Chapter 1001: Lurker
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang hid in the alternate dimension and watched everything that was happening on the platform of the airships through the semitransparent defensive shield far away.
Despite the defensive layer through which he could not see the people's faces, he could sense each of their combat strengths clearly.
"How many demigods are there in the Purple Crow?!" The Purple Crow had 14 demigods, which shocked him. He initially thought the Purple Crow would only have four to five demigods at the most. However, the reality was three times more than he expected.
"I suppose the demigods from each zone are gathered here. Wow, they're really going all out!" Bloody said while smiling, "But the number is really so much higher than we expected."
"Seven among the 14 demigods just elevated these recent months." The stone tablet's voice came all of a sudden. "A few of them haven't even had their demigod aura stabilized completely."
Lin Huang smiled casually after hearing what the stone tablet said. "I see… I suppose they know they're short-handed since the Crow Spirit election is happening this year. They picked a few of the imperial-level purple gold-rank members who are hopeless to elevate to Virtual Gods and elevated them to demigods."
Although Bloody could not hear the stone tablet's voice transmission, it figured Lin Huang must be speaking to something inside his body and could not help but to interrupt, "What you said is highly possible. The Purple Crow's all set for the Crow God Ceremony this time, so they definitely are ready for any interference. Elevating demigods at the very last minute before the Crow God Ceremony is indeed the best way to fortify the number of members with top combat strength in the organization."
"But I can't figure out their standard of Crow Spirit candidates." Lin Huang raised another doubt. "Theoretically, the higher the combat strength is, the better it is for the Crow God's body because a high combat strength would mean a stronger flesh and soul. That should be the best Crow Spirit candidate. I think it's best for them to pick a demigod as the Crow Spirit. However, not only did they pick a couple of immortal-level candidates, but there's even a holy fire-level among them."
"What you said is merely your subjective judgment." The stone tablet could not help but point out through voice transmission again after hearing Lin Huang's observation. "The most important thing when it comes to picking the right body isn't the strength of flesh and soul but the compatibility."
"To powerhouses who are on true god-level or above, imperial- and holy fire-levels are no difference to them; they're just ants. To them, the difficulty of transforming a holy fire-level's flesh and soul is no different from transforming an imperial-level. The most would just be the slight difference in the time spent."
"What you said about demigods being the most suitable vessel is so wrong on all levels."
"Unless there's no other option, no True God would want a demigod to be their vessel. The reason being, the broken Godhead in a demigod's body would be a great limitation. Using a demigod as their vessel would mean that the maximum combat strength of the vessel can only be perfect-stage demigod-level. On the other hand, the True God could possibly train the candidate to virtual god-level or even true god-level if he picks an imperial- or immortal-level candidate with outstanding potential."
While Lin Huang was in a heated discussion with the stone tablet and Bloody in the alternate dimension, the world out there was tossed into chaos as well.
Below the sea level of the Tranquil Ocean, the people from God Bless hid in a demigod relic space a couple of kilometers away from Lin Huang's alternate dimension.
The demigod relic was disguised into a liquid droplet and rippled following the waves on the Tranquil Ocean.
The people in the droplet observed everything that was happening on the airship not far away.
Two people in the space were fighting.
"Commander Feng, I think we should give up on the second target of our mission which is the Crow Spirit. As soon as the Purple Crow takes the Detective Eye out, we'll snatch it immediately. We don't have to wait for the Crow God Ceremony to begin so that we can avoid unnecessary trouble," Shen Yu suggested directly.
"Shen Yu, Master God's Messenger gave us two missions. You're asking us to give up on one mission before we've even begun. What are you trying to do here?" Commander Feng looked at Shen Yu in contempt.
"So, let me say this to your face. Your suggestion has been rejected. I'm the commander and it's my call. I want both of the mission targets! We're not giving up on any of them!"
"Feng Li, it only takes a few minutes to transform the Crow Spirit's body. If you want to capture the Crow Spirit, you can only do that within those few short minutes. It undoubtedly raises the difficulty of the mission by heaps. If we fail to capture the Crow Spirit within the given time, we'll be fighting an opponent who is comparable to perfect-stage demigod-level or even virtual god-level when the integration of the Crow Spirit and the Crow God is completed! By then, we might not even complete any of our missions!"
"Then, we'll capture the Crow Spirit within the few minutes of transformation!" Feng Li insisted while glaring at Shen Yu.
"You mother—" A young man gripped Shen Yu's shoulder and shook his head when Shen Yu almost cursed out loud.
It was the other Division 3 captain, Li Qing.
"Shen Yu, if you insist on disobeying my order like this, I'll talk to Master God's Messenger and send you out of Division 3 when the mission is over."
"I don't need you to talk to him. I'll do it myself. You as*-kisser, I've been tolerating you for way too long! I'll report your misguidance if this mission fails!" In his rage, Shen Yu shook Li Qing's hand off from his shoulder and began screaming.
Lei An and the other three who stood aside turned pale from the scare.
Even Captain Li Qing smacked his forehead, feeling helpless about the situation.
"Shen Yu, are you asking for death?!" The intention to kill flashed in Feng Li's eyes.
"Alright, alright. Let's take a step back. We're on a mission now. Both of you can solve the conflict between you guys after the mission is over. Don't interfere with the mission." A tall and big fatty walked past Feng Li and stood between both of them. "If Master God's Messenger finds out that the mission failed because of your internal conflict, I'm sure you guys will be in grave trouble! Moreover, we'll be affected too. Please don't hurt the innocent. I'm begging the two of you. Can we do that? I don't want to be sent to God-knows-where for hundreds of years."
"Brother Fatty is right. Don't hurt the innocent." Another female demigod stood out and grabbed both of them.
The duo finally stopped fighting after hearing the fatty mention the God Messenger.
They knew very well that being benched was not the only thing that would happen to them if they really caused the mission to fail because of their internal conflict. They might even have their cultivation abolished and be asked to leave God Bless.
Just when they stopped arguing, they soon saw ten Crow Spirit candidates in white robes surrounded the altar in a circle, flanked by empty space on the airship deck.
Subsequently, the ten of them removed their white robes and revealed their naked bodies.
Chapter 1002: Young Man, Tell Me Your Name
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A black altar seemed to have grown in the middle of the massive platform made out of the four airships. It integrated with the pitch-black platform, appearing out of place.
Ten naked young men and women sat in a circle surrounding the altar with space between each other.
Lu Dong and the other 12 demigods and two demigod-level summoning beasts hovered above the altar. They surrounded the ten Crow Spirit candidates and the altar in order to protect them.
Clearly, they had rehearsed the formation many times. They were in position without even speaking to each other. The entire process took less than a minute.
The Crow Leader hovered into the air above the altar and looked at the time on his Emperor's Heart Ring.
Lin Huang, who was watching in the alternate dimension far away, could not help but glance at the time too.
"11.58 p.m…."
The Crow Leader crossed his arms in front of his chest and shut his eyes. He waited for the time to pass patiently.
A moment later, it was 12 a.m. sharp.
He opened both of his eyes as a gigantic Imperial Palace solidified rapidly above his head.
It was a massive black city. The city walls alone were 100 meters tall and spread tens of kilometers. It was a few folds bigger than the platform made of the four airships.
Two majestic city gates that soared 200 meters high were in the middle of the city wall. They stood even taller than the city walls.
There was a purple crow with its wings spread wide open carved in the middle of the two massive gates. The crow's eyes seemed to have two huge red rubies mounted on them, sitting on each gate.
It was the Purple Crow headquarters, the Crow Leader Yan Ping's Imperial Palace — the Crow City!
As soon as the Imperial Palace appeared, Yan Ping's aura was completely released without him hiding it. He was clearly on perfect-stage demigod-level and was a terrifying existence comparable to a Virtual God.
The air around seemed to have frozen as the massive black city hovered in the sky.
Even Lin Huang could not help but exclaim out loud, "What a gigantic Imperial Palace!" This was the biggest Imperial Palace he had ever witnessed in his life.
"Although a demigod can't form a God Territory, an Imperial Palace possesses a certain God Territory characteristic. It's usually much bigger than an ordinary Imperial Palace," the stone tablet explained.
Just when Lin Huang was musing about the reason Yan Ping summoned the Imperial Palace, Yan Ping began controlling the Crow City.
The eyes of the purple crow on the massive black city gates seemed to light up with a red glow. Two glaring sparks burned all of a sudden.
A rumble broke the sky a moment later.
The two massive gates of the Crow City seemed to be pushed open by a pair of invisible hands.
