Chapter 1421: The Eighth Wave
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"He summoned eleven more summoning beasts?!"
"All eleven of them are high-level Virtual Gods!"
"A few of them look like humans. They're not Protosses, are they?!"
Everyone started chattering about it. They were quick to notice that Ku Rong, Bai, Grimace, Tyrant, Witch, and the others had appearances that were mostly similar to humans.
Based on the "knowledge" that they have, they immediately concluded that Bai and the others were Protosses.
In actuality, a Protoss had three forms and possessed a human form. However, not all that possessed a complete human form were Protosses.
Protoss was the general name for a group of several tribes who were jointly referred to by that name. Tribes that met the criteria and were willing to join the Protoss could be called a Protoss.
Even so, there were some tribes in the great world that possessed three forms and met all the criteria for joining the Protoss, but did not do so in favor of maintaining the independence of their tribes.
There were even a few tribes that had existed long before the establishment of the Protoss. Although they did not join the Protoss, even the most pure-blooded Protoss tribes would still pay extreme respect to them.
For example, the Observer Tribe, who had existed since the archaic epoch, also possessed complete human forms. No one knew if this was for the sake of convenience or for other reasons, but practically every Observer looked like a middle-aged man with a bald head. Even their facial features were all seventy to eighty percent similar. The only things that differentiated them were their heights and body shapes.
There was even a legend in the God Territory which claimed that a bald-headed human cultivator once accidentally arrived at the God Territory and received courteous reception due to being mistaken for an Observer.
However, the people in the gravel world did not know all this. Aside from Lin Huang and the Sword Servants, everyone that was present, including Mr. Fu, probably had never seen the real appearance of a Protoss. The news that a Protoss looked like a human was only passed around through hearsay.
On top of that, they did not know that most members of the two sword cultivator troops from Dynasty and Misery that were currently part of the battle formation to fight against the enemy alongside them were real Protosses. There were even two pure-blooded Protosses among them!
Lin Huang chose to ignore everyone's comments.
"The eleven of you, guard one space tunnel each. Immediately kill anyone that gets teleported over. It doesn't matter how many of them there are, spare none. If you notice any space rifts that are missing, repair them at once."
Upon receiving the instructions, Ku Rong, Bai, and the others each promptly chose a space rift to guard.
The two waves of summoning beasts that were summoned by Lin Huang occupied twenty-one spots, and everyone present had no qualms about it.
This was not the time to fight for resources. Everyone did not have enough manpower, and the explorers would only increase in number and strength. The appearance of the summoning beasts relieved a big load of everyone's burden, which was what everyone had hoped for.
The thirty-one contingents of troops swiftly assigned themselves to guard the remaining twelve space rifts.
However, Lin Huang furrowed his eyebrows slightly while looking at the twelve space rifts that were not guarded by the summoning beasts.
Among the thirty-one contingents of battle troops, three of them had Virtual God rank-4 cores, and the power of their battle formation was almost equivalent to virtual god-level rank-6. The remaining twenty-eight contingents had Virtual-God rank-3 cores, and their battle power was barely equivalent to Virtual God rank-5.
With such a deployment, if they were to face a virtual god-level rank-6 explorer, they would collapse on all fronts.
Lin Huang hesitated. Should he just summon the bug beasts to fill these twelve spots, or expose the Sword Servants' strength?
The reason he was hesitant to summon the bug beasts was because a regular Imperial Censor had no way of controlling the Bug Tribe.
Bug Master might have been regarded as a subdivision of the Imperial Censor a long time ago, but had long become independent and developed a different professional system.
Under normal circumstances, no Imperial Censor would waste their time learning the Bug Master matters. They would rather utilize their time to find a few more imperial monsters to elevate their own strength.
Another less prominent reason was that people from not only the great world, but also the gravel world, had a very bad impression of the bug tribe. That was why the number of Bug Masters was much smaller than that of Imperial Censors.
Lin Huang was also deliberating on whether he should expose the Sword Servants' strength.
After all, once the Sword Servants' strength was exposed, it would definitely garner widespread attention, and it would be inevitable that certain people would notice the new virtual god-level sword cultivators in Misery. If they were to dig a little deeper, it would not be difficult for them to discover the relationship between Lin Huang and Misery.
If this was any other time, Lin Huang would not have cared too much even if such things were exposed.
However, this was a time of war, and Lin Huang did not want to arouse the suspicion of the Union Government, Hunter Association, and other forces at a time like this and cause disharmony within the Union Government army.
While Lin Huang was still deliberating if he should summon the bug beasts or expose the Sword Servants' strength…
The eighth wave of invaders had arrived!
There were once again thirty-three space tunnels that simultaneously transmitted spatial fluctuations.
When Lin Huang sent forth his Divine Telekinesis to sense the number and strength levels of the invaders that came through the thirty-three space tunnels, he could not help frowning slightly.
The explorers that were teleported over this wave were Virtual God rank-5s, which was an upgrade compared to before. However, the bigger difference was that the number of explorers that were teleported through each of the thirty-three dimensional gateways increased from one to ten!
The second Lin Huang detected this, Mr. Fu also noticed the abnormality. His expression shifted slightly, and his figure immediately rose into the air and hung above the heads of the twelve groups of battle troops, ready to help at any time.
When he saw this, Lin Huang opened his mouth to stop him, but ended up not saying anything and let Mr. Fu go.
After seeing Mr. Fu taking action, the many Virtual Gods present gradually sensed the severity of the situation regarding this wave of invaders, and their faces turned pale.
Some of them also noticed that Lin Huang had been sitting still this whole time, looking like he did not have the slightest intention of making a move.
However, everyone had no objection to his behavior. After all, he had already dispatched twenty-one summoning beasts to join the battle. For an Imperial Censor, controlling such a large number of summoning beasts of such high caliber would tremendously drain them in all aspects.
Besides that, there had long been a tacit consensus among the people that those who were in the Imperial Censor profession had no real strength of their own, and they mainly relied on imperial monsters in battles. Therefore, on the battlefield, it was normal for an Imperial Censor to summon imperial monsters to join the frontlines of a battle while they themselves took a backseat.
Even for Guan Zhong and the others, who knew about Lin Huang's strength, when they saw that he had not joined the battle, the thought that came to their minds was, 'As expected, summoning twenty-one virtual god-level rank-9 imperial monsters at once is a bit too much even for Lin Huang.'
Of course, Lin Huang was unaware that he had unwittingly added a layer of drama in the minds of the others.
He was not even a real Imperial Censor. He relied on monster cards to summon imperial monsters, which did not cause even the slightest burden on him.
The reason he did not make a move himself was that he knew very well, even if the thirty-one battle troops from the gravel world were not there, Bai and the others were more than capable of coping with the arrival of the three hundred and thirty explorers!
Chapter 1422: The God's Figurine's Combat Souls Have Appeared!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ku Rong stood in front of a space rift with his eyes half-lidded, as if he were completely ignoring the spatial fluctuations in front of him that kept on coming continuously. He was dressed in a white monk's robe, his clothes fluttering in the wind caused by the spatial fluctuations, making him look like a celestial being.
The moment the invaders arrived, he suddenly opened his eyes.
Even without physically making a move, the bodies of the ten virtual god-level rank-5 monsters began to disintegrate inch by inch as soon as they were teleported over—not only their bodies but even their souls were rapidly being disintegrated in the same way.
In an instant, the ten explorers had been reduced to nothingness—not even a drop of blood remained.
Not far from Ku Rong, Bai was dressed in all black, his white hair wafting slightly in the wind.
He stared at the space rift, face devoid of emotion, expression unreadable.
After a moment, the spatial fluctuation quickly reached its peak, and ten silhouettes gradually revealed themselves
At this moment, Bai stretched a finger out to point in the air, and ten blood-colored electric arcs shot forth like living creatures. The next instant, the arcs plunged directly into the bodies of the newly-arrived ten monsters.
A second later, the bodies of the ten monsters began to shrivel up, and in just a few moments they became completely desiccated corpses. That was not all, though. After another half-a-second or so, the dried corpses began to disintegrate on their own, turning into dust in the sky.
Tyrant was much more direct than the others in his attacks.
As soon as the ten explorers were teleported over, he leaped forward and punched them one by one, pummeling all the monsters into a bloody pulp.
Charcoal, on the other hand, opened his wide mouth and spewed out his Dragon Flame, burning all the invaders into ashes that blew away in the wind.
Meanwhile, Warlord made no moves whatsoever. Before the explorers were teleported over, he placed a row of small artillery batteries in front of himself.
The moment the explorers arrived, blasts from about a dozen artillery batteries simultaneously sounded, and the blaze engulfed the ten invaders.
By the time the batteries ceased fire, the ten monsters were nothing more than ten lumps of pulverized meat, and it was impossible to tell what they had originally looked like.
Seeing that these few did not even have so much as their corpses remaining, Lin Huang could not help crying out in his heart, 'What a waste!'
Lancelot, Killer, and the others were certainly far more conventional and used equally conventional killing methods. The only thing was that the speed of their kills was just a little faster and they eliminated their enemies within seconds.
