immortal-level rank-4 monsters like we're killing dogs when we're only blue flame-level, but we can't kill tens of thousands of monsters overnight and get eight million points. Even if we drain all the Life Power that we have, we can only kill hundreds of monsters at once. Furthermore, we have special Life Power columns with extra Life Wheels in our bodies. It's pretty impressive for an ordinary person to be able to kill more than 100 monsters overnight," the man in the t-shirt disagreed.

"What we're unable to do doesn't mean that others can't. What if he has unlimited Life Power as the legend says? Or maybe he has the ability to clone himself? What if he has a demigod relic that can attack within a wide range?" The man in the white shirt voiced out the possibilities. The both of them were speechless.

"Of course, he might have his own way to cheat that escaped the investigation of the Emperor's Heart." The man in the white shirt did not fully believe in the conclusion that the Emperor's Heart had announced.

"So, you're not sure if he cheated or not." The man in the t-shirt laughed.

"Even if he did and he escaped the god's relic Emperor's Heart, don't you think this guy is really something?" The man in white shirt grinned amusedly as he asked.

"If he didn't cheat, that proves how powerful he really is."

"Do you want to recruit him?" The man in the trench coat looked at the man in the white shirt gravely.

"It's been almost two years since we recruited anyone. This guy's combat level is too low."

"Don't forget that he's not from Division 1 like us," the man in the t-shirt added.

"Low combat level is something temporary. Are you worried that such a person will be stuck below immortal-level?" The man in the white shirt supported Lin Huang.

"It shouldn't be a problem that he's not from Division 1. It's not like we don't have any members that come from Divisions 2 and 3."

"Of course, that's just a suggestion. Whether or not my suggestion becomes action depends on you guys. The recruitment follows our usual way of voting. I'll get everyone online later." The man in white shirt seemed to have made a decision.

"Let's wait until the voting session later."

Lin Huang had no idea that he was being picked to be on the waiting list of the No. 1 organization among the genius organizations, the Heaven Alliance. Yao Lan called again when he was having his breakfast. He picked up her call helplessly as he knew that she would definitely call back later if he avoided her.

"What're you up to?" Yao Lan chirped.

"Breakfast." Lin Huang put a spoonful of salad into his mouth.

"Congratulations, you're not a suspect of cheating anymore." Yao Lan smiled naturally. She was shameless even to call him as she had been sure that Lin Huang was going to be suspended.

"I've told you that I didn't cheat. It's you who doesn't believe me."

"Are you kidding? I've always believed you." Yao Lan did not even blush when she said that.

"Thanks. I've finally understood what shameless means today." Lin Huang wiped his mouth with a piece of serviette.

"You're the shameless one…"

A message popped up when they were bantering. Lin Huang ignored Yao Lan and read the message instead.

"Hi, Mr. Lin Xie. My name is Chan Dou, and I'm from the Heaven Alliance. I'm representing the alliance to invite you to join us officially. I hope to hear from you within the next three days."

Attached with the message was a delicate invitation letter. As long as he signed his name and stamped his thumbprint on it, he would officially be one of the Heaven Alliance members.

"Hey, why aren't you speaking? Who sent you the message? You look so serious!" Yao Lan spoke again.

"Nothing." Lin Huang turned off the message page.

"Oh yeah, I'm calling to tell you that Huangfu Lin will be in Sweep City tomorrow. Let's meet for dinner."

"Sure!" Lin Huang agreed immediately.

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Chapter 661: Huangfu Lin

Translator:EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor:EndlessFantasy Translation

After hanging up the call with Yao Lan, Lin Huang returned to his hotel and logged in to the Genius Union again.

On the Stairway Tree, the notice from the Emperor's Heart had become the focus of the public, and a majority of them believed the investigation result of the Emperor's Heart as it had never made a false judgment. Therefore, the discussion shifted from how Lin Xie cheated yesterday to how Lin Xie managed to gather 8 million points in a day.

Lin Huang did not pay much attention to it. As soon as he returned to the Stairway Tree, he summoned the Mighty Ape and began another round of climbing up the stairway.

The difficulty was much higher for him to get from the 31st checkpoint to the 40th checkpoint as he was attacked by immortal-level rank-5 worm monsters. Lin Huang took about 50 minutes to pass through each checkpoint. Once he reached the 40th checkpoint, he spent exactly an hour and a half to complete it. Upon reaching the 41st checkpoint, it was already 6 p.m. so Lin Huang did not continue, and logged out of virtual reality.

"The difficulty level is getting higher. My Mighty Ape is no longer effective from the 36th checkpoint onward. Fortunately, I still have Tyrant and I should be able to handle it…" As he exited the virtual reality, he looked rather flustered.

He had encountered various extreme conditions on the Stairway Tree. Each level felt difficult for him, and the difficulty was comparable to the training given by Mr. Fu.

"The difficulty level from the 31st checkpoint to the 39th checkpoint is designed for those at immortal-level rank-6 while for the 40th checkpoint required one to possess the ability of someone at immortal-level rank-7. Due to the increasing difficulty, it might be difficult for me to get to the 50th checkpoint…" Lin Huang knew himself quite well. Although he had well-rounded abilities, his physique was much weaker compared to others on immortal-level rank-7 or rank-8. The Stairway Tree did not only assess one's abilities but took stock of every aspect.

Most people get stuck on the 63rd checkpoint because the use of Life Power was prohibited. It was simply a test of one's physique, and cheating would not be possible. Naturally, this information was gleaned from Zhao San. He did not ask for the exact information but he knew that if his Life Power was restrained, it would be impossible for him to get through that.

After having his dinner, Lin Huang did not slack. Instead, he continued practicing Army Attack Tactics until it was slightly after 11 p.m. before he went to bed.

The next morning, he logged into Genius Union and continued climbing the Stairway Tree.

There was a rapid increase in the difficulty beginning from the 41st checkpoint. It took Lin Huang an hour and fifty minutes to get through the 41st checkpoint. From the 42nd to the 44th checkpoint, he took about two hours to get through each checkpoint, and only barely managed to get past the 45th checkpoint after two and a half hours.

There was a branch on the Stairway Tree's 46th checkpoint. It was the third gathering point after the 21st and 34th checkpoint.

After passing through the 45th checkpoint, Lin Huang did not continue. He had originally planned to ascend from a random point on the 46th checkpoint. However, Yao Lan sent him a message telling him that Huangfu Lin had arrived at the Sweep City so he logged out of virtual reality through a crack in the bark in the Stairway Tree.

Since a notice had been issued by the Emperor's Heart to address Lin Huang's matter, the others had been putting less focus on him. However, there was still a number of people who checked on Lin Huang's status every day.

The news about Lin Huang being on the 46th checkpoint already to most of the people at the gathering point.

Many of them wanted to challenge him. Since he was now a popular person, anyone who managed to kill him would obtain more than four million points.

Many of them had thought about this earlier when they were on the 33rd checkpoint. However, Lin Huang did not even stay at the 33rd checkpoint yesterday as he managed to get to the 41st checkpoint. At this moment, he was taking a break on the 46th checkpoint. To many of the other people, it was a good chance to rob him.

Since he was logged out of virtual reality, Lin Huang had no idea that he had caught the attention of so many people. After changing his clothes, he went to the Sweep Gourmet.

After sitting in room No.301 for about three minutes, Yao Lan, Huangfu Hao, and a tall lady in a white top and black pants came in.

The lady had waist-length black hair and she looked pretty yet cool. Although she managed to restrain her aura well, Lin Huang could still vaguely feel that she was intimidating.

Lin Huang knew that she must be the Sweep Alliance's chief, Huangfu Lin.

Just as he was checking her out, she was checking him out as well.

"Ms. Lin, he's Lin Xie." Yao Lan introduced with a smile, "Lin Xie, the pretty girl standing next to me is the chief of Sweep Alliance, Huangfu Lin."

"Hello, nice to meet you." Lin Huang stood up and shook hands with her.

After greeting each other, all three sat down.

As usual, Yao Lan was the one who ordered the dishes. It seemed like Huangfu Hao was rather reserved since he remained silent when he met his sister.

Lin Huang was not close with Huangfu Lin so he kept quiet as well.

Instead, Huangfu Lin started a conversation with Lin Huang, "I actually wanted to talk to you two days ago but you didn't answer my call."

"Two days ago?" Lin Huang was stunned and immediately recalled what happened back then. "Is that your number? I thought someone called the wrong number so I didn't call back."

"It's okay. Sometimes it's better to talk face to face." Huangfu Lin nodded her head and immediately said, "I heard it from Xiao Lan that you didn't ask for the strategy of the Stairway Tree?"

"Yes." Lin Huang nodded. "It's more interesting to pass through each checkpoint on my own."

"Does it mean that you're now on the 46th checkpoint but you knew nothing about each checkpoint while you were going through them?" Huangfu Lin asked.

"When I was on the 21st checkpoint, I overheard the strategy for several checkpoints but I didn't ask for a more detailed description of the checkpoints." Lin Huang nodded his head and admitted.

"Why do you want to do so? Isn't it much easier if you know how each checkpoint is supposed to be?" Huangfu Lin frowned.

"Climbing the stairway is like practice to me. It depends on how well-trained we are. That, will determine how far we'll be able to go. It's a natural thing. Don't take completing each checkpoint as a goal and attempt to achieve checkpoints that are beyond one's ability." Lin Huang explained.

After listening to what Lin Huang said, Huangfu Lin, Huangfu Hao, and Yao Lan remained silent.

"I believe that you didn't cheat." Huangfu Lin sized him up and said. "A person who says this will definitely not cheat for the sake of getting more points."

"Thank you." Lin Huang did not thank her for the compliment. Instead, it was because she could understand him.

"What do you feel about Sweep Alliance?" What Huangfu Lin asked had caught Yao Lan and Huangfu Hao's attention, shifting their focus to Lin Huang.

"It's good." Lin Huang had nothing to comment on since he had just joined the Sweep Alliance for a few days. Aside from Yao Lan and Huangfu Hao, he was not close with the rest of them.

"I'm a straightforward person. To be frank, the Sweep Alliance is not for you." Huangfu Hao and Yao Lan were stunned as they heard what Huangfu Lin just said. This also caused Lin Huang to frown.

"Sis Lin, you..." Huangfu Lin immediately interrupted, "The Sweep Alliance resembles a fish pond in the Genius Union. However, you aren't a small fish. You're a fish that has grown up. You can only become successful by living in a big ocean where the likes of the Heaven Alliance, Hong Alliance, and Tang Alliance are at."

"You're not strong enough now so the Sweep Alliance can indeed be helpful to you. However, as your combat strength gradually grows, the Sweep Alliance will slowly become your burden. I hope that you can leave. I'll help you to contact the top alliances in Division 3. I believe they'll accept you."

Lin Huang stared at Huangfu Lin and kept quiet for a moment. It seemed like he could discern something from her eyes. It sounded like she was talking about herself… She was supposed to have a bright future. However, the Sweep Alliance became a burden to her due to its limited resources. She did not want Lin Huang to repeat the same mistake.