As soon as the gates were opened, black silhouettes poured towards the altar in a frenzy. They were like a black waterfall drowning the inside of the altar. The black silhouettes in the altar became rowdy, seeming to seek escape. However, they appeared to be shackled by an invisible force.
"That soul power wave…" Lin Huang frowned as he watched. He sensed what the black silhouettes were faintly, but he could not be sure.
"It's his soul. Due to the Imperial Palace, it became visible to the naked eye," the stone tablet explained, "Seems like he's using soul sacrifice to summon the Crow God."
"What a Crow God!" Lin Huang's expression became serious as he watched countless souls being poured into the altar and gradually turning into a black liquid.
The pouring lasted for over ten minutes. Yan Ping only recalled his Imperial Palace when the black liquid in the altar turned into a whirlpool. He took a box from his storage space out.
The box was only the size of a fist. It was the color of blood with black sigils covering it.
Yan Ping performed a complicated hand seal quickly and the black sigils on the box soon began to flow rapidly. Later on, the sigils on the box cover faded and it opened automatically.
There was a crimson eyeball in the box.
Yan Ping seemed not to dare to touch it. When he flicked it through the air, the crimson eyeball flew out of the box and dropped into the whirlpool within the altar below.
A while later, the crimson eyeball began expanding at a high speed.
It grew from normal human-size to a giant sphere of approximately three meters in diameter half a minute later. It hovered from the altar slowly and hung in the air about ten meters from the altar.
The eyeball had completely transformed by now. There were red and purple blood vessels all over it and many blood vessels dangled like vines from it. They connected to the whirlpool in the altar below.
The eye now had a red iris and a pitch-black pupil.
An ominous aura spread across the space, lingering in this broken mini world.
Even Lin Huang felt a slight suppression as he watched everything far away in the alternate dimension. He had goosebumps all over and his scalp tingled numbly.
He did not find the eye scary, but rather it was the Crow God's aura that spread out which gave him a physiological reaction.
The people who had the same reaction at the same time were the God Bless members and Hong Zhuang who were hiding in the dark.
"This is scary. The aura alone gives someone a sense of despair. It can almost make someone lose their will to fight," Lin Huang could not help but exclaim.
"Apart from a True God's Holy Power, this Crow God should have some other suppressing power that exudes such spiritual oppression that's so much higher than others who are on the same level as he is!" explained the stone tablet.
On the deck of the airships, everyone including the Crow Leader Yan Ping, the other 13 demigods and the two demigod-level imperial monsters fell from the air onto the deck due to the Crow God's Holy Power.
The ten naked men and women at the border of the altar were quivering. They were not afraid, but it was a physiological terror that made them lose control of their bodies.
All demigods had Divine Power in their bodies, so they had a certain resistance to such Holy Power. However, people below demigod-level who had zero Divine Power in their bodies were like naked humans in the snow whereby they could not resist the Holy Power's suppression at all.
Yan Ping, who hovered above the air, spoke as soon as the eyeball had completed its transformation.
"Master God, we've picked ten Crow Spirit candidates. You may select the Crow Spirit."
The eyeball peeped at Yan Ping and subsequently glanced through the ten naked men and women below one after another.
Less than ten seconds later, the eyeball stared at the fifth person all of a sudden after it had just glanced through five of them.
Yan Ping and the rest held their breaths. 'He's done picking so soon?'
The eyeball was staring at the young man who had the lowest combat strength among the ten candidates.
The young man looked only 17 or 18 years old. He was skinny and stood less than 1.7 meters tall. Despite his tanned skin, he was not considered good-looking. There was a circle of black, complicated sigils on the left side of his chest which looked like a black tattoo.
There was a massive amount of black fog billowing out of the eye, forming a massive black silhouette before the young man. The black shadow looked like a crow spreading its wings, and there were 108 red pupils on the black silhouette's head like a sky full of stars.
"Young man, tell me your name." The black silhouette's head came less than a meter before the young man and asked for the young man's name. Its voice was overlapping; it sounded like more than 100 men and women talking at the same time.
The young man's shivering body surprisingly calmed down as he looked at the black silhouette's 108 pupils that looked like stars. He told his name without hesitation, "My… My name is Xiao Mo…"
Chapter 1003: A War Has Begun!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When the Crow God asked for the young man's name, Yan Ping and the rest of the demigods knew very well that the Crow God had basically decided on the Crow Spirit.
However, Lu Dong and the rest were a little confused.
Among the ten candidates, the Crow God had gone for the one with the lowest combat strength. Furthermore, he went for the most inconspicuous person.
Almost everyone thought the young man who had just broken through to white flame-level recently was just a stand-in for the Crow Spirit candidate.
Even Xiao Mo himself thought the same too. However, never had he thought that the Crow God would select him right away.
The black silhouette which was the incarnation of Crow God asked in a deep voice, "Xiao Mo… Are you willing to be my Crow Spirit?" His voice remained overlapping.
"I do!" The young man nodded vigorously.
"The deal is done!"
As soon as the Crow God was done speaking, crimson beams of light shot out of the 108 pupils at the same time. It was as if a bloody sun was shining with an endless glow, causing everyone to shut their eyes.
The red glow only went off for a second. As soon as their vision recovered, they saw Xiao Mo hanging mid-air and the Crow God's black silhouette entering his body at a high speed by turning into a black fog and entering through his mouth and nose.
Xiao Mo's body hovered into the air without him controlling it. His flesh and bones were disintegrating. Subsequently, his body was reforming at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye.
However, the process was clearly an unpleasant one. While Xiao Mo's flesh was flying all over in the air, the remaining nine candidates were frowning slightly as they witnessed the horrible scene while hearing his devastating shriek.
…
In a droplet disguised beneath the Tranquil Ocean, Commander Feng Li put on a golden mask and ordered without hesitation upon seeing Xiao Mo being wrapped within the Crow God, "Let's go!"
As soon as the order was issued, Shen Yu and the other three demigods who wore their masks got out of the droplet space.
A thousand-meter high wave rumbled on the peaceful the Tranquil Ocean, advancing toward the airship.
Four white silhouettes were riding on top of the massive wave.
The four had a majestic aura, clearly exhibiting their demigod status. Furthermore, one of them even had the same combat strength as Yang Ping which was perfect-stage demigod-level.
The Crow Leader Yan Ping narrowed his eyes as he watched the wave coming. "Lu Dong, bring the nine candidates with you! Leave the imperial monsters behind!"
Lu Dong had no objection upon hearing the order. He was different from Lin Huang whereby he was purely an Imperial Censor, and his combat ability lagged far behind compared to his imperial monsters. Although he was a demigod, he might lose if he encountered an imperial-level who was experienced in combat.
"All candidates, follow me!" Lu Dong knew he would be a burden if he stayed, so he obeyed the order directly.
The nine of them stood up immediately. They did not even take the white robe lying on the ground and ran toward Lu Dong with their naked bodies.
They had rehearsed such a crisis multiple times before. They followed Lu Dong into the elevator without saying anything.
On the massive platform, only 13 demigods, two demigod-level imperial monsters and Xiao Mo, who hovered in the air taking in the Crow God's transformation above the altar, were left.
The giant wave collided with the giant airship's defenses almost at the same time that Lu Dong brought the nine candidates away in the elevator.
Shen Yu and the other three demigods attacked at the same time as the collision.
Shen Yu held a demigod battle saber and swung it across the sky. A crescent-shaped black glow charged out and collided with the defensive layer.
Li Qing held a blue sword weapon in his hand. A dazzling white glow shone when the tip of the sword struck the shield.
Meanwhile, the female demigod held a silver sword in her hand. The tip of the sword also smashed into the defenses as she swung it across, and a silver glow exploded like fireworks.
However, the one who had the most powerful combat strength was the tall and big fatty. Just like Yan Ping, he had perfect-stage demigod-level combat strength and he held a giant dark blue spear in his hand.
The giant spear was five meters long and the body was in a spiral form.
When the fatty laid his palms at the bottom of the spear handle, the giant spear shot out into the air. Everywhere the tip of the spear passed by became distorted, including the air.
Yan Ping and the other Purple Crow demigods had a dramatic change of expression when they saw the power coming from the spear.
"Is that a god relic?!"
Meanwhile, Lin Huang who was hiding in the dark was shocked. "Is that the Ba Huang spear?!"
The Ba Huang spear was the god relic spear that Lin Huang had auctioned off at the Wanbao Auction earlier which turned out to be a bought-in. Someone bought it with three God Figurines and two demigod soul crystals later on. Never had he thought it would end up with God Bless.
