Chapter 1221: Butterfly Sovereign Shelter
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In a hotel room at Shelter No. 7, Bloody who had her eyes closed opened her eyes all of a sudden.
"Finally, one has sent itself to our doorstep!"
Lin Huang, who was refining the Godheads in his body, opened his eyes too. "You found a monster on the list?"
"Yes," Bloody confirmed while projecting the Thousand-Legged Centipede's image, "It's a Thousand-Legged Centipede, a giant worm monster."
Its gigantic dark purple head seemed gravely ferocious. Its body was separated into segments. There was a thick, black exoskeleton covering its back and thorns of different lengths on it. Dense, bloody legs sprouted out of its body.
This Thousand-Legged Centipede ranked the top three ugliest among all of the monsters that Lin Huang had ever seen before.
"The Thousand-Legged Centipede…" Lin Huang was secretly reluctant when he saw Bloody picking out such a monster for him to disguise as.
He was no stranger to the Thousand-Legged Centipede. It was a giant worm monster with a body that spanned over 1,000 meters long. This monster was called the Thousand-Legged Centipede because it possessed at least 1,200 pairs of legs. A small minority of them even possessed more than 3,000 pairs of legs.
He knew this monster was ugly since the beginning. However, the image in the monster guide was rather small. He could not see the details, so he did not have a clear picture of how it really looked like.
Now that he saw the full image Bloody projected, the spots and the tiny bulges on the thorns of its back were clearly visible. Even the internal structure of its ugly mouth could be seen crystal clear.
Lin Huang only had one thought flashing through his mind. 'It's so ugly. Can I get another monster instead?'
Bloody saw Lin Huang's odd expression and explained, thinking that he figured the major transformation would make him lose control of his own body, "Although the Thousand-Legged Centipede has a major difference with a human's physical structure, different creatures have different ways of controlling their bodies. As long as the brain gives the instruction, the body will carry out the order automatically. There's no need for you to worry about the details. After all, you're not using this Thousand-Legged Centipede's body to battle. You just need to disguise as this form to enter Qi Muxiong's ruin."
"Let's see." Lin Huang really could not accept such a gigantic centipede's form.
"Among the 100 monsters that are given passes into Miracle this time, there are over 20 of them who have taken on a human form. There are also many monsters that aren't in human form, so they are easier to control. There're still a few days until the ruin opens. Let's see if we can find any monsters that are more suitable."
Bloody did not argue when she heard Lin Huang's analysis. She still thought that he was worried about body control and had no idea that Lin Huang was bothered by how he would look.
However, Lin Huang did not let go of the Thousand-Legged Centipede which was a back-up and got Bloody to cast parasite on it because he was worried they would not encounter any other monster who was on the trial list. If they gave up on this one, it would mean that they had lost their eligibility to enter Qi Muxiong's ruin.
However, unbeknownst to Lin Huang, when Bloody and he were busy looking for monsters on the ruin trial list, the Butterfly Sovereign was asking around about him too.
The Butterfly Sovereign added the Dragon Sovereign and the Lion Sovereign to a group chat.
"Did you guys meet those two newbies? Are they really on mythical-level?"
"Why? Are you interested in them too, Xiao Cai?" The Dragon Sovereign did not answer her question and asked another question instead.
"Finding out whether they're really on mythical-level or not isn't important. They don't plan to stay in the virtual zone anyway." The Lion Sovereign too did not answer her question. Instead, he concluded directly.
"Can you guys pay attention to my question before answering me?"
"Alright then. The answer is that it's true," the Lion Sovereign responded immediately, "But don't waste your time trying to recruit them since hey just want to return to the great world."
"Indeed," the Dragon Sovereign confirmed.
"They must pass me by to be able to return to the great world! Thank for your tips. Now, I know what I should ask for." The Butterfly Sovereign asked again, "Oh yeah, can you tell me which tribe do they belong to?"
"No!"
"It's a secret!"
"Just tell me, handsome!" The Butterfly Sovereign did not type that. Instead, she used a voice recording. Her voice was so sweet that one's heart would have melted.
"One is a wisdom-type monster while the other is a mysterious-type," replied the Dragon Sovereign in a straightforward manner.
"The female is a wisdom-type monster while the male is mysterious-type. Please call me handsome again."
The Butterfly Sovereign gave a short response right after the Lion Sovereign replied. "F*ck off!"
A notification from the system that said 'a message has been deleted' popped up almost at the same time the Butterfly Sovereign responded.
The duo checked to see that the sweet voice message that was sent earlier had been deleted.
"Damn, woman! ヽ(#`Д´)ﾉ┌┛" The Lion Sovereign sent another message.
"She burned the bridge right after she crossed it," the Dragon Sovereign lamented.
However, the Butterfly Sovereign seemed to have blocked the group chat as she was not replying at all.
"Did that woman leave just like that?" the Lion Sovereign asked.
"I guess she's thinking of ideas to trap the two newbies," the Dragon Sovereign responded.
"Such poor things. I'm already seeing images of both of them working for that woman like slaves."
"I can only say good luck to them then…"
Lin Huang and Bloody had no idea that this chat happened between the three of them.
Time flew by, and it was time to see the Butterfly Sovereign. Lin Huang and Bloody rushed to the Butterfly Sovereign Shelter early in the morning.
The Butterfly Sovereign Shelter's surface was much smaller than the Dragon Sovereign and Lion Sovereign Shelters. It was even tinier than many other Shelters at only over eight million square kilometers.
If they did not know the reason why the Butterfly Sovereign had picked the Shelter earlier, Lin Huang might be confused why would one of the Three Sovereigns pick such a small Shelter.
In reality, the reason was that this Shelter had the most plants occupying it in the virtual zone. It also had the most varieties of flowers.
Within the over 8.3 million square kilometers of the Shelter, 7.2 million square kilometers of it was covered in all sorts of plants and over 4,000 types of flowers.
Apart from the many plants and greeneries, there was another characteristic of the Butterfly Sovereign Shelter. There was a smaller population.
There were only over 10,000 long-term monsters in the Butterfly Sovereign Shelter while only 10,000 monsters were given residency permits. Most of the rest of them were tourists.
This Shelter had no business district. Apart from the necessary materials, they refused business from outside. When it came to tourism, they would only open once a year for outsiders to visit, and only 1,000 tourists would be picked. A year was the longest the tourists could stay.
Just like Lin Huang and Bloody, it was rare for them to visit the Butterfly Sovereign.
Other than spending a hefty amount to buy the opportunity to see the Butterfly Sovereign, the main reason they got to visit was that the Butterfly Sovereign wanted to see them.
Otherwise, based on her character, it was possible for the Butterfly Sovereign to drag the meeting to the next year.
Lin Huang and Bloody looked around along the way. Almost all of the houses in the entire Shelter were made of plants. Lin Huang saw that most of the houses were built on thick and short giant trees, and there were more than 30 houses on one.
When they arrived at the Butterfly Sovereign Palace, Lin Huang finally recognized the Butterfly Sovereign Palace in his memory.
It was a massive white palace that looked like a blooming flower. It floated in the middle of a huge lake, appearing like a blossoming lotus sitting calmly in the water.
Lin Huang and Bloody walked to the entrance Butterfly Sovereign Palace and projected their invitation directly after glancing at the two guards.
The guards must have learned about their arrival beforehand. They opened the palace doors after merely peeking at the invitation. They did not even check it.
Lin Huang noticed that and put the invitation away before walking into the palace door with Bloody in long strides.
Chapter 1222: Fairy-type Monster
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Butterfly Sovereign Palace looked like a white lotus outside. The structure inside was no ordinary setup of a common palace, but a massive, endless space.
There were flowers, plants and huge trees of all sorts looming tall inside. There was no palace ceiling above their heads, but blue sky with clouds floating around.
Lin Huang had a faint illusion as if he had stepped into an ancient jungle. Even Bloody was clearly stunned when she saw the scenery. At first, both of them could not find how the Butterfly Sovereign Palace looked like from all sorts of channels.
'This Butterfly Sovereign really loves plants,' Lin Huang thought to himself.
As Bloody and he were exploring around, a slight tremor made the ground shake all of a sudden. A little path appeared in the ground before them that was initially covered.