"Since you're being honest with me, I'll accept your suggestion and leave the Sweep Alliance." Still, Lin Huang nodded his head and said, "However, there's no need for you to find another alliance for me. I know where to go."

They then kept quiet during the dinner.

After dinner, Lin Huang returned the Sweep Alliance token to her. On the Genius Union's page, he tapped the "leave" button and left.

The other three of them were still sitting in the room.

"Let's go." Huangfu Hao told Yao Lan. It seemed like he was angry at Huangfu Lin and was reluctant to talk to her.

"You may leave first. I have something to talk to Sister Lin."

"What are you going to tell her? It's not easy to find a talented person but she asked him to leave." Huangfu Hao could no longer bear it and said what he wanted to say.

"Go home first. I have something to talk to Sister Lin."

After sending him away, Yao Lan sat in front of Huangfu Lin.

"Sis Lin, did you regret joining Sweep Alliance?"

Huangfu Lin kept quiet and did not answer her question.

"Thank you, I know the answer." Yao Lan knew very well that silence was the best answer to her question. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so reckless…"

"Don't feel sorry for me. You and Xiao Hao are victims too." Huangfu Lin shook her head helplessly and lamented, "Sweep Alliance is like a sinking ship. Regardless of how good the captain and the sailor are, they won't be able to stop the ship from sinking. It's enough to have only three of us on the ship. We shouldn't drag the others with us into this."

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Chapter 662: Never Insult the Heaven Alliance!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang did not know why Huangfu Lin suggested that he leave the Sweep Alliance. However, he knew very well that it was just an excuse as Huangfu Lin had told him that the Sweep Alliance was not a place for him to shine. There were some other reasons that she did not mention. Since she was reluctant to share, Lin Huang did not ask any further.

After the farewell dinner, Lin Huang returned to the hotel.

Sitting on the sofa in the living room, he opened the communication page and studied the invitation letter that the Heaven Alliance sent to him.

Joining the Heaven Alliance was actually a wise decision since he had to achieve imperial-level in three years time. He needed plenty of resources to support him. He would be going onto something big five years later. Therefore, he had to keep improving himself. If Huangfu Lin had not asked him to leave, he would have probably gone after achieving immortal-level to join a stronger alliance.

After thinking for a while, Lin Huang tapped the invitation letter open. He carefully read through the details of the letter twice. He did not hesitate after confirming that not many restrictions were imposed on him. He immediately signed the letter with a digital fingerprint and sent it back to the Heaven Alliance.

In less than ten seconds, a system message came from the Genius Union.

"Congratulations! You're now a member of the Heaven Alliance!"

The next second after Lin Huang received the message, a notification from an unknown number arrived.

"Welcome to the Heaven Alliance! I'm currently the chief of the Heaven Alliance. My name is Chan Dou. If you're free tomorrow morning, let's meet up to talk."

Lin Huang was surprised to see the sender of the message.

He was familiar with this name. It was not his first time coming across this name after coming to Division 3 because not only was he the current chief of the Heaven Alliance, he was also one of the five strongest geniuses in Division 1 (by the Genius Union's standard below 40 years old). He was only 28 years old and was now an immortal-level rank-9. It was said that he had killed a crimson gold-rank before.

"Alright. May I know the time and venue please?" Lin Huang gave a short reply.

"I'll see you at 8 a.m tomorrow at the Heaven Alliance's 46th checkpoint." Chan Dou soon sent him the place and time to meet.

Lin Huang was shocked as Chan Dou seemed to have paid attention to him. After closing the communication page, he snapped out of his thoughts and continued practicing his Army Attack Tactics.

The next morning, Lin Huang kept to his regular schedule and logged into the virtual reality after breakfast.

Through the cracks on the branch on the 46th checkpoint of the Stairway Tree, the location of the Heaven Alliance was displayed on Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring. It was at one of the branches near to him. After confirming the location, Lin Huang quickly climbed towards the branch.

After more than ten minutes, Lin Huang finally reached the branch where the Heaven Alliance was at.

As he leaped forward from the tree branch, everyone recognized him.

"Are you Lin Xie?!" A squat man was stunned the moment he saw Lin Huang and exclaimed.

The people nearby who heard that immediately shifted their focus to Lin Huang.

The short man soon noticed that something was wrong. A flicker of fury flashed through his eyes, and soon, two daggers appeared in his hand. He immediately dashed towards Lin Huang. "Four million points are mine!"

Lin Huang was startled as he wondered why would they attack him the second they met him. However, when he heard what the man said, he instantly understood why the person was coming after him.

He did not bother replying with nonsense. Soon, a silver glow flashed through the air and pierced between the man's brows.

Just when he was about to pounce on Lin Huang, the short man's body became limp. He was shocked, and his intention to kill was unsatisfied. His body immediately turned into pieces and disappeared as he was sent to the first checkpoint of the Stairway Tree.

"Zhang Hui has been killed. You've obtained 123,181 points!"

Seeing the crowd coming after him, Lin Huang frowned.

He had to say that the man called Zhang Hui had acted recklessly as he attacked him without thinking twice. He did not even consider whether he, as an immortal-level rank-4, was capable of obtaining the four million points.

The abilities of the people who surrounded him now all surpassed him, and the weakest one was on immortal-level rank-5. The strongest one was on immortal-level rank-7.

Lin Huang would not worry if the assailants were just ordinary immortal-level rank-7s. However, most of the Genius Union members could cross three ranks to fight him.

Seeing four of them charging at him, if he did not use any unique skills, he definitely could not defeat them.

It seemed like the four of them were in a team as they did not fight among themselves.

"Are you Lin Xie? We aren't going to make things difficult for you. As long as you're willing to let go of half of the total points you've collected, we won't attack you," a muscular young man said, "I guess you don't want to start again from the first checkpoint since it's not been easy for you to reach here."

In the virtual reality, the transfer of points was like plunder. The most that they could transfer was only half of their total points. Moreover, only one transaction could be a day as the Emperor's Heart wanted to protect the weak.

"If I were to transfer half of my points to you, won't the others mind?" Lin Huang asked with a sardonic grin.

"There's no need to sow discord between us. The four of us have come to an agreement regarding the distribution of the points. As long as you're willing to transfer half of your points to me, you don't have to worry about the rest." The muscular man and the other three were approaching Lin Huang.

They did not act rashly. They were aware of Lin Huang's telekinetic throwing dagger as the immortal-level rank-4 man's head had exploded in an instant. They were unsure about Lin Huang's ability, so they were reluctant to risk their lives. However, they knew that Lin Huang was a psychic. If somebody attempted to approach a psychic, the psychic could activate less than 10% of his skills. This was the reason why they went closer to Lin Huang slowly.

After confirming that the four of them were in a team, Lin Huang scowled. He did not want to waste his Transformation Card to increase his combat strength at such a place. However, if he did not kill the four of them, he would have to give them half of his points.

Aware that the four of them were getting closer to him, the Transformation Card suddenly appeared in his hand. Right when he was about to crush it, a strong, intimidating aura suddenly appeared behind the quad.

They then turned around to see where the aura came from and saw a man in a white shirt who was gradually walking towards them.

In an instant, the white shirt man had surpassed them and immediately appeared in front of Lin Huang.

Lin Huang's eyes could not capture the man's movement at all as if he had teleported. However, Lin Huang knew very well that such a traveling skill was prohibited in the Stairway Tree.

"Hello, Lin Xie. I finally get to meet you." The white shirt man extended his hand.

"You're Chan Dou?" Lin Huang guessed.

Both of them shook hands. Chan Dou then turned back, glaring at the four of them who wanted to rob Lin Huang. "So, the four of you are attempting to rob a member of the Heaven Alliance?"

"Heaven Alliance?" They were stunned and soon, their facial expressions changed.

"He's the chief of the Heaven Alliance, Chan Dou!" A couple of them could finally recognize him.

"I'm sorry. It's just a misunderstanding. We'll leave immediately," the muscular young man apologized and was about to leave.

The rest of them begged for pardon as well and were about to flee.

"It's too late to leave now!" Chan Dou did not want to let them go. "I'll teach the four of you a lesson today! Never insult the Heaven Alliance!"

After uttering his words, a black shadow streaked through Chan Dou's eyes and in the next second, a black mist gradually emitted out of four of their bodies. Soon after, their bodies were shrouded in a black fog. They screamed in terror and completely disappeared.

Seeing that Chan Dou had killed the four of them within seconds, the people surrounding him immediately left as they were afraid that they might get into trouble.

After killing them, Chan Dou turned to look at Lin Huang contentedly as if nothing had happened. "Let's have some drinks and chat at the subdivision of the foothold."

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Chapter 663: A Conversation with Chan Dou

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The 46th checkpoint of the Heaven Alliance was built on one of the thickest tree branches. The branch, including hundreds of leaves that grew at its tips that covered an area with a circumference that spanned thousands of kilometers. The entire area belonged to the Heaven Alliance.

Lin Huang followed after Chan Dou, but he realized that they rarely met any Heaven Alliance members on their way. Lin Huang felt strange as he remembered Yao Lan telling him before that there were thousands of Heaven Alliance members.

As they reached the end of the branch, Lin Huang could finally see the leaves of the Stairway Tree. It was somewhat different from what Lin Huang had imagined earlier as the leaves that grew on the Stairway Tree were of peculiar shapes. They were not of the ordinary leaf type. Instead, they looked more like islands of various forms. On top of the island, different hemispherical white bubbles enveloped the leaves in the front.

Before reaching the leaves that were wrapped in bubbles, Chan Dou pressed against the bubble, and soon, a small door that was about two meters high was activated. "This is the Heaven Alliance's territory. Most of the leaves are opened to the Heaven Alliance members. If you want to enter any of the dimensions through the leaves, you'll have to place your hand that you used to sign the agreement on top of the bubble. The bubble will activate the door. Of course, some of the places are restricted at the 63rd checkpoint, and only the chief and vice chief are allowed to enter."

After finishing his words, Chan Dou strode into the bubble. The opening of the bubble immediately closed right at that instant as he entered and Lin Huang was blocked.

Lin Huang did according to what Chan Dou told him, placing his right hand on the bubble. Soon, a small, black door was activated, and Lin Huang immediately entered.

Lin Huang then discovered that there was a looming building that looked like the Union Government's building upon entering.

"The leaf belongs to the Union Government. Therefore, the style of the buildings will somewhat look like the Union Government's office. We didn't bother renovating though, and these buildings are used as an office," Chan Dou explained. Soon, he guided Lin Huang to their office.

In the living hall, a tall man wearing a suit stood stiffly. He slightly nodded his head as he greeted Chan Dou and sized Lin Huang up.

"He's the person in charge of the 46th checkpoint, Wang Zhong." Chan Dou gave a brief introduction and told Wang Zhong, "I'll talk to him. You may come later."

Wang Zhong nodded and guided the both of them to the meeting room. He then left.

"Please take your seats."

On the table in the meeting room, Wang Zhong had already prepared two cups of tea. Chan Dou did not sit at the head of the table. Instead, he merely pulled a chair out and sat down.

Lin Huang sat opposite him. He thought that it would be Chan Dou's clone who would meet him today. However, after he witnessed him killing the four men who attempted to rob him within seconds, he knew that this was his real body.