That is, all but Grimace, who was the most ostentatious one of all in his methods.
The moment the ten invaders arrived, Grimace instantly took control of their bodies and steered them to walk into his own God Territory.
What happened after that, no one knew.
The twenty-one imperial monsters annihilated their enemies almost instantly.
However, it did not go so smoothly for the battle troops.
Even if they had the upper hand, only the three teams with Virtual God rank-4s as their cores were able to complete their kills. However, they were only able to kill two or three of the invaders.
Upon seeing this, Mr. Fu immediately took action.
However, at this moment, hundreds of scarlet electric arcs shot out almost simultaneously. Before Mr. Fu's own attack could land, the arcs instantly penetrated the bodies of the remaining one hundred and twelve monsters.
Impressively enough, the person who attacked was Bai, who had already completed his mission.
Before this, when Lin Huang had asked them to help in bolstering attacks, Bai had already taken it upon himself to make this his second mission.
Therefore, after completing his first mission, he turned around, immediately locked onto all the remaining explorers, and brazenly made a move!
The scarlet arcs pierced into the bodies of the monsters in front of him like lightning bolts, and the creatures quickly shriveled into desiccated corpses at a speed visible to the naked eye, before finally disintegrating into fine dust all over the ground.
Seeing this, Mr. Fu withdrew from the attack in some embarrassment. He knew very well that his own move would definitely not have been as effective.
The numerous Virtual Gods who made up the battle formations were also dumbfounded when they saw the scene that unfolded before their eyes.
Such an attack really shocked them.
Just like that, the monsters which could not be defeated even by the battle formations that they had formed had all been summarily disposed of. This also gave everyone a new understanding of the strength of Lin Huang's summoning beasts.
"That was likely more than a hundred Virtual God rank-5s, and they were all killed instantly! What kind of ability is this?!"
"I've said it before—that white-haired imperial monster looks exactly like a human, so he must be a Protoss! Do you all still have any doubts now?!"
"Say, could that white-haired individual be the strongest imperial monster under Lin Huang's command? Or could there be an even stronger fellow?"
…
Just as everyone was debating hotly among themselves, another wave of reinforcements arrived.
This wave of reinforcements consisted of twenty or more people. Lin Huang saw a few familiar faces; those were the Sword Servants under his command.
The reason the Sword Servants were late was that most of them had never been to the Abyss Brink before, let alone pinpointed its coordinates.
They had no choice but to teleport themselves to the nearest location with a portal, and then either teleport again and again through a fixed dimensional portal or fly over here.
A few who were proficient in Space Rule could use it to rush over, but such individuals were few and far in between. This was why the Sword Servants had arrived later than the other reinforcements from the other major forces.
At this point, including the twenty or more Sword Servants that were present, more than two hundred and sixty Virtual Gods from the gravel world had been despatched.
Almost eighty percent of the Virtual Gods from the gravel world were now assembled on the entire third layer of the Abyss Brink.
Judging from the situation earlier, the initial small contingents of battle troops comprising seven or eight people were obviously not enough to cope with the next invasion.
Dongfang Bai had already begun discussions about the establishment of a stronger battle formation with the upper levels of various forces.
As the head of Dynasty, Lin Huang had naturally participated in the discussion, but he had not expressed any opinions throughout the entire process.
He was still deliberating whether or not he should summon the bug beasts or reveal the Sword Servants' strength.
Dongfang Bai naturally noticed that Lin Huang seemed to be considering something, and could not help asking, "Emperor Lin, if you have any ideas, please do tell us."
"I…" Just as Lin Huang was at a loss for words, a sudden stirring came from within his body. It was the Eternity Fire (Qi Muxiong's Goldfinger) sending him a message—'I can provide spiritual energy to the God's Figurines.'
The reason Lin Huang had not considered using the God's Figurine's Combat Souls before was that there were only ten of them within his body that he could use, while there were twelve space rifts. Although there were still many unused figurines, there was no way for him to use them, and others would not be able to unleash their power even if they used them.
However, now that the Eternity Fire had said so, he could summon two more God's Figurines and completely block all the dimensional gateways.
"Leave the remaining twelve dimensional gateways to me. You can hone the battle formations and begin preparations for the start of the official war," Lin Huang considered this for a while before deciding to say it openly.
Everyone was stunned by what they heard.
Mr. Fu was slightly worried. "Is it really okay?"
"It's all good, I can handle it." Lin Huang nodded, then summoned the ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls, including the Ninetails Lynx, as well as two other God's Figurine that had been imbued with the spiritual energy of the Eternity Fire.
Under Lin Huang's instructions, the twelve God's Figurine's Combat Souls quickly occupied the remaining twelve space rifts and became the new guardians.
Chapter 1423: A Blind Spot in Mr. Fu's Knowledge
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The thirty-three space rifts were all guarded by Lin Huang's summoning beasts and God's Figurine's Combat Souls, so the Virtual Gods from the gravel world were finally able to catch a break.
Many people looked upon Lin Huang with conflicting emotions; his abilities had completely exceeded the expectations of everyone present. They were all awestruck by how powerful Lin Huang was, yet at the same time, they feared him.
Everyone was aware that even if all the Virtual Gods of the entire gravel world were present, their defenses would have broken sooner or later. However, with Lin Huang here, the invaders from the great world would at least consistently fail in their explorations before the True Gods arrived.
Nevertheless, the thirty-three imperial monsters that Lin Huang summoned were also a great threat to everyone. He could slaughter all the Virtual Gods of the entire gravel world with a simple flip of his hand if he really wanted to. (Most of the people present did not know that the last twelve monsters Lin Huang had summoned were God's Figurine's Combat Souls, not summoning beasts.)
The Union Government was extremely conscious of Lin Huang's unpredictability, not only because he was strong as an individual, but also because he had Dynasty—one of the six giants—backing him. As far as the Union Government was concerned, this was a great threat to them.
For more than eight hundred years, the Union Government had been the official representative of the entire gravel world, so they certainly did not want this position to be taken by another organization.
With this concern in mind, Dongfang Bai could not help directing a question at Lin Huang.
"Emperor Lin, if by luck we win this war, what do you plan to do next?"
The question attracted attention but not Lin Huang's; rather, all the higher-ups of the other big organizations present pricked up their ears and awaited his answer.
Mr. Fu lofted a brow, glancing at Dongfang Bai with a measure of obvious dissatisfaction.
Dongfang Bai's question might have seemed to be mere random small talk, but those with a discerning eye understood the real meaning behind his question.
"What do you mean, 'if by luck we win'?" Lin Huang turned his head to look at Dongfang Bai. "In this war, we must win. There is no second choice!"
Everyone was stunned by Lin Huang's words, but they quickly regained their senses. They all felt that Lin Huang was changing the topic of discussion and deliberately avoiding the question.
Just when Dongfang Bai was about to laugh it off and let the topic slide, Lin Huang spoke up again.
"If you're asking about my personal plans after the war, I'm planning on taking Xin Er and the others to the great world with me. The gravel world no longer has the cultivation resources I need. However, this is my home. If we have time in the future, I'll still bring Xin Er and the others back for a vacation, and meet up with old friends for a meal or a drink, or something along those lines."
Of course, Lin Huang knew what Dongfang Bai was trying to ask, so he gave the answer that Dongfang Bai wanted to hear.
As a matter of fact, that was what he was planning to do anyway. In his current situation, it did not make much sense for him to remain in the gravel world. Only in the great world could his combat level be subsequently elevated.
Moreover, there was a high probability that Lin Xin would be able to directly break through to virtual god-level after her current closed-door cultivation. Once they arrived in the great world, she most likely would have some measure of ability to protect herself, however small.
Mr. Fu's combat level had also reached rank-9. If he wanted to achieve another breakthrough and advance to true god-level, he could only do so in the great world.
As for the people of Dynasty and Misery, Lin Huang felt that if some of them wanted to depart with him, he would take them along. If not, he would let them stay and develop on their own.
After receiving a response like this from Lin Huang, Dongfang Bai finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He did not doubt Lin Huang's words because he knew that the main purpose of Lin Huang's trip to the great world a year and a half ago was to rapidly increase his abilities. Now that he had returned one and a half years later, there were genuinely no resources in the gravel world that were suitable for him to use in his cultivation.
Although Lin Huang's answer satisfied the Union Government, Dongfang Bai still had to be courteous and offer up pleasantries.
"This is our hometown after all, and our family and friends are all here. If I do go to the great world one day, I myself might want to come back occasionally to meet up with friends and family."
When the people around heard that Lin Huang was planning to leave, they all had mixed thoughts.
Some of them were considering whether or not they should go to the great world with Lin Huang.
After all, they were already Virtual Gods. In the gravel world, virtual god-level rank-4 was pretty much the limit. There would be no appropriate resources for them if they wanted to advance any further than that.
Many people had never traveled to the great world because previously there were too many others who had gone there and were never heard from again. Some of them even deliberately left their Soul Lamps and other such items behind before departing. The Soul Lamps had all been extinguished without exception, and this obviously meant that they had died. This was enough proof that going to the great world was an extremely dangerous undertaking.