Soon, the Ba Huang spear tip hit the defensive shield formed by the four demigod airships.
An endless golden light exploded from the collision while strong winds spread from the center. A tsunami was set off on the peaceful Tranquil Ocean.
The four Midnight God airships went through a slight tremor as a result of the hit, and they even sank close to a meter lower. Finally, a spider web-like crack appeared on the defensive shield formed from the Divine Power coming from the Divine Stone above the airships.
Yan Ping and the rest of the Purple Crow demigods were frowning as they watched. They knew very well that the defenses would not last any longer.
"Such a tough tortoise shell!" The fatty smirked. He was a little worried that the defensive layer might not have any damages from the attack. If that was the case, they would have to spend a lot of time breaking the shield and might miss the opportunity to capture the Crow Spirit. Now, it seemed like the concern was unnecessary.
Soon, the fatty swung the spear for the second time, and the third time… After-shadows were drawn in the sky one after another.
Meanwhile, the two demigod imperial monsters above the airships and the other two in the ocean attempted to stop the fatty from breaking the defensive layer. However, they were hindered by the other three demigods.
The airships' defenses finally collapsed when the tip of the spear struck the same spot for the third time. It broke like a piece of glass, collapsing and fading away.
Finally, everything on the platform was clearly exposed to the outside world.
Lin Huang could finally see how the young man who was selected as the Crow Spirit looked like.
In the alternate dimension, he was clearly stunned when he saw the face of the young man who was hovering above the altar.
"Isn't that… Xiao Mo?!"
The person had been his roommate back at the Purple Crow training camp. Lin Huang almost forgot his name. Never had he thought he would see him again at such an occasion.
Xiao Mo had had few changes to his appearance. He was slightly taller now, but his skin remained tanned. What made Lin Huang recognize him right away was the bunch of complicated sigils on the left of his chest.
That was not some tattoo, but the mark of the Descendants of the Sin. Nobody would get a slave mark as a tattoo at their own will.
As Xiao Mo hovered above the altar, not only were his flesh and bones reforming, but even his combat strength was elevating at a terrifying speed.
He elevated a rank almost every few seconds.
White flame-level!
Crimson flame-level!
Blue flame-level!
…
In a short burst of time, his combat strength broke through to immortal-level directly.
At the same time, Yan Ping and the rest charged toward Shen Yu and the other three on the platform.
Chapter 1004: I Just Want to Watch
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
As soon as the defensive shield above the airship collapsed, the Purple Crow and God Bless began fighting. They wasted no time with words.
The Purple Crow Leader Yan Ping held a three-foot golden sword in his hand and went after the fatty who had the most powerful combat strength.
The sword in his hand was like a golden arrow burning in golden flame. It only took a second to arrive less than ten seconds before the fatty. Within no time, it was pointing between his brows.
The fatty grinned. The spear in his hand shrunk and turned into a sharp seven-foot spear. The tip of the spear turned into a sharp blade that was close to 30 centimeters long.
He looked at his opponent in a condescending way as he swung the spear like an agile dragon.
A dark-blue fire burned on the dark-blue spear, making it look like a meteor shooting toward the golden sword.
The two god relics collided in the next second.
As soon as the tips of the sword and the spear met, the two perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouses did not hold back as they inserted all their Divine Power into the god relics in their hands.
A golden sun formed at the point of the collision when the god relics and Divine Power clashed intensely.
Subsequently, the golden sun above the airship began to expand rapidly like a balloon as the duo inserted their Divine Power into the weapons.
The glaring golden glow began to spread all over. The terrifying impact of the duo's impact soon made everyone in the fight step back immediately.
Only two the Purple Crow demigods remained to hold the defense above the altar up, covering Xiao Mo and the altar within.
However, a white silhouette shot out of the ocean at a high speed that very instant. As opposed to the rest who retreated, the white silhouette was going after the altar.
The ten Purple Crow demigods reacted one after another. They attempted to stop the white silhouette, but it was terrifyingly quick. It dodged the attacks easily like a loach.
The white-robed man was the same as the rest of them in white robes. He wore a golden mask on his face and his right hand had a black glove over it.
He arrived at the altar within the span of a breath. Then, with his gloved hand, he pressed his right palm on the shield built by the two demigods.
The defenses broke almost immediately.
The pupils of the two Purple Crow demigods shrunk slightly. The glove was clearly a god relic!
The duo ground their teeth and attacked the man with the glove almost at the same time. Instantly, black and purple Divine Power charged out.
The man with the glove scoffed while his perfect-stage demigod-level aura exploded. He pointed two fingers outward and two black streaks flicked from his fingers like bullets. They broke through the two Divine Power attacks like a piece of cake.
Shock flashed through their eyes and they stepped back immediately.
The man with the glove did not go after them. Instead, he grabbed Xiao Mo's shoulder with his left hand and tossed him away with immense strength.
At the same time, a couple of the Purple Crow demigods who were far away arrived before him.
A couple of white silhouettes came out of the ocean all of a sudden. They were going after Xiao Mo who was falling although their combat strength was only on imperial-level.
A giant tentacle that was hundreds of meters long shot out of the ocean, entangling around Xiao Mo before the white silhouettes could get to him.
Meanwhile, more than 20 imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouses came out of the ocean again. They were hacking at the tentacle by constructing a battle formation.
"Xiao Mo…" Lin Huang frowned slightly as he watched Xiao Mo becoming the target of the battle. He was hesitating if he should get involved in the fight.
After all, Xiao Mo would live a torturous life if he ended up with God Bless.
However, he would turn into the Crow God's shell completely if he stayed with the Purple Crow. He would also have his consciousness wiped away.
No matter which organization he ended up with, Xiao Mo's fate was set to be miserable.
Just when Lin Huang was hesitating, a crimson pupil on the Crow God's black silhouette lit up all of a sudden. A loud, overlapping voice drifted across the ocean. "Are you asking for death?!"
The Crow God was enraged!
The sound wave spread out hundreds of times faster than the speed of sound. Tens of God Bless imperial-level powerhouses in white robes had zero resistance to that and they exploded right away.
Even the tentacle of the monster that stretched above the ocean towards Xiao Mo turned into dust.
The demigod monster beneath the ocean let out a devastating shriek and burrowed deep in the ocean immediately.
All the demigods above the airship spat mouthfuls of blood out.
Even the two perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouses who were fighting held their breaths. The golden sun between their god relics that had been maintaining its balance shattered.
The duo stepped back immediately because they knew very well that the explosion caused by the collision should not be underestimated.
However, Feng Li, who was wearing the glove, did not leave the airship deck just yet. A ferocious gleam flashed through his eyes. He held his right fist with the glove tightly with Divine Power rushing into it. He was punching the Detective Eye.
"You're asking for death!"
A furious voice came from the Detective Eye at that moment.
The eyeball shifted its focus and glared at Feng Li.
A powerful spiritual suppression was released from the Detective Eye just then. Even Lin Huang, who was in the alternate dimension a couple of kilometers away, felt his heart sink.
Bearing the brunt, Feng Li froze completely as if he was entrapped in a spell. In reality, apart from him, nobody knew what had just happened.
He saw a real crimson eye through the Detective Eye. The second he saw the eye, his soul went through an intense tremor like an earthquake.
Fortunately, a golden glow came to suppress the tremor. His soul was stabilized and he narrowly escaped having his soul destroyed.
However, his eyes shattered instantly. While it was the price to pay for an ordinary person to look at a True God, it was also the lowest price one could pay.
Although he escaped death from the soul-type god relic in his soul which he prepared ahead, the power from the True God's eye struck the god relic, so it still rang intensely in his head. He lost all of his senses at the moment, and his Divine Power retreated back to his body.
He could not even feel that his eyes were now blinded.
Just when everyone was wondering what happened to Feng Li, a pitch-black arrow shot through the air.
The strike tore the air and nobody saw the arrow's flight trajectory. The arrow that came with black fog collided right into the Detective Eye.
There was no thud or collision noise.
When the black arrow hit the Detective Eye, it turned into a lump of black liquid that spread rapidly as if it was alive.
In the alternate dimension, Lin Huang raised his brow. He knew another party had attacked. It must be Hong Zhuang and Yang Ling if he was not mistaken. However, Lin Huang was unsure if they had any help.
"I can't believe they're using the Abyssal Demon Curse to contaminate a god item. Under normal circumstances, such a disposable curse arrow can only be used in battles in the other world. Also, it isn't something that's available in this world," said the stone tablet's voice calmly, "Seems like your friend who has been helping you to unlock storage equipment is familiar with the other world."