"Firstly, I'd like to welcome you on behalf of the Heaven Alliance members. To be honest, I was mentally prepared for the rejection when I sent you the invitation yesterday." Chan Dou laughed.

"I originally had no intention of accepting the invitation. However, there was a sudden change." Lin Huang did not tell him the exact reason.

"It seems like I'm quite lucky." Chan Dou did not ask any further. "Since you're already our member, I'll briefly introduce the Heaven Alliance to you."

"The Heaven Alliance was established 783 years ago. It's the first organization that exists in the virtual reality during the new epoch. It's also the only genius organization. As Division 1 expanded, the number of geniuses increased. We were then divided into different alliances. As Division 2, Division 3, and the safe zones were being developed, the rest of the organizations started to join in. Some of the sub-alliances gained independence due to specific reasons, and they are now called the Hong Alliance, the Tang Alliance.

"Over the past 700 years, the Heaven Alliance has been the leader among all the alliances in the Genius Union. Privileges are granted to members of the Heaven Alliance. For instance, we use points to exchange items in the Genius Union. All the items are offered at 30% off. As for the chief and the vice chief, they are eligible to enjoy a 40% discount on all items. On the other hand, the chief and the vice chief of Hong Alliance enjoy only 30% discount off. Moreover, many rewards are given to the members each month which are twice of what is awarded to the Hong Alliance members that rank second in the Genius Union. In reality, priority such as choosing the new ruins and gaining access to the ruins is given to us by the Emperor's Heart.

"Of course, because we're the leader, our actions are often monitored by the people. Some of the vice chiefs opposed my suggestion and the main reason is that during this period, there've been too many comments about you."

Before Chan Dou finished his last sentence, Lin Huang already knew that many of the Heaven Alliance members did not want a cheat to join them as it would ruin their reputation.

"Why did you choose to stand by my side?" Lin Huang doubted.

"It's because you're really a strong person. Although I've no idea how you managed to do it, it would've been impossible for me to earn eight million points at the 21st checkpoint when I was still a blue flame-level. I won't even be able to do that when I'm a gold flame-level. Moreover, for a blue flame-level to get to the 46th checkpoint, even if I have the strategy, it's less likely for me to achieve this." Chan Dou admitted that he would be weaker than Lin Huang if they were of the same level. He did not want to mention that he might have cheated.

"If you don't die young, when you achieve immortal-level rank-9, your abilities can be compared to mine or be even stronger. I don't wish to see such a young plant being dumped to grow in the wilderness and end up dying together with the rank grasses. You'll only be able to grow into a massive tree in rich soil. I hope that the Heaven Alliance will be the one to help you instead of the other organizations."

"Thank you for your compliment. I'm just a blue flame-level…"

"This is just your temporary combat strength. I believe that you'll grow up soon and prove to everyone that I'm right. You must show them that they are wrong!

"To be honest, over the past 20 to 30 years, we usually recruit those who are higher than immortal-level rank-6 or rank-7. It's less likely that we'll recruit those who are weaker than immortal-level rank-3. Most of the talented immortal-level rank-1 to rank-3s will typically be recruited by the Hong Alliance, the Tang Alliance, and the rest. They've been expanding all these years as the immortal-level of low ranks have leveled up to higher levels. However, those with strong combat strength in our alliance have left, and the number of people is decreasing.

"I realize that this is the downside since I took over the Heaven Alliance. However, I've no idea how to solve this issue. I hope that you can do something good for the Heaven Alliance. When the seniors see that the newbie is growing, we can then bring in new blood into the Heaven Alliance, so that the alliance can grow stronger…"

After having chatted with Lin Huang for more than half an hour, he was the one who ended up talking most of the time whereas Lin Huang listened to him. He had told him about many of their glorious achievements in the past, and about the challenge that they were facing right now as well as the Heaven Alliance's vision. They even talked about the disasters that could probably happen in five years and some topics that were not related to the Heaven Alliance.

"I wanted to meet you as I'd like to know what kind of person you were. Now, I got to see you in the flesh. Despite being different from what I imagined, I'm satisfied with you." More than half an hour later, Chan Dou finally got up from his seat. "I wish that you can build a sense of belonging in the Heaven Alliance and treat it like your home.

"As for the new member reception, I'll pass it to Wang Zhong. If you've any doubts, you may ask him." Chan Dou patted Lin Huang's shoulder and said, "If you encounter any problems that you can't solve, you may directly contact me since you already have my contact number."

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Chapter 664: Betting

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Wang Zhong was a muscular man, and he was at least 1.95 meters tall. There was a green shadow on his face after shaving, and he had a serious look on his face. His combat strength was on immortal-level rank-7, and he was the person in charge of the 46th checkpoint of the Heaven Alliance subdivision.

"Most of the Heaven Alliance members are at the foothold of the 55th checkpoint. Only a small number of us are on the 46th checkpoint. Including you and I, there're a total of 28 people." Wang Zhong pretty much explained why the area was so quiet.

"Considering that you might stay at the 46th checkpoint for a long period of time, I'll bring you around so that you can familiarize yourself with the environment." Wang Zhong did not despise Lin Huang though. He was just straightforward as he felt that it was less likely that Lin Huang could make a breakthrough to the 55th checkpoint in a short span of time.

Lin Huang knew himself very well. With his current ability, getting to the 50th checkpoint was a challenge to him, let alone reaching the 55th checkpoint. As for any levels below the 55th checkpoint, the nearest gathering point for the humans was the 46th checkpoint.

Despite Lin Huang not being able to understand his facial expressions, he was somehow a responsible man. He spent the entire morning bringing him around so that he could familiarize himself with the environment. He answered all of Lin Huang's questions when they were on their way, and he explained everything in detail. It seemed like he had nothing to hide.

"On the 46th checkpoint, the strongest alliance is the Hong Alliance, followed by the Tang Alliance. Our overall ability is on par with the Divine Alliance. We are ranked third, and it's a fierce fight."

While they were having their lunch, Wang Zhong roughly told him the situation of their competitors.

"Under normal circumstances, the majority of them in the checkpoints below the 55th checkpoint won't get the Heaven Alliance members into trouble. However, there's an exclusion. Also, your condition is rather special. The people from the Hong Alliance and Tang Alliance might probably challenge you and make use of you to achieve their goals. The Divine Alliance members are more evil as they'll deliberately trigger you so that you'll bet on a fight. They can then get points from you. Don't get cheated if this happens to you. Just contact me in the first place. I'll get it done."

"I know that you're a supreme genius and you aren't weak. However, everyone on the Stairway Tree is geniuses. Those who are on immortal-level rank-6 are on par with immortal-level rank-9s. Moreover, there are quite a number of immortal-level rank-6s at the 46th checkpoint." Wang Zhong looked at Lin Huang with a serious expression and advised, "I'd suggest using the points as soon as possible. Otherwise, wherever you go, you'll look like a tasty lamb on the grilling rack releasing the fragrance of meat. A majority of them won't be able to obtain more than four million points in a year at that checkpoint. If I weren't a member of the Heaven Alliance, I might've attacked you. If you can't think of anything to buy, you can choose to buy some ancient relics or convert the points to Life Crystals."

"I'll use it within a day or two." Lin Huang nodded. He knew that the number of points he had would definitely get him into trouble. Therefore, he had to spend some time listing out the items that he needed and use up whatever points he had.

One thing that Lin Huang was not aware of because he was on the 46th checkpoint the whole morning was that almost everyone in the Genius Union knew that he had joined the Heaven Alliance.

It was because somebody had taken a video of Chan Dao killing the four robbers this morning and posted it in the Genius Union forum. Many of the passersby became Chan Dou's fans after he said, "Never insult the Heaven Alliance!"

"He's so powerful! Chan Dou is my idol from today onwards!"

"Idol, I want a baby with you!"

"Damn, why doesn't the chief of the Hong Alliance have such an ability to show off in public?"

"Bro Chan V587, I want a baby with you too. @Chan Dou." The person who sent this message was the chief of Hong Alliance, Zhu Hong. Aside from posting a comment, she even mentioned Chan Dou in her comment and attracted many people's attention.

"The goddess is here. Let's switch our focus to our goddess!"

In just a short while, Chan Dou replied: "Sis Hong, are you serious? (Drooling)"

His message had caught many people's attention as well, stirring up the crowd.

"It's a gone case. Love is blind!"

"Are the Heaven Alliance and the Hong Alliance going to consolidate?!"

However, Zhu Hong's reply soon threw cold water on the hot topic: "I'm just kidding. (Face with stuck-out tongue)"

Chan Dou replied promptly, and there were no words in the message. There was only an emoji: "(Frown)".

Interrupted by Chan Dou and Zhu Hong, the people had no further concern about Lin Huang's issue. However, from the video, everybody knew that 'Lin Xie' had joined the Heaven Alliance.

Following this bold statement, aside from few of the top alliances, the rest of the alliances no longer attempted to steal his points. Chan Dou's stance was evident as he welcomed Lin Xie at the 46th checkpoint. He indicated that Lin Xie was important to him.

Since Chan Dou had shown up to attack them, even some of the influential members had no guts to assault him with a sneak attack. They only dared to fight him face to face because even if the sneak attack were successful, the extra four million points would earn them a higher ranking on the leaderboard. Then, Chan Dou could easily find out who had attacked, and nobody dared to offend him.

However, if they were to fight him face to face, as long as Lin Xie accepted the battle, he would lose all the points to them in public. Chan Dou could then not do anything to them.

After lunch, Wang Zhong intentionally reminded him, "Don't accept any challenges." Lin Huang then left the Heaven Alliance territory and headed towards the Stairway Tree to prepare to continue climbing the Stairway Tree.

On the tree branches, no one attempted to attack Lin Huang as when they had first met him. Apparently, Chan Dou's attack intimidated many people.

Many of them purposely avoided Lin Huang. Although four million points meant a lot to them, they did not want Chan Dou to send them to the first checkpoint.

However, as expected by Wang Zhong, not all of them were afraid of Chan Dou.

A slovenly immortal-level rank-6 soon blocked Lin Huang's way. He knew nothing about aesthetics as he was dressed like a gangster. He seemed older than 40 years old (although he was actually below 40). Not only was he wearing earrings, but he also had nose rings as well. Nobody knew if there were other rings beneath his clothes.

"Aren't you the well-known Lin Xie who ranks second on the leaderboard?" The man cackled evilly.

"What's wrong? Please get out of the way." Lin Huang knew that trouble was here.

"I'd like to play a game with you…"

Lin Huang did not wait for him to continue and interrupted, "I'm sorry. I'm not interested in men. Please look for someone else."

"I mean let's make a bet!" The man with the piercings got angry and immediately revealed his actual intention.

"Oh, you want to make a bet. Can't you say it clearly? You said that you want to play a game with me. How the f*ck would I know what game you want to play?" Lin Huang acted like he was shocked.

"Do you have the guts to accept?!"

"No, I'm not interested," Lin Huang rejected.

