Chapter 1081: Monitoring
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"I wonder if the Union Government managed to get more clues. Agency EA already stated that they don't want me to interfere further. They'll find out that I've got a plan of my own if I ask for more information from them."
Lin Huang was rather helpless that the investigation had come to a dead end.
"I think they'll still use An Jing as bait sooner or later," Bloody said with a grin.
Lin Huang recalled the conversation between Guan Zhong and Qian Rui earlier. He figured that Qian Rui seemed to be eager to use An Jing as bait since the beginning but Guan Zhong refuted the idea.
"There's nothing I can do if they really get their people to kidnap An Jing." Lin Huang frowned slightly. He said to Bloody all of a sudden after a moment of silence, "We must find a way to monitor An Jing. Otherwise, we wouldn't even know if someone has taken her away."
Bloody exhibited a projection, still smiling.
The projection showed an open-style kitchen and living room.
Lin Huang thought it seemed rather familiar. "Is this… An Jing's house?"
Bloody nodded while smiling.
"When did you spread your Leech Pods? Won't anyone find out about that?" Lin Huang asked in surprise.
"I secretly dropped a Leech Pod when we entered An Jing's house," explained Bloody, "There's a frozen crystal in the refrigerator with energy waves radiating out of it. Furthermore, it runs for 24 hours, which covers the Leech Pod's weak energy wave perfectly."
"Her house has an open-style kitchen. The refrigerator's facing the living room. The surveillance happens to cover a large part of the living room."
The creak of the door opening came from the living room all of a sudden while Bloody was speaking.
Although the surveillance could not pick up the side of the wall where the door in the living room was, it could still pick up sounds.
The door opened a moment later followed by the quiet shutting of the door.
A while later, having changed into house slippers, An Jing finally appeared in the surveillance range of the Leech Pod. She was dressed in a white short-sleeved shirt. Her back was drenched as she walked straight into the bathroom.
Early August was the hottest season in First City. The temperature was almost 38 to 39 degrees Celcius and the sun showed no mercy. It was normal for an ordinary person to sweat under such high temperatures.
Soon, the splashing of water came out of shower head from the bathroom. Perhaps because she was living alone, An Jing did not close the bathroom door.
However, the surveillance did not broadcast anything but the bathroom door.
Some ten minutes later, the water stopped and An Jing walked out with a towel tied around her waist. However, the top half of her body was naked.
Lin Huang glanced away after a peek. He was not shy. After all, he was an experienced man and he used to have girlfriends before. However, he was monitoring the person at the moment, and it was immoral to be peeking at someone taking a shower.
With the towel tied around her waist, An Jing walked into the bedroom while drying her damp hair.
Soon, she returned to the living room wearing black underwear and a towel covering the top half of her body. She was still naked, but the towel covered most of her body.
Until then, Lin Huang just noticed that she had a svelte figure, leaning towards the likelihood that she worked out.
She had long legs and a tiny waist. Her breasts and butt were not considered voluptuous, but she had an appealing figure as a whole.
An Jing seemed to look sexier than usual when she had just taken a shower with her hair still half-wet.
Just like that, she sat on the couch with her little underwear and the towel on her body. She lay on a pillow while placing her legs on the table. Then, she began reading on the Heart Network.
"This little miss is pretty easy-going." Lin Huang could not help but smile. However, seeing that she was at ease being herself, he confirmed that Zhuge Feifan had erased her memory.
It was impossible that she would behave like that if she had retained her memory and she had just lost the love of her life. There was no way that this could be all an act.
"Watch her. Inform me if something happens." Lin Huang had no time to watch this lady go on with her daily life.
Lin Huang returned to his room after delegating the task to Bloody. He then took out the Godheads and broken Godheads that had just been sorted out from his storage space.
He put all eight Godheads and 17 broken Godheads into his body and began refining them.
The refinement zone formed by the ten Divine Fires seemed to be welcoming as they swallowed all of the Godheads and broken Godheads.
Time flew by and a couple of hours soon passed by.
Huang Tufu came knocking on his door when it was past 5 p.m. They had dinner at a restaurant that was wildly popular downstairs and took a stroll along the business district.
It was past 9 p.m. when they were done with their stroll.
Nonetheless, Huang Tufu was not done walking around. He was not really shopping; he was checking the ladies out.