The path was less than half a meter wide. Only one person could walk on it each time.
Lin Huang and Bloody glanced at each other, then walked onto the little path into the dense jungle in one file.
After walking on the little winding path for a few minutes, they could clearly feel that the dimension would shift by over 100 meters with each step they took. On the surface, it would seem like they were taking normal steps. Clearly, the path had a dimensional shift effect.
Approximately five to six minutes later, they finally arrived at the end of the path.
The other side of the dense jungle was an endless sea of flowers. There were colorful flowers everywhere as they looked across.
Among the sea of flowers, there was a young lady in a white dress who looked 15 or 16 years old standing on a little slope barefooted. The tiny flowers drowned her ankles.
She looked almost exactly like a human lady. The only difference was that she had a pair of massive wings made of colorful rays on her back.
The form of the wings was different from any bird's. They were massive butterfly wings that were almost as tall as she was.
Lin Huang and Bloody could tell that she was one of the Three Sovereigns, the Butterfly Sovereign.
Although they already knew what she looked like, they thought she looked even more harmless than in photos when they saw her at that second.
'Is this girl really as difficult to deal with as what the Dragon Sovereign and Lion Sovereign said?' Lin Huang could not help but doubt the two other Sovereigns.
The young lady standing on the slope waved at them like she was meeting friends that she had not seen for a long time.
Lin Huang and Bloody walked towards the slope. They only stopped when they arrived two to three meters before her.
The young lady observed them while smiling before introducing herself, "My name is Cai Yi, and I'm a fairy monster. Quadruple mutated, my combat strength is first-rank True God."
Although the young lady did not reveal her identity as the Butterfly Sovereign, Lin Huang and Bloody confirmed that as soon as they saw her. They also gave a simple self-introduction about themselves.
The Butterfly Sovereign smiled and nodded after hearing their self-introduction. "Let's sit down and chat."
Lin Huang and Bloody sat across her among the flowers while she took out a tea table and a tea set.
The Butterfly Sovereign spoke again seeing the duo take their seats, "Actually, I've noticed your existence as soon as you entered the Central Shelter. I also know about the Dragon Sovereign and the Lion Sovereign recruiting you. I've been waiting for the day when you guys would visit me."
"We wanted to visit you sooner, Master Butterfly Sovereign, but we only managed to get an appointment today. We didn't want to break the rules," Lin Huang explained while smiling.
"The Dragon Sovereign and Lion Sovereign have higher combat strength and seniority than me. It's appropriate for you guys to visit them first," the Butterfly Sovereign said while smiling lightly, "But you said that you guys wanted to visit me sooner, so what is that about?" she asked a question that she already knew they were curious about.
Nonetheless, Lin Huang finally found the opportunity to go straight into the topic.
"We're visiting you today in hopes that you can help us get back to the great world, Master Butterfly Sovereign."
The Butterfly Sovereign smiled when she heard the plea.
"It's easy to send you guys back to the great world. However, there's a price to pay."
"We know that," Lin Huang replied to the Butterfly Sovereign while looking at her. "What do you need from us?"
The Butterfly Sovereign smirked so faintly that it was almost unnoticeable. However, it went away merely a moment later. "I don't think I lack anything at the moment. I really can't think of anything that I want now."
"How about this? I won't ask anything from you. All you'll have to do is to work three years for me. I'll send you guys away as soon as the three years are up."
Lin Huang forced a smile while shaking his head when he heard the Butterfly Sovereign's offer. "Master Butterfly Sovereign, we can't agree to that condition. Give us another one."
The Butterfly Sovereign fell into silence for a moment and straightened a finger slowly a while later. She said while staring at Lin Huang, "One year, that's my best offer."
However, Lin Huang still shook his head. "There's something really urgent that we must get back to in the great world. To be honest, we can't even wait a week, let alone a year. Master Butterfly Sovereign, please give us another condition."
The Butterfly Sovereign fell quiet for a moment again. She only spoke a while later, "I won't ask you guys what exactly is it that's so urgent. I'll step back again. She'll stay and work for me for a year while I send you back to the great world first." The Butterfly Sovereign pointed a finger at Bloody. "I guarantee you that I'll send her back in one piece as soon as one year is up!"
Seeing that Lin Huang and Bloody had fallen silent, the Butterfly Sovereign spoke again, "If there's really something urgent, you can go back to the great world to deal with it. There's no need for you to bring her with you. Even if the matter needs two people to deal with, you can get other partners to help you when you get back there."
Lin Huang did not hesitate to reject, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I can't agree to that condition."
"Wait!" Bloody interrupted Lin Huang's rejection all of a sudden. She turned her head to say to the Butterfly Sovereign, "Master Butterfly Sovereign, can you give us some time to discuss this?"
"Please do." The Butterfly Sovereign picked up her tea cup and sipped the flower tea.
Lin Huang and Bloody soon communicated on the conscious level. It was a communication built through Monster Cards. Unlike voice transmission, there was no way to eavesdrop when they talked in that channel.
"I think we can agree to that. Get her to send you out first and recall me back to card form when you've confirmed that the teleportation coordinates work."
Lin Huang stayed quiet for a long time after hearing that. "Is there any other way?"
"There's one more…"
Lin Huang squinted lightly hearing the second idea.
He snapped back to his senses a moment later and lifted his head to look at the Butterfly Sovereign. "Master Butterfly Sovereign, Bloody and I can't decide just yet. Can you give us a few days to discuss it properly?"
The Butterfly Sovereign smiled while nodding to give her permission. "There's no rush. Take your time."
Chapter 1223: Clone and Disguise
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The group chat among the three True Gods in the virtual zone was usually quiet. Basically nobody would talk if nothing happened on the daily.
It was active for a while two days ago because of Lin Huang and Bloody's appearance.
Although there were over a hundred virtual god-level powerhouses in the virtual zone, throughout the past century, there would only be a new Virtual God coming in every three to four years on average. Now that two had come in at once and they were suspected to be quadruple-mutated, it was only natural for the three True Gods to want them.
The group chat was active again since Lin Huang and Bloody visited the Butterfly Sovereign that day.
The Lion Sovereign Leon sent a message all of a sudden. "Sister Cai Yi, how did talking to the two newbies go? @ButterflySovereign."
"Have you been watching me? It's been less than three minutes since the duo left my Butterfly Sovereign Palace," the Butterfly Sovereign could not help but question.
"You're overthinking. I'm not that free to be getting people to guard the Butterfly Sovereign Palace," the Lion Sovereign Lion explained immediately, "Xiaobai happened to pass by and saw them getting out of the Butterfly Sovereign Palace, so she told me."
"Alright then. I'll pretend you're telling the truth."
"What do you mean by pretend? I'm telling the truth!"
The Dragon Sovereign could not help but interrupt in the conversation after seeing they had deviated from the original subject. "Cai Yi, what was the condition that you gave?"
"I asked them to work for me for three years at first, but they rejected me directly. They say there's something urgent in the great world that they need to handle, so they can't even wait for a week. So, I suggested getting the girl to stay and work for me for a year while I send the guy out first."
"Did they agree?" the Lion Sovereign asked immediately.
"Not yet. They say they can only decide after considering it," replied the Butterfly Sovereign, "However, it's basically a done deal. I was clear with them whereby the condition that I gave was the best on the table. There won't be any amendments to that. They can only accept my condition if they want to go back to the great world. There's no second alternative."
"Smart! You won an underling for nothing, and it's a wisdom-type monster on mythical-level," the Lion Sovereign gushed enviously.
"You promised them a year, so what do you plan to do a year later? Will you release the girl as you promised?" The Dragon Sovereign raised a question, looking further into the future.
"Of course, I won't let her go! She's a wisdom-type mythical-level monster. She alone can support an entire tribe's future." The Butterfly Sovereign laughed when she heard that question."I have a year to convince her to be my partner!"
"What if you fail to convince her?" the Lion Sovereign asked again.
"Then, I'll carry out some unique tricks." A ferocious gleam flashed through the Butterfly Sovereign's eyes. "No matter what, I'll do whatever it takes to make her stay."