Seeing he was about to swear at him again, he said, "I have more than 8.3 million points now. If you want to place a bet, collect eight million points first. I don't count odd points. Once you've collected enough points, I'll give you a chance to have a life-and-death fight with me. Anyone who loses the fight will have to start again from the first checkpoint and surrender half of their total points. If you don't have enough points, I'll give you the time to collect them. At 6 p.m., I'll accept your challenge here. If you fail to collect the points by 6 p.m., there's no need for you to come here. Otherwise, I'd have to look for our chief to get the remaining points from you."

"Lin Xie, I've just recorded what you said. Please keep your promise. Otherwise, you're not the only one who'll feel embarrassed, but the entire Heaven Alliance will be humiliated," the man with the piercings said with a wry smile.

"Don't worry. I'll be here at 6 p.m. sharp. After this, don't ever attempt to challenge me because I'll use up all the points tonight. Collect the points if you want to challenge me!"

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Chapter 665: The Person Who Wears Earrings on His Nose

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the afternoon, Lin Huang made a breakthrough from the 46th to the 48th checkpoint at the Stairway Tree five and a half hour ago. Soon, he returned to the human foothold on the 46th checkpoint.

The rule of the Stairway Tree was that the checkpoints that they had cleared would not be reset as long as one did not die and leave the Stairway Tree. Therefore, he would not be able to go through the checkpoints he had already cleared again regardless of whether he was climbing up or down the tree.

Lin Huang only found out about this after he heard about it from Zhao San so his plan to return to the previous checkpoints to practice Army Attack Tactics under extreme conditions would not work. He would only be able to restart his progress from the first checkpoint if he was killed or if he exited the Stairway Tree so it did not take him too long to return to the 46th checkpoint.

At 5.45p.m., Lin Huang appeared where to promised to be at this afternoon.

His appearance caught the attention of many people because the crowd thought he would not have the guts to show up.

There were quite a number of immortal-level rank-6 people on the 46th checkpoint. Those who were at immortal-level rank-6 in the Genius Union were capable of going against ordinary immortal-level rank-9 monsters. Some of them even managed to kill the immortal-level rank-9 monsters they went up against.

Lin Huang's combat strength was only on the blue flame-level but many of them doubted it since he dared to provoke those at immortal-level rank-6. Most of the people present figured that he had a trump card but nobody knew what it was.

The people discussed this among themselves. "Lin Xie actually had the guts to show up. I wonder what he has on hand."

"I've heard that he's taken control of a powerful demigod relic though I'm unsure if it's true."

"Even if he's able to control it, he can probably only use it to attack once. To control a demigod relic is difficult, even for those on the imperial-level. With his combat strength as a blue flame-level, the fact that he could even use it a single time was amazing. If he managed to kill the first challenger with his demigod relic, what about the rest of the challengers? Wouldn't it be beneficial to them? I don't think he has a demigod relic as a trump card. Perhaps it's a skill he can use repeatedly."

Despite there being people who disagreed with it, most of them who were present felt that Lin Huang had a demigod relic up his sleeves.

When it was almost six in the evening, the man with piercings from the Divine Alliance and the rest of the challengers arrived.

The few of them finally managed to collect eight million points after putting in quite a large amount of effort.

They knew very well that Lin Huang probably had something up his sleeves since he had the guts to show up so they prepared themselves well before they came.

Lin Huang's invitation to fight them attracted everybody's attention, not just those on the 46th checkpoint. Many of the people in different checkpoints knew about this battle because those who were present did not only post it in the Genius Union's forum, they even started a live video of the battle.

Wang Zhong had logged out after entertaining Lin Huang in the afternoon, and it was already 6.p.m when he found out about this. He immediately logged in to Genius Union and rushed to the battle.

"Lin Xie, I've told you this morning specifically not to accept anyone's challenge. Why can't you control yourself?" Wang Zhong frowned. There were a few live videos now but he had no choice but to stop the fight since he promised Chan Dou that he would take good care of Lin Xie.

He turned back and looked at the man with piercings. "Punk, how dare you! An immortal-level rank-6 group teaming up to bully someone at the blue flame-level? Doesn't the Divine Alliance feel embarrassed? If you actually want to fight him, I'll entertain you instead!"

The man with piercings did not bother with Wang Zhong at all. Instead, he smiled at Lin Huang. "I didn't know that this was your intention. You pretend to invite us and then ask this guy named Wang to stop us."

"You're thinking too much. Since I've accepted your challenge, I'm naturally capable of sending you back to the first checkpoint." After uttering those words, Lin Huang looked at Wang Zhong and said, "Brother Wang, avoiding them is not the way to solve this problem. Killing them is the only way I know of that can solve this matter. The chief once said to never insult the Heaven Alliance. Anybody who dares to extend their claws and attack the Heaven Alliance will have to face us as we chop off their claws to teach them a lesson."

After listening to what Lin Huang had to say, utter shock flashed through Wang Zhong's eyes. Then, as his face turned serious, he asked, "How confident are you to win this fight?"

"I'm 100% confident!" Lin Huang grinned.

"I know that they're prepared for this." Wang Zhong was still worried.

"I know they are." Lin Huang nodded. "Brother Wang, please do me a favor and be the judge."

"Hey! Isn't it unfair to let someone from the Heaven Alliance be the judge?" The man with piercings shouted when he overheard their conversation.

"There are so many people here, and there are live videos as well. Moreover, it's a battle to the death. Won't the one who survivor and the one who dies be clear?" Lin Huang laughed. "I asked Brother Wang to be the judge so that he can verify your strength to see if you're qualified to challenge me. Also, he can be a witness to the signing of the agreement for our battle to the death."

"I've said this before, anyone who has eight million points can challenge me. Brother Wang, please check if these few challengers have enough points. Otherwise, send them right back to the first checkpoint." After listening to Lin Huang, two men standing behind the man with piercings immediately walked back to the crowd.

Wang Zhong glanced at the two of them but held his tongue. He began checking the points for the remaining four challengers. The page where their points were recorded popped up in front of him. They had more than eight million points and their four names were indeed on the leaderboard. They were ranked from the third to sixth place respectively.

After the check was complete, Wang Zhong nodded his head at Lin Huang and said, "There's no problem with their points."

"Let's start signing the agreement then."

Wang Zhong projected the agreement in front of them. It contained within it the basic provisions of the Stairway Tree's agreement for a fight to the death. There were no additional rules. After showing both parties the provisions and confirming that there were no other problems, both parties signed their name and put down their fingerprints.

"Who's going to be the first one to challenge me?" After signing the agreement, Lin Huang looked at the four of them with a smile.

Four of them exchanged glances with each other. All of them looked hesitant.

The first one to challenge him would be exposed to a higher risk since nobody knew what Lin Huang had up his sleeves. Despite the fact that the four of them had prepared themselves earlier, they were still unwilling to be the first one to challenge him. However, they knew that if the first person won the fight, the rest of the challengers would have no chance of challenging him since Lin Xie would be sent back to the first checkpoint after his death. As this thought ran through their heads, the four of them struggled with making a choice.

"Hey! The person with earrings on his nose. Aren't you're the one who was shouting in excitement this morning? Don't you have the guts to go first?" Lin Huang teased. "Just admit defeat if you don't want to fight. I'll just take four million points and you won't be sent back to the first checkpoint. Isn't it a win-win situation?" Lin Huang insulted, causing the crowd to burst into laughter.

'Damn it! It's not a win-win situation, and these aren't earrings!' The man with piercings thought to himself.

Since Lin Huang insulted him, he had no choice but to stand out from the rest since the battle was broadcast live. The people in the Genius Union would definitely laugh at him if he was afraid of Lin Huang at this moment.

"Hmph, sharp-tongued boy! I'm interested to see if your abilities are as strong as your mouth!"

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Chapter 666: Brother Lin Has No Mercy but Many Cannons!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Standing on the 46th checkpoint branch of the Stairway Tree, Lin Huang and the man with piercings stood to face each other. Both of them were standing about 30 meters away from each other while the rest of the people, including the three challengers stood aside.

In an area that was thousands of meters in circumference, only Lin Huang, the man with piercings, and Wang Zhong who was the judge stood there.

"Are you ready?" Wang Zhong frowned and asked Lin Huang after the man with piercings took out two one-handed axes while he did nothing.

"Please wait a moment." After uttering those words, Lin Huang gazed upon the man with piercings, the three other challengers, and the rest of the people. He grinned. "Aren't you guys curious about what's my trump card is? I'll reveal it now…"

As he said that, a black door that was about three meters high with intricate golden patterns carved into it gradually appeared before Lin Huang. As if controlled by Telekinesis, something appeared and lingered in mid-air, and the muzzle of the cannon pointed directly at the man with piercings.

Most of the people could recognize the item at first glance.

"I-is that a God Crasher?!"

"How could Lin Xie get a God Crasher? That's a demigod-level item!"

"I think Zhou Huai is in trouble. He'll definitely be sent back to the first checkpoint if he's attacked by the God Crasher."

"It's uncertain. Though the God Crasher is powerful, nobody knows if he can even hit his target."

Zhou Huai was the punk's real name. Since he dressed in a slovenly manner, the people called him a punk. Then, as his nickname spread beyond the Divine Alliance, everybody thought it matched him well so people began addressing him this way. Only a few of them would call his by his real name.

Seeing Lin Huang take out the God Crasher, Zhou Huai's expression changed. Soon, a sinister laugh was heard as he said to Lin Huang, "I thought you'd have something incredible. It's just a God Crasher. You're doomed if your first hit misses your target!"

"Now, whoever told you that I only have one?" Lin Huang smirked as he took out taking out his second God Crasher.

"Two God Crashers…" Zhou Huai's face turned serious.

"Nobody knows who the winner is now," many of them who were watching the live video said.

However, after taking out the second God Crasher, he still did not signal Wang Zhong that he was ready. Instead, he sniggered and took out a third God Crasher…

Seeing the appearance of the third God Crasher, Zhou Huai's face turned grave.

The crowd who were watching the livestream no longer had faith in him. If the three God Crashers failed to hit Zhou Huai even once, Lin Xie would be fated to lose the fight.

As the judge, Wang Zhong seemed to be quite relaxed.

Lin Huang smiled as he looked at Zhou Huai and teased, "You can still give up now."

"Even if you have three God Crashers, it doesn't mean you'll win the fight!" Zhuo Huai was being stubborn.

"Is that so?" Lin Huang frowned. "What if I have a fourth one?"

After saying that, another God Crasher appeared in front of Lin Huang.

"Damn, four God Crashers! Lin Xie must be the Union Government Armed Forces leader's son!"

Zhou Huai's lips were twitching. He hated himself for being stubborn. Otherwise, Lin Xie might not have taken out the fourth God Crasher.

"It seems like four God Crashers are still not enough for you…" Naturally, Lin Huang knew that Zhou Huai was dying inside but he still continued piling the stress on him. "What if I have... Five God Crashers?"

The crowd no longer knew what to say. Was he trying to show off his wealth or his background?

"If five isn't enough... I still have a sixth one!" Just as he said that, he took out his final God Crasher. "I think six should be enough since you're just immortal-level rank-6. If you were someone at immortal-level rank-9, I don't mind taking out another three God Crashers."