Just when Lin Huang was chatting with the stone tablet, the black silhouette, which the Crow God had taken the form of, was completely mad.
"Come out now, all of you bastards who are hiding!"
The voice diffused more than a hundred times faster than the speed of sound. Everyone who was hiding in the dark within 1,000 kilometers was forced out.
Even Lin Huang was squeezed out of the alternate dimension by a mighty force after sensing a tremor.
The Ninetails Lynx that was sitting on his shoulder looked solemn like it had never before as it watched the Crow God which had taken on the black silhouette form.
"What's wrong? I just want to watch." Lin Huang looked aggrieved when he saw many members from the Purple Crow and God Bless staring at him.
Chapter 1005: Yang Ling's Trump Card
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang really did not want to stick his nose in the bickering the Purple Crow and God Bless were in.
He came here this time to see the fight between demigods. After all, it was hard for such a level of battle to come by. Apart from that, he was rather curious about what God Bless was trying to do. On the other hand, he wanted to know what Hong Zhuang was up to.
Never had he thought that he would be forced out of the alternate dimension by the Crow God's projection.
"Lin Xie?" Among the God Bless members, Li Qing and the rest soon recognized him.
The division that Li Qing was in had issued the order to capture Lin Xie. That was how they identified him as soon as they saw him.
Although not many demigods from the Purple Crow knew him, they had heard his name before. After all, he was the young supreme genius who ranked No. 1 on the Genius Union leaderboard for two years consecutively. Everyone more or less heard about him.
Lin Huang was calm despite realizing that he had been recognized. He waved while smiling. "I just happened to pass by, so I thought I'd stay to watch. Please proceed. Just pretend that I'm not here."
The demigods were rather speechless.
However, noticing that his combat strength was only on immortal-level and figuring that he was not a threat, they shifted their focus.
They clearly had a greater threat on the other side with ten demigods including Yang Ling and Hong Zhuang.
Even Lin Huang was a little surprised to see the ten demigods behind the duo.
"Smart Puppets? Interesting…" The stone tablet's voice came out of the blue. "I suppose this guy who helped you unlock those stuff is a traveler too?"
"How could you tell?" Lin Huang thought it was rather peculiar. "Also, what's a Smart Puppet? Are you talking about those demigods?"
"It's simple. What he's doing isn't something that someone is capable of doing in this world," the stone tablet explained, "The genetic technology in this world is advanced, but the artificial intelligence technology is almost non-existent. The modification he made to those demigod bodies can't be found in this world."
"Demigod bodies?" Lin Huang took a closer look but did not see anything off. "How come they don't look like dead bodies to me? They look quite real."
"They look real, but in reality, he used artificial intelligence to replace the vanished souls in these bodies. Only very few people in the great world can do this. Since he managed to come up with these products, it only proves that he's an expert in this field."
"So, how're these demigods different from dead puppets?" Lin Huang asked again.
"It's a major difference!" The stone tablet laughed. "Dead puppets only have the remnant of battle will whereby they depend mainly on their battle instincts or require a master to control them. Their abilities are far behind what they possessed when they were alive. However, these Smart Puppets that he made have bodies of a demigod with battle data installed. The puppets can perform calculations on the spot during the battle and the speed of their calculation surpasses the human brain by heaps. If I'm not mistaken, these ten puppets' abilities should be much more powerful than when they were still alive."
"Look, the puppets all have god relics in their hands. We can tell who's going to the biggest winner of this battle," the stone table spoke while smiling.
"But I think the Crow God's projection is scarier." In comparison, Lin Huang was more afraid of the Crow God's projection. He figured that the projection's capacity was on at least virtual god-level.
"Although the Crow God's projection is powerful, the medium, which is the Detective Eye, has been contaminated by the Demon Curse. When the medium is completely contaminated, that will be when the Crow God loses contact with this world. By then, the Crow God's projection will fade automatically." However, the stone tablet disagreed with the notion that the Crow God's projection was a threat.
"Lin Xie, you came after all." Yang Ling let out a soft sigh when he saw Lin Huang. "Must you interfere with this?"
"I said that I'm just here to watch. Just go ahead and ignore me. Just pretend that I'm not here." Lin Huang smiled while spreading his arms.
Standing aside while observing Lin Huang, Hong Zhuang asked all of a sudden, "Did we meet somewhere before?"
"The last time, I went looking for Yang Ling to unlock the stuff at the hotel. It was you who opened the door," Lin Huang replied naturally, "Don't you remember that?"
"That's not it. I mean before that. Did we meet somewhere else?" Hong Zhuang proceeded to ask.
"I don't think so. I'd definitely remember you if we had met before," Lin Huang denied directly. He did not want to have any association with Hong Zhuang at all.
Just when Hong Zhuang wanted to say something, she was interrupted by the Crow God's projection.
The 108 crimson pupils on the gigantic black projection stared at Hong Zhuang and the rest.
"I'll keep your dead bodies in one piece if you give me the anecdote!" The overlapping voice was as if 100 men and women were talking at the same time through everyone's ears.
"I'm sorry. I'd like to live, so I'll reject your offer." Yang Ling took a step back.
Lin Huang sensed no cultivation aura on Yang Ling, but he had no idea why he seemed like he was standing on the ground when in reality, he was standing in the air.
"Go to hell then!"
As soon as the Crow God's projection was done speaking, a black thread stretched from its projected body at a terrifying speed hundreds of times faster than the speed of sound. It pierced through Yang Ling's body in the next second.
The hit was so fleet that even Lin Huang did not manage to react in time. He saw Yang Ling's body being stabbed by a black thread and he was pitched high into the air.
"Yang Ling…" Lin Huang frowned but soon something shocking happened.
Yang Ling's body that was tossed into the air like a ragdoll disintegrated into cubes rapidly and soon vanished. However, countless cubes reformed next to Hong Zhuang in the next second. To Lin Huang's fascination, Yang Ling's body seemed completely unharmed.
"Crow God, you can't kill me with your projection alone." Yang Ling seemed like he was narrating a fact expressionlessly.
"Hmph!" Another black thread stretched out after the scoff, piercing through Yang Ling's body again.
As his body disintegrated into cubes, more black threads extended from the Crow God's projection to attack the thousands of cubes.
However, the cubes that were attacked merely broke into smaller cubes instead of being destroyed completely.
Just like that, the thousands of cubes broke into smaller cubes again and again. Eventually, they broke into millions of tiny cubes that were almost invisible to the naked eye. By then, the Crow God recalled the black threads grudgingly.
In the next second, Yang Ling's body consolidated next to Hong Zhuang again. This time, it took slightly longer than before.
"No wonder you're so arrogant before me. It seems that you've mastered the Rule Bending Power," the Crow God's projection spoke calmly. It clearly knew what Yang Ling was doing.
"You're worthy of being called the Crow God." Yang Ling grinned. "Let's make a deal."
Chapter 1006: Rich is the Word
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lim Huang was dumbstruck as he watched Yang Ling, who he thought had zero cultivation, remain unharmed after being attacked by the Crow God's projection twice.
He was even more shocked when he heard the conversation between the Crow God and Yang Ling.
"The Rule Bending Power? Isn't that something that can only be mastered by a True God? Could Yang Ling be a True God? Has he been hiding his aura? Is this why I can't sense it?"
"He didn't hide his aura. He really has zero cultivation." The stone tablet's voice soon came into Lin Huang's ears.
"Then, why did the Crow God say he mastered Rule Bending Power?"
Hearing the question, the stone tablet fell into a moment of silence before answering, "Maybe he used to be a True God or even a more powerful being."
The stone tablet's answer made Lin Huang stare at Yang Ling in awe.
…
At that moment, Yang Ling began talking to the Crow God. He showed no respect to the Crow God, using a tone that he usually spoke to the neighbors with.
"Let's make a deal. I'll remove the curse on your eye and let you complete the Crow Spirit transformation. The condition is that you'll give us the eye."
"Who do you think you are? It was you who cast the curse but you're using that against me now?" The Crow God's projection rejected the condition directly. He was clearly disgruntled judging by his tone.
Yang Ling fell into silence for a moment with his head down. He then lifted his head to look at the Crow God's projection. "I'll owe you a favor. I can do one thing for you when I get to the great world as long as it's something that doesn't cross the line."
Yang Ling's offer made the Crow God fall into silence. He seemed to be thinking about whether the deal was worthy or not.
He seemed to have come to a final decision a moment later.