…
Time flew by, and two days passed.
Lin Huang put aside the discussion with the Butterfly Sovereign.
Bloody and he knew very well that the Butterfly Sovereign was plotting something to make Bloody stay. They already had their own plan.
Throughout the two days, they did not discuss the Butterfly Sovereign's offer at all. Instead, they had been looking for the members who were eligible to go into Qi Muxiong's ruin. However, their effort was to no avail.
"It's been two days, but we didn't find the second monster on the list apart from that giant centipede." Lin Huang looked helpless.
"The ruin will officially open tomorrow. Most of the members on the list should be at the Dragon Sovereign Shelter now," Bloody responded.
After all, the central zone was the Three Sovereigns' territory. Now that both of them had gotten the Three Sovereigns' attention, they should stay low-key. Therefore, they did not go around for the past few days. Instead, they waited for the members on the list to come to their doorstep at Shelter No. 7 throughout. Never would they thought they would not get any monster after two days had passed.
"Forget it. We'll use the Thousand-Legged Centipede then. Although it's kind of ugly, it's better than having nothing." Lin Huang shook his head while forcing a wry smile. He had no other choice.
He crushed two cards the next morning at past 6 a.m. They were a Cloning Card and a Disguise Card.
He used the Cloning Card to clone himself. The goal was to avoid suspicion in the virtual zone during his stay. After all, he came in with Bloody, so people would find it strange if he were to disappear all of a sudden.
Meanwhile, the Disguise Card was naturally for him to disguise as the Thousand-Legged Centipede that was eligible to go into the ruin.
Since the Thousand-Legged Centipede was parasitized by Bloody, it had been staying in the same hotel with Lin Huang the past few days. With Bloody's help, Lin Huang completed the identity exchange without putting any effort in.
The real Thousand-Legged Centipede did not die. Instead, Bloody put it away in her God Territory.
After the identity exchange was completed, Lin Huang, who had transformed into the giant centipede, dared not waste any time. He controlled the body and flew towards the Dragon Sovereign Shelter.
The Thousand-Legged Centipede's body was not difficult to control. It was even much easier than Lin Huang imagined. In reality, his body would move on its own as soon as the brain give the order. There was no need to think about the detailed maneuvers at all.
However, Lin Huang could not really get used to it in the beginning, so his flying mode was a little peculiar.
Fortunately, his strange flying mode did not attract too much attention. Almost everyone had the same thought when they saw him. 'How much did he drink to be so hungover?'
The alien flying sensation only lasted for three to four minutes. Lin Huang soon familiarized himself with the control of his new body, and he was finally flying normally now.
"Interesting. So many legs are moving together but they don't touch each other." Lin Huang used his Divine Telekinesis to observe the many legs beneath his body.
He could not help but have goosebumps when he saw those many legs in the beginning. However, now that he saw them on his own body while they were listening to his command, he got over it.
This Thousand-Legged Centipede's body had a different structure from the human body. It was his first time transforming into a monster that had such a major difference with his own body. The different body structure sparked his interest, thus he began studying it closely.
He flew towards the Dragon Sovereign Shelter as he familiarized himself with the body.
Approximately half an hour later, Lin Huang finally arrived at the Dragon Sovereign Shelter. He was studying the body along the way, so he almost managed to control the gigantic form completely. He could even control this body to perform many poses that humans could not do.
Lin Huang rushed to the Dragonkin Square as soon as he arrived at the Dragon Sovereign Shelter. According to this Thousand-Legged Centipede's memory, the Dragonkin Square that was not far away from the Dragon Sovereign Shelter was the meeting point of the trial this time.
He thought there should be fewer trial participants who would gather so early since it was not even 7 a.m. However, he realized there were already over 20 monsters of all forms gathered when he arrived at the Dragonkin Square. He sensed from their aura that they should be the members whom the Dragon Sovereign had picked to enter Qi Muxiong's ruin.
Lin Huang was relieved to see so many company. He landed slowly and blended into the monster crowd.
Chapter 1224: Spider Queen
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Including Lin Huang, all the 100 participants on the list were there around 8.30 a.m.
Lin Huang glanced through the participants and realized that all of the monsters which came in various sizes and forms only had imperial-level combat strength. There was not even a single demigod.
Theoretically, the restriction of this ruin should be virtual god-level, whereby anyone below virtual god-level could enter. The 100-participant quota that the Dragon Sovereign gave did not even have a demigod. Clearly, he thought demigods had drained their talent and were not worthy of being trained.
However, no matter whether they were imperial-level or demigod-level, they made no difference to Lin Huang now. The 99 participants and he were on a totally different level.
Although he had no competitors in the journey into the ruin this time, Lin Huang was pretty excited about the setup in the ruin. The more he learned about Qi Muxiong, the more he thought that the guy was not an ordinary demigod. He even suspected that Qi Muxiong was not a demigod at all.
A flirtatious voice pulled him back to reality as his thoughts flew around and he was evidently distracted. "Hey, is that Wu Fei?"
Lin Huang was stunned for a moment and he recalled that that was the name of the Thousand-Legged Centipede that he was disguised as. He turned his head immediately to look at the source of the voice.
A giant spider with 12 long legs was crawling toward him at a high speed.
Based on the Thousand-Legged Centipede's memory, Lin Huang soon found information about the spider. However, he became speechless after sifting through the portion of the information in his head.
"Didn't you say that you were going to leave the virtual zone and head to the great world?"
The Spider Queen was completely black with purple spots and thorns on her body. Her legs were hundreds of meters long. At that moment, her 16 black eyes glared at Lin Huang with melancholy.
This Spider Queen was the Thousand-Legged Centipede's old fling, and they had been lovers for close to a hundred years. However, when the Spider Queen asked to confirm their relationship all of a sudden, the Thousand-Legged Centipede backed out immediately because he knew that the Spider Queen would breed as soon as they confirmed their relationship and he would become her meal by then.
Lin Huang did not find it strange that the Spider Queen was attempting to breed with the Thousand-Legged Centipede. In the monster guide, he read that monsters of different types could reproduce together. There seemed to be countable creatures that practiced reproductive isolation in this world.
Clearly, reproductive isolation was out of the picture for the Thousand-Legged Centipede and the Spider Queen in this virtual zone.
However, without reproductive isolation, the spider still insisted on devouring her husband. Lin Huang was speechless about that. The Thousand-Legged Centipede should not have been blamed for backing out.
Lin Huang's four bloody eyes rolled around and he quickly found himself an excuse when he saw the Spider Queen arrive before him.
"The application assessment on the Butterfly Sovereign's side took some time and it was only approved earlier. I was going to leave, but the Dragon Sovereign Palace informed me that they've assigned me a place in this ruin trial. I thought of waiting for a few days and only leaving when I'm done exploring the ruin."
The Queen Spider did not seem to suspect the Thousand-Legged Centipede, but she was still complaining, "So, why didn't you contact me these days?"
"Can't you see that I'm busy preparing for the trial?" Lin Huang came up with another excuse casually.
"You're going to the great world after the trial ends. We don't know when we'll meet again. How about we team up in this trial?" the Spider Queen suggested.
"Sure." Lin Huang hesitated for a moment hearing the suggestion but he agreed anyway. However, he began planning his next excuse to get away from her.
The Spider Queen held onto Lin Huang's front leg with her long leg happily upon hearing Lin Huang's agreement to team up. She was afraid that he might run away again.
Lin Huang looked far ahead, unable to bring himself to look upon the Spider Queen's 'beauty'.
With a human's sense of beauty, an insect that had been enlarged countless times would give one goosebumps just by looking at it. Although Lin Huang was not afraid, he truly could not appreciate it.
He peeked at the memory of the Thousand-Legged Centipede having intercourse with this Spider Queen. He could not unsee the image of the two giant insects intertwined together.
'Damn my curiosity!' Lin Huang felt goosebumps rise all over his body.
The Spider Queen next to him thought that Lin Huang experienced some reaction while tangling her front leg with his, so she felt shy. Lin Huang experienced another round of goosebumps even before the previous one subsided. He shook the Spider Queen's leg away.
Just when the Spider Queen was coming at him again, the Dragon Sovereign finally arrived.