Seeing Lin Huang continuously take out six God Crashers, the screens showing the livestream was about to explode.

"Brother Lin has no mercy but many cannons!"

"It's a group of idiots! They actually thought that Lin Xie was weak but he's actually the king of cannons. He'll shoot you in the face!"

"I'd like to bet five credit points! The head of the second artillery corps must be the one backing him!"

At the 63rd checkpoint of the Stairway Tree, a few of the seniors were paying attention to the fight as well.

Since it was a battle between the Heaven Alliance and Divine Alliance that even involved Lin Xie who was previously the focus of the entire Genius Union, they were curious about his performance.

"He's doing pretty well. Looks like me when I was younger." Seeing Lin Huang take out six God Crashers, Chan Dou gave him a thumbs up in front of the screen.

Zhu Hong, Hong Meng's chief paid close attention to the battle as well. She fixed her gaze on Lin Huang as if something had dawned on her. "Too bad I won't be able to witness his true abilities… I somehow feel that he's intentionally using the God Crashers to hide his true abilities?"

Zhong Liyan, the Divine Alliance's chief's face turned grave as he stared at the video. He thought that they would definitely win the battle and finally show off to the Heaven Alliance. However, after seeing the six God Crashers, he knew that the situation had changed. Instead, it was as if he was sending his face out for others to slap.

In the live video, six God Crashers appeared before Lin Huang, and they were arranged in a circle measuring about one meter. The black cannon muzzles all took aim at Zhou Huai who had now already lost his fighting spirit.

"I'm ready." Lin Huang nodded his head at Wang Zhong. He then looked at Zhou Huai and said, "Before it begins, you still have time to give up."

Zhou Huai shot Lin Huang a deadly stare and nodded his head at Wang Zhong. "Let's begin."

"Counting down. 3, 2, 1, start!"

The moment Wang Zhong's voice was heard, Zhou Huai immediately rushed toward him like a phantom.

Lin Huang remained calm. He immediately shifted the direction of one of the muzzles and soon, red flares could be seen shooting out of it, completely shrouding Zhou Huai in it.

At the next moment, the second God Crasher's muzzle behind Lin Huang suddenly shifted its aim and red flares flew past his body.

When that happened, Lin Huang frowned as he willed the third God Crasher to move to the left and shot red flares into the sky, flying at lightning speed.

As the flames flickered, a groan that lasted less than a second was heard.

"Zhou Huai is killed. You've obtained 4,135,186 points!"

The battle lasted for less than two seconds. Many of them could not even see Zhou Huai's movement at all. They could only see Lin Huang launched the three attacks before Zhou Huai lost.

Only Wang Zhong and a few of them knew what had really just happened.

Humans were not allowed to fly or teleport at the Stairway Tree, and Zhou Huai spent many of his points in exchange for the two dimensional relics he had with him. However, the relics were consumed when Lin Huang made his first two attacks. Only the third attack struck him.

Wang Zhong was puzzled that Lin Huang actually managed to sense Zhou Huai's position faster than him before accurately launching a rapid attack.

Naturally, Chan Dou and the rest noticed something strange. However, nobody had expected Lin Huang to use his territory before the battle. They only thought that Lin Huang had extraordinary sensory abilities.

Once Zhou Huai was killed in that split second, Lin Huang glanced at the remaining three challengers. He did not request to continue. Instead, he requested, "I want to take a 20 minutes break before moving on to the second battle."

Many of them were puzzled when they heard Lin Huang's request.

However, Lin Huang did not explain anything as he walked toward Wang Zhong. He then took out several molten crystals to recharge the energy used by the three God Crashers.

"Isn't it against the rules to do so?" one of the challengers asked. "If Lin Xie recharged the God Crashers after every battle, we would have no way to win the fight."

"Didn't you read the agreement for our battle to the death that you just signed? If it's a continuous fight, the person who's challenged is allowed to take a break after every fight. They're allowed to have an hour for their break at most." Lin Huang frowned. "It's not an additional rule. It exists in the Stairway Tree's basic provisions."

The challengers then immediately tapped on their letter of challenge to fact-check this information. Soon, they saw the rule that Lin Huang had just mentioned, and their face instantly turned grave.

After about 15 minutes, the three drained God Crashers were filled to the brim once more.

Lin Huang returned to the open space and gazing at the remaining three challengers who had signed the agreement before he asked, "Who's up for round two?"

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Chapter 667: Buy Buy Buy!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The three challengers from the Divine Alliance panicked.

After watching Lin Huang's previous battle, they knew that they had no chance of winning. Not only would they be sent back to the first checkpoint, even the points that they got from the rest of the Divine Alliance members would also have to be surrendered to Lin Huang.

Because the battle was being streamed live, it would be embarrassing to admit defeat now. However, they would feel ashamed as well if they were killed and had to give their points to him. The three of them discussed secretly and soon, they made up their minds.

"Lin Xie, it's our fault as we attempted to steal your points. We admit that we're weak," a skinny, young man said, "Since you've killed Zhou Huai and obtained more than four million points, please stop here. If you can act as if nothing has happened, we guarantee that we won't trouble you any longer. We can still be friends when we meet in the future."

"What do you mean?" Lin Huang frowned. "You've already signed the agreement, but now you're telling me now to act as if nothing has happened. Are you trying to break the contract? Why didn't you consider the consequences before robbing me? You can't fight me now, so you say that you're weak. If I'm the one who loses the fight, do I deserve to give you all the points? Do I deserve to get bullied just because I'm weaker than you guys?!"

What he said struck the trio dumb.

"You signed the agreement along with your fingerprints at your own will. Nobody forced you to do so. Everyone here and the people who are watching the live stream video witnessed this. Rules are rules. If you were to break the contract, I suppose that the audience won't agree to it, let alone me. You only have two choices if you want to leave. The first choice is to admit defeat and give half of your points to me whereas the second choice is to let me send you back to the first checkpoint of the Stairway Tree!"

Apparently, Lin Huang was not going to accept the three of them merely admitting that they were weak.

"Lin Xie, don't be so mean to us," whined the skinny young man gloomily.

"Don't lecture me." Lin Huang knew that he sounded intimidating. "Also, if you were to get me into trouble in the future, just come to me. Even if you're an immortal-level rank-9, I'll still send you back to the first checkpoint of the Stairway Tree."

The audience's eyes flew open wide, and comments could be seen flooding the screen.

"I hope that the chief of the Heaven Alliance can keep me with him. I know how to do household chores."

"When I was still a blue flame-level, I froze to death for many times on the second checkpoint of the Stairway Tree. Look at the blue flame-levels nowadays. Tsk, tsk, why's there such a huge difference?"

"If I have more than ten God Crashers, I can also… Alright, I'll stop bullshitting. I can't even afford to use the God Crasher…"

"Fight or admit defeat? Make your choice." Lin Huang did not give them a third choice.

Since it had already come so far, the three challengers knew that they had no way out.

As they thought of the live video that was capturing them and the fact that their boss would probably be watching them, the three of them had no choice but to fight.

They did not have any hope left in the next three battles.

Although the three of them also had dimensional relics, Lin Huang managed to capture their movements with his Territory skill. His God Crashers killed them after a few teleport attempts. None of them managed to survive his attacks for more than two seconds.

After killing Zhou Huai and the rest, Lin Huang's points exceeded 24 million and were double that of Chan Dou's, who was previously ranked first. He now topped the chart.

Many of them were eyeing his points. However, whoever watched the live video basically had no means of grabbing his points at all. Six God Crashers were no joke, and nobody knew how many he had in total.

After the four battles ended, it was about 6.40p.m. As the sky turned dark, he followed Wang Zhong and returned to the Heaven Alliance subdivision.

"Little brat, you make me feel relieved. Fortunately, you won the fight and didn't embarrass the Heaven Alliance." Wang Zhong was impressed.

"If we try to avoid them all the time, they'll ask for more. What they say to me will get harsher every time we meet." Lin Huang decided to fight them only after careful consideration. He did not act rashly. "Even if they're here in the future, I guess they'll be humble. As for the rest who saw the God Crashers, I guess they won't want to fight me anymore."

"Although the third generation God Crasher is powerful, the number of usages is restricted. It's helpful in emergencies. Try not to use it so often in the future." Wang Zhong could identify that it was a third generation God Crasher.

"I know. I wouldn't have used the God Crasher if there weren't so many points for me to grab. I have an additional 16 million now, which I can exchange for many amazing items." Lin Huang grinned.

"One Stairway point equals to 1,000 Life Crystals. 24 million points equal to 24 billion Life Crystals. It's enough to buy two demigod relics!" Wang Zhong exclaimed. "However, I'd suggest you not to buy the demigod relic. Try to buy whatever you can use now or in the near future. What you should do now is to enhance your ability as the God Crasher is just an external support."

"Got it. Don't worry." Lin Huang already knew how he was going to use the points.

After saying goodbye to Wang Zhong, Lin Huang logged out of the Genius Union. At the hotel, he visited the Genius Union Stairway Mall in browsing mode.

The first item he checked out was the telekinetic throwing daggers.

Under normal circumstances, ancient relics could only be activated when Lin Huang achieved immortal-level. Nevertheless, he bought it now because he could use it when he used the Transformation Card. Moreover, he was now on blue flame-level. As soon as he found a suitable Life Fire monster, he could get on gold flame-level in two to three months, at the most. Perhaps it would take him about half a year to level up to immortal-level. Therefore, it was not too early to prepare.

Six types of telekinetic throwing daggers were found in the Stairway Mall. Lin Huang was interested in the strongest weapon at first glance. The name of the Life Power throwing dagger was the Ink Feather. A triple mutated Dark Angel had dropped the item. Despite the fact that the combat strength of the Dark Angels being on purple gold-rank, their abilities were comparable to a demigod's. Killing those rare creatures was tough.

There were only three sets of Ink Feathers in the Stairway Mall. 3,600 dark jade-like throwing daggers formed each set and were being sold at a price of 1.8 million points, which could be converted to 1.8 billion Life Crystals.

"It's expensive, but it's worth it! It's on par with a demigod relic, and it's the best telekinetic weapon." Lin Huang then ordered the daggers without hesitation.

Each set would cost him 1.8 million points, so three sets would cost 5.4 million points. The members of the Heaven Alliance enjoyed a discount of 30%. Therefore, the price ended up to be 3.78 million.

"The 30% discount is awesome! I can save more than 1.6 million points then." He paid without hesitating and soon, he started looking for sword skills.

His Sword Dao was stuck at level-4 as he only had a few transcendent sword skills.

The transcendent sword skills ranked from Illumination, Oblivion, and Void Breaker. They were on level-3, level-4, and level-5 Sword Dao respectively.

According to Xiao Hei, the epic-level sword skills incorporated two levels, which were Illumination and Oblivion. The corresponding level of the legendary-level sword skills would be the Void Breaker.

When he was at the Martial Hunter College, he had learned almost all the sword skills below transcendent level in Divison 7. However, the transcendent sword skills were possessed by different organizations and were not publicly available.