There were just too many beautiful ladies in this business district. After some had walked by, even more would come by. It was a feast for the eyes. Moreover, most of the ladies in First City dressed up rather well. They were more pleasing to the eye compared to the ladies in Emperor City.
Huang Tufu felt a little dizzy just watching all of the beautiful ladies at that moment.
If not for Lin Huang who wanted to head back to the hotel, he might have been sitting in the middle of the business district until midnight.
Huang Tufu lost his mood as soon as they returned to the hotel.
He sprawled on the couch in the living room like a salted fish again and proceeded to read his novel.
Lin Huang, on the other hand, continued to speed up the refinement of the Godheads in his body as he returned to his room.
The speed of refinement that he initiated with his Divine Fire was a few times faster than automatic refinement. Even though that was the case, the eight complete Godheads showed no signs of being refined at all. There was not even a crack on them.
Over two hours soon passed by.
The eight complete Godheads in Lin Huang's body remained unchanged.
He was going to shower and sleep upon realizing it was almost midnight.
However, Bloody's voice came all of a sudden just when he stood up and arrived at the bathroom door.
"Something's happening to An Jing!" Bloody then projected the surveillance footage.
An Jing's house was pitch-black at the moment, but it did not affect Lin Huang's vision.
He saw a spiral of black smoke appear out of nowhere in the middle of the living room. It happened to be within the surveillance range of Bloody's Leech Pod.
A moment later, the black smoke expanded rapidly into an irregular cloud with a diameter of two meters. It looked like a muscular hunk who was two meters tall.
The silhouette stepped out and went into An Jing's bedroom in a flash as soon as it formed.
In the next second, he walked out of the bedroom with An Jing who was either sleeping or in a coma. He then stepped out and passed the living room like a shadow before going onto the balcony.
Chapter 1082: The Kidnapper Beyond Expectations
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang and Bloody clearly saw what happened in An Jing's house.
When he saw An Jing being taken away by the silhouette, Lin Huang frowned slightly.
"I've never thought people from Agency EA would take action so soon!"
The reason Lin Huang was sure that it was Agency EA who did that was that apart from him and Huang Tufu, only people from the agency knew about An Jing's real identity at that moment.
"I thought they wouldn't do this so soon because they didn't want to cross the line. Never had I thought they'd be so decisive!" The person's quick action was indeed out of Lin Huang's expectations.
"Perhaps they're afraid there might be changes to the situation." Bloody knew Agency EA's behavior very well. "The Union Government must've hoped that they could capture Zhuge Feifan before the news of him escaping spread. As soon as the news spread, perhaps the few top underground organizations will go after him. It's the best time to obtain the Union Government's top secrets."
"That makes sense. I've underestimated Zhuge Feifan's value." Lin Huang nodded and said, feeling helpless, "It's even more troublesome now that we've lost An Jing."
"I've foreseen this would happen, so I left a positioning pod behind in An Jing's body," Bloody admitted with a grin.
"Won't anyone find out about the pod?"
"They won't. It's just a pod with a positioning function without any energy waves. It's impossible that anyone will find out about it as long as they don't observe it with methods on the same level as Divine Telekinesis. This is because the pod is just the size of a cell." Bloody had mastered hundreds of types of parasitization methods, some of which could not even be tracked.
Lin Huang was relieved after realizing that they had An Jing's coordinates. "So, where is that guy who took An Jing again?"
"He's gone to the south. He's not using a dimensional portal. He's been maintaining a high-speed flight and he's clearly luring Zhuge Feifan to come out."
"The south…" Lin Huang projected the map from his Emperor's Heart Ring. "It's the Hopeless Cliff on the south and the grade-6 forbidden area, Hell Canyon, is further up. It seems like they're going to fight at Hell Canyon."
"It's just over 1,000 kilometers away from First City. It seems a little too close, but the terrain of the Hopeless Cliff can bear the impact of the fight when it reaches First City. That guy who took An Jing away must've picked that place for this reason," Bloody analyzed while looking at the map.
Bloody could not see what was happening exactly at the moment. It could only sense that the positioning pod had not stopped moving. Lin Huang did not go after the person right away. Instead, he remained patient while waiting for the person to stop.
Some ten minutes later, Bloody sensed that the positioning pod had stopped. As expected, it stopped at Hell Canyon.
Lin Huang stood up and went out to knock on Huang Tufu's door.
"Anything that I can help you with, Master Emperor?" Huang Tufu opened the door puzzledly.