"The Dragon Sovereign is here!" Lin Huang warned her through voice transmission.
Upon seeing the Dragon Sovereign, the Spider Queen dared not cross the line again. She maintained some distance from Lin Huang with her head down.
The rest of the monsters stopped talking and turned around to face the Dragon Sovereign with their heads down to show their respect.
Lin Huang also lowered his body. However, he was not showing his respect. Instead, he was afraid that the Dragon Sovereign might see through him.
The Dragon Sovereign glanced at the many participants beneath him quickly as soon as he arrived. He nodded in satisfaction after seeing that all 100 of them were present with zero absence. Clearly, he did not see through Lin Huang's disguise. He did not even stop and glimpse at Lin Huang.
Although the Disguise Card clearly stated that it could deceive true god-level powerhouses, Lin Huang was relieved that the Dragon Sovereign did not notice him.
The Dragon Sovereign only spoke slowly after taking a glance around, "I've organized over 200 searches in this ruin Miracle ever since I found it. However, nobody has found anything every year. Nobody remembers exactly what happened in this ruin, and even all the recording techniques are wiped automatically.
"Among the 100 powerhouses who are entering the ruin this year, more than half of you are seniors who've entered the ruin while a part of you are newbies who've never entered the ruin. I hope your search this time won't disappoint me. Bring me useful information!"
Although he said that, the Dragon Sovereign had no expectation. After all, none of the 200 or so searchers were successful. He had already gotten used to failure. However, he still had to say that as a courtesy to the participants.
After a simple speech, the Dragon Sovereign did not bother to speak further. He waved his hand directly and released ten Dragnet Spiders.
"I'm done talking. Go into the ruin now!"
The Dragnet Spiders spat ten threads out each as soon as the Dragon Sovereign commanded. Each of the threads looped around ten different monsters and pulled them into the black whirlpool respectively.
After the 100 participants were sent away, the Dragon Sovereign summoned another Dragnet Spider and leaped into the whirlpool with it
Chapter 1225: The Ruin Opens
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The 100 participants walked out of the dimensional gateway. What they saw before their eyes was a space covered in alpine white ice.
The spherical ice shield was like a giant ice planet hovering mid air.
Lin Huang finally confirmed upon seeing the scenery before him, 'It really is Qi Muxiong's ruin!"
Although most of the information that he had found before stated that this ruin, Miracle, was the one Qi Muxiong had left behind, and he had even seen the photos and video recordings, he was completely relieved after confirming the coordinates when he arrived at that very moment.
Although many among the 100 participants had been to this ruin, it was the first time for a minority of them to be here. They were astonished when they saw the gigantic ice shield.
It was the Spider Queen's first time being there.
"What a massive shield!" she exclaimed while approaching Lin Huang as if there was a magnet pulling her closer.
Lin Huang was about to dodge, but the Spider Queen extended her front claw and held on his front leg. It was so natural as if she had done it countless of times before.
'What does the size of the shield have anything to do with you holding onto my leg?' Lin Huang thought to himself. However, he remained calm on the surface and said nothing.
He knew his current situation very well. If he messed up his relationship with this Spider Queen, a conflict might explode as a consequence. From the Thousand-Legged Centipede's memory, he knew that this Spider Queen had a hot temper. As soon as he messed up their relationship, there might be a high possibility that she might throw a fit on the spot. By then, it would definitely catch the attention of the rest of the participants and even the Dragon Sovereign.
If the Dragon Sovereign was upset and kicked him out of the ruin, it would mean trouble. Nonetheless, he could only tolerate the Spider Queen's flirting temporarily.
The Dragon Sovereign was sent in not long after the 100 participants entered.
After seeing the Dragon Sovereign's appearance, Lin Huang seized the opportunity to get the Spider Queen off him.
The Spider Queen held her head down as soon as she saw the Dragon Sovereign. She dared not fool around, but her 12 eyes were still staring at Lin Huang, who was not far away, in sadness.
The Dragon Sovereign glanced at the participants again. Realizing that all 100 of them were there and nobody was stuck in any technical difficulties, he then turned around to look at the ice shield that he had set up.
He hovered slowly to the shield and scratched a point on the shield by extending a claw. In the next second, circles of waves rippled on the ice shield like it was the surface of water.
As the invisible waves spread out, the ice shield melted at a high speed. It seemed to have turned into a liquid but was still white in color.
It was Lin Huang's first time seeing ice flowing like water and not melting.
Besides Lin Huang, the rest of the participants stared at the shield with all of their focus. They were watching the transformation of the shield without blinking.
However, there was one exception. The Spider Queen still had her eyes on Lin Huang who was not far away.
As the shield on the surface of the ruin turned into a flowing form, the transformation still went on. It shrunk slowly and turned into thick icy chains.
The chains were like the lines on a chessboard. They intertwined on the surface of the ruin, sealing the entire ruin within.
The people finally saw how the entire ruin looked like. It was a gigantic white light sphere like a star hanging in the sky.
Lin Huang was slightly stunned as he stared at the white sphere. There was no other reason than a part of Qi Muxiong's memory playing in his head.
However, the information coming from the part of the memory shocked Lin Huang.
'This ruin… is Qi Muxiong's God Territory? But a God Territory is a product that stems from the Godhead in territory. Only a Virtual God who has a Godhead can form a God Territory. Qi Muxiong has God Territory, which means his actual combat strength isn't demigod-level, but virtual god-level!'
Lin Huang thought everything made sense when he came to that conclusion. He thought it was a little strange why Qi Muxiong failed to elevate to Virtual God and stayed as a demigod with his ridiculous talent and abilities.
Now, it seemed like Qi Muxiong was a total virtual god-level powerhouse but due to some reason, he had disguised himself as a demigod.
However, Lin Huang could not help but frown when he saw the intertwining chains sealing the entire ruin completely.
The memory that Qi Muxiong had left behind suggested that it was best for the successor to take the God Territory away.
However, the Dragon Sovereign had found out about the God Territory and sealed it with the True God technique. In other words, taking the God Territory away became something that was impossible to fulfill.
The technique that Dragon Sovereign had used to seal the God Territory was an Ice Law. Such an elemental rule was also one of the rule powers. Therefore, only rule powers could be used to tackle it.
'It seems like I can only enter the ruin and get Qi Muxiong's Goldfinger. Whether I can take this God Territory away or not depends on the situation then.'
As Lin Huang was thinking of putting the God Territory matter aside, another transformation occurred in the ruin.
Nearby, the Dragon Sovereign's eyes turned frosty white.
The thick icy chain on the surface of the ruin began flowing slowly. They looked like living gigantic ice boas swimming on the surface of a star.
A moment later, the God Territory that was initially sealed by the iced chains revealed a hexagon that had no icy chains covering it.
The eyes of the Dragon Sovereign, who was standing aside, faded back to black. He turned his head and said to the participants including Lin Huang slowly, "The entrance to the ruin has opened. The opening duration for this ruin will only be seven days. If any of you don't make it out within seven days, you'll have to stay for a year until the ruin opens again next year.
"There's something that I have to clarify. None of those who didn't make it out within seven days in the past were found dead, so decide carefully if you want to stay longer than seven days.
"Since everyone forgets about their experience in this ruin every time they come out, I've no idea exactly what is in this ruin. I can only speculate from the loot the participants brought out that there should be many giants in there. You guys should've learned about this before coming here, so I shan't waste any more time.
"The ruin has opened. You may now enter!"
As the Dragon Sovereign roared his command, the 100 participants rushed into the hexagonal entrance like madmen.
Lin Huang followed behind the people as the last to go in. He only entered a few monsters after the Spider Queen on purpose to avoid her from tackling him again.
Never would he expect the Spider Queen's 16 eyes not to have any blind spots at all. She noticed him being left behind, so she slowed down as well, allowing the monsters at the back to overtake her. Soon, she was standing on the same row as Lin Huang was. She did all she could to crawl horizontally to go closer to him.
Lin Huang thought of accelerating to get rid of the Spider Queen. However, he noticed the Dragon Sovereign watching him. He seemed to be noticing Lin Huang because of the Spider Queen's actions. Feeling helpless, Lin Huang could only move forward at his initial speed, allowing the Spider Queen to approach him.