He had learned less than ten types of epic-level sword skills, including the two skills he had picked up at the Martial Hunter College and a few that he had already learned on his own. As for the legendary-level sword skills, the only one he had discovered was the Star Dome.

In the Stairway Mall, there was a variety of Illumination skills; there was a total of 1,300 of them. The skills were relatively cheap as he could buy them at a price of just about 10 points. The most expensive skill cost about 80 points, and none of them cost more than 100 points.

Lin Huang then spent more than 40,000 points to download more than 1,300 types of Illumination sword skills.

He then started checking on the Oblivion and Void Breaker sword skills.

The Oblivion sword skill was rather expensive as it cost at least 300 points per skill. Some of them even required 5,000 to 6,000 points. There were 700 of them. Lin Huang spent 1.2 million points to buy all of them.

As for the Void Breaker sword skill, each of them was sold at a price of more than 10,000 points. Many of them cost about 100,000 points. Also, the price of seven of the sword skills cost more than a million. However, there were only about 80 types of Void Breaker sword skills.

All in all, Lin Huang had spent about 18 million points to buy seven of the most expensive sword skills and the remaining 78 sword skills.

After purchasing all the items, Lin Huang had almost used up all the 24 million points he initially had.

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Chapter 668: Which Checkpoint of the Stairway Tree Were You At When You Were a Blue Flame-Level?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Seeing his remaining 780,000 points, he forced a smile. "The points can be used up terribly easily."

After buying all the stuff he wanted, it was about 8 p.m. He started checking the sword skills that he had just acquired.

The sword skills were encrypted and had been sent to him through his Emperor's Heart Ring after payment had been made.

The Illumination sword skill was the first set projected. Lin Huang spent about 15 minutes watching its tutorial.

Since his Sword Dao was already on level-4, he basically managed to learn the level-3 sword skills after watching the practical part of the sword skill and its tutorial.

It was like a person who had mastered advanced mathematics and was looking back at the syllabus of high school mathematics. They would understand it after studying it once.

It took him another five to six minutes to watch the practicing of the sword skill thrice. However, he did not watch the detailed tutorial.

After about 20 minutes, he started practicing the sword skill in the hotel living room. He practiced thrice after a few minutes. Each time after finishing the practice of his sword skill, he obtained thousands of card pieces. After three rounds, the Skill Card of the first sword skill was formed.

Soon after, a Skill Card was formed in his body after every 20 minutes.

By midnight, Lin Huang had already learned 11 Illumination sword skills. He could sense that there was a slight improvement in his Sword Dao. Obviously, his way of practicing was correct.

The next day, Lin Huang got out of bed early in the morning and logged into the Genius Union world. He started climbing again.

After more than two hours, he finally managed to get through the 49th checkpoint. However, after more than two hours, Lin Huang was stuck on the 50th checkpoint.

He was completely wrapped in a sticky resin at the 50th checkpoint, and he could not get rid of it at all. Attacking was the only way to free himself. He had to slash it by force and make his way through the ditch.

However, the resin was immune to almost all types of energy including Life Power, elemental energy, telekinetic energy, and some of the unusual energies. Only physical attacks could destroy it. Moreover, the resin could move and recover on its own. If the attack were not launched fast enough, the damaged section would recover on its own swiftly.

Some of them teamed up and attempted to attack it. However, as long as there was more than one person who attacked the same part, the defense strength of the resin would be 10 to 100 times stronger.

Lin Huang was most fearful of checkpoints like this. Since he was just a blue flame-level, his physique was incomparable to an immortal-level's.

As the resin was immune to his telekinetic power, the power of the telekinetic weapon would be suppressed when it reached a particular area. Its power would be even weaker than 1/10,000 of its standard power. In fact, it would not affect the resin at all.

After several attempts, not even a crack could be seen on the resin. He had tried many ways such as removing his telekinetic power as he approached the resin, relying on the throwing dagger to attack, and grouping the throwing daggers into a drill to bore a hole in it. He had even summoned the Mighty Ape.

Since there was an audience, Lin Huang did not summon Tyrant or attempt to attack with his sword skills. He then returned to the 46th checkpoint.

Just as he returned to the 46th checkpoint, somebody had started a new thread in the Genius Union forum. The post was about Lin Huang failing the 50th checkpoint.

The people started commenting rapidly, saying that Lin Xie could only rely on the God Crasher. Without the God Crasher, he was trash.

Once the people started criticizing him, many of them followed the trend and commented on him. They commented that it was useless to rely on external support. Only those who were weak would depend on external forces.

Only a few of them supported him as he had gained some new fans since the incident that happened yesterday.

What ended this commotion was Chan Dou's comment.

"For those who say that Lin Xie is weak, I'd like to ask, which checkpoint of the Stairway Tree were you on when you were a blue flame-level?"

The comment struck everybody dumb.

Lin Xie was only on blue flame-level, yet he had already reached the 49th checkpoint. Nobody had ever achieved this in the past. He indeed had the God Crasher. However, could someone get into the 49th checkpoint solely by relying on the God Crashers? Even idiots would know that it was impossible. Aside from some of the checkpoints where the God Crasher would be useful to him when there were the monster attacks, the God Crasher could not assist him at all at the rest of the checkpoints.

By the time Lin Huang knew that people were commenting on him, the issue had already subsided. He did not care so much about it though. After returning to the Heaven Alliance subdivision, he logged out of the Genius Union.

Since he was stuck and could no longer continue climbing up the Stairway Tree, Lin Huang decided to focus on practicing his sword skills. He did not log into the Genius Union for ten consecutive days.

Under normal circumstances, Lin Huang could master one set of sword skills in about 20 minutes. However, sometimes when the swords skills were somewhat tricky, it would take him twice as long to master the skill. Over the past ten days, Lin Huang had learned about 450 Illumination sword skills, which was about a third of the Illumination sword skills that he had bought.

Lin Huang's sword realm was improving rapidly in the past ten days. At first, he was initially at the beginning stage of Oblivion. He had now proceeded to the middle stage.

Lin Huang planned to practice for 20 consecutive days so that he could learn all the Illumination sword skills. However, he received a video call from Chan Dou early in the morning.

As soon as the video call was answered, Chan Dou asked with a smile, "You haven't logged into the Genius Union for 13 days. What are you up to?"

"Recently, I've been busy practicing my sword skills. I didn't know that it's the end of the month already," Lin Huang replied.

"I'm calling you because it's near the end of the month. A few days later, the Stairway Tree will summarize the rewards to be given out in May. If you're capable of breaking through the 50th checkpoint, try your best to do so. Rewards given to you after you reach the 50th checkpoint or higher are completely different from what you obtain from the 40th to the 49th checkpoint. However, if you can't do so, just ignore what I've said since 90% of them who stay on the 46th checkpoint failed to reach the 50th checkpoint anyway. There aren't any useful strategies for this checkpoint."

"I'll try again when I'm free." Lin Huang nodded. He did not notice that it was now the end of May.

After hanging up, he took a look at the date. It was already May 29. There were two days left until the monthly rewards would be given to them on the first of June.

He hesitated for a moment and soon, he logged into the Genius Union again.

It was still early in the morning at about 7 a.m. Not many people were online.

He then rode on the Mighty Ape and directly climbed up to the 50th checkpoint.

After observing the surroundings and making sure that there was no one else around him, he then took out his ink-tainted battle sword. His sword realm had been fully activated. Even without the use of Life Power, he sliced his sword forward and cut through the resin.

Lin Huang did not expect that a big ditch would form as he attacked. He managed to cut through the resin without any obstacle.

"It's my sword realm!"

Lin Huang could clearly sense that the change because of his sword realm. As his sword penetrated through the resin layer, he felt that it was as easy as cutting through tofu. The resin that was tainted by his sword realm resembled plastic that was being melted by a high temperature as it shriveled up on its own and shrank, creating a path. He knew that not all of the sword realms would work. The effect of his sword realm was apparent because it was incredibly strong.

Since there was a shortcut, Lin Huang did not bother staying there any longer. He thrust his sword forward and formed ditches, paving a route on the resin. In less than five minutes, he had broken through the 50th checkpoint that had been a barrier to more than 10,000 people.

As he reached the 51st checkpoint, he immediately put his battle sword away and summoned Tyrant to get through this checkpoint.

The difficulty level from the 50th checkpoint onwards was much higher. Lin Huang spent precisely five hours to complete the 51st checkpoint. He broke through the 52nd checkpoint just when the sky was turning dark.

Lin Huang spent exactly two days getting through four checkpoints, from the 51st checkpoint to the 54th checkpoint.

Nobody expected that he would reach the humans' foothold on the 55th checkpoint. Even he himself did not expect that to happen.

At every checkpoint above the 50th checkpoint, each level was very challenging, and Lin Huang even felt like giving up. Fortunately, there were no people there, and he could perform his strongest sword realm, summoning Bai and the rest to help him out without any qualms. Even then, he only managed to reach the 55th checkpoint before the sky turned dark.

As he stepped into the 55th checkpoint, Lin Huang immediately looked for a crack on the bark and logged out of the virtual reality.

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Chapter 669: The Bizarre Seed

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Since any expenditure on the Stairway Mall would not affect their ranking, Lin Xie's name was still ranked first on the leaderboard. Many people paid close attention to the changes in Lin Huang's achievement these few days.

In the beginning, everybody was shocked when Lin Huang managed to break through the 50th checkpoint as the majority of them were stuck at the 46th checkpoint, having failed to get to the 50th checkpoint.

Lin Huang then only managed to break through two checkpoints in a day. Everyone could feel that his climb was getting tougher.

At the 51st checkpoint, he did not complete the level even after several hours, so they expected him to stop there. However, after more than 5 hours, he finally managed to get through it.

The next few checkpoints were tough for him, and it took him a long time to pass through each checkpoint.

Still, Lin Huang managed to reach the 55th checkpoint.

The 55th checkpoint was the fourth gathering point of the humans at the Stairway Tree. Anyone who was capable of reaching this checkpoint was primarily on immortal-level rank-7.

Everybody in the Genius Union did not expect Lin Xie, who was only on blue flame-level, to reach this checkpoint. Even Lin Huang himself did not expect this achievement.

This had to be recorded in the history as a mind-blowing feat because nobody who was on holy fire-level could ever climb to the 55th checkpoint in the past. Lin Huang was the first and only one.

After Lin Huang had broken the record, the Emperor's Heart even blasted an announcement to all the Genius Union's current members.

"Congratulations to Lin Xie, who's a blue flame-level! He has reached the 55th checkpoint! It's the highest checkpoint that a holy fire-level can reach so far!"

The announcement from the Emperor's Heart was pinned at the top of the Genius Union's forum.

Many of them who had not paid attention to Lin Huang's achievement were shocked when they received the announcement.

Some of them even started a topic under the pinned post in the forum.

#When you were a blue flame-level, which checkpoint of the Stairway Tree were you on?#

Soon, many people started commenting on this topic.

"The… The first checkpoint… (Covers face)"

"I've been frozen to death 11 times at the second checkpoint. I've no choice but to go back to the first checkpoint! (Nose picking)"

"I've been frozen to death 13 times…"

"Hey, I didn't say anything though I've been frozen to death 28 times! (Shrugs)"

"When I was a blue flame-level, I think I was at the 29th checkpoint." This was Chan Dou.