"I decline. Although you might be a True God or even a more powerful existence before, you have zero cultivation now. It's simple to determine from your aura that you've been staying in this broken world for a long time, but you've remained cultivation-less. It proves that something is very wrong with your body or maybe something is wrong with your cultivation base.
"No matter what's wrong with your body, judging from your current condition, the probability of you getting back to your initial combat strength is almost zero. I'd accept the deal you made without hesitation if you were at your peak, but now, your favor means nothing to me."
"Hundred-eyed Dark Crow, think carefully. If you reject my suggestion now, you might not have the opportunity to come to this gravel world again in the future." Yang Ling called out the Crow God's tribe name directly. He clearly knew about the tribe very well.
"Are you threatening me now?" The Crow God knew that his projection would be destroyed as soon as the medium was completely contaminated. Furthermore, if Yang Ling obtained the medium, he would definitely disconnect the eye with the Crow God's consciousness. It would be almost impossible for the Crow God to project himself into the world in the future unless the people from Purple Crow managed to find another god item to connect him from the other realm.
"I'm just hoping that you can think this through." Yang Ling's tone remained calm.
"I've thought it through." The Crow God's projection looked ferocious. "All of you, go to hell!"
Hundreds of black threads shot out of the projection in a frenzy immediately. They were flying toward Lin Huang and Yang Ling.
Before Lin Huang could react, the Ninetails Lynx pulled him into the alternate dimension.
Two black threads shot like an arrow where Lin Huang and the Ninetails Lynx were initially standing almost the moment when the human and cat disappeared.
Lin Huang looked gloomy as he watched this in the alternate dimension. "Why did he attack me? I'm not in the same team as them!"
"Maybe he just did it for the convenience. Looking at the overall direction, we were in the same direction as Yang Ling and Hong Zhuang." Bloody that was in Lin Huang's sleeve explained, "Look, he didn't attack the other direction where God Bless was."
"Yang Ling and Hong Zhuang are such burdens." Lin Huang was not sure to laugh or cry when he realized the Crow God certainly did not attack the people from God Bless.
One must know that the people from God Bless initiated the fight. However, the Crow God ignored them completely. Yang Ling's words earlier clearly crossed the line and caused Lin Huang to get into trouble.
While Lin Huang managed to dodge the Crow God's attack, Yang Ling and the rest did not.
They seemed to have no plan of evading since the beginning. The ten demigods stepped forward to protect Yang Ling and Hong Zhuang behind them. They charged their Divine Power directly. Ten god relics lit up with the divine glow of various colors at the same time, going after the black threads. What ignited at the same time were the battle armors on them.
Lin Huang was completely shocked to witness that because he just realized that all ten demigods had perfect-stage demigod-level combat strength.
"Damn, Yang Ling is so rich! His ten perfect-stage demigod-level puppets have 20 god relics! He's indeed a whale!"
Naturally, Yang Ling did not hear Lin Huang teasing him in the alternate dimension.
The black threads soon collided with the god relics in the hands of the ten perfect-stage demigod-level puppets above the Tranquil Ocean.
The dark night sky seemed to have lit up with hundreds of mini-suns coming from the impact. The area within thousands of kilometers looked like it turned into day for a second.
The impact of the Divine Power spread out after the red glow came. The entire Tranquil Ocean seemed to have endless boiling waves rumbling.
Within 10,000 meters from the sea level, countless monsters were crushed directly from the tremor. Only a minority of them that had a combat strength above imperial-level were harmed but they survived as they ran for their lives deep into the sea.
Soon, the Tranquil Ocean was dyed red. The entire ocean seemed to have turned into a bloody sea in the blink of an eye.
Even the four demigod-level giant airships a couple of kilometers away began rocking as if they had been hit by an earthquake. The platform at the back of the giant airships seemed like it had been drowned in countless bloody waves like a waterfall. It turned into a swamp right after that.
The demigods from the Purple Crow and God Bless had to put their fight into a halt. They held up their own defenses to fight the impact of the Divine Power coming from the Crow God and Yang Ling.
"So, this is how a virtual god-level collision looks like!" Lin Huang could not help but exclaim as he watched the force. " How terrifying!"
"I'd like to see how many blows the Divine Power all of you have can take!" The Crow God's projection's voice soon spread out.
Lin Huang did not see what happened to the fight under the glaring red glow caused by the collision. However, judging from what the Crow God said, the latter did not get what he wanted from the first strike.
Hundreds of black threads shot out of the black silhouette. Not only were there more threads this time, but the attack speed was also much faster now.
However, the Crow God ignored Lin Huang and the Ninetails Lynx that were hiding in the alternate dimension this time. He clearly made Yang Ling and the rest of the team his main killing target.
The black threads danced around the ten demigods just when the Crow God was done speaking.
The Divine Power in the ten demigods' bodies went through a tremor again. They held their god relics and charged fearlessly.
Chapter 1007: Lin Huang's Inteference
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The collision from the ten demigods and the Crow God's projection was like countless of nuclear bombs setting off consecutively above the Tranquil Ocean. It seemed as if massive, bloody suns lit up the entire ocean as if it was daytime.
Countless lives in the Tranquil Ocean were crushed from the impact, dying the entire ocean red.
The sea seemed to be like a washing machine that was set on turbo mode, only a hundred times faster. Endless giant waves rumbled and poured down like a waterfall.
Water vapor evaporated in the high temperature, causing the sea level of the Tranquil Ocean to drop at a worrying rate.
The fight between the Purple Crow and God Bless had since moved away from the area to tens of kilometers away.
Apart from Yang Ling and his team as well as the Crow God's projection, Lin Huang, Bloody, and the Ninetails Lynx in the alternate dimension and Xiao Mo whose combat strength remained elevating were the only ones left.
Although they were in the middle of the battle, the Crow God's projection did not stop the transformation process on Xiao Mo.
The black fog continued to penetrate Xiao Mo's mouth and nose. His combat strength aura had elevated all the way from white flame-level to imperial-level. However, the speed of his elevation had clearly slowed down. Nobody knew if it was caused by the Crow God's projection being distracted in the fight or Xiao Mo's elevation on imperial-level.
Within a mere few seconds, the Crow God's projection collided with the ten demigods more than a hundred times.
However, the Divine Power in the ten demigods' bodies was yet to be drained. Even Lin Huang thought it was rather odd. Theoretically, demigods could not generate Divine Power in their bodies. The Divine Power in their bodies would dwindle whenever they used it.
Naturally, the Crow God noticed that too, but he did not plan to stop attacking just yet.
"I didn't tell you earlier, but the Divine Power in these demigod puppets' bodies can't be drained. I want you to experience it yourself." Yang Ling's voice came behind the demigod puppets, "After all, you'll only believe it after experiencing it."
The Crow God's projection scoffed and he did not slow down on his attack at all.
"Do you know why the Divine Power in these puppets' bodies can't be drained?" Yang Ling's voice soon came again. "Because I installed the True God's Divine Fire in their bodies. The Divine Power in their bodies are bottomless, they can never finish it."
"You're lying. A demigod's body can't handle the True God's Divine Fire at all unless the True God gave it up willingly," the Crow God finally responded.
"What if I made the Divine Fire myself?" Yang Ling asked.
The Crow God fell into silence at that moment.
"I spent hundreds of years studying the Godhead and Divine Fire, so I've finally managed to come up with the Divine Tinder more than a hundred years later. After that, I spent decades figuring out a way to integrate the Divine Tinder. Unfortunately, I've not experienced a breakthrough in studying the Godhead. Otherwise, you would see more than just demigods today," Yang Ling explained while smiling.
"Give it up. The speed of the Divine Power supply in these puppets' bodies is comparable with a True God's. It's impossible for you to defeat them by draining the Divine Power in their bodies," Yang Ling proceeded to advise the Crow God, "The suggestion I gave still stands. As soon as you give us the eye, we'll remove the contamination immediately so that you can complete the Crow God Ceremony."
The Crow God turned his head to look at the Detective Eye, 80% of which had black goo dripping all over it. Only a small portion was untouched.
"You're running out of time." Yang Ling peeped at the direction of the Detective Eye and bent his head down to look at the time on his Emperor's Heart Ring. "Looking at the current progress, the eye will be completely contaminated within 30 seconds at the most. You won't be able to complete the transformation of your Crow Spirit. As soon as the eye is completely contaminated, you will lose contact with this world entirely and you'll disappear right away."
"Really?" The Crow God's projection laughed all of a sudden. His crimson eyes shifted away from Yang Ling and subsequently stared at Hong Zhuang. "I suppose this lady is very important to you, isn't she?"