"Do you want to have some skewers? We can enjoy a drink too."
"Sure!" Without hesitation, Huang Tufu agreed to go as soon as he heard there was something to eat.
They walked out of the hotel and realized that the business district downstairs was still crowded.
Huang Tufu exclaimed, "First City lives up to its name. It's still so crowded when it's already midnight. Our business district in Emperor City doesn't even have this many people at 10 p.m."
"Isn't comparing First City with Emperor City silly?" Lin Huang smiled. "I remember seeing some recommendations on the Internet. There's a barbecue place over there that looks yummy. Let's go to that one."
Lin Huang blended with the crowd as soon as he was done speaking.
Huang Tufu followed behind Lin Huang immediately.
Before Huang Tufu caught up with him, Lin Huang put on a golden mask and transformed his face. At the same time, he crushed a Cloning Card and cloned himself.
In the next second, he left Huang Tufu's field of vision, blending in with the crowd.
He walked out of the business district leisurely and went to an empty space. Then, he summoned a dimensional portal and stepped into it.
When he stepped out of the dimensional portal in the next second, he arrived at Zhuge Feifan's villa.
The villa was located in the south of First City. It was up to 1,000 kilometers away from the Union Government. Lin Huang had set the coordinates when they came to investigate Zhuge Feifan earlier.
After getting out of Agency EA's radar, Lin Huang crushed a Transformation Card and transformed into Thunder. He flapped his wings and flew toward the south.
Approximately five to six minutes later, Lin Huang passed by the Hopeless Cliff to the south of First City and entered the grade-6 forbidden area, Hell Canyon.
"Is An Jing still there?"
"She's still there. She's around 280 kilometers from where we are now. Just go all the way east following the cliff."
"We're already so close, but we haven't heard any signs of battle. Could Zhuge Feifan not have taken the bait?" Just when Lin Huang asked Bloody that question through voice transmission, an intense battle wave spread from the direction Bloody specified.
Given that the cliffs were blocking it, the Divine Power was weak as it spread over there hundreds of kilometers away. However, the strong wind that came from the energy wave was like a tornado sweeping past Lin Huang's face.
He flapped his wings and ascended quickly to avoid being blown away by the strong wind.
Virtual god-level battle impact would not harm him. Nevertheless, he chose to avoid it to prevent Zhuge Feifan and the other guy from noticing him.
After spending less than a minute to travel more than 200 kilometers, Lin Huang finally saw the duo who was battling far away.
He did not go any closer. Instead, he landed at the back of a cliff.
Naturally, the two Virtual Gods noticed him. However, they only treated him as a dumb bird that had invaded their battle, so they did not care to bother.
Lin Huang looked at the duo's battle with his head peeping out. Compared to when he was on immortal-level, his combat strength had elevated to imperial-level yellow gold-rank after using the Transformation Card. He had an ability comparable with a Virtual God, which allowed him to capture the two Virtual Gods' movements in the battle.
In the air, the two silhouettes were twinkling like flashes of black and white lightning.
All monsters in the forbidden area were reeling in fear. Some were even so terrified that they froze instead of running away.
Sparks burst from the collision and lit up in the middle of the duo's battle, illuminating the night sky.
The flowers and trees around them turned into ashes as a result of the high temperature. In the blink of an eye, they were gone with the wind. The cliffs in all directions collapsed, creating gullies and sinkholes in the ground. It was so close to being a bottomless abyss.
Meanwhile, the mountain kilometers away, where Lin Huang was, was collapsing from the intense earthquake. Lin Huang pretended to be hurt and fell into the collapsed gravel. Despite the tumultuous chaos, he proceeded to watch the battle through the gaps.
He had been watching for a while now, but he could not see who exactly Zhuge Feifan was fighting with. However, his doubts were soon answered.
A voice that Lin Huang was familiar with boomed in the air. "Master, please come with me. I'll definitely fight for a lenient punishment for you."
"Guan Zhong, you disappoint me. I've taught you countless times to not
show mercy to any enemies. I'm your enemy now, not your master. If you haven't come to a realization to kill me, then I'll end your life here!"
Lin Huang was shocked to hear the duo's conversation.
"Guan Zhong kidnapped An Jing!"
Chapter 1083: Please Stay, My Friend
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Initially, Lin Huang thought Guan Zhong was the unlikeliest to have kidnapped An Jing.