Despite this, Lin Huang had not only gone to the great world, but he had even stayed there for a year and returned alive. This proved that he had a safe way of reaching the great world, which excited many people.
There were also some others who felt that Lin Huang's departure would be the turning point for Dynasty to decline.
They felt that their own organizations might have the opportunity to take Dynasty's position as one of the giants.
Everyone present had their own thoughts on the matter.
The space rifts soon started transmitting space fluctuations again.
The ninth wave of exploration began soon after.
This time, all thirty-three dimensional gateways opened at the same time.
The explorers' combat levels had been upgraded once more, and their numbers had increased yet again!
All the explorers' combat levels had been raised to virtual god-level rank-6, and their numbers had also increased to twenty per dimensional gateway!
If it had not been for Lin Huang bolstering the rifts with the God's Figurine's Combat Souls just in time, it was certain that the Virtual Gods of the gravel world would have suffered many casualties in this wave of attack.
Of the thirty-one contingents of battle troops that had been formed, twenty-eight of them were led by Virtual God rank-3s, and their strength was barely at virtual god-level rank-5. If they were to face off against groups of Virtual God rank-6s, the battle formations would be obliterated in an instant.
However, in the face of Bai and the other monsters, Virtual God rank-6s were nothing.
In the time it took to lift an arm, six hundred and sixty Virtual God rank-6s were all subdued in an instant, with not a single one remaining. The whole battle took no more than half a second from beginning to end.
All the Virtual Gods present could only gape at the scene that unfolded before them.
From what everyone could see, the invaders—who were stronger than themselves—were no more than sitting ducks in the face of Lin Huang's summoning beasts. They were completely subdued without a single trace of resistance.
Even Mr. Fu felt slightly despondent.
He had not expected the group of little brats who had required his guidance back then to be far more powerful than himself right now. As a Virtual God rank-9, Mr. Fu felt that he had little chance of being victorious against any of the summoning beasts that were present.
"Apprentice, these summoning beasts of yours—they can't have all been elevated to mythical-level, can they?"
Mr. Fu could not help asking through voice transmission.
"Most of them are class-4, but there's also a class-4.5 and a class-5," Lin Huang nodded in response.
"Class-4.5 and class-5?!" Mr. Fu gulped. This was the first time he had heard of these two concepts—he had always thought that class-4 mythical-level was the limit.
"Bai is at class-4.5 Pseudo-supreme God-level, and Ku Rong is at class-5 supreme god-level." When he finished, Lin Huang was afraid that Mr. Fu would not know who Ku Rong was, so he added, "Ku Rong is the little monk wearing the white monk's robe."
'There's a supreme god-level?!' Mr. Fu silently screamed internally, but there was no way he could let his apprentice discover that he himself did not know of the existence of levels beyond mythical-level. He stole a glance at Lin Huang, and when he saw no major reaction there, he nodded calmly. "The little monk does look really strong, but I didn't expect him to be a class-5."
Chapter 1424: I Want to Go to an Even More Vast Universe!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Bai and the others easily dealt with the ninth wave of monsters, which finally enabled the Virtual Gods of the gravel world to see some part of Lin Huang's true abilities.
This also stirred more people's curiosity about the great world.
From what they could see, Lin Huang's abilities had substantially increased after only a year in the great world, and he was practically unrivaled now he had returned to the gravel world.
Many people could not help but wonder if they would also experience such advancement if they made a trip to the great world.
However, what they did not know was that Lin Huang was able to achieve such a level of advancement primarily because he relied on conduits. With their beginner-stage virtual god-level combat powers, merely surviving in the great world for a year would be a problem.
After the ninth wave of monsters, two more waves of Sword Servants arrived at the Abyss Brink.
Guan Zhong's brows creased slightly at the sight of dozens of unfamiliar faces with virtual god-level combat powers.
As the head of the Union Government's Agency EA, he had within his grasp all intel and information on the entire gravel world. Even if it was impossible for the Union Government to gather data on all the Virtual Gods in the gravel world, at least 95% of all Virtual Gods had data records. However, there were no data records on any of the fifty or more people who comprised these two waves of reinforcements. Apart from them, there were about five or six people that he did not recognize even among the previous wave of reinforcements.
Even stranger was that these people seemed to know Lin Huang, and some of them even stepped forward to greet him.
With these doubts in mind, Guan Zhong turned his gaze to Dynasty's camp. His eyes swept the area and he realized there were also nine people he did not recognize. He was quite sure that he had never seen any information in the database on these nine individuals.
After discovering this anomaly within Dynasty, Guan Zhong immediately informed Dongfang Bai about what he had found.
Dongfang Bai frowned after hearing that.
"How have you only just discovered this anomaly?"
"For one, Dynasty is an ally, so I did not pay much attention to the status of their camp. On the other hand, though, Lin Huang and Mr. Fu are over there and they can intercept my gaze easily, so I'm trying my best to avoid looking in that direction. I only glanced over briefly just now, and thought that there were only two or three unfamiliar faces who were Dynasty's secretly-cultivated new recruits."
"Do you think these unfamiliar Virtual Gods are Lin Huang's subordinates?" Dongfang Bai asked.
"They might not necessarily be his subordinates, but there's definitely a connection!" Guan Zhong pondered for a moment before continuing, "I even have my suspicions that these people may not be local residents of our gravel world!"
"Why do you say that?" Dongfang Bai asked, puzzled.
"I pretended to glance over there just now to observe, and the Emperor's Heart Rings on these people's hands are all black market goods. Most people may not be able to see the difference, but after doing intelligence work for so long, I can tell the difference between a black market item and a regular Emperor's Heart Ring with just a glance."
"So these people's identities are fake?!" Dongfang Bai's eyes widened slightly, and he turned to look in Lin Huang's direction.
At this moment, Lin Huang also seemed to sense Dongfang Bai's gaze and looked toward him.
When their eyes met, Dongfang Bai smiled and nodded at Lin Huang, then immediately looked away.
Lin Huang raised an eyebrow. "What an odd fellow."
"Why don't we take the initiative and just ask Lin Huang where these people are from?" Guan Zhong asked.
"Do you think he'll tell the truth if he were really hiding some secret scheme?" Dongfang Bai shook his head.
"Then, what should we do now? There's no conclusive evidence to prove that there's something amiss with these people, so should we report it?" Guan Zhong asked again.
"Mention this to Old Jiang. Just tell him about your suspicions and see what he says." Dongfang Bai contemplated for a while before deciding to just push this problem to Chief Jiang Shan.
Guan Zhong nodded. After returning to the tent, he immediately contacted Jiang Shan and told him about all the things that he found odd.
After hearing this, Jiang Shan pondered for a moment.
"I'll sort this matter out."
Just when the tenth wave of monsters arrived, Mr. Fu's communicator suddenly rang. He opened the communication page and discovered that the caller was Chief Jiang Shan from the Union Government.
After a moment of confusion, he connected the video request.
"What's the matter, Xiaojiang?"
"Old Fu, I heard from Guan Zhong that there are many unfamiliar Virtual Gods who have appeared at the Abyssal Brink, and they seem to know Lin Huang. Do you know anything about this matter, sir?"
"Yes, I'm aware of this. These are reinforcements that Lin Huang brought back from the great world; there are more than two hundred of them in total." Mr. Fu nodded; he had expected the Union Government to ask about this sooner or later.
"Over two hundred of them, and they're all Virtual Gods?!" Jiang Shan was dumbfounded. Based on what he had heard from Guan Zhong just now, there were only around seventy unfamiliar faces.
"They're all True Gods," Mr. Fu corrected.
"Huh?" Jiang Shan thought he had misheard. "They're all True Gods?!"
"Yes, there are more than two hundred of them and they're all True Gods," Mr. Fu confirmed once again.
Jiang Shan could only gape in shock, at a loss for words.
If Lin Huang had brought back more than two hundred Virtual God powerhouses, he might have suspected that Lin Huang was planning to overthrow the Union Government, or even get rid of the other top organizations, so that Dynasty would be the reigning monopoly.
However, since the individuals that Lin Huang had brought back were all True Gods, conversely, he did not harbor any such suspicions. This was because if Lin Huang really had wanted to make Dynasty the top organization, bringing back two True Gods would have been enough to eliminate all other organizations in the entire gravel world. There was no need for him to expend so much effort to bring back more than two hundred True Gods just for that.
"These True Gods… can we trust them?" Jiang Shan enquired after collecting his thoughts. "Could some organization from the great world be using Lin Huang to infiltrate our world…"
"These people are Lin Huang's subordinates and they obey his every order. Also, according to what I've observed, there really is no problem," Mr. Fu revealed another piece of information, which both he and Lin Huang had previously agreed they could disclose.
He and Lin Huang had already expected the Sword Servants to be noticed sooner or later. Lin Huang had no intention of concealing the identity of the Sword Servants anyway. If they were reinforcements that he had borrowed from an organization from the great world, the other organizations would always have worries in their hearts. However, if these were Lin Huang's own subordinates, then everyone's concerns would be reduced. At least Lin Huang himself was a local resident, and no one would want their own home to be destroyed or occupied.