"What are you trying to do?" Yang Ling frowned slightly.
"You're too amateur to be playing tricks with me." As soon as the Crow God's projection spoke, a black thread that was the width of a hair revealed itself on Hong Zhuang's neck. The black thread wound around her neck, sinking into her skin a little.
The Crow God had placed the black thread there secretly during the fight earlier. He hid its aura intentionally as well as its trace.
"Remove the contamination on the eye if you want this lady to live." The Crow God's projection chuckled cunningly.
"You're a True God and you're threatening me, an ordinary human with a lady. Do you think this is right?" Yang Ling taunted.
"Quit your nonsense. Do you want her to live or do you want her to die?" The black thread that was the width of a hair on Hong Zhuang's neck tightened slightly now.
"Release her. You have my word!" Yang Ling scowled and fell into silence for a moment. Eventually, he made up his mind.
"Don't give him what he wants!" Hong Zhuang shook her head at Yang Ling.
"You better be quiet, lady." The thread the Crow God had tied on Hong Zhuang's neck tightened even more now. Blood was flowing from the cut on Hong Zhuang's neck. The Crow God then looked at Yang Ling. "Remove the contamination! I'll release her as soon as you do that."
"I don't trust you. Release her first!"
"It's not your choice whether to trust me now." The Crow God's projection smiled. "This is the only option you have. I don't plan to give you another option."
"Alright then. I hope that you'll do as you promised." Yang Ling decided to compromise in the end.
A demigod puppet with a battle bow in his hand soon walked out among the ten puppets. Clearly, he was the one who had shot the arrow at the eye to contaminate it earlier.
He moved and appeared next to the eye above the airship in the next second. He touched the battle bow in his hand to the eye.
The black goo that occupied close to 80% of the eye began fading away and flowed towards the battle bow in the demigod's hand.
Lin Huang, who was in the alternate dimension, raised his brow as he watched that. He asked the Ninetails Lynx, "Can you cut his thread?"
"It'll take some effort but it's doable," the Ninetails Lynx confirmed.
"Then, cut the thread on Hong Zhuang's neck," Lin Huang ordered.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" This would mean we're involved in this fight." Bloody's voice came out of his sleeve.
"Don't worry. The Crow God has no time for us. Yang Ling won't give him the opportunity to do anything to us," Lin Huang assured with a smile.
In the next second, the little white cat disappeared from Lin Huang's shoulder.
Lin Huang saw the black thread on Hong Zhuang's neck being snipped off, then the little white cat returned to his shoulder.
Yang Ling was stunned for a second and reacted immediately. He controlled the demigod puppet to recall the absorption of the Demon Curse on the battle bow. As a result, the Demon Curse began to contaminate the eye again.
The Crow God's projection noticed something off right away. The 108 pupils stared at where Lin Huang and the Ninetails Lynx were hiding. Without a doubt, the Crow God was enraged.
Playvolume00:00/00:00TruvidfullScreen
Chapter 1008: Raider
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang saved Hong Zhuang not because he knew her and Yang Ling. He did it because he did not hope to see the Crow God complete the Crow God Ceremony which would remove Xiao Mo's consciousness and take over his body.
Moreover, Lin Huang thought that the Crow God threatening Yang Ling by taking Hong Zhuang as a hostage was shameless. He could not help himself but get involved in the fight.
He was not afraid of the Crow God's projection because it was limited to the eye whereby it could not leave the latter too far away. If he wanted to run, the Ninetails Lynx could always take him away.
Another reason was that the Crow God would be attacked by the enraged Yang Ling since Hong Zhuang was no longer a hostage. Furthermore, the eye would soon be completely contaminated. The Crow God had no time for Lin Huang at all.
As expected, the Crow God only glared at Lin Huang as he extended tens of black threads out, sweeping toward the demigod who held the battle bow. He wanted to take the battle bow in his hand to remove the curse cast on the eye.
Yang Ling noticed that and got help right away.
A couple of demigods attacked the Crow God's projection and Xiao Mo from a distance.
Feeling helpless, the Crow God could only spend some effort to build a defensive shield.
The war between the two parties began again.
Nobody knew what technique Yang Ling performed when he sent Hong Zhuang away by merely a wave of his hand. He was the only one left watching the battle.
This round of fighting was completely different from before. To protect Hong Zhuang earlier, the ten demigods stood guarded in front of her. Even if they attacked, they did so from a distance.
However, a couple of demigod puppets charged straight at the Crow God's projection and Xiao Mo as soon as the battle took place.
The Crow God's projection felt more pressure than before.
Infinite large, bloody suns lit up in the air when the demigods collided with the Crow God's projection.
The sky above the Tranquil Ocean and the water turned red. It looked like Doomsday was coming.
Circles of Divine Power swept in all directions in the form of endless wind while the entire Tranquil Ocean rumbled with waves.
"Thanks for helping me earlier." Yang Ling's voice transmission came into Lin Huang's ears all of a sudden while he was in the alternate dimension. He turned his head to look at Yang Ling immediately, and he saw the latter smiling at him while nodding.
"You can see me?" Just when Lin Huang asked that out loud, he recalled he was in the alternate dimension, so Yang Ling was unable to hear him.
However, Yang Ling soon replied through a voice transmission, "Not only do I see you, but I can also hear you."
"This Combat Soul of yours isn't too shabby," Yang Ling proceeded to say while peeping at the Ninetails Lynx on Lin Huang's shoulder.
"So, you're really a True God? Or you were a True God before?" Lin Huang asked immediately. Only a True God or powerhouses above the true god-level could see the Ninetails Lynx's alternate dimension.
"The Hundred-eyed Dark Crow's speculation is basically correct," Yang Ling agreed, "It's just that he underestimated my combat strength during my peak."
"Were you a Heavenly God?" Lin Huang asked immediately. Seeing Yang Ling grin without saying anything, he proceeded to ask, "Were you a Lord?!"
"It's all in the past now." Yang Ling shook his head without giving a final answer.
"So, you really have no cultivation now?" Lin Huang asked in confusion.
"I don't."
"Then, how did you resurrect your abilities and were able to see the alternate dimension?" Lin Huang was a little curious about that.
Yang Ling smiled at Lin Huang upon hearing that question. He only spoke after a while, "It's the remaining ability from my Goldfinger."
"A Goldfinger?!" Lin Huang's heart jolted when he heard that. He knew Yang Ling was hinting something in his quirky smile.
"Yes, a Goldfinger. Don't you have two with you?" Yang Ling said while smiling, "My homeboy from Earth…"
Lin Huang was completely shocked. He did not expect to be exposed. It seemed like his identity had been buried long ago.
"Don't worry. I've no ill intentions."
"How did you find out?"
"I knew that when I first saw you three years ago. I sensed the Goldfinger in your body. That's how I knew you're a traveler."
"Also, you showed flaws the moment you saw the football I made. You hid it well on the surface, but your heartbeat, your breath, the reaction of your pupils and the bioelectricity in your body told me that you knew what a football is. Apart from that, you told me that your name was Ye Xiu. I read the novel too, alright," Yang Ling explained while smiling.
"Three years ago…" Lin Huang frowned. He was using the identity as Lin Huang when he first met Yang Ling three years ago instead of his current identity as Lin Xie. He only assumed the new identity when he came to the core zone more than a year ago.
"Yes, Mr. Lin Huang," Yang Ling called out Lin Huang's real name while smiling.
"So, has my disguise been redundant to you?" Lin Huang was almost speechless.
"No matter what you disguise yourself as, your Goldfinger's aura won't change," Yang Ling said while smiling.
"Why didn't you expose me earlier? And why are you telling me all these now out of nowhere?"
"I didn't expose you because it was unnecessary. I have many clients who have multiple identities. You're not the only one. People disguise themselves because they don't want me to know who they really are, so why should I expose them?"
"I'm telling you all these now because there's no need to hide it any longer. If everything goes as planned, I'll be going to the great world really soon. We won't be seeing each other often anyway, so I thought I would be honest now. It's rare to meet a fellow traveler from Earth. It'll be more awkward to talk about this if we bumped into each other in the great world in the future."
Lin Huang felt really uncomfortable now. Yang Ling took the initiative to change the subject just when he had no idea how to proceed with the conversation.
"You've pretty much grown now. You won't take very long to get to the great world. Since we're from the same hometown, I'll give you a few pointers."
Lin Huang nodded while smiling.