Chapter 1226: The Ruin Miracle
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The ruin called Miracle was unique. Anyone who came in would forget everything that happened in this ruin whenever they got out.
Whatever monsters they encountered in the ruin or caves they invaded and the type of battles they experienced… There would be zero trails left behind as if someone had removed their memories.
Of course, although there would not be any related memory, basically every participant who entered the ruin would bring back loot as long as they made it out alive. Some of them even experienced a boost in combat strength.
Therefore, many monsters in this virtual zone would still go mad for this ruin. As for Lin Huang, he had heard about this before he came in, but he was not terribly concerned.
No matter how powerful Qi Muxiong's technique was, it was just a Virtual God's technique. Due to the faulty rule of the gravel world, it was impossible for him to have made it to True God level.
Meanwhile, Lin Huang had three God Figurines whose ability could fight True Gods. He did not think that his memory would have been erased.
He looked around as soon as he passed through the dimensional portal and began observing his surroundings. However, he was stunned as he looked around.
"What the hell?!" Lin Huang lifted his head immediately. "Those are weeds?"
The weeds before him were lush and gigantic, standing tens of meters tall.
Lin Huang controlled the Thousand-Legged Centipede to lift the first half of his body up and peer further away. All he saw were taller and bigger plants.
He felt like he had entered a world of giants where all the plants were enlarged by hundreds of times. What surprised Lin Huang even more was that those plants were just ordinary plants. They contained no cultivator's aura.
"The ordinary plants are already so big. It's no wonder that there are many giants in here."
Although no useful information had ever leaked out about this ruin, many of the participants had brought all kinds of giant monster carcasses out. Almost everyone knew about that.
"The plants here are massive!" Just when Lin Huang was figuring how to explore this ruin, the Spider Queen's voice came all of a sudden. He recalled that he had yet to handle this problem.
Seeing the Spider Queen approaching, Lin Huang peered around and did not dodge. He allowed her to twist her long leg around his front leg.
"Where do we go now?" the Spider Queen turned her head to ask Lin Huang.
"There's no rush. Let's see where the rest are going." Lin Huang stood watching the remaining participants leaving one after another.
The Spider Queen grinned when she heard his response. "Are you planning to go where most of the monsters are so we can kill them from behind?"
Lin Huang glared at her and said nothing.
This spider seemed to be thinking that both of them were a couple. However, Lin Huang clearly did not share the same sentiment.
No matter how pretty she was, Lin Huang would stay as far away as he could from a girlfriend who treated him that way, let alone a giant spider that completely defied his sense of beauty.
He only turned his head to look at the Spider Queen after waiting for the remaining 98 monsters to leave and were no longer in his territory range.
"Are you sure you want to follow me?"
"I won't believe your nonsense this time and let you go." The Spider Queen's claw that was holding onto Lin Huang's front leg gripped even tighter now.
"Alright then." Lin Huang crushed a Monster Card as soon as he was done speaking.
In the next second, Grimace appeared before the Spider Queen quietly in a black robe with golden patterns.
The Spider Queen was stunned to see Grimace. Before she managed to react, a black wave rippled in Grimace's eyes.
The Spider Queen's 16 black eyes shut immediately. At the same time, she let go of her claw that was clutching onto Lin Huang's leg. She had fallen into a deep sleep.
Then, Lin Huang removed the effect of the Disguise Card and recovered his own appearance.
"Why didn't you get me to kill her directly?" Grimace asked.
"It's unnecessary."
Lin Huang did not think that the Spider Queen was a threat to him at all since the beginning. She was just a little irritating.
After getting rid of the Spider Queen, Lin Huang soon found the location where Qi Muxiong had hidden the Goldfinger in his memory.
The part of the memory only unsealed automatically just when he entered the ruin.
"33,000 kilometers towards 1 o'clock…"
After confirming the coordinates, Lin Huang turned around to look at the direction of the coordinates and subsequently summoned Thunder.
He waved at Grimace, and both of them hopped onto Thunder's back. Flapping its wings, Thunder flew towards the 1 o'clock direction after turning into a bolt of purple lightning.
It spent less than three minutes flying 33,000 kilometers away.
However, Lin Huang, Grimace and Thunder clearly sensed that the closer they got to their destination, the more monsters there were. In addition to that, the monsters' combat strength got higher the closer they were.
Most of the monsters in this ruin seemed to be giants. As their proximity to the area where Qi Muxiong's Goldfinger was, the larger the giants were.
They were over ten meters at first and grew to tens of meters, hundreds of meters, thousands of meters, and even tens of thousands of meters…
Eventually, there were giants that looked like mountains when they arrived at their destination. All of them had virtual god-level combat strength. Although they were only beginner-stage virtual god-level, there were hundreds of them.
The gigantic monsters noticed Thunder from far away and attacked them directly when it was still in the air.
Thunder flapped its wings lightly and dodged those giants' attacks easily. Although the attacks were powerful, the monsters were too dumb for Thunder. They could not even touch a single feather.
Since Thunder's action had attracted so many monsters' attention, Lin Huang patted Thunder's back all of a sudden. "Stop playing. Let's land."
Thunder asked nothing and flew down quickly after flying around in the sky.
The gigantic monsters that were attacking Thunder with all of their might frozen all of a sudden. Subsequently, they walked away one after another as if they did not see Thunder.
After Thunder landed on the ground safely, Lin Huang and Grimace leaped from its back. So did the Nightmare Tapir with tiger stripes on his body.
Lin Huang looked at the Nightmare Tapir after recalling Thunder and Grimace back into their card forms. "Is there any news about the Goldfinger?"
The Nightmare Tapir frowned and shook its head. "Although these monsters were hypnotized, I can't read their minds. Their memories seem to be locked by a shield."
Lin Huang squinted slightly upon hearing that. "It must be the Goldfinger doing that."
"So, what do we do now?" the Nightmare Tapir asked.
"It must've found out that I'm here." Lin Huang peered around. "Judging by the giant monsters' crazy attacks, it seems to be rejecting outsiders from approaching. If I'm not mistaken, it'll attack us later in an attempt to chase us out of this area."
Three powerful aurae appeared out of nowhere just when Lin Huang was done speaking. They cornered and surrounded Lin Huang and the Nightmare Tapir in the middle.
Chapter 1227: Are There True Gods Here?!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The three powerful aurae clearly had a combat strength of Virtual God rank-9. They were even a rank higher than the Nightmare Tapir.
Lin Huang was surprised to sense the three monsters' combat strength. 'Qi Muxiong shouldn't have been on Virtual God rank-9 when he was alive. How is it possible that a monster that's guarding his Goldfinger has a combat strength of Virtual God rank-9? And there are even three of them?!'
As Lin Huang was analyzing the facts, the Nightmare Tapir began fighting with the three guardians. It dragged them into his dreamland before Lin Huang could see how they looked like.
Although the Nightmare Tapir's combat strength was only on Virtual God rank-8, which was a rank lower than the three guardians, he had a higher grade that enabled him to overcome the difference in combat strength like a piece of cake. It only took a moment for the three guardians to be dragged into his dreamland without realizing it at all.
Noticing that the battle had begun, Lin Huang split a tiny bit of his consciousness into the dreamland. He became an audience of the battle. He finally saw how the three guardians looked like after entering the dreamland.
"They aren't giants?!"
The largest one among the three guardians was only over ten meters tall while the smallest one was only two meters tall. They were completely different from the other monsters in the ruin.
The smallest one looked like a feline but was made of silver metal.
Each metal piece on its body had the flexibility and extensibility like muscles and bones did. They allowed the monster to twist its body like a cat and beyond.
Its claws seemed to be made of steel as they shone like glaring white glows under the sun.
The second largest was only eight meters long. It was a huge white bear creature with golden armor covering its body. The armor covered its head and a majority of its body including parts of its limbs. It appeared powerful.
Although it was nothing compared to the size of the giants, Lin Huang never doubted its strength. He guessed that not many virtual god-level powerhouses were powerful enough to fight with him head-on. Most of the Virtual Gods might not even stand a slap from it.