"Oh my god. A pro has appeared. Allow me, the noob, to leech on you."

"I only saw a noob being sucked dry by a pro instead."

After logging out, Lin Huang was immediately pinged by the Emperor's Heart because he had broken a record.

Along with the announcement, a notice about a reward was sent to him as well.

"Due to your outstanding performance in the Genius Union, a bizarre seed is rewarded to you."

Aside from the notice, there was also an attachment, which Lin Huang opened. He found a black seed.

Feeling curious, he immediately downloaded it. After a short while, the download was completed. The virtual black seed appeared in his hand unexpectedly.

"What's happening?" Lin Huang was shocked. He knew that many of the items from the Genius Union could be brought to reality. However, that would only happen when the item was stored in the Emperor's Heart Ring, and one would have to take it out from there. However, the black seed had become a tangible item and had appeared in his hand right after he downloaded it.

Staring at the seed with careful observation, he noticed that the black seed was only the size of his pinky finger. He could not figure out if there was anything special about it.

Lin Huang then wanted to store it in his Emperor's Heart Ring, but he failed to do so. He had no other choice but to put it in his pocket.

Full of doubts, he opened the Heart Network to search for more information regarding the bizarre seed. However, he could find no information regarding it.

In the Genius Union, as he searched for the keywords "bizarre seed", the result screen showed that he had no authority to access it.

Lin Huang was even more curious now, and he sent Chan Dou a message. "What is a bizarre seed?"

After sending the message for less than two seconds, he received a video call from Chan Dou.

Lin Huang answered the video call, feeling odd.

"Did you obtain the bizarre seed as a reward?" Chan Dou exclaimed in surprise.

"Hmmm… I'm just asking." Lin Huang did not answer him directly.

"I see." Chan Dou realized that he was being dramatic. After calming himself down, he replied, "The bizarre seed is an exclusive reward given by the Genius Union to those with outstanding performance. It's the best reward in the Genius Union. Its level even surpasses a demigod relic.

"Although I've never seen it before, I've heard from the seniors that the bizarre seed is actually a God's item. Its value may possibly be higher than a God's relic. When the seed is inserted into your body, each bizarre seed will grow into different fruits. Some of the fruits will allow you to have supernatural powers whereas some of them will turn into a God's item or a God's relic. What it'll grow into varies in different bodies. It's said that its breeding time varies according to different bodies as well. Some of them take only a day to grow into fruits whereas some of them can't germinate into fruits even after a hundred years.

"The seed can be activated easily. As long as you insert your Life Power into it continuously until it has been completely filled, it'll be automatically activated. The activated seed will enter the body of the person who inserted Life Power into it. You don't need to bother it after that." Chan Dou shared the method of activation with him. Obviously, he guessed that Lin Huang had obtained the bizarre seed as a reward.

"Thank you." Lin Huang did not bother denying that he had received the bizarre seed.

Chan Dou looked at him enviously and did not say anything else. He then hung up.

After the conversation with Chan Dou ended, Lin Huang took out the black seed from his pocket. Without a moment of hesitation, he started inserting Life Power as Chan Dou had taught him.

He was practicing his Army Attack Tactics while inserting his Life Power into the seed.

Soon, the first Life Wheel had been drained, followed by the second, the third, and the fourth… Eventually, ten of his Life Wheels had been depleted, but nothing happened to the seed. The seed resembled an abyss as it engulfed all the Life Power in ten of his Life Wheels without being activated.

Lin Huang immediately used a Life Power Refill Card since his Life Power had been drained. After restoring the Life Power in ten of his Life Wheels, he began inserting Life Power into the black seed for the second time.

After half an hour, the Life Power in ten of his Life Wheels had been used up again. Still, there was no response from the seed.

Lin Huang then took out the second and the third Life Power Refill Cards and inserted Life Power into the seed yet again.

An hour had passed, and the amount of Life Power from 40 Life Wheels had been inserted. The little pinky-sized black seed showed no response though.

"It seems like it's hard to activate it in a short period of time."

Lin Huang forced a smile. He was exhausted, so he kept the seed in his pocket. He then started practicing his Army Attack Tactics to restore the Life Power in his body.

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Chapter 670: The Fourth Life Fire Monster

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Lin Huang did not sleep at night as he spent the whole night training his Army Attack Tactics. By about noon, it had taken him about 15 hours to fill up the Life Power in ten of his Life Wheels. At the same time, he had restored the Life Power in three of the Life Power Refill Cards.

After lunch, Lin Huang did not log into the Genius Union. It was meaningless if he were to log into the virtual reality as there were quite a number of them at the 55th checkpoint. If he continued climbing, he would catch the people's attention again. He did not want to reveal that he had mastered Sword Dao and owned a monster troop. Even if he were to use his trump card, the possibility of breaking through level 55 was low. Therefore, he did not want to waste his time and effort on such an attempt.

In the afternoon, Lin Huang started practicing his sword skills.

At about 11 p.m., he had learned 31 of the Illumination sword skills.

Before he slept, he took out the black seed again. He inserted the Life Power from nine out of ten of his Life Wheels. He then put his bizarre seed away.

Knowing that the seed could not be activated in a short period of time, he did not intend to spend much time on it. Even if it was activated, he was unsure of how long it would need to grow.

After retaining the Life Power in one of his Life Wheels in case he would need to use it, Lin Huang took a shower and slept.

Just after 6 a.m., upon waking up, ten of the Life Wheels in his body had been recharged. Of course, it would be slower for the Army Attack Tactics skill to rotate itself compared to when it was activated. Nevertheless, it would not be a problem for it to fill up ten Life Wheels overnight.

After breakfast, he started training his sword skills again.

At about 8 a.m., he received the monthly rewards for the month of May from the Genius Union.

From the first to the 10th checkpoint of the Stairway Tree, he obtained one point for every checkpoint he broke through. From the 11th to the 20th checkpoint, 10 points would be awarded to him for each checkpoint. From the 21st to the 30th checkpoint, 100 points would be given and so on… From the 51st to the 60th checkpoint, he would obtain 100,000 points for each checkpoint.

Lin Huang had got to the 54th checkpoint. Therefore, he would obtain 400,000 points each year. These points would be distributed ten times from January to October, and each time, only 40,000 points would be awarded. As for November and December, there would be no rewards. However, within these two months, the points would be recalculated. For those who had new achievements, the points could be redeemed retroactively.

For example, if somebody managed to reach the 50th checkpoint the previous month, their points would total up to 100,000. However, if they could break through the 60th checkpoint this month, their points would rise to one million. They would then be rewarded 100,000 points each month. Therefore, in November and December, after the points had been recalculated, the remaining points for the past few months would be given to them.

After December, the Emperor's Heart would file an annual settlement. According to the personal points accumulated on an annual basis and the annual ranking of the organizations, the rewards would be assigned. This was the reason why many geniuses joined the Genius Union.

Monthly rewards meant nothing to them as only points or relics would be rewarded.

For those who managed to get to checkpoints above the 50th checkpoint, some of the rewards could be Void Breaker skills whereas some of them were the ancient relics. They were much more valuable than the items rewarded below the 50th checkpoint.

However, the monthly rewards seemed unappealing to Lin Huang because for checkpoints below the 60th checkpoint, the rewards from the Emperor's Heart could only be Void Breaker skills or low-grade ancient relics. They only cost tens of millions of Life Crystals.

He had ensured that the transaction for the 40,000 points had been done. Lin Huang then took a look at the item he received. It was an ancient sword relic.

Similar to the three sets of Ink Feathers that Lin Huang had just bought a few days ago, the combat sword was directly stored in his storage space.

He took it out and studied it. Its quality was apparently incomparable to the Air Slicer. He supposed that the sword was obtained from a black gold-level monster. He wanted to sell it at the auction when he was free. Since ancient relics were rare, the sword could possibly be sold at a price of more than 10 million Life Crystals at the auction.

After storing his combat sword, Lin Huang did not pay close attention to the monthly reward. Again, he switched his focus back to his Sword Dao training.

When it was slightly after 11 at night, he inserted his Life Power into the black seed again. He then took a shower and went to bed.

Lin Huang repeated this process for the next 21 days.

Every morning, he started training his sword skills at about 7 a.m. At about 11 p.m., he spent about half an hour inserting his Life Power into the black seed and went to bed at around midnight.

Still, the black seed was not activated.

However, Lin Huang finally completed the training of 1,368 Illumination Sword Skills. His level-4 Sword Dao had improved from the beginning stage to the peak of Oblivion.

He knew that with his sword realm, he was about to achieve level-5 Sword Dao.

However, he did not force himself to train his Oblivion sword skills in order to make a breakthrough. Instead, he chose to settle down, waiting for the chance to come.

When Liu Ming was an immortal-level rank-9, he was stuck at this checkpoint for tens of years because he was too eager to achieve it, but things turned out differently for him.

Liu Ming had explicitly emphasized this when they talked about Sword Dao. Each level of Sword Dao could not be achieved by force. He had to let nature take its course. Otherwise, he might get on the wrong path.

Since there was a substantial improvement in his Sword Dao in addition to his blue flame-level Life Power becoming stable after more than a month, Lin Huang was finally leaving Sweep City.

He had gotten an update from the black market a week ago regarding the triple mutated monster.

One of them was a triple mutated humanoid monster which possessed a sword heart in its body. The monster's tinder would definitely inherit its sword heart.

Lin Huang was eager to obtain the ability of a sword heart a long time ago. However, he could not find a suitable Life Fire monster all the while. He now finally had the chance to hunt this monster.

If the practice of his Sword Dao could not be completed in the nick of time, Lin Huang would have left to hunt down the monster a week ago.

According to the information he got from the black market, it was a Whitesword Supreme with an immortal-level rank-6 combat strength.

The Whitesword Supreme was not a new monster to Lin Huang as he had seen it before in the monster guide. However, he had never had a chance of encountering such a monster.

The triple mutated monster was relatively strong as it could fight an immortal-level rank-8.

If he were to kill it on its own, Lin Huang was not confident of defeating it. Fortunately, he was not alone as he had his monster troop.

The place where the Whitesword Supreme had appeared was not easy to access. It had been discovered on an island in the Peaceful Ocean.

"It seems like I've to go to the Peaceful Ocean…" Lin Huang fixed his gaze on the map provided by the black market.

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Chapter 671: F*ck, I Forgot to Save My Draft!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The Peaceful Ocean was the third most dangerous forbidden land in the entire world. It ranked just right behind the virtual zone and the Abyss Brink. It was the largest ocean in the world, connecting 8 of the 12 safe zones. Before leaving Division 7, the ocean that Mr. Fu had brought him to train at was a small portion of the Peaceful Ocean in Division 7. Division 3 was connected to the east coast of the Peaceful Ocean.

The Peaceful Ocean was much more perilous than the second layer of the Abyss Brink. Besides king sea monsters that were even more humongous than giants, there were many imperial and even demigod-level monsters around. There were four harbors that one could enter the Peaceful Ocean through. The Victoria Harbor was the nearest island to the harbor where the Whitesword Supreme was. It was 16,000 nautical miles (almost 30,000 kilometers) away.