"Firstly, never tell anyone what's the core ability of your Goldfinger. If you can, it's best that you don't reveal anything about your Goldfinger. Even your parents, siblings, partner and all other travelers! Especially not other travelers!"
Yang Ling continued speaking looking at Lin Huang's doubtful expression.
"Not all travelers are friendly to other travelers. Most of the travelers come from different worlds. There are very few travelers who come from the same planet as we do, and it's even rarer to meet another traveler on the same planet. Even if you met another traveler from Earth, you must have your guard up and not trust the person completely.
"There's this group of people among the travelers called the Raiders. They especially hunt travelers to take their Goldfingers. Such travelers are extremely dangerous. They've no morals at all and they're capable of doing anything at all for the sake of obtaining other Goldfingers.
"I was cheated by a powerful Raider before. That's how I ended up like this. He attacked me and took my Goldfinger away. I would've been dead if I didn't escape with my very last gush of a soul from self-explosion at the very critical moment.
"I thought I could start over again, but never had I thought that my cultivation base was destroyed because my soul remnant was severed. Moreover, I was left with less than 10% of ability in my Goldfinger. It's difficult for me to go down the cultivation path again, let alone obtain the combat strength I had back then."
"So, have you found the way to cultivate again?" Lin Huang could not help but ask because he heard Yang Ling mention that he would go to the great world soon.
"Pretty much." A slyness flashed through Yang Ling's eyes. "If I succeed…"
Chapter 1009: The Little Elephant Swings Its Trunk
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Above the Tranquil Ocean, the Crow God's projection and ten demigods clashed again and again. The entire ocean thundered.
The transformation the Crow God was performing on Xiao Mo did not stop just yet. His combat strength had entered imperial-level white gold-rank and was still elevating.
However, the Detective Eye above the altar was 95% covered in black goo. It would be completely contaminated soon.
Naturally, the Crow God noticed that as well, so he was panicking.
Lin Huang and Yang Ling, who were chatting a couple of kilometers away while watching the fight, felt something happening on the battlefield out of nowhere.
A terrifying red glow lit up the 108 pupils on the Crow God's projection as if a blood-colored laser was shining in the dark.
At that moment, the ten demigods stopped moving as if a spell was cast upon them.
A black thread turned into a long whip as it shot into the air. It lashed through a demigod's right arm in the blink of an eye, severing the muscular limb right away. Blood spurted out from the wound.
In the next second, the black thread wrapped around and grabbed the battle bow from the severed arm directly. It then pressed the battle bow onto the eye that was almost completely contaminated now.
As soon as the battle bow touched the layer of black goo, the sticky goo began to rush toward the battle bow as if it was alive.
The black goo that was covering the eye began fading slowly.
Subsequently, hundreds of black threads came out of the black silhouette which was the Crow God's projection in a frenzy. They were going after the ten demigods who were unable to move.
Noticing that the threads were going to pierce through the demigods' bodies, Yang Ling raised both of his arms suddenly and moved all ten fingers.
The ten demigods who were unable to move seemed to have their mobility recovered in flash. They activated the gold relic in their hands to strike the black threads.
Even the demigod whose arm was severed had his limb grow back soon. He held a golden arrow in his hand, tossing it out after covering the entire arrow with Divine Power.
A golden glow flew into the air. As the golden glow flashed, it pierced through the black thread that was wound around the battle bow.
The black thread was torn into a few parts as a result of the attack.
A silhouette flew across the sky at a high speed. He stretched his hand and picked up the battle bow to stand hundreds of meters away. It was the demigod whose arm had been severed earlier.
At the moment, the eye that was initially 95% contaminated was left with 80% corruption since the Crow God's projection used the battle bow to remove the curse.
Although the actions of the Crow God's projection earlier did not remove the eye's contamination entirely, it bought him some time.
A couple of seconds later, Xiao Mo's combat strength finally arrived at imperial-level purple gold-rank. He had reached the preliminary stage to qualify as the Crow God's vessel. The Crow God began inserting Divine Power into his body to transform him further. Consequently, his combat strength, body, and soul proceeded to heighten.
To a Crow God, a qualified vessel must have a minimum combat strength of imperial-level purple gold-rank. If the vessel was to be used for a long time, its body and soul must be strong enough to take in the draining of Divine Power. The more thorough the transformation of body and soul with Divine Power was, the longer the vessel could be used.
A perfect vessel that was transformed entirely with Divine Power could even last for more than 100 years.
The Crow God's Divine Power penetrated into Xiao Mo's body again and again. It was the beginning of the body transformation. Each and every cell in his body was destroyed at a high speed wherever the Divine Power passed by. Right after that, the Divine Power would work on the recovery. The cycle repeated over and over again, and the cells in his body would become stronger from the repeated cleansing.
However, Xiao Mo who was being transformed was feeling a pain that was tens of times more intense than before. Although a tsunami was rumbling on the Tranquil Ocean, Lin Huang could faintly hear his devastating shriek.
Lin Huang frowned slightly and looked toward Xiao Mo, hesitating if he should help.
Judging from the current situation, the Crow God was buying time in an attempt to finish Xiao Mo's transformation. As soon as Xiao Mo's transformation was completed, he would turn into the Crow God's projection's shell. By then, the Crow God's projection would not need to use the Detective Eye to maintain his existence. Even contaminating the eye completely would do nothing to him.
Therefore, Lin Huang knew very well that the Crow God would definitely attack him as long as he helped Xiao Mo. The Crow God might even give up on fighting Yang Ling's ten demigod puppets and come for him instead.
Although Lin Huang was very confident in his God Figurines, he had no faith in fighting a True God's will projection that was comparable with a Virtual God's.
During the few seconds Lin Huang hesitated, the contamination level of the eye above the altar went above 90% again. It would take ten seconds at the most to corrupt it completely.
Right at that moment, the battle took a turn again.
A golden beam shot through the sky like a meteor. It was going after the demigod puppet who was holding the battle bow.
The Crow God's projection knew he had help now. He attacked the ten demigods with more black threads now, none of them had managed to fight back.
The golden beam soon arrived like a flash and crashed hard into the muscular demigod who held the battle bow in his hand.
When the golden beam froze after the collision, Lin Huang managed to see who invaded the battlefield. It was the Purple Crow Leader, Yan Ping.
He was fighting a demigod who was exactly like him with a combat strength of perfect-stage demigod-level and holding a god relic in hand filled with Divine Power. They crashed.
The demigod blocked the tip of the sword that was pointing between his brows with the crescent-shaped battle bow.
A golden glow lit up in the air when the god relics collided.
It was initially just a golden glow that was smaller than the size of a thumb. It began expanding rapidly at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye like an expanding balloon.
A golden sun that was nothing less than a blood sun appeared out of nowhere within the span of a few breaths. It grabbed everyone's attention again.
The other demigods wanted to help, but they were stopped by the black tentacles. They could only watch the large, golden sun growing in the sky and subsequently exploded.
A silhouette shot out among the golden light. However, another silhouette passed through the exploded golden glow and went after the silhouette that shot out after turning into a golden flash.
Yang Ling appeared serious. Although his demigod puppet was no weaker than Yan Ping in all aspects, Yan Ping was a legit sword cultivator. A sword cultivator was best in close-range combat. Meanwhile, the demigod puppet that was attacked was an arrow cultivator when he had been alive. He was best in mid-range combat. He could not perform at his full ability in close-range combat.
Meanwhile, the other demigods were obstructed by the Crow God's projection at the moment so they could not help.
Lin Huang squinted slightly as he watched the demigod puppet who was going to killed by the golden glow's sword and have its battle bow taken away.
Just when Yan Ping was going to swing his sword, a silhouette came between the duo.
It was a little elephant whose body was less than two meters long!
Everyone was stunned to see the monster that invaded the battlefield out of nowhere.
Even Yan Ping stopped moving. However, his expression soon turned cold. He wielded his sword in an attempt to kill the little elephant before him.
The little elephant swung its trunk like a whip and collided with the golden sword glow.
What happened next shocked everyone.
An invincible force rushed toward the god sword relic in Yan Ping's hand. As it struck, the bones in his right arm that was holding the sword were broken immediately. Later on, a powerful impact spread through his body and he shot out without having the ability to control himself. He shot out tens of kilometers away within the span of a breath and fell into the Tranquil Ocean.
The little elephant that swung its trunk at the god relic flew back a few kilometers away. It stood still and shook its head. There was not even a cut on its trunk.
Chapter 1010: The Projection Collapsing
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Destructive Divine Mammoth's sudden appearance was beyond everyone's expectations.