Meanwhile, the largest guardian was a huge tree with a human face. It was approximately 15 to 16 meters tall but was nothing compared to a strand of grass in this ruin.
Apart from the human face on its main branch, this tree looked no different from an ordinary tree whereby its leaves had fallen in the winter. It looked 60% to 70% like a rubber tree with its branches stretched in a distorted way. It took pride in its form although it had no leaves.
The battle started almost instantly in the dreamland.
The feline monster was extremely agile. Compared to the Ninetails Lynx's teleportation, it was just pure high speed. Almost each of its movements reached the limit a Virtual God could achieve.
No matter whether it was its movement or its attack, it was done almost in the blink of an eye, as if the middle process was skipped entirely.
What was more terrifying was that such a speedy physical agility came with the same speed of quickness and neutral response, giving it a scary dodging ability.
Fortunately, the Nightmare Tapir who was in his dreamland borrowed the Ninetails Lynx's ability. Its speed was no slower than the insanely quick guardian.
The duo collided tens of thousands of times within a moment.
The big tree with the human face soon joined the battle. Its branches looked like little snakes that were wriggling alive. They went full swing like a flood of snakes at the Nightmare Tapir.
In mid-air, some of the branches were as thin as spider threads. They turned into a web in an attempt to restrict the Nightmare Tapir's movements. Some of them turned into arrows and shot into the sky with a whistling noise. Some turned into long whips, sweeping towards all directions.
The single attack alone included a few different attack modes. It almost held nothing back.
The Nightmare Tapir was pretty calm while fighting and did not panic at all. It moved in a flash in the air again and again to dodge the opponent's restrictive techniques. It would rip the unavoidable attacks with his claws directly. The opponent's fancy attacks seemed to be child's play to him.
The giant golden-armored bear was the third to attack.
In reality, it attacked at the same time as the two other guardians but was just slow.
The giant golden-armored bear's attack only struck when the Nightmare Tapir was almost done with the first round of battle with the other two guardians.
It slapped the Nightmare Tapir from 100 meters away. A gigantic golden bear paw appeared in the air, covering an area within tens of meters in diameter, which included the Nightmare Tapir.
Its attack mode was out of Lin Huang's expectations. He initially thought the giant golden-armored bear was a monster expert at close combat.
"Judging by its physical structure, it should be a monster expert at close combat. Perhaps it chose to perform a ranged attack from a distance away because it knows that with its speed, it's impossible to catch up with the battle rhythm."
Lin Huang proceeded to watch the battle with little doubt.
The Nightmare Tapir fought the three on his own at ease in the middle of them.
Although its combat strength was a rank lower than the three guardians, its grade was higher than theirs. Besides that, it was close to invincible in the dreamland. The reason being it could perform any skills that it had seen before and copy them perfectly.
One could even say that fighting with the Nightmare Tapir in its dreamland was just as difficult as fighting Lin Huang's ten God Figurine's Combat Souls all at once.
After spending some ten minutes to familiarize itself with the three guardians' attack mode and learning many battle techniques secretly, the Nightmare Tapir was finally going to give its all.
The metal feline monster shot out from a single collision. The Nightmare Tapir's claw attack sent it flying 100 kilometers away.
The big tree with the human face's branches were torn and crushed by the Nightmare Tapir's claws. Its body was broken instantly and it was the first to die on the spot!
Meanwhile, the giant golden-armored bear had its armor crushed from the Nightmare Tapir's claws. Bleeding non-stop, it turned around and ran for its life!
However, the giant golden-armored bear that was fleeing and the panting metal feline monster were killed one after another in less than half a minute.
Lin Huang glanced at the three monster carcasses on the ground after getting out of the dreamland. He then turned his head to look at the Nightmare Tapir. "Did you read their memory?"
The Nightmare Tapir shook its head. "I can't. Just like those monsters before, their memories are blocked."
Lin Huang went silent like he had fallen into deep thought for a moment. He only spoke again a while later, "It's actually alright. The three guardians' appearance means that the Goldfinger is close. We just need some time to look for it."
Three powerhouse aurae came out of thin air when Lin Huang was speaking halfway. His pupils shrunk upon sensing the strange phenomenon that came out of nowhere while he was in shock.
"That's… True Gods' aurae?!"
Chapter 1228: True God's Rule Power
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
'What's this? It's impossible that Qi Muxiong could've made it to True God. Why are there True Gods in his ruin?!'
While Lin Huang had this doubt in his mind, he summoned the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth while having his guard up.
He was a little relieved to see the Ninetails Lynx that had shrunk sitting on his shoulder. He peered far away towards the source where the three aurae were coming from and soon saw three silhouettes appearing slowly.
"Humans?!" Lin Huang was shocked when he saw the trio's silhouettes.
As the three people eventually became clearer, the Nightmare Tapir was the first to attack.
It activated his dreamland at full swing in the attempt to pull the three True Gods in. However, its effort was like an ocean wave that swept through three rocks when facing the True Gods.
The Nightmare Tapir had a slight change of expression and spoke to Lin Huang through voice transmission after recalling its dreamland quickly, "I can't pull them into my dreamland!"
"Is it because of your combat strength?" Lin Huang frowned slightly.
"No," replied the Nightmare Tapir while shaking its head lightly, "If I'm not mistaken, they're God Figurine's Combat Souls too, but they only have battle consciousness left."
"God Figurine's Combat Souls?! Are you sure about that?" Lin Huang was in shock. "Qi Muxiong is already dead. How are his God Figurine's Combat Souls still working?!"
"I'm sure that they're God Figurine's Combat Souls!" The Nightmare Tapir gave a firm answer.
The reason why Lin Huang was so astonished was that under normal circumstances, the death of the God Figurine's owner's soul would also spell the death of the Combat Souls. Without a Combat Soul, the God Figurines would regain their idle mode, which was a sculpture the size of a palm.
However, the three God Figurine's Combat Souls in Qi Muxiong's ruin were still functioning as normal.
The gears in Lin Huang's brain were turning and he soon came up with three possibilities.
The first possibility was that Qi Muxiong was still alive. Therefore, his God Figurine's Combat Souls were still functioning as normal.
The second possibility was that the three God Figurine's Combat Souls belonged to someone else, and not Qi Muxiong.
The third possibility was that Qi Muxiong was like Lin Huang whereby he had mastered unique visualization, allowing the Combat Souls to exist as individuals. Therefore, his death would not affect the God Figurine's Combat Souls from functioning.
As the silhouettes revealed themselves slowly, the three God Figurine's Combat Souls' faces were getting clearer. They were two men and a lady.
The lady's features were close to perfection. Apart from her breasts that were almost completely flat, the other parts of her body were close to flawlessness. The long, black dress she wore revealed her waspish waist and long legs.
She had boyish, short hair that made her seem androgynous but also gave her an experienced vibe.
Meanwhile, one of the men had a clean-shaven, fair face. He was short and looked very young and decent. Another one looked over 30 years old with tanned skin. He was skinny and tall but his arms were muscular.
As Lin Huang was analyzing where the three God Figurine's Combat Souls came from, the battle began.
The Ninetails Lynx replaced the Nightmare Tapir in the battle as soon as the latter's attack was to no avail.
In its shrunken form, the Ninetails Lynx disappeared from Lin Huang's shoulder without any sign. It had transformed into a feline monster that was thirsty for blood when it appeared again in the next second.
The monster that was over a meter long with leopard prints on its body arrived before the first God Figurine's Combat Soul like a streak of lightning.
It mauled with its claws without touching the opponent. Without checking the outcome, it proceeded to attack the second God Figurine's Combat Soul.
However, at the same time it attacked, the young man who was struck fought back. He pressed his palm in the air, and the air slices that the Ninetails Lynx performed were crushed one after another.
The Ninetails Lynx's air slices that were usually invincible were dismissed like a piece of cake.
Lin Huang's pupils could not help but shrink when he saw that. The Nightmare Tapir's expression also looked grim.
"Rule power…"
The Ninetails Lynx had a slight change of expression since its attack had missed. However, it did not choose to dwell on a fight with the decent, young man. Instead, it passed him in a flash to attack the other two targets.