"Can I have a few more words with Lin Huang?"
"No problem." Mr. Fu turned the projection toward Lin Huang who was not far away.
"Lin Huang, are these people really trustworthy?" Jiang Shan asked him outright.
"They're my people, so there won't be any problem." Lin Huang nodded.
"Then, I'll ask you one last question. I hope you can answer me truthfully." Jiang Shan's expression was serious; after a moment of silence, he stared into Lin Huang's eyes and asked, "Can I trust you?"
Lin Huang nodded slightly. "You can relax and trust me. This is also my home, so like all of you, I don't want the peace of the gravel world to be destroyed.
"I only have two purposes in coming back this time. One is to resolve the crisis in the gravel world. The other is to bring my close friends and family with me when I go.
"There's one other thing that you can rest assured about. I don't have any plans regarding this world. Even though there have been quite a few problems in the development of the Union Government over the past eight hundred years, on the whole, the Union Government has done all that they could. If I were to become chief of the Union Government, I would certainly not be able to do what has already been achieved up until now.
"If I were to lead an organization, I might still be able to pull that off fairly well. However, if I were to become the ruler of a world, I'm very much aware that I wouldn't be able to do it competently. In your position, you have too many things to worry about—not just matters concerning cultivators, but you also have to take into account the countless ordinary citizens…
"For myself, I want to focus more on my own development. I like exploring the unknown and I enjoy feeling myself becoming stronger as well as the excitement that every battle brings…
"I don't believe that the great world is my final destination either. I want to go to an even more vast universe beyond the great world…"
Chapter 1425: Cannon Fodder
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After ending the call with Lin Huang, Jiang Shan was silent for a long while.
When he was young, he had also considered that if one day he were to become a Virtual God, he must go to the great world to see what the vast world beyond looked like.
However, as time went on and his own cultivation level increased, he also rose through the ranks of the Union Government and had to gradually let go of his dream.
He even thought that he would never think about it again.
However, his conversation with Lin Huang today reminded him of his dream from long ago.
"I've reached virtual god-level now, but I haven't been able to visit the great world…" Jiang Shan said to himself with a wry smile.
He definitely knew for a fact that Lin Huang not having plans regarding the gravel world was true.
To Lin Huang, the gravel world was too small a stage—his arena lay in the vast sea of dazzling stars beyond!
After a while, Jiang Shan dialed Dongfang Bai's number and briefly explained the conclusion of his conversation with Lin Huang.
Dongfang Bai and Guan Zhong were speechless after hearing what he had to say.
"Old Jiang, are you sure he said that more than two hundred of those reinforcements are True Gods?!"
"Mr. Fu was the one who said it, so it shouldn't be anything false." Jiang Shan nodded.
Dongfang Bai pondered for a moment before asking again, "Do you think we can trust Lin Huang?"
Jiang Shan nodded with barely any hesitation.
"I don't think Lin Huang will be much of a problem. On the one hand, he's a native resident of our gravel world, and he won't want his birthplace to become someone else's enslaved territory. On the other hand, he doesn't seem to have any great desire for status or power. If he really wanted to take control of the gravel world, with his current overall abilities he could have done so without expending much effort. The third point is that he's only twenty years old—his desire to explore is still at its peak, and for him, the gravel world is too small."
After listening to this, Dongfang Bai was silent for a moment before he nodded. "I understand. How should we deal with the matter after this, then? Do we act as if it never happened?"
"We'll just treat it as if it never happened." Jiang Shan nodded. "Also, regarding the information about the reinforcements—it's enough for the three of us to know about it. There's no need to tell a fourth party. The more people who know about this, the more likely that other problems will arise, and some people may take this as an opportunity to stir up trouble. With our current situation, unity within the gravel world is still very important."
"I understand," Dongfang Bai agreed.
"How's the situation over at the Abyss Brink?" Jiang Shan enquired after they were done talking about matters regarding Lin Huang.
Dongfang Bai's face betrayed a slightly embarrassed expression upon hearing this question.
"As of right now, ten waves of invaders have tried to come through. The tenth wave has seen the arrival of thirty-three squads of explorers with thirty members each, and their combat level has been upgraded to virtual god-level rank-7…"
Jiang Shan's expression became increasingly grave upon hearing this.
"However, the current guardians of the thirty-three space rifts are all Lin Huang's summoning beasts, and they're all virtual god-level rank-9." This was what Dongfang Bai was embarrassed about. There were more than two hundred of his people, and they had all been reduced to mere bystanders.
"Virtual god-level rank-9… it doesn't seem like they'll last for much longer, though." The expression on Jiang Shan's face did not relax at all. "How are the pre-war preparations going?"
"The preparations have been completed," Dongfang Bai replied.
"That's good." Jiang Shan nodded. "That trump card… it's better to not use it unless we're at the most critical moment."
"Understood." Dongfang Bai nodded.
…
Back at Dynasty's camp, after hanging up the call with Jiang Shan, Mr. Fu could not help asking Lin Huang a question.
"Do you really plan on taking Xin Er away from the gravel world after the war?"
"I'll probably rest for a month or two before leaving." Lin Huang nodded. "We must make arrangements for Dynasty and Misery's follow-up development plans.
"Besides, there are still many areas in this world that we haven't been to yet, and Xin Er might still have places she wants to visit. Before leaving, we should go to the places we want to visit and try not to leave behind any regrets since I don't know when we'll be able to come back next time.
"Teacher, you should come with us. Go to the great world and take a look!" Lin Huang suddenly changed the topic and said excitedly to Mr. Fu.
Mr. Fu hesitated; he did not refuse, but he did not agree either.
"On our side here in the gravel world, as long as we get rid of the leader of the invaders, such invasions shouldn't occur in the future. After all, the location of the entrance to the dimension-bridging tunnel that connects the great world and the gravel world is very remote, and it's normally not so easily discovered.
"Not only that, but it also ought to be fairly unlikely for civil war to break out within the gravel world for a while after this great war. As long as the six giant organizations can find a balance, they should be able to maintain peace for a considerable amount of time.
"Besides, I think you should also think about yourself, Teacher. You can't protect the gravel world for the rest of your life. The future of this world should be left in the hands of its future generation.
"You've now fully recovered from your injury, and your combat level has reached virtual god-level rank-9. There's no longer any way for you to advance your abilities in the gravel world. However, in the great world, not only can you advance to become a True God, but it's also not out of the question for you to break through to heavenly god-level! If you ever want to return to the gravel world, you can seal your combat strength and still come back."
Mr. Fu was obviously swayed when he heard this.
"I'll consider your suggestion properly when the war is won. However, for now, let's put our focus on this war.
"Oh yes, under normal circumstances, if the invaders have been trying to test the dimensional gateways without success, will they keep delaying the start of the war? Is it possible that they might give up on the invasion?" Mr. Fu voiced his doubts.
"If it were a newly-opened space tunnel and the teleportation testing failed repeatedly, then the invaders would probably temporarily abandon the invasion.
"However, these thirty-three tunnels of the Abyss Brink have existed for a long time, and there have previously been many successful cases of teleportation. In terms of probability, even if there was a problem with the dimensional gateways, it's impossible for problems to occur in all of them. The invaders from the great world will certainly know that the reason for the teleportation failures is because someone on our side intercepted and killed the explorers. Therefore, they won't give up on the invasion.
"They also won't keep delaying the start of the war. They're testing like this now only because the suppression of the world will in the gravel world has not achieved results yet. Once the world will is completely suppressed, they'll immediately go to war without hesitation."
"But they don't know which dimensional gateway is functional. Won't they suffer a great loss if they go to war under such circumstances?" Mr. Fu asked doubtfully.
"They'll send a large number of beginner and intermediate-level Virtual Gods to pave the way, and they won't be testing with just a few dozen of them like they are now. They'll send tens of thousands of them through each gateway. Once they find a dimensional gateway that they suspect is functional, they'll send over a large number of high-level Virtual Gods for a further second round of exploration. After the two waves of cannon fodder have done their explorations, the True Gods will enter in multitudes; after that, they'll officially arrive with an army and eradicate the entire gravel world…"
"High-level Virtual Gods are only mere cannon fodder?" Mr. Fu was having a hard time comprehending what he had just heard.
"In the great world, virtual god-level is just the starting point for cultivation. There are many powerful tribes in the great world whose children are virtual god-level at birth and by the time they grow up, they automatically advance to become True Gods. For some top tribes, some of their newborn babies may even be born as True Gods, and they automatically advance to heavenly god-level once they reach maturity.
"Furthermore, the great world is connected to countless mini-worlds, and the resources available there are more than a million times that of an average mini-world. Their rules and sequences are complete, various types of energy exist in abundance, and cultivation is much easier. Becoming a Virtual God there is a hundred times easier than in the gravel world. The number of Virtual Gods in the great world is more than the number of all the transcendents in the gravel world combined, so naturally, they can only be reduced to cannon fodder."
Chapter 1426: Sword Alliance
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The eleventh wave of invaders arrived. Their combat level was already at Virtual God rank-8 although their numbers remained at thirty for each tunnel.