What shocked everyone even more was that this little elephant that cannonballed the perfect-stage demigod-level powerhouse far away only had a combat strength of imperial-level purple gold-rank. Furthermore, it suffered no injury after colliding with a god relic head-on.
Apart from Yang Ling, nobody else could tell it was just a Combat Soul.
Many people shifted their focus onto Yang Ling; they thought it was him who released the summoning beast.
The Crow God's projection was stunned for a moment and turned his eyes on Lin Huang's direction. Rage filled his eyes. He knew it was Lin Huang who had done that because it was the Ninetails Lynx that sent the Destructive Divine Mammoth out of its alternate dimension. Clearly, it came from the same person who was Lin Huang hiding in the alternate dimension.
However, the Crow God's projection merely glared at Lin Huang and subsequently stretched many tentacles out that went after the demigod with a battle bow who had just stood still in the air.
At that moment, the Detective Eye above the altar was close to being 95% contaminated. Xiao Mo's transformation had still yet to be completed, and the Crow God was only left with ten seconds. He needed to seize all the time he was left with, so he had no time for Lin Huang at all.
Lin Huang dared to take the risk to stop the attack and buy Yang Ling some time since he knew that the Crow God's projection would not come for him.
He gave the Ninetails Lynx a signal as he watched the Crow God's projection go after the demigod with the battle bow again.
In the next second, the Ninetails Lynx and the Destructive Divine Mammoth disappeared almost at the same time.
When the Destructive Divine Mammoth appeared again, it blocked the demigod right in front while the Ninetails Lynx returned to Lin Huang's shoulder again.
Lin Huang dared to fight the Crow God's projection this time because he was sure that the latter's attack could not break his God Figurine's defenses. He wanted to see if the Destructive Divine Mammoth had the ability to fight a real virtual god-level powerhouse head-on.
After all, Yan Ping, who had a god relic earlier, had an ability no less than a Virtual God's.
However, there were different levels of Virtual Gods. It was certain that the Crow God's projection was much more powerful than Yan Ping. Otherwise, it was impossible for him to suppress ten perfect-stage demigod-level puppets with god relics at the same time.
Seeing the Crow God's tentacles coming toward it, the Destructive Divine Mammoth dared not underestimate its opponent at all. It lifted its front feet high and stomped in the air.
An invisible force spread out like a ripple. As a result, everything it passed was destroyed and turned into dust.
Within a couple of kilometers of the Tranquil Ocean, the sea bed collapsed directly. A giant bowl-shaped sinkhole was formed, and its diameter was expanding continuously.
Tens of black tentacles shot out like arrows, colliding with the invisible force in the blink of an eye.
The tentacles were shredded at a high speed. However, there were black cracks in the invisible force at the same time and it seemed like the air was cracking.
It seemed like it was a tie among the duo, surprising Lin Huang as he watched.
"Not bad. This God Figurine's Combat Soul's ability is slightly more powerful than a Virtual God rank-2's. It's close to a Virtual God rank-3 standard now, but it's impressive that it manages to do this when it's still a child." The stone tablet's voice came into Lin Huang's ears all of a sudden.
"It's close to Virtual God rank-3 now? Then, how about the Crow God's projection? Which rank is he on? How about those demigod puppets with god relics?" Lin Huang asked immediately.
"The Crow God's projection is Virtual God rank-3. Those demigod puppets are comparable with Virtual God rank-1," the stone tablet answered immediately.
"So, they're two ranks away from each other? Theoretically, shouldn't the Crow God's projection be able to suppress the ten demigod puppets easily?" Lin Huang could not understand that.
"The Crow God can't use most of his abilities when he projects his will by crossing realms before he integrates with his vessel. Moreover, the Hundred-eyed Dark Crow isn't good at fighting physical monsters. Its physical attack technique is considered low among Protosses of the same combat strength. Furthermore, those demigods have god armor relics defending them. It's a limitation to the Crow God. It also causes him to be able to only perform 20 to 30% of his ability," the stone tablet gave a detailed explanation.
"I see." Lin Huang just realized that it was not the Crow God's projection that was weak, but his abilities were limited too.
"Judging by the current situation, this Destructive Divine Mammoth of yours is limiting him gravely. The Destructive Divine Mammoth happens to be best at long-distance combat and defense while its ability is nothing weaker than the Crow God's projection. If they were to fight head-on, the Crow God's projection might not have the upper hand," the stone tablet smiled while saying.
"I've always thought that my Combat Souls' ability is just slightly more powerful than demigods or maybe on par with perfect-stage demigod-levels." Lin Huang realized that he had been underestimating his God Figurines' abilities.
"How can it be? Your Combat Souls are all true spirit-level monsters. If you really want to measure them by rank, they're far ahead of mythical-levels. Even a mythical-level monster that has a combat strength of imperial-level purple gold-rank would have an ability comparable to Virtual God rank-1, let alone monsters of a higher rank," the stone tablet told another piece of common sense. "To a mythical-level monster, this is a huge divider. As soon as they arrive at this rank, their ability that's comparable with an ultimate evolution (legendary-level) will be boosted exponentially. There is no comparison between the two."
As Lin Huang and the stone tablet chatted, the battle turned intense like it never had before.
The Crow God's projection attempted to pass by the Destructive Divine Mammoth to attack the demigod holding the battle bow directly.
However, the Destructive Divine Mammoth did not back off at all. It would stop the Crow God as soon as he stretched his tentacles out.
The Crow God's projection was furious now. Seeing that the eye was going to be completely contaminated by the black goo, he finally could not help but use his trump card again.
A crimson glow shot out of the 108 pupils, freezing the Destructive Divine Mammoth and the demigods present. They could not move at all.
The only ones that remained unaffected were Lin Huang in the alternate dimension and Yang Ling who was watching on the side.
"This attack must be draining for him!" Lin Huang could not help but comment.
"This is his gifted ability. It's also one of the limited abilities he can use in the form of projection. However, he can only use this ability three times at the most when he's in projection form. By then, his projection will collapse entirely," the stone tablet explained.
"Three times only… No wonder he hasn't been using it."
After freezing all of his opponents, the Crow God's projection did not even bother to look at Lin Huang and Yang Ling. He stretched his tentacle towards the demigod who had the battle bow in his hand again, taking it away.
Before Yang Ling could control his demigod puppet again, the tentacle that grabbed the battle bow retreated rapidly. The Crow God's projection could not wait to remove the curse on the eye to buy himself some time.
However, Lin Huang signaled the Ninetails Lynx again at that moment.
The little white cat disappeared in the next second and appeared by the eye's side. The little white cat scratched the air as it watched the black tentacle advancing.
In the next second, the tentacle that was grabbing the battle bow was ripped. A white silhouette flashed in the air, and the battle bow was now in Lin Huang's hand who was in the alternate dimension. The little white cat returned to his shoulder once again.
The Crow God's projection glared at Lin Huang in the other dimension. His eyes were so ferocious that they seemed as if they were going to bleed.
However, he only glared at the eye's direction and looked away without thinking twice. He turned his body into a cloud of fog and went into the nostrils and mouth of Xiao Mo who had yet to complete the transformation.
At that second, only a thumb-sized area of the eye was uncontaminated. It would take less than three seconds for the eye to be completely corrupted.
A silhouette appeared behind Xiao Mo right just then. The silhouette held a golden talisman and pressed it to the back of Xiao Mo's head.
It was the leader of the God Bless mission this time, Feng Li!
As soon as the golden talisman stuck to the back of Xiao Mo's head, it turned into a golden glow and penetrated his head.
In the next second, a furious shriek came through the air. After having a small part of his body go into Xiao Mo's body, the Crow God's projection stopped moving. His 108 bloody pupils glared deadly at Feng Li.
"You're asking for death!"
Almost at the same time, tens of black tentacles flew out after Feng Li in an attempt to kill him.
However, Feng Li was smirking at the same time. "You're running out of time. We'll gladly accept your Crow Spirit."
A giant shield appeared before him as he spoke. It turned into an enormous metal wall dazzling with a golden glow, blocking the tentacles' attack.
Since the first attack failed, the Crow God attempted to attack again in his rage. However, his body began to turn into a fog that billowed out of control.
The crimson pupils were dimming one after another, and they soon turned black.
He looked up to see the eye above the altar being covered in the black curse completely. There were no gaps in between.
As soon as the eye was completely contaminated, it only took a couple of breaths for the Crow God's 108 crimson pupils to dim completely. His body that was turned into black fog faded rapidly and disappeared as his raging condemnation echoed.