After all, Zhuge Feifan was his master while An Jing was considered his mistress on a certain level. Moreover, when Qian Rui suggested kidnapping An Jing, he refuted the suggestion right away.
In the end, he kidnapped An Jing when it had just been half a day, forcing Zhuge Feifan to reveal himself.
Battling, the duo was screaming at each other in the air.
"You brought me up since I was young. I've known you for over 600 years! To me, you're my master as well as a father. I've always respected you. I've always thought that you've never loved me because you're born a cold person. I told everyone that you're that way. I've just learned that you weren't born a cold person yesterday. For more than 600 years, I've just been an insignificant chess piece. I'm not even a person to you!"
"I'm the God's Messenger of God Bless. I've been taking on the identity of a spy since the first day I stepped into the Union Government. Everyone in the Union Government is a chess piece to me. You're not the only one," Zhuge Feifan said expressionlessly.
"I'm not in the mood to talk about old times with you. Hand An Jing over!"
"I'm curious. Which part of this woman attracts you? You've only known her for two years, but she's more important to you than the Union Government that you've been working for over 700 years!" Guan Zhong demanded, feeling more and more pissed off. He had dragged An Jing into his God Territory before the battle began.
"She's an ordinary person. You shouldn't have dragged her into this." Zhuge Feifan shook his head, feeling helpless.
"I've told you. I'm a God's Messenger under the Master God before joining the Union Government. No matter whether it's been 700 years, 7,000 years or 70,000 years that I've stay in the Union Government, my real identity remains as God's Messenger of God Bless. The Union Government has never been important to me, so technically, I didn't betray them."
Naturally, that answer was not what Guan Zhong wanted to hear. "I wonder what magic potion that Master God got you to drink!"
"Master God is a real god. You can't imagine how great power a ninth-rank True God possesses!" Zhuge Feifan's tone really sounded like he was a fanatic who had been brainwashed. ( NovelFull )
Lin Huang was eager to ask when he heard his response, "Do you know there's Heavenly God and Lord above True God?" However, he remained lying in the gravel in Thunder's form without moving as if he had lost the ability to move.
Zhuge Feifan and Guan Zhong treated him as a dumb bird that had been injured badly from the fallen rocks coming from the battle impact. Naturally, they did not bother about him.
"Zhuge Feifan, you've met fanatics before. Don't you hear yourself? You're being brainwashed! Follow me back to the Union Government. We'll try everything we can to remove that bullsh*t from your head!" Finally, Guan Zhong called out Zhuge Feifan's name instead of calling him his master.
"Stop your nonsense, Guan Zhong. I'll give you two choices now. You can give me An Jing. Let me take her away and I'll pretend the kidnapping never happened. If not, I'll kill you and take An Jing with me."
Guan Zhong did not panic at all when he heard the warning. "You should know very well that you've no chance of winning if you were to fight me. Your combat strength is a level lower than mine. I taught you everything you know, including the provisional combat strength elevation method."
"Zhuge Feifan, since you're so stubborn, I won't waste anymore effort on you," he said and swung his right hand, invoking 18 silhouettes to appear before him at the same time.
"Back-up support?!" Lin Huang was stunned to see the silhouettes. He subsequently recognized those things. "No, they've got no vitals. They should be corpse puppets!"
Zhuge Feifan also experienced a slight change of expression when he saw the 18 corpse puppets.
To everyone's bewilderment, a blood-colored formation flag suddenly appeared in Guan Zhong's hand. He glared at Zhuge Feifan seriously. "You taught me this puppet formation as well, but I'll beat you with this today!"
Guan Zhong lowered the formation flag in his hand to point forward as soon as he was done speaking. The 18 corpse puppets charged at Zhuge Feifan like wild beasts that were hungry for blood.
The corpse puppets clearly had a combat strength of Virtual God rank-3. Their individual abilities were nothing below Guan Zhong or Zhuge Feifan's. With the control of the formation flag, the onset of 18 corpse puppets combined would be even more powerful.
Zhuge Feifan was indeed suppressed at the moment.
As he watched the battle beneath, Lin Huang hesitated if he should help. Initially, he planned to kill Zhuge Feifan on his own when he ran away.
If that happened, he could avoid engaging people from the Union Government. Guan Zhong had seen Lin Huang in the bruised corpse's form before, so he would recognize him right away.