It was also in this wave that the other summoning beasts began to reach the limits of their capabilities, except for Ku Rong, Bai, and Grimace.
With their combat levels suppressed at Virtual God rank-9, it was not a problem for Charcoal and Tyrant to eliminate thirty Virtual God rank-8 monsters. However, it was slightly harder for them to execute instant kills since their combat levels differed merely by a rank.
In dealing with this wave of invaders, the overall killing speed of the summoning beasts slowed down significantly. In the previous wave, Lancelot and the rest eliminated their opponents in less than two seconds. However, in this wave, Lin Huang knew at a glance that it would take them at least seven seconds or more to kill their opponents.
Mr. Fu and many Sword Servants who were present at the scene also noticed the anomaly.
Mr. Fu's brows furrowed slightly. He knew that his abilities were slightly inferior to Lancelot and the others; even if he joined in the fight, he would not be able to greatly alter the outcome.
"Lord Swordmaster, do you want us to make a move?" Sword101 asked, snapping his head around to glance at Lin Huang.
"No need for that." The moment Lin Huang's words escaped his mouth, around a dozen scarlet gleams of light shot out from his sleeves like lightning.
They were the telekinetic weapons that had evolved from the God Weapon not so long ago. Their level was akin to a god rule relic.
In truth, the God Weapon was not concealed in Lin Huang's sleeves but within his inner world instead. Lin Huang had just gotten used to unleashing his telekinetic flying daggers from his sleeves.
The red gleams sliced across the sky like lightning and hurtled into the area of battle where Bai and the rest were. Before anyone could react, the red gleams pierced through the invaders' bodies one after the other like small, slithering scarlet snakes.
In less than half a second, nearly half of those close to a thousand Virtual God rank-8 monsters were disposed of, leaving less than a hundred for Lancelot and the rest to continue practicing on.
After the red gleams had shot out and killed their targets, they shot back and disappeared into the depths of Lin Huang's sleeves.
Although all of this happened in a flash, the crowd of Virtual Gods saw everything.
"Was that Lin Huang who just made a move?!"
"Those dozens of red gleams should be telekinetic flying daggers!"
"Isn't he a Virtual God rank-3? How did he manage to kill off so many Virtual God rank-8s so easily in a matter of seconds? We're not talking about one or two invaders; we're talking about nearly a thousand of them!"
…
For most people present at the scene, this was the first time that they had seen Lin Huang in action. When they saw what unfolded, they were utterly astounded.
Even though Dongfang Bai, Guan Zhong, and everyone else from the Union Government had already had anticipated Lin Huang's abilities, the expressions on their faces showed only disbelief.
"I always thought that Lin Huang's power was due to his strong summoning beasts. I never expected that his own abilities would be this terrifying.
"Now that I think back on it carefully, his details actually seem to have mentioned that he is a psychic as well. But I never expected his telekinesis to be this powerful," Dong Fangbai could not help lamenting, "To be able to pierce through the bodies of dozens of Virtual God rank-8s… I believe that his set of telekinetic weapons is on par with a god rule relic, at least."
"His abilities have grown far too powerful in the past two years." Guan Zhong's expression appeared rather convoluted. When he was spying on the Wei family two years ago, Guan Zhong had already witnessed Lin Huang's strength. The current Lin Huang was goodness knows how much stronger compared to what he had been in the past.
However, the stronger Lin Huang's real abilities were, the less worried the Union Government was about him. The stronger he was, the less space he would have for advancement in the gravel world.
…
Nevertheless, everyone did not know that Lin Huang's attack this time was far from an actual display of his true abilities.
Lin Huang did not compound these flying daggers with any rule powers, elemental enlightenments, or Sword Dao true meaning. Neither did he activate the flying daggers' innate rule power, nor even imbue them with Divine Power. The only thing Lin Huang used was the power of a Virtual God rank-9's Divine Power to manipulate the flying daggers, and his attack was completed with ease. He depended mostly on the kinetic energy produced from his mastery of telekinesis, as well as the flying daggers' innate sharpness and durability.
However, even an attack as simple as that was sufficient to astound all the Virtual Gods who were present.
Mr. Fu vaguely managed to guess that Lin Huang had yet to go all out but he was not sure what percentage of real strength Lin Huang had utilized.
Only the Sword Servants and Lin Huang's imperial monsters knew that Lin Huang had yet to lift even a finger.
Lin Huang's demonstration was just the tip of the iceberg, but it was sufficient to impress everyone there.
Those who initially thought Lin Huang had ascended to his position only because of his summoning beasts now realized that this Emperor from Dynasty had grown far more powerful than they had ever imagined.
The crowd began surreptitiously discussing heatedly among themselves as they tried to guess how powerful Lin Huang's real abilities were.
Meanwhile, after recalling his flying daggers, Lin Huang remained seated on the spot with an expressionless face. He closed his eyes and continued his rejuvenation as though nothing had happened.
Before the intrusion of the twelfth wave of invaders, the Abyss Brink saw the arrival of yet another two waves of reinforcements. Most of them were Sword Servants. Taken together, both waves added up to a total of fifty-six Sword Servants.
In addition to the seventy over Sword Servants who were already in the Abyss Brink, the total number of Sword Servants present had now reached a hundred and thirty-three individuals. This meant nearly half the full contingent of Sword Servants were already present in the Abyss Brink.
In truth, other than the Union Government's camp, other camps started to notice the existence of this group of strangers too.
Despite not having a databank as complete as that of the Union Government, most top-notch organizations had their own intelligence systems and therefore had access to the information on most Virtual Gods. Moreover, there were not many Virtual Gods in the gravel world to begin with, so they were bound to encounter each other much of the time.
However, these Sword Servants had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They did not just have unfamiliar faces, they had never interacted with the other Virtual Gods before. If it had merely been a few dozen unfamiliar faces, nobody would think too much of it. Yet, the most crucial point was that the number of people from the Sword Alliance's camp had exceeded one hundred. The total number of Virtual Gods in the entire Abyss Brink only came up to three hundred and seventy-one people and those from the Sword Alliance's single camp alone were already one-third of that number.
It must be noted that even for the Mystic Butterflies who specialized in collecting intelligence, the Virtual Gods who had data records in their intelligence network numbered only three hundred and sixty-one individuals. (There were not as many Virtual Gods before Lin Huang's departure. Nearly half of these were Demigods who had elevated to Virtual Gods in the past year, all thanks to Mr. Fu.) Virtual Gods whose data records were stored in the Union Government's Agency EA were even fewer—only three hundred and fifty-three. The data collected by other top organizations was even less—their records averaged around only three hundred Virtual Gods.
However, the addition of one hundred and thirty-three Sword Servants increased the number of Virtual Gods present in the Abyss Brink to three hundred and seventy-one. This surpassed all the numbers in all the organizations' records.
Excluding the nineteen Sword Servants from Dynasty and Misery, fully one hundred and fourteen Sword Servants had gathered under the banner of the Sword Alliance.
Seeing more than a hundred unfamiliar Virtual Gods congregating in an unfamiliar camp, everyone's minds were full of uncertainty. The current number of Virtual Gods present was almost more than all the Virtual Gods in the Union Government and the Hunter Association combined.
Curiosity got the better of some organizations and they attempted to acquire more information on this peculiar occurrence. The only information they managed to obtain was that this group of people belonged to a new organization named the Sword Alliance. Other than that, they had no luck finding out anything else.
Noticing the lack of response from the people of the Union Government while Dongfang Bai and the rest seemed unfazed, many people assumed that the Sword Alliance was related to the Union Government, or even that the Sword Alliance was a secret organization formed by the Union Government.
A small number of people noticed that individuals from the Sword Alliance greeted Lin Huang as well, leading them to guess that the Sword Alliance might be connected to him.
The crowd murmured among themselves in a heated discussion.
Somebody even let his imagination run wild and joked that perhaps these were reinforcements that Lin Huang had summoned over from the great world. Yet, nobody knew that this joke of his was the closest thing to the truth.
Chapter 1427: The Thousand Snake Sect
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The great world, in the Undead Dimension.
A sumptuous golden chair floated in midair, its backrest and armrests covered in esoteric snake-like patterns. On the highest point of the backrest were carved two triangular-headed venomous king cobras, mouths wide open to reveal their poisonous fangs.
Seated cross-legged on this chair was a golden-haired man. He had just stopped shaking his crossed legs and the expression on his face was rather unpleasant to look upon.
"Sect Leader sir, the last wave failed to teleport through the dimensional gateways in all thirty-five portals again," a snake-headed, white-robed individual said in human language as he flicked his snaky tongue.1
"Is it possible that the space tunnels malfunctioned?" A long-legged young lady standing to one side blurted out. She seemed to be around seventeen or eighteen years old. At first glance, her appearance did not differ much from that of a human being. However, a close look would reveal that her eyes had reptilian vertical slit-pupils.
"That's impossible. Even if there is any form of malfunction in the space tunnels, it's out of the question that all thirty-five portals have developed problems," the golden-haired man disagreed.