It mauled the air a few times consecutively. Crescent-like black air slices appeared quickly and shot through the air like lightning bolts.
The tanned man stretched his hand into the air again, and a transparent wall formed before him immediately.
The air slices collided against the wall one after another. Circles of ripples were created before they were engulfed by the transparent wall completely, as if they were stones that had drowned in the water.
The Ninetails Lynx's attack was easily defeated again.
The lady did not have to fight at all. The wall that the tanned man created had blocked all of the attacks.
Lin Huang could not help but frown when he saw the two true god-level God Figurine's Combat Souls perform rule power abilities consecutively.
"What exactly was Qi Muxiong thinking? Only participants below virtual god-level can come in, so why did he set up a true god-level defense in the ruin? Nobody will be able to obtain the inheritance at all!"
Lin Huang could not understand what Qi Muxiong's exact goal was. If he wanted someone to obtain his inheritance, putting three true god-level God Figurine's Combat Souls here undoubtedly killed the possibility for everyone to get their hands on it.
Even for him, there was a certain difficulty to kill the three God Figurine's Combat Souls.
'Perhaps it's a technique to prevent powerhouses such as the Dragon Sovereign from stealing the inheritance. Or maybe I activated it accidentally for some reason.'
Lin Huang thought about it carefully. He was even suspecting whether he had accidentally activated the ruin's defense system.
The Destructive Divine Mammoth finally joined the battle as Lin Huang's thoughts were flying!
Surprisingly, it did not attack any of the three True Gods. Instead, it stepped forward and arrived before the transparent wall that the tanned man had just created.
Lifting both of its legs after staring at the tanned man and the lady in the black dress behind the wall, its feet landed on the transparent wall.
Circles of waves rippled across the transparent wall again and again as the Destructive Divine Mammoth that had absolute strength stepped hard on it with both its legs.
Compared to the Ninetails Lynx's attack earlier, the Destructive Divine Mammoth's attack this time was not engulfed by the transparent wall. Instead, there were circles of waves rippling as it inserted Divine Power. As the waves rippled, intense waves swept across the walls.
Layers of waves could not stop overlapping under the Destructive Divine Mammoth's control. They were getting more and more intense. At first, they looked like normal ocean waves. However, they turned into a scary tsunami within a minute.
The transparent wall was crushed in less than five seconds after the tsunami was created as it could not take such immense tearing. The wall disintegrated into transparent pieces and faded into the air.
The Destructive Divine Mammoth looked at the tanned guy in mockery after breaking the defense wall made of rule power.
At that moment, a silver glow lit up in the air all of a sudden. It was coming at the Destructive Divine Mammoth at a high speed.
Chapter 1229: The Shackle Serpent Fights!
Translator:EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor:EndlessFantasy Translation
The silver glow shone like lightning and was extremely quick.
It struck the Destructive Divine Mammoth's left eye within the blink of an eye. The Destructive Divine Mammoth did not manage to react at all.
However, the silver glow pierced through the Destructive Divine Mammoth's body in the next second and crashed into a hill far away. Not only was the entire hill wiped out, but it also left a giant sinkhole that was over 1,000 kilometers wide.
Many virtual god-level monsters were impacted by the attack. At least 20 to 30 of them were crushed into dust immediately.
Meanwhile, the Destructive Divine Mammoth's body disintegrated slowly and appeared a few meters away.
Lin Huang was stunned for a moment. He subsequently peeked at the Nightmare Tapir before him. He knew that it was the Nightmare Tapir's doing earlier. He made the Destructive Divine Mammoth an illusory substitute to dodge this attack.
Although he could not pull the opponents into its dreamland, the Nightmare Tapir had illusion and spiritual attack techniques. Despite not being able to use them to fight the enemies head-on, it could be used as solid support and control.
The Nightmare Tapir looked at the lady in the black dress who attacked earlier from a distance after solving the crisis for the Destructive Divine Mammoth.
"A sword cultivator!"
"Can her attack harm the Destructive Divine Mammoth?" Lin Huang asked through voice transmission while frowning.
"A sword cultivator's attack power together with rule power can harm us if they attack our weaker parts," the Nightmare Tapir confirmed, "After all, our combat strength has yet to reach true god-level while our body only comes with a God Figurine's basic defense power. As long as the intensity of their attack can hurt a true god-level powerhouse, it can basically harm our flesh. The female sword cultivator's attack earlier could've killed a first-rank True God."
Lin Huang just realized that the God Figurine's Combat Souls' invincibility was just a matter of relativity. In the gravel world, they were naturally invincible since there were no True Gods.
The Destructive Divine Mammoth that was almost hurt on the battlefield was completely enraged. It swung its trunk and attacked the lady in the black dress who had secretly attacked it earlier in a frenzy.
Upon seeing that, the Ninetails Lynx took the initiative to block the other two God Figurines.
The Nightmare Tapir also joined the battle, supporting both of them as a team.
Theoretically, God Figurine's Combat Souls that had no consciousness should only have battle instinct and not the ability to strategize battles. However, the three God Figurines were in sync when they fought as if they were alive.
Lin Huang was frowning deeper and deeper as the battle went on for over ten minutes.
Among the three God Figurine's Combat Souls, the lady in the black dress had the highest attack capability. She was a sword cultivator and she must have mastered Sword Dao. Her attack could even tear and crack the Destructive Divine Mammoth's body that was supposed to be invincible in defense.
Even the Ninetails Lynx was scared of being hit by her. A God Figurine might bleed if they were hit. If their vital parts were hit, they might be severely injured.
The tanned man's defense technique was pretty difficult to defeat too. Besides creating a defense wall with the rule power, he could even create armors and shields at the very last minute. The defense techniques coming from the rule power could basically block over 90% of the impact of the Ninetails Lynx and the rest's attack.
Furthermore, the three of them were God Figurines. Their defense was nothing below the Ninetails Lynx's. In fact, it was even more powerful.
Meanwhile, the fair, young was mainly an expert in the Wind Element Law.
Not only could he control wind element attacks, but he could also even play a cameo in aid to speed up his partners' attack or restrict the Ninetails Lynx and the rest's movements.
The trio were the perfect team. The upper hand coming from the rule power created a great restriction to the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth.
Over ten minutes had passed, but the Ninetails Lynx and the rest had done almost nothing to the God Figurines.
Killing any one of the God Figurines aside, they could not even harm the three of them at all.
Lin Huang held back his urge to use a Combat Strength Upgrade Card. After a moment of reflection, he summoned his fourth God Figurine's Combat Soul, the Shackle Serpent!
Although it was only on Virtual God rank-7 while its sealing ability might not be able to really seal True Gods, it should make a difference.
The victory of a battle between compelling powerhouses usually happened within split seconds.
If the Shackle Serpent's sealing managed to create that split-second effect, it was sufficient for the Ninetails Lynx and the rest to kill their opponents.
It twisted its black body that was approximately a meter long around Lin Huang's left arm. Then, it lifted the upper half of its body high.
Its black pupils scanned through the three God Figurines, and it soon targeted its prey.
"Both of you will work with the Shackle Serpent for the kill. You guys will attack whoever that it seals. When both of you are attacking, the Nightmare Tapir will be responsible for stopping the other two God Figurines." Lin Huang was not afraid that his voice transmission would be heard by the three God Figurines.
The three God Figurines that took on human forms had no consciousness, so they would not react at all even if they heard what Lin Huang said.
The Shackle Serpent had its eyes trained on the tanned man just when Lin Huang was done speaking. Its pupils turned golden.
Almost at the same time, black shackles began growing on the tanned man's body at a high speed while his aura was plummeting.
At the moment, the Ninetails Lynx took the lead to attack.
It turned into a light stream of light while its sharp claws turned into a golden glow. The claws went through the tanned man's neck like an electric arc.
The Destructive Divine Mammoth's attack came subsequently. It lifted both its legs high, and a golden giant foot soon arose in the air.
The three God Figurines panicked a little as the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth changed their targets out of nowhere.
The lady in the black dress and the fair, young man attempted to save the tanned man, but the Nightmare Tapir created two silhouette illusions to block their way.
The golden giant feet above the tanned man's head came down just when the duo was stalled for a second.