However, he was a little worried that Guan Zhong would take Zhuge Feifan away now.
Taking Zhuge Feifan away from Guan Zhong and killing Zhuge Feifan halfway were two completely different concepts. The former was almost equivalent to declaring war with the Union Government.
Just when Lin Huang was thinking to himself, in the midst of the battle, Zhuge Feifan's combat strength sky-rocketed. From his initial Virtual God rank-3 combat strength, he broke through Virtual God rank-4, Virtual God rank-5, and even stepped into Virtual God rank-6.
The three-rank elevation made his ability rise greatly. He crushed the heads of two corpse puppets and got out of the puppet formation with blood smeared all over his body.
Zhuge Feifan's body underwent a strange expansion as his pupils turned bloody. His height grew to two to three meters as his body bulged with muscles. Even his top was shredded from the transformation.
"I've already told you that you don't understand how powerful the Master God is!"
Zhuge Feifan revealed a ferocious grin. Instead of charging at Guan Zhong, he turned around and advanced into the puppet formation.
He punched and kicked, destroying all of the corpse puppets one after another like he was smashing toys.
The entire process took less than three seconds before all 18 corpse puppets were killed.
Soaked in blood, Zhuge Feifan then turned his head to look at Guan Zhong.
Guan Zhong was completely astounded. He thought his plan of bringing his corpse puppets there to capture Zhuge Feifan was a seamless one. Never had he thought that Zhuge Feifan would have such a ridiculous combat strength elevation method whereby he could elevate three ranks at once. The corpse puppets that he brought were all killed in mere seconds. They were torn and became dead remains on the ground.
Just when he was rooted in shock, Zhuge Feifan zipped forward and arrived before him in the next second, grabbing his neck to haul him up.
"Give me An Jing or you'll die!"
"Come into my God Territory and bring her out yourself if you dare!" Guan Zhong remained stubborn.
Zhuge Feifan smirked. "Sure, let's play!" He released Guan Zhong as he spoke.
Almost at the same time, a black vortex appeared out of thin air. Zhuge Feifan stepped into it without hesitation while Guan Zhong followed behind. The duo's aura vanished completed together with the vortex.
Lin Huang waited patiently. To him, Guan Zhong definitely would not be able to defeat Zhuge Feifan. After all, their combat strength was just too far apart.
Approximately a minute later, an ear-piercing screech came. The massive God Territory showed its illusive projection. Then, it collapsed in the air.
A silhouette fell onto the ground from mid-air. At the same time, another silhouette marched out of the projection.
As Lin Huang expected, Zhuge Feifan was the victor.
He held An Jing in his arm, his elevated aura was calming down.
Naturally, Guan Zhong was the one who had fallen onto the ground. His vitals were still there, but he was clearly in a coma now.
Zhuge Feifan hesitated as he peeked at Guan Zhong's direction. In the end, he did not kill him.
He summoned dimensional portal with the flourish of a hand as he glanced down at the lady in his arm.
However, a black glow came at the moment, crushing the dimensional portal.
"Please stay, my friend!"
Chapter 1084: Please Be Happy
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
To prevent leaving any flaws behind, Lin Huang had held back earlier and only commanded the bruised corpse to reveal itself now.
Guan Zhong had seen the bruised corpse before. Had he still been conscious, Lin Huang would have to fight him before stopping Zhuge Feifan.
However, now that Guan Zhong was out of it, Lin Huang had one less concern. He then controlled the bruised corpse to stop Zhuge Feifan.
"Bruised corpse…" Zhuge Feifan squinted when he saw the corpse. His voice echoed in all directions, "Master Emperor, there's no need for you to hide."
He put An Jing into his God Territory to protect her as he spoke, "This bruised corpse is from that lady, Wei Ping's collection. She used it as her son's host later on. You got this bruised corpse when that kid Wei Shan attempted to take revenge, but you killed him instead."
Kilometers away, Lin Huang removed Thunder's form and scrambled out of the gravel.
Zhuge Feifan was stunned to see him. "So, you disguised as that dumb bird, Master Emperor. This method is pretty remarkable. I didn't realize that at all."
He also noticed that Lin Huang's combat strength was no longer on immortal-level, but on imperial-level yellow gold-rank. Although Lin Huang had removed the disguise, the combat strength still remained.