From the south point that Lin Huang trained at, he would have to get to Victoria Harbor and take the Demonic Crystal Spaceship to the Far East Island. The Far East Island was the closest island that the Demonic Crystal Spaceship could reach and was the nearest to the Supreme Whitesword. Even so, it was more than 8,000 nautical miles away from the unknown island where the Supreme Whitesword was, so Lin Huang would still have to fly there on his own.

After plotting the route in the middle of the night, Lin Huang bought the tickets to Victoria City and the Far East Island when it was past 1 a.m. In the morning, Lin Huang packed his bag and checked out of the room after his breakfast downstairs. He had stayed more than a month in Sweep City, and he hardly got out of his hotel room because he was training. Now that it was the end of June, most sections of Division 3 were experiencing summer, and everyone in Sweep City was wearing short-sleeved clothing.

Lin Huang dressed casually in a white t-shirt with a blue Furry Beast printed on it and a pair of jeans. In such a handsome disguise, the two ladies at the reception ogled him as they were assisting him to check out of his room. After he left, the two ladies excitedly discussed between themselves about whether he was the most handsome guest that they ever had this year.

After leaving the hotel, Lin Huang summoned Thunder and headed to the dimensional portal of the Peaceful Ocean. The portal to Victoria City would open only once a day at 9 a.m. daily. There were only six people including Lin Huang when he arrived at the dimensional portal. Since Victoria City was a large harbor, many tourists were visiting the beach during the summer. There were very few people at the dimensional portal as it was the end of June and the summer holidays had yet to start.

When it was 9 a.m. sharp, the dimensional portal opened. Lin Huang scanned his ticket together with the other five, then stepped into the portal. Soon, they stepped out of the portal and arrived at Victoria City. It was a sunny, cloudless day. Lin Huang then took out his dimensional portal to pin the coordinates. After confirming the location of Victoria Harbor on the Emperor's Heart Ring's map, he summoned Thunder again and headed there.

Twenty minutes later, Thunder brought Lin Huang to the Victoria Harbor. There was only one ship that headed to the Far East Island from that harbor once a week and coincidentally, it was that very day. The ship would depart at 11 a.m., which was the reason why Lin Huang went there early in the morning. If he had not made it to the ship today, he would have to wait for another week.

He had bought the ticket in the middle of the night and found it expensive at 3,000 Life Crystals per ticket, which was the price of a grade-2 or grade-3 relic. It only covered a standard cabin with two people to a room. A private cabin would cost 20,000 Life Crystals per ticket, which was the price of a grade-5 relic. Besides being a private room for one, it came with an en-suite bathroom with a bathtub. Although Lin Huang had the money, the tickets for the private cabin were sold out. Of course, there was the economy cabin that was cheaper than the standard cabin at only 500 Life Crystals per ticket. There would be eight people in a room without a bathroom. Even so, the tickets were sold out since the beginning.

As soon as he arrived at the harbor, Lin Huang soon saw the gigantic Demonic Crystal Spaceship floating in mid-air. It was even bigger than any of the ships that Lin Huang had ever seen. It was almost like a battleship. He knew that such a ship was called the Emperor's Ship and it was a supreme relic that was made of the bones of an imperial-level king sea monster. Although it was only a supreme relic, its defense was much more powerful than most of the ancient relic armors. Besides that, there were God Crashers and other weapons on the ship that could be used to chase away sea monsters.

The ship was like a demigod relic. If it were to be sold at auctions, it would be more expensive than a demigod relic. After Lin Huang was done admiring the ship, he searched for a place to wait for the ship to depart. He looked far away to see tourists wandering around the stores in the harbor. Although it was not the summer holidays yet, there were already many tourists.

The Far East Island was the most eastern island that the Division 3 Demonic Crystal Spaceship could get to. The island itself was beautiful, and you could catch the earliest sunset in Division 3 there, hence the flocking tourists. Lin Huang observed around and soon noticed an al fresco cafe. However, it was almost entirely occupied with only one vacant seat under an umbrella.

There was a man with a messy mustache sitting across the vacant seat. He wore sunglasses, a white t-shirt, a pair of sky blue beach shorts, and flip-flops. He was tapping on a virtual keyboard on his Emperor's Heart Ring.

"Uncle, is there anyone sitting here?" Lin Huang asked.

The man in the sunglasses peered at him over the Emperor's Heart Ring projection and said in all seriousness, "You should call me 'brother' at your age. If you're below 16, it's okay for you to call me 'uncle', but it's obvious that you're over 20 and I'm only 31. I think you shouldn't call me that."

"Oh… Alright then. Brother, is anyone sitting here?" Lin Huang corrected himself.

"No, please sit." The man turned back to the projection in front of him.

Lin Huang ordered a cup of coffee while waiting for the ship to depart patiently. The man across him occasionally frowned, scratching his head and sometimes biting his nails. He seemed to be in a dilemma as he typed slowly on his virtual keyboard. Although Lin Huang was curious about what the man was doing, recalling the conversation they had earlier, he gave up asking to save himself any possible embarrassment.

When it was 10.30 a.m., the checking of the tickets started. Seeing that many people had stood up to queue, Lin Huang ordered himself another cup of coffee. The man sitting across him did not look like he was standing up either as he continued typing on the virtual keyboard slowly. Ten minutes later, Lin Huang stood up after noticing that there were not many people left in the queue.

Just when he was leaving, he decided to remind the man because he noticed that the man did not seem to be leaving.

"Brother, the ship is leaving. Don't you want to make a move?"

"The ship is leaving!" The man switched off the projection frantically and let out a groan out of nowhere as he shot up to his feet with his bag.

"F*ck, I forgot to save my draft!"

Lin Huang ignored the man and boarded the ship.

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Chapter 672: Lin Huang's Roommate

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After boarding the ship, Lin Huang soon found his assigned cabin that was printed on his ticket, Room 308. There was nobody in the room. The speed of the Emperor's Ship was not considered fast whereby its normal flying speed was only 2,000 kilometers per hour. The distance between the Victoria Harbor to the Far East Island was 15,000 kilometers with two stops in between. It would take almost eight hours to get there. If Lin Huang were to summon Thunder at full speed, he would take half the time the ship needed.

However, many people did not choose to ride on their flying mounts as it was safer on the Emperor's Ship as long as they did not encounter any demigod-level monsters. Even if they encountered imperial-level monsters, the tens of God Crashers would destroy the monsters. They were hardly any demigod-level monsters 10,000 nautical miles along the east coast. It would be unfortunate if they did encounter one.

Lin Huang looked out of the window as he sat on his bed. Many people were admiring the blue and calm Peaceful Ocean on the deck. It did not look like an ocean, but more like a massive lake. However, Lin Huang, who had stayed more than a month on the Peaceful Ocean, knew that everything was not as tranquil as it seemed.

"308… 308…" While Lin Huang was spacing out as he looked out of the window, he heard someone mumbling at the door. He turned around and looked expectantly at the door as he heard his room number. A man in beach shorts stood at the door and glanced at the room number before walking in.

"It's you!" The man saw Lin Huang as soon as he entered. Lin Huang did not expect the weird man in sunglasses whom he met at the cafe to be his roommate.

The man took off his sunglasses and walked to Lin Huang.

"I know that you meant me well when you urged me to get on the ship earlier. I'd like to thank you for that, but you made me forget to save my draft! My four hours of work was washed down the drain. Do you know the pain of losing four hours of work as a lousy writer who managed to squeeze out 2,000 words?"

"Erm…" Lin Huang looked awkward as he genuinely could not understand the pain. However, seeing that the man was so mad that he was going to cry, he decided to apologize.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault."

Since Lin Huang apologized, the man was slightly placated. He then put his sunglasses on again.

"Forget about it. Just be careful the next time and not be so hurried for a small matter like that. A man should be calm."

"Who was the one who forgot to save his own draft? It's you who isn't calm…" Lin Huang thought to himself.

"Brother, are you an author?" Lin Huang could not help but ask as he watched the man typing on his virtual keyboard again. He was not really that interested in his occupation, but since they would be in the same room for eight hours, it would be boring not to speak to each other. He was shy to practice his sword skills when there was a stranger in the room anyway.

"Just a small one. I'm just trying to make a living." The man smiled.

"Are you looking for inspiration on the Far East Island?" Lin Huang asked again.

"Yeah, I've been stuck recently probably due to staying home for too long, so I guess it's good to get some fresh air. It's summer now, so it's the perfect time to spend some time on an island." The man was much friendlier when he talked about his job.

"What kind of book do you write, brother?"

"I've been writing a story about this world recently. The main character is an Imperial Censor with many triple mutated summoning monsters…"

Lin Huang's interest was sparked when he heard that the man was writing a story about an Imperial Censor, so he asked further, "What's the name of the book? I shall read it whenever I have the time."

"It's called 'Monster Paradise'. My pen name is Nuclear Warhead. You can look for my book or pen name on the Heart Network, and you'll find me. Oh yeah, please support the original only, alright?" The man recommended his own book when he realized he had a potential reader in the room.

"Sure, I'll take a look when I've got the time, and I'll definitely support the original."

"My name is Zhu Jiu, but you can call me Bro Jiu. What do I call you, little brother?" The man asked.

"My name's Lin Xie." Lin Huang smiled.

"What a coincidence! The main character of my book is also Lin." Zhu Jiu laughed when he heard Lin Huang's name.

"I'll definitely read your book when I'm done with my stuff." Lin Huang thought that the coincidence was interesting.

"Bro Lin, didn't you bring your girlfriend to the Far East Island with you?" Zhu Jiu asked.

"I'm still single." Lin Huang let out an awkward laugh. "Didn't you bring your wife, Bro Jiu?"

"I'm already so old. No woman wants me anymore," Zhu Jiu sighed.

"Since you're still young, you should really appreciate the people around you. Don't be like me. I can't return to the people that got away. You're young. Go after whoever you like. Don't be shy. Let go of your ego, or you'll regret letting some people go for the rest of your life…"

Lin Huang became silent when he heard the advice. He had been in a relationship before when he was on Earth. In fact, he had more than one relationship. There was once when he almost tied the knot with the love of his life, but the girl could not take the fact that he was always out with his clients and away from home for work. They had broken up in the end.

He still remembered the first movie he had ever watched with her. It was 'Big Hero 6' and it was his first time holding the girl's hand. He remembered which bench there sat on by the lake on their second date as well as the noodle store that they went to for lunch. He recalled his first time kissing the girl while peeping at the side of her startled face carefully.

"I'd like to kiss you…"

"Kiss me then," the girl had replied with a smile.

He remembered the girl leaving the next day, and he had taken a plane to the city the girl was in before calling her at the airport so that they could meet. He had cried at the airport when the girl rejected him. He did not even leave the airport that day as he had immediately bought a plane ticket to go back to where he was…

"The past is in the past. Appreciate what we have now." Lin Huang shook his head and snapped out of his thoughts.

A lady's voice was then heard.

"The ship is departing soon. Passengers who are on the deck, please get back to your rooms as soon as possible…"

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