"But the gravel world rules aren't complete at all! It's already so insanely difficult to level up to Virtual God that it's impossible for anyone to advance to True God. If the space tunnels aren't the cause of the problem, how did they manage to kill off so many high-level Virtual Gods instantly?" The long-legged young lady asked, "Moreover, four months ago they had only just triggered the alert for reaching 300 Virtual Gods—but the alert hasn't indicated that anyone has elevated to True God status."
"You're thinking only of native cultivators; they are definitely incapable of coping with our countless probes. But what if they got an outsider to help out?" The man lifted his golden head to look at the young lady next to him. "The internal Space Rules in all thirty-five dimensional gateway portals have long since been consolidated and stabilized. This isn't something that True Gods can ruin through human agency. Even if special conditions arose and caused damage, it's impossible that all thirty-five portals can malfunction simultaneously.
"Having weighed both alternatives, I think it's more likely that there is a powerhouse who is obstructing us by killing off our people who try to set foot there!" The golden-haired man declared with absolute certainty.
"But our scouts have all been upgraded to Virtual God rank-8 standard, and they still haven't been able to find out anything at all. If this continues, we'll have to send the Virtual God rank-9s and we only have about three hundred or so of them left in total," continued the young lady, "What do you plan to do for the next wave? Send all the Virtual God rank-9s to smash their way in?!"
"If there really is someone who's killing them off, they managed to annihilate nearly one thousand Virtual God rank-8s. Instantly eliminating three hundred Virtual God rank-9s shouldn't be too hard," the snake-headed man beside them added.
The golden-haired man contemplated in silence for a while. "Assign one hundred high-level Virtual Gods and three hundred intermediate-stage Virtual Gods to every gateway. In addition, divide one hundred Virtual God rank-9s into ten squads and send them to ten random tunnels."
"If it's a problem with the space tunnels, it would have seemed like you've arranged for half of our Virtual Gods to go to their deaths." The long-legged young lady still thought that the rounds of testing mandated by the golden-haired man were too radical for her liking.
"Currently, the world will in the gravel world hasn't been completely suppressed. Unless you would rather I send True Gods to explore the ways?" retorted the golden-haired man.
The young lady was suddenly bereft of words to retort.
There were around thirty True Gods present right now. If they intended to enter the gravel world while the world will was still whole, they had no choice but to seal their combat strength at virtual god-level. Under such circumstances, it would be like serving them up on a silver platter.
"What if we're still keeling over after this wave?" asked the long-legged young lady after a momentary silence.
The golden-haired man set down his crossed legs and fell into a prolonged silence. "We'll deal with that later."
…
In the gravel world, the twelfth wave of the monster invasion was more than ten minutes later than the previous one.
Just as everyone in the gravel world thought that the great world would give up on the invasion and prepared to rejoice silently, spatial fluctuations in all thirty-three portals occurred simultaneously.
As guardians, Bai and his team increased their focus to one hundred and twenty percent as they concentrated on the dimensional gateway, ready to make a move.
Despite knowing that this wave of explorers would only be stronger than the one before, none of them harbored any notions of retreat.
As the incoming spatial fluctuations were detected, everyone present at the scene dropped everything they were doing and focused their attention. Even the unending murmur of surreptitious discussion vanished entirely.
Everyone knew that this wave was the key.
Even Mr. Fu found it difficult to remain in his seat. If Lin Huang had not stopped him from doing so, Mr. Fu would have joined in the fight.
Lin Huang was the only one who remained seated on his reclining chair. He did not stand up but neither did he continue his meditation. His eyes were now wide open as they stared in the direction of the space tunnel not so far away.
A moment later, the twelfth wave of monsters finally arrived.
Lin Huang scanned the area with his Divine Telekinesis and felt rather surprised. He initially thought that this wave would be completely made up of Virtual God rank-9s but he had not expected this hodgepodge of monsters consisting of intermediate-stage and high-level Virtual Gods as well. Together with the Virtual God rank-9s, this made up a total of one hundred individuals.
'What's the meaning of this silver platter of a wave? Did they run out of Virtual God rank-9s?'
While Lin Huang made this silent jeering comment in his mind, he shook his sleeve and multiple scarlet gleams shot out.
This time, the number of telekinetic flying daggers that he propelled forth was more than the last round—fully three hundred over daggers since the explorers who had arrived this time were far more numerous.
Scarlet telekinetic daggers shot out one after the other as though hundreds of blood-red lightning bolts were raining down. In a flash, the entire battlefield was covered with them.
Not a single entrance from all thirty-three dimensional gateways was left out.
The blood-red gleams pierced through the bodies of the intruders in the blink of an eye. Not only did the daggers eliminate the invaders' physical bodies, but they also shattered the invaders' souls.
It did not matter if the invaders were undying species or spirit types—once the flying daggers pierced through their bodies, they died an absolute death.
In less than half a second, Lin Huang's telekinetic flying daggers disposed of tens of thousands of invaders, leaving only the dozen or so who were fighting the imperial monsters.
Another two seconds or so later, Bai, Lancelot, and the rest of them managed to eliminate their own enemies, completing the total annihilation of the invading force.
With that, the twelfth wave of invading explorers from the great world was proclaimed a failure yet again!
…
Upon seeing the end results of the invasion attempt, the thirty over True Gods, as well as the golden-haired man, lapsed into silence.
"How about we file a report on this situation then?" After a protracted silence, the snake-headed man finally could not help voicing out his suggestion.
"Ever since this mission was assigned to the Thousand Snake Sect, there have never been any slip-ups. My grandfather and great-grandfather personally carried out the same mission and destroyed the cultivation civilization in the gravel world with their own hands. Do you think I am going to file a report now that it's my turn?!"
Noticing the hostility in the golden-haired man's words, the snake-headed man lowered his head and did not dare say another word.
"No matter how much they resist or struggle, ants will be ants." The golden-haired man's murderous intent was boiling over. "Once our suppression measures come into effect, we'll begin arriving officially!"
"But we still haven't managed to find out which spatial dimensional gateway—" The long-legged young lady's words were interrupted by a glare from the golden-haired man.
"No buts! I've made my decision!"
Chapter 1428: Wu Mo's Awakening
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The third layer of the Abyss Brink.
Dongfang Bai led Guan Zhong and a few others to Dynasty's site and headed straight for Lin Huang to ask him a question.
"There haven't been any signs of movement in the dimensional gateways for over an hour now. Is it possible that the invaders have given up?"
Lin Huang shifted his gaze to Dongfang Bai and ignored the faint look of expectation on Dongfang Bai's face.
"The lack of movement is probably because they've lost too many Virtual Gods. They're also aware that their current mode of exploration is fruitless and have abandoned further attempts at it. However, that doesn't mean they will give up on their invasion. I'm guessing they're waiting for the world will to be completely suppressed before sending in their main army!"
Dongfang Bai was still somewhat reluctant to give up after hearing Lin Huang's words.
"What you mean to say is that despite being unable to determine which of the dimensional gateways is functional, they will still persist in the invasion?"
"Based on my understanding of the invaders, yes." Lin Huang nodded.
"Aren't they afraid that all the dimensional gateways are problematic?" Guan Zhong could not help furrowing his brows and asking.
"Number one, the probability of all thirty-three dimensional gateways malfunctioning is extremely low. Number two, when their main army arrives, it will also be a chance for exploration. As long as they teleport enough people over and we can't kill them in time, they will be able to determine which dimensional gateways are usable. Only then will the True Gods arrive.
"So, as long as we massacre their main forces fast enough, their True Gods won't arrive! That'll remove all risks of getting invaded by True Gods!" Dongfang Bai's eyes shone after hearing Lin Huang's words.
Lin Huang peered sidelong at Dongfang Bai and shook his head helplessly. "It's not as easy as you think.
"If their True Gods don't arrive and they give up on this invasion, after a while they will gather more Virtual Gods to form their main army a second time. When that happens, the invaders will only be stronger and far more numerous.
"However, if their True Gods arrive all at once, we'll be dealing with less trouble in the future."
The individuals from the Union Government suddenly developed convoluted expressions once again.
Naturally, they did not wish for the True Gods to arrive. As cultivators in the gravel world who were unable to elevate to True Gods, in their minds they held True Gods in reverence.
However, they also knew that what Lin Huang said was true. If the invasion failed, there would always be the possibility of their enemies trying again—moreover, when that happened, their enemies would be even more prepared.
If they managed to eliminate all of their enemies in one fell swoop, they would be able to destroy their enemies at the grassroots.
The only thing was that Dongfang Bai and his group honestly did not have much confidence in themselves to handle an invasion from high-rank True Gods. This created a psychological dilemma for them.
After receiving this less-than-satisfactory news from Lin Huang, Dongfang Bai led everyone back to their own camp, a helpless expression on his face.
Dongfang Bai very quickly directed Guan Zhong to contact Jiang Shan over in faraway First City and update Jiang Shan on the most recent situation here.
Jiang Shan's response was, "If the True Gods arrive, you should all cooperate with Dynasty as best as you can. After all, Lin Huang's the only one who is capable of dealing with medium and high-rank True Gods. I'll attempt to sugarcoat the current battle results and try as much as I can to encourage more Virtual Gods to join the fight."