"It's nothing worth mentioning." Lin Huang looked at Zhuge Feifan while smiling. "You, Mr. Zhuge Feifan, on the other hand, managed to elevate your combat strength three ranks higher which turned the tables around. Wow, I was shocked."
"Master Emperor, you're saying all these just to get the confidential information in my head. Am I right?" Zhuge Feifan asked.
However, Lin Huang shook his head. "That's just a itty-bitty part of the reason."
"What's the main reason then?"
"The main reason is that I don't wish to see the Master God coming to this gravel world. Therefore, God Bless needs to end, and you, the Master God's loyal slave, must die too!" Lin Huang growled without holding back.
Zhuge Feifan glared at him with hostility. "So, Lin Huang, you're persistent to go against God Bless then?" He even addressed Lin Huang by his full name instead of calling him Master Emperor now.
"No, I'm persistent to end the entire God Bless," Lin Huang corrected him.
"If that's the case, please go to hell then!" At the same time Zhuge Feifan said that, he disappeared from where he was. He arrived before Lin Huang when he appeared again. With his palm wide open, he was going after Lin Huang's head.
If that really happened, Lin Huang's head might explode right away.
Lin Huang stood where he was as if he did not manage to react in time.
Just as he thought his attack was going to succeed, Zhuge Feifan felt an intense sense of danger spread behind him. It felt like the God of Death was standing behind him.
He dared not even look back and gave up on the attack right away. Retreating, he stepped into the air and turned toward the other direction. While dodging to his right, he adjusted his body to whip around, intending to see what exactly exuded such a sense of danger.
Just when he spun around, he saw a bruised silhouette getting close to him at an alarming speed.
"Bruised corpse?!"
Zhuge Feifan was shocked. To his knowledge, the bruised corpse that had been made into a corpse puppet could remain at Virtual God rank-2 or rank-3 at the most. However, it was not the case at the moment. Its speed was clearly a few folds faster than when he had elevated to Virtual God rank-6.
In the blink of an eye, the bruised corpse arrived before Zhuge Feifan.
Zhuge Feifan attacked directly without hesitation. He dared not slow down at all as he threw his punches continuously. He held nothing back, releasing every bit of Divine Power in his body through every punch.
However, the bruised corpse opened his palm wide and waved seemingly in a casual manner. A black palm print shot out and expanded in the wind. It grew to the size of a small mountain and collided with the glows of the punches like comets landing one after another.
The glows of the punches were crushed as soon as they collided with the giant palm. They turned into stardust like melting snow.
The giant palm arrived before Zhuge Feifan in a heartbeat. Compared to before, its color had faded a little.
Zhuge Feifan was secretly petrified. He retreated quickly while swinging his punches carelessly in an attempt to block the palm from Lin Huang.
However, his hard work was to no avail.
The bruised corpse pressed his palm in the air. Soon, the black palm print accelerated and crushed into Zhuge Feifan's body.
As the giant palm collided against his body, all Zhuge Feifan could feel was an invincible force spreading throughout his body. It felt like an entire planet had crashed into him.
His right hand with which he was throwing punches was smashed into dust by the great force.
Even his god relic armor had tiny cracks from the intense collision. It drained close to half of the Divine Power in his body just to defend the attack.
Although the god relic armor defended the direct attack of the palm, the intense impact crushed his organs.
Zhuge Feifan flew deep into the remnants of the mountain a hundred kilometers away.
The mountain collapsed as if it exploded, accompanied by the blast as Zhuge Feifan's body crashed into it and stopped completely.
Lying in the gravel, Zhuge Feifan was so shocked that he was speechless.
That single attack made him realize that the bruised corpse's combat strength was at least two ranks higher than his. He even suspected the bruised corpse had true god-level ability.
In reality, since Wu Mo had modified the bruised corpse, it had surpassed an ordinary Virtual God rank-9 powerhouse. Although the body had yet to reach True God, it was close.
The three-rank difference was too powerful for Zhuge Feifan.
Until then, Zhuge Feifan who was in the gravel just remembered the three God Bless God's Messengers who had been killed.
"He's invincible… The three of them must've felt this despair before they took their last breath."
The single collision made Zhuge Feifan lose his confidence to fight completely.
Bearing the pain that throbbed all over his body, he stood up from the gravel and summoned a dimensional portal without even thinking.
However, a bruised silhouette came the moment he summoned the dimensional portal, landing directly on top of it.