Bang!
Knowing that it was an opportunity that was hard to come by, the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth did not hold back on their attack. They released almost all of the Divine Power in their bodies.
The tanned man's body turned into a black silhouette that shot through the sky. It looked like black lightning that crashed straight into the ground.
The flat land seemed as if a nuclear bomb had been thrown into the sea. A huge chunk of the soil vanished while the land further away had circles of waves ripple like ocean waves. Intense winds that were stronger than a storm blew furiously.
Meanwhile, the place where the tanned man landed had turned into a giant sinkhole that spanned over 3,000 kilometers in diameter. Almost all of the giant gods nearby were killed by the impact.
Lin Huang stood where he was without being harmed at all. The credit belonged to the Shackle Serpent that was twisted around his wrist as it set up a sealed area, blocking all of the impact outside the seal.
"Is he dead?" Lin Huang hovered mid-air while peering into the deepest part of the sinkhole from far away. However, the hole was too deep. Apart from darkness, he could see nothing.
The Nightmare Tapir nodded. "His spiritual aura is gone, so he should be..."
It had a dramatic change of expression before it was done speaking. Its tone became gloomy now. "The aura that vanished earlier seemed to have transformed into another aura. It seems even more powerful than before."
Chapter 1230: The Conversation with Qi Muxiong
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Soon after the Nightmare Tapir spoke, Lin Huang also sensed the tanned man's aura. Indeed, it was completely different from before.
He looked at the sinkhole beneath cautiously, unable to figure out what Qi Muxiong had in mind.
The tanned man's aura soon stabilized in the sinkhole.
Meanwhile, the lady in the black dress and the fair, young man, who were fighting not far away, retreated from the battle all of a sudden. They ceased fighting.
The Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth wanted to go on, but Lin Huang got them to stop. They retreated back to him and stopped dwelling on the battle.
The lady in the black dress and the fair, young man stood where they were quietly and froze entirely. They did not look like they were alive any longer. Instead, they were more like two puppets that had lost their marionettist.
Meanwhile, an aura rose from deep in the sinkhole.
Approximately two to three seconds later, the tanned man's silhouette shot up into the sky. He only stopped when he arrived at the same height as Lin Huang and hovered less than 100 meters away from Lin Huang.
Around Lin Huang's arm, the Shackle Serpent's eyes soon experienced a change of color again.
However, this time, the tanned man extended his arm to block Shackle Serpent's seal directly.
"Don't worry. You've passed my test. My God Figurines won't fight any longer."
Lin Huang stopped his God Figurine's Combat Soul from fighting and asked in a testing manner, "Qi Muxiong?"
"You know my name. It seems like you've obtained the inheritance I left behind in the grave world." The tanned man then observed Lin Huang closely. "I can sense the inheritance in you."
He only spoke again after observing Lin Huang, "To be exact, I'm not Qi Muxiong. I'm just a sliver of consciousness that he left behind. I'm not even considered a soul remnant. My current condition is just a soul remnant living in a God Figurine."
"Young man, how do I address you?" Qi Muxiong asked after giving a simple explanation about his identity.
"Lin Huang."
Lin Huang asked again before waiting for Qi Muxiong to speak again, "How can you prove that you're Qi Muxiong?"
"Prove?" The tanned man was stunned to hear the challenge and laughed subsequently. "The inheritance I left behind in the gravel world was incomplete. Even some of the information is fake. Now, I can give you my complete inherited memory. That should prove that I'm Qi Muxiong, am I right?" said the tanned man as he pointed his finger from where he was.
A golden glow formed at his fingertip and hovered slowly, then it stopped before Lin Huang.
Lin Huang extended his hand to grab the golden glow the size of a thumb. The golden glow penetrated his palm slowly and disappeared.
The second the golden glow penetrated his body, a steady stream of information was added to Lin Huang's head.
Even some of the information coming from Qi Muxiong was drowned in the new information that came in.
Lin Huang digested the information with his eyes closed slightly for two to three minutes. He finally finished reading the inheritance roughly by then.
He stared at the tanned man in shock after opening his eyes. "Your combat strength is only imperial-level?!"
"Is that surprising to you? Aren't you on imperial-level as well?" The tanned man seemed to act like everything made sense.
Lin Huang was speechless at that moment. He had always thought that Qi Muxiong's real combat strength was virtual god-level. Never had he thought he would have the same combat strength as him, which was merely imperial-level.
"I thought your first question would be what's a traveler or what's a Goldfinger." The tanned man looked at Lin Huang and smiled. "Never had I thought that you'd be more honest than I imagined."
Lin Huang did not respond to that. Neither did he deny that he was a traveler, nor did he admit that he was one.
The reason he did not pretend to not know what a traveler was that he guessed there was a certain possibility that the person already sensed the existence of a Goldfinger in his body. Just like how he roughly sensed Qi Muxiong's Goldfinger.
"Since you had an ability close to True God, why didn't you disguise your combat strength as virtual god-level in the gravel world? Why did you disguise as a demigod-level instead?" Lin Huang changed the topic after falling into silence for a moment.
Fortunately, Qi Muxiong did not plan to dwell on the previous topic.
"While there were a handful of Virtual Gods in the era that we were in, there were many demigods. Disguising as a Virtual God would be too attention-seeking. There were many demigods, so nobody would pay attention to us."
"Is your main body still alive?" Lin Huang proceeded to ask the third question.
The tanned man's expression finally became slightly serious upon hearing that. "I'm not too sure."
"I guess he's dead, but I'm not ruling out the possibility that he's surviving by using some unique methods. It's also possible that he has been reincarnated. I don't know the exact situation."
"What exactly happened to your main body? Theoretically, with your talent, your potential and the help from your Goldfinger, it was only a matter of time for you to elevate to a Lord. Why did you die all of a sudden?" Lin Huang was very curious about that. The inherited memory Qi Muxiong had provided him with had no related memory.
The tanned man only spoke slowly after a moment of silence, "My main body explored an ancient ruin when he was in the gravel world. He accidentally found a clue left behind by a traveler. He was elated to find that clue because he thought someone of his own kind was there. Never had he thought the clue was the beginning of an unfortunate series of events.
"He spent over a year and finally found another related clue in another ruin. He used the clues as his target and headed to the great world. He never thought those so-called clues would lead him into a trap. It was a deadly trap set up by the Raiders."
Lin Huang could not help but frown when he heard that. It was not his first time hearing about the term "Raider".
Yang Ling had mentioned Raiders too. According to his description, Raiders were a bunch of dangerous travelers who hunted other travelers exclusively to take their Goldfingers.
Yang Ling's Goldfinger was taken away the bunch of people, causing him to resort to a low life for hundreds of years.
"In reality, travelers don't only come from the planet where my main body came from. Many of them came from other planets and civilizations, even from different times and universes. Therefore, not all travelers are nice to their own kind.
"The Raiders are a group of people who have ill intentions towards other travelers. They hunt travelers exclusively and rely on the other travelers' Goldfingers to strengthen their own Goldfingers. In order to reach their goal, they use evil techniques.
"My main body encountered this bunch of people in the great world following the clues left behind in the ruins. They appeared very friendly on the surface, but they actually faked it. Fortunately, my main body realized how unusual it was and found the opportunity to escape to where this bunch of Raiders was gathered. However, he was chased because of that. He was severely injured and almost died.
"He only escaped from them when he returned to this virtual zone. However, he was too badly injured at that time and was worried that he could not hold on until he returned to the gravel world. All he could do while he had the ability to was to set up this ruin and leave me behind, which is but a sliver of consciousness. I've no idea what happened after that."
"When exactly did all these incidents that you told me happened?" Lin Huang asked immediately, "Do you know the exact year it happened?"
"Year 5536." The date the remnant of the consciousness revealed was the old era calendar.
"The Virtual Eye opened in Year 5538, which was two years after Qi Muxiong set up this ruin. In other words, Qi Muxiong had no Goldfinger during the war over 800 years ago because he left it in this ruin. Furthermore, there's a great possibility that his body had yet to recover. He might've even been dying back then. Therefore, the rumor that Qi Muxiong had died in the war might be true."