…
At Dynasty's site, Mr. Fu could not help but lament.
"I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing that our enemies have stopped exploring."
"It's a good thing, of course." Lin Huang smiled. "The fact that they've stopped exploring shows us that they've reached the limit of losses that they can cope with. Through the numbers they've lost, we can roughly estimate the total number of invaders this time.
"That last wave especially—they only sent a hundred Virtual God rank-9s. I'm guessing that this time they've only brought three hundred Virtual Gods rank-9s with them; there shouldn't be more than four hundred. Based on these numbers right now, they shouldn't have that many True Gods. My guess is that they have less than a hundred of them.
"Further analysis of this data indicates that the invaders are either from a top grade-4 organization or an organization above grade-4.
"If it's a top grade-4 organization, their leader will only be a True God and there will only be a limited number of True Gods within the organization. As long as we eliminate all the invaders in one swoop in the upcoming wave, they most likely won't have enough force to attempt a second invasion or even dare to attempt one.
"If it's an organization that is above grade-4, the fight won't be over even if they are unsuccessful in the current invasion. They will pick up the pieces very quickly and return! Even if Heavenly Gods are unable to arrive here directly, the strength of our enemy's next invasion will far exceed their current attempt."
After listening to Lin Huang's words, Mr. Fu sank into silence for a while before continuing.
"I hope luck will be on our side, so the intruders we're facing turn out to be from a top grade-4 organization."
"I hope so too. Otherwise, I'll have to stay even longer after dealing with this wave of invaders." Lin Huang was not worried about the number of invasion waves. He was more concerned about whether or not he could eliminate this problem for good and depart this place with his mind at peace.
…
In the blink of an eye, another two days passed.
The rest of the Sword Servants arrived one after the other. Except for one remaining Sword Servant who was tasked with guarding Lin Xin at the Dynasty Headquarters, the remaining two hundred and sixty-seven Sword Servants had all arrived at the Abyss Brink. Their numbers had now surpassed the total number of Virtual Gods in the gravel world.
Upon seeing the increasing number of people in the Sword Alliance's camp, discussions on the issue had become even more rampant.
There had never been many Virtual Gods in the gravel world, to begin with. Most of the time, Virtual Gods would run into each other quite frequently on a regular basis. Being in long-term closed-door cultivation meant that it was rare to see unfamiliar faces. In the Sword Alliance, however, all of them were strangers to the rest. Naturally, that gave rise to considerable debate.
The Sword Servants paid no heed to these discussions.
Lin Huang could not be bothered either, even though he knew the truth of the matter.
Deep down, Lin Huang was aware that later on when the Sword Servants demonstrated their actual abilities, it would be dazzlingly impressive in the eyes of everyone present. When that moment arrived, all criticism would dissipate like smoke.
On the third day, Lin Huang felt an abnormal fluctuation within his body.
He sent his consciousness within him to investigate and discovered that the source of the fluctuation was Wu Mo's blood of the True God.
Wu Mo was displaying signs of awakening!
Ever since the fight against the God Master's will two years ago that completely depleted her spiritual energy, Wu Mo had remained in a state of slumber. Even after Lin Huang arrived in the great world, massacring countless True Gods and imbuing her body with spiritual energy to the point of saturation, she had never woken up.
Lin Huang knew that he could not be impatient in such a situation. There could have been many reasons why she had not woken up, and Lin Huang did not attempt to awaken her forcefully either. He just waited patiently for her to wake up in her own time.
However, this time, she started to show signs of stirring—whether it was because she sensed the gravel world was under invasion or for some other reason was unknown.
"What impeccable timing to wake up. We'll have another individual with true god-level combat strength to join us in the fray," Lin Huang murmured in a low voice as he watched the blood of the True God's internal aura grow stronger by the second.
He very quickly retracted his consciousness back into his body and gave his surroundings a quick scan. Realizing that nobody had noticed this inconspicuous fluctuation that came from within him, Lin Huang rose to his feet instantly and headed to the Emperor Palace, which was camouflaged as a tent.
His sudden departure attracted the attention of quite a number of people, but nobody thought too much of it.
Mr. Fu's eyes were glued to Lin Huang until Lin Huang entered the tent as he felt somewhat surprised. However, he did not look into the matter and soon shifted his gaze in a different direction.
Chapter 1429: Rather Too Brief A Time
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After returning to the Emperor Palace, Lin Huang patiently waited for Wu Mo's aura within the blood of the True God to gradually strengthen.
After about two or three minutes, Wu Mo's aura finally rose to its peak, and she woke up from her deep sleep that had lasted for nearly two years.
"Sister Momo!" Lin Huang immediately greeted Wu Mo after sensing that she had awakened.
"Lin Huang…" Wu Mo quickly consolidated her translucent body, and immediately checked on her state of being. "My spiritual energy has been completely replenished!"
Lin Huang smiled and nodded. When he was killing True Gods in the great world, apart from the ten God's Figurine's Combat Souls being imbued with spiritual energy, any excess spiritual energy had been infused into Wu Mo's body. Her peak state was only that of a third-rank True God, so her spiritual energy had been replenished a long time ago.
"Did you go to the great world?" Wu Mo's reaction was immediate, because the gravel world simply did not have enough resources to fully replenish her spiritual energy.
"I did, and now I've come back." Lin Huang nodded. "How do you feel?"
"Pretty good. My soul has almost been restored to its peak state, and I feel better than I did two years ago," Wu Mo said with a smile. "I just lack a physical body."
"I've already prepared one for you. It's the body of a Protoss," Lin Huang said, retrieving a body from out of his space storage—a female clad in a black dress
"She was a sorcerer-type, and her combat level before her demise was fifth-rank True God. When I first killed her, I thought that her physical body would be highly compatible with you. I've preserved this body all this time because I wasn't sure when you'd wake up."
As Lin Huang spoke, he summoned the drop of blood of the True God that was leeching off of Wu Mo's body, bringing it out of her.
"The residual aura of the corpse is very powerful. Were you really the one who killed her?" Wu Mo had a slightly surprised expression on her face.
"Yes, I killed her." Lin Huang nodded.
Wu Mo's illusory silhouette floated in the air, her feet not touching the ground. Staring intently at Lin Huang, she scrutinized him carefully and soon discovered an anomaly. "Your combat level is only Virtual God rank-3, but it seems like you've already mastered Rule Bending Power. It wouldn't be impossible for you to kill a True God, but this body did belong to a medium-rank True God who was at fifth-rank after all—she was even a Protoss…"
Since they were in the gravel world, the Thousand Face mask on Lin Huang's face simply disguised his combat level. It did not disguise his appearance, nor did it conceal the fluctuations of the Rule Bending Power in his body.
"My combat level is disguised. It's actually at Virtual God rank-6," Lin Huang explained his combat power but did not extrapolate.
"Alright, we'll assume you killed her then," Wu Mo said as she pursed her lips.
Lin Huang could not help smiling; however, he gave no further explanation.
"Try the body out to see if it's good or not. If it isn't suitable, we can change it to another one."
Wu Mo nodded. Her illusory silhouette entered the blood of the True God and took control of it. The drop of blood turned into a stream of flowing purple-gold light and flowed into the sorcerer-type corpse from between its eyebrows.
A moment later, life force gradually began filling the sorcerer-type corpse.
After about five to six minutes, the life force in the body of the sorcerer-type finally reached its peak.
Wu Mo opened her eyes little by little, sat up slowly, and then looked down at her hands and body.
"This physical body feels really good! It's even stronger than my original body, and our compatibility is over 85%. It should be even higher once I take some time to get used to it…"
Wu Mo was obviously very satisfied with this new body.
"As long as you think it's suitable." Lin Huang smiled and nodded.
After getting a sense of her new body for a few moments, Wu Mo quickly calmed her excitement and asked, "How's the situation in the gravel world now? Has the invasion begun?"
"A few days ago, those over in the great world were testing the dimensional gateways, but fortunately, the tests failed. They've probably been trying to suppress the world will of the gravel world for the past few days. It's estimated that after the suppression is successful, they'll arrive directly with an army… "Lin Huang briefly described the situation of the gravel world.
Wu Mo asked a few more questions regarding the great world's impending invasion of the gravel world, and Lin Huang answered them all one by one.
"According to the sense of rejection that I currently feel from the world will, I estimate that there's still a few more days before the world will is completely suppressed. I'd like to take advantage of these few days to go back to the floating land and fetch something. After I retrieve what I want, I'll rush back here as soon as I can." Wu Mo felt a sense of rejection from the world will, and quietly sealed her combat level at virtual god-level rank-9.
"Go then." Lin Huang did not have any objections.
"Aren't you afraid that I'll become a deserter?" Wu Mo smiled so widely her eyes crinkled up like crescent moons.
"I'm not afraid." Lin Huang shook his head.
In reality, there was something else that he did not say out loud—'It doesn't matter whether you become a deserter or not. As long as I'm here, this wave of invasion will be futile.'
"Don't worry, I'll come back before the world will is completely suppressed!" Wu Mo said and headed toward the gates of the Emperor Palace.
Lin Huang followed behind and sent her off.