He looked at Zhuge Feifan who was attempting to escape in a condescending way, then crushed the dimensional portal into dust with a mere slight force under his feet.
Without waiting for Zhuge Feifan to react, the bruised corpse arrived before him in a flash. He pressed his palm against Zhuge Feifan's chest at a neutral speed.
The protective armor sucked all the Divine Power in Zhuge Feifan's body to defend the single attack. With the Divine Power's support, the protective armor retreated back into his body.
His expanded body went back to his original size while his Virtual God rank-6 combat strength fell back to Virtual God rank-3.
Zhuge Feifan was in despair as he looked bitter. He did not even have the Divine Power to summon a dimensional portal now.
"Look into my eyes," commanded the bruised corpse. Zhuge Feifan could not help but lift his head to look at him.
In the next second, his consciousness was drowned in a bloody ocean.
From where Lin Huang was watching, all he could see was a tall and a short silhouette that seemed to have turned into two sculptures. They stood still.
However, the frozen scene only remained for a moment. The bruised corpse then plunged his hand into Zhuge Feifan's chest. When he pulled his bloody hand out from Zhuge Feifan's body, there was a brown Godhead between his fingers.
By then, Zhuge Feifan's consciousness had just returned to his body. However, his aura was plummeting.
An Jing, who was pulled into his God Territory, was rejected from it. She lay on the ground not far away from Zhuge Feifan.
Zhuge Feifan peeked at her direction, trying his very best to stay awake as he crawled toward her. He could hardly move.
Lin Huang sighed slightly upon seeing that tragic scene. He got the bruised corpse to carry Zhuge Feifan and put him next to An Jing.
Zhuge Feifan stretched his arm strenuously and held An Jing's hand pitifully. He then turned his head and spat a word out at Lin Huang, "Thanks…"
His consciousness collapsed soon after saying that. However, he insisted on turning his head back to look at An Jing.
"Please be happy…" Zhuge Feifan managed a weak smile as he watched the love of his life quietly until his world turned completely dark.
Chapter 1085: Hunt
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Upon stepping out of the dimensional portal to arrive in front of his hotel, Lin Huang's clone had just finished having supper with Huang Tufu. They were paying and were about to leave.
Lin Huang blended into the crowd and walked toward the barbecue stall.
His clone walked out of the barbecue stall and left Huang Tufu behind, he blended with the crowd too.
Before waiting for Huang Tufu to catch up, his clone disappeared into the crowd. Meanwhile, Lin Huang stood where the clone had been.
"The dessert here looks great. I'll buy some for Xin Er. She'll love it." Lin Huang lifted his head to look at the dessert stall next to him upon seeing that Huang Tufu was advancing.
Huang Tufu shrugged in an indifferent manner since he did not like dessert. "You should buy this fresh. They won't be fresh anymore if you buy them now and only bring them back a few days later."
"Then, we'll go back tomorrow morning since we'll leave right after breakfast," said Lin Huang and walked towards the dessert stall.
"Didn't you say before that we're waiting for Zhuge Feifan?"
"How's Zhuge Feifan more important than my Xin Er?" Lin Huang replied while smiling and raising his brow.
It was past 1 a.m. when they headed back to the hotel after buying a whole lot of dessert.
Lin Huang shared Zhuge Feifan's memory with Bloody as soon as he returned to his room. He got it to analyze it and sort it out while he went to take a shower.
When he returned to the living room after the shower, Bloody had sorted out Zhuge Feifan's memory and compared as well as analyzed it together with the other three God's Messengers' memories.
"Zhuge Feifan was the first to follow the Master God. Combining the three God's Messengers' memories, I basically know the construction and development of the entire God Bless. God Bless was founded over 700 years ago by the Master God that Zhuge Feifan and the rest talked about."
"So, the Master God is really a cultivator from this world?!" In reality, Lin Huang knew that earlier, but he did not believe it.
"Yes, but there are tons of suspicions about this Master God. It was said that the Master God was one of the first batches of imperial-level powerhouses in the new area. However, he became a true god-level powerhouse as a result of some opportunity that came all of a sudden.
"This part is already suspicious. Theoretically, even if he successfully integrated the Godhead, the most he could get would be Virtual God rank-3. It's impossible for him to get any more powerful. However, his combat strength seemed to have surpassed virtual god-level directly and arrived at true god-level. From what I know, among the known techniques in this gravel world at the