Mr. Fu was obviously taken aback at seeing a woman suddenly walk out of the tent.
Many of the people around also turned their eyes in her direction, their gazes full of curiosity.
"Is it another summoning beast?"
"I don't think that's the case this time. She looks more like a secret mistress."
"She came out less than ten minutes after Emperor Lin entered the tent. That's rather too brief a time."
The crowd started chattering.
Wu Mo glanced over her surroundings. Naturally, she heard everyone's comments, but she paid them no heed and turned her head back to ask Lin Huang a question.
"Previously, didn't you mention that there weren't many Virtual Gods in this era? This isn't considered 'not many'!"
"There are more than two hundred of them whom I brought back from the great world for reinforcements. More than half of the rest were transformed from Demigods this year," Lin Huang explained.
"Alright. I'll return to the floating land first; I'll be back in a few days." Wu Mo did not enquire any further.
After saying that, her figure rose directly into the air, and she sped toward the exit of the Abyss Brink.
This scenario baffled everyone even more.
"That young lady just now…" Only after seeing Wu Mo's figure disappear into the sky in a flash did Mr. Fu come back to his senses and question Lin Huang.
"That's Wu Mo, the Sorcerer Goddess I told you about before—the one from the Sorcerer Dao Epoch."
"Oh, I remember, the one from the floating land." Mr. Fu recalled that Lin Huang had brought up this True God member of the Wu Tribe in one of their past conversations. "I remember you said that she was leeching off of your body and had fallen into a deep sleep. So, she's woken up?"
"She's woken up, yes."
"Why did she fly away? Did you two have a fight?" Mr. Fu inquired, sensing gossip.
"I don't have that kind of relationship with her…" Lin Huang immediately caught what Mr. Fu was implying, and said with a helpless expression on his face, "She left because she wanted to go back to the floating land and retrieve something."
"Oh." Mr. Fu's expression said 'I understand'.
Chapter 1430: Lin Xuan's Return
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
During the few days after Wu Mo's departure, Lin Huang could clearly feel that the world will of the gravel world was rapidly weakening.
Every day, he sat in the reclining chair in front of the tent, seemingly closing his eyes in meditation. In actuality, however, he was silently cultivating his Seamless technique to strengthen his telekinesis.
His telekinetic threads increased by about 4800 daily. By the time the total number of his telekinetic threads had increased from 200,000 to about 230,000, the world will had been weakened to the point where it could barely be sensed.
Lin Huang knew that the official invasion was about to begin!
It was on this day that an unexpected acquaintance of Lin Huang came to the Abyss Brink.
Seeing this person—whose face was righty percent familiar—appearing before him, Lin Huang hesitated to acknowledge him for a moment.
On the contrary, it was Mr. Fu who suddenly exclaimed after being briefly stunned.
"Mo Kui?!"
The man nodded slightly at Mr. Fu. "I'm Lin Xuan. Mo Kui is the name of my primordium, and I'm his clone."
"Xiaoxuan, is that really you?!" Only now did Lin Huang acknowledge him.
The reason Lin Huang was not sure of the newcomer's identity a moment ago was that Lin Xuan looked at least twenty-five or twenty-six years old; his combat strength was also at virtual god-level rank-9.
When Lin Huang first found Lin Xuan, the lad was barely a ten-year-old child. Under normal circumstances, he should have had the appearance of a thirteen or fourteen-year-old boy after four years.
Now when Lin Huang looked at him, however, Lin Xuan looked a bit more mature than himself.
"It's me…" Lin Xuan turned to look at Lin Huang, a conflicted look in his eyes. For a moment, he did not know how to address Lin Huang any more.
"You've grown taller, and you look more mature than me." Lin Huang smiled and patted Lin Xuan on the shoulder.
"I adjusted my body's growth rate slightly, so biologically I'm actually twenty-five years old now," Lin Xuan briefly explained.
"Let's sit down and talk." Lin Huang pulled another chair out for Lin Xuan and tugged him over to sit in front of the tent.
He actually wanted to bring Lin Xuan into the Emperor Palace to chat, but the invasion by the great world could start at any moment. Therefore, he could only chat while sitting outside the tent so that he could keep an eye out for any changes in the dimensional gateways.
"Where have you been all these years?"
"I spent most of my time in the Land of Origin, inquiring about my past, and recovering my memories."
"Did you find out what happened?"
"Yes, I've investigated thoroughly." Lin Xuan nodded slightly, then lowered his head to look down at the ground and continued, "The outcome was that I'm just a clone that was bred from a machine."
"Xiaoxuan, it doesn't matter where you came from. What's important is that Mo Kui is Mo Kui and you are you. You're an independent individual with your own independent personality, and you have different experiences and different worldviews. You can live your life the way you want to. You may have come from Mo Kui, but you're not a replica of him, and you're certainly not his vassal. Don't live in his shadow…" Lin Huang comforted Lin Xuan.
After learning about Mo Kui's situation from Mr. Fu, he actually had already expected this outcome.
"You don't have to comfort me like this. I've already come to accept it." Lin Xuan raised his head and looked at Lin Huang. "When I first found out about it, it was really difficult for me to accept, but I've been letting things sink in for the past few years. Now, although I haven't completely let it go yet, I've pretty much taken in everything."
"That's good, then." Lin Huang did not say much more.
"I heard… you went to the great world for a year. How have you been in the past year?" Lin Xuan could not help asking.
In the past few years, he had actually been discreetly keeping track of Lin Huang and Lin Xin's movements. After Lin Huang went to the great world, he had even secretly gone to Emperor City, leaving only after being reassured that Lin Xin was safe there.
"My year in the great world was very fulfilling. Most of my time was spent in cultivation and increasing my strength."
"Are there many powerhouses there?" Lin Xuan asked again.
"Quite a lot. In the great world, Virtual God is just the starting point for cultivation. After that, there's True God, Heavenly God, and even Lord."
"Then, what's the combat level of the fellow who's invading our world? Have you managed to find out?"
"I didn't come across any relevant information when I was in the great world. However, through their testing during this period, I've roughly been able to determine that our opponent is at least a top-notch grade-4 organization. In other words, their leader is at least a ninth-rank True God or stronger."
"Our world rules are incomplete. The arrival of Heavenly Gods would directly lead to the collapse of the world, so they can only send over ninth-rank True Gods at most," Lin Xuan commented, then continued, "I should more or less be able to deal with third-rank True Gods, but I don't think I'll be able to do anything if they're any stronger. That's to say, middle and high-rank True Gods will be practically invincible once they arrive…"
"Don't worry, I have a plan to deal with it." As soon as Lin Huang said that, Lin Xuan carefully scrutinized him.
Even though he did not directly voice his doubts, they were still clearly written on Lin Xuan's face.
"Let's not talk about this anymore. How's Sis…Lin Xin doing?" Lin Xuan almost said 'Sister Xin' out of habit.
"I went into closed-door cultivation not long after returning to the gravel world. She went into closed-door cultivation not long after I did and has still not come out yet."
"All the Virtual Gods of Dynasty have been despatched; is it still safe in Emperor City?" Lin Xuan immediately asked again.
"Don't worry, I've left a bodyguard with her." Lin Huang secretly mused in his heart, 'So you do have a conscience then, kiddo. You're still concerned about Lin Xin's safety.'
"Oh, that's good." Only then did Lin Xuan breathe a sigh of relief. He had rushed to the Abyss Brink right after he had finished with his own affairs without stopping by Emperor City, so he could not help inquiring after noticing that Lin Xin was not by Lin Huang's side.
Just as the two of them were chatting, Wu Mo returned hurriedly.
She seemed fit as a fiddle and much livelier than she had been when she left a few days ago. She appeared to have adjusted to her new physical body very smoothly.
"How are things over at the floating land, Sister Momo?" Lin Huang asked by way of greeting.
"It's a mess; it took me a few days to sort it all out. If it wasn't for the war that's about to start here, I would've taught those bastards a lesson!" Wu Mo said angrily, then noticed Lin Xuan's presence. "Who's this handsome fellow?"
"Lin Xuan," Lin Huang introduced, then added, "My younger brother."
Lin Xuan glanced at Lin Huang after hearing that. He did not refute Lin Huang's words, however; he just smiled and nodded at Wu Mo.
"Your younger brother? How come he looks older than you?" Wu Mo asked bluntly.
"He just matured faster than me; can't that be the case?" Lin Huang shot back in return, then changed the topic. "The war is about to start. How have you been adjusting to your new physical body?"
"Compatibility has been increased to 93%," Wu Mo replied with a smile, obviously very pleased with her new physical body. "How have things been around here these last few days?"
"No explorers were teleported over during the days after you left."
"That's good news. It means that they've suffered some great losses during their previous testing." Wu Mo raised an eyebrow.
"That's what I think too." Lin Huang nodded in agreement.
After barely exchanging a few words with Wu Mo, a new round of spatial fluctuations was suddenly transmitted from the dimensional gateways which had hitherto been still for several days…
Everyone in the Abyss Brink stopped what they were doing almost simultaneously and looked up at the dimensional gateways.
Everyone knew that the official invasion war was about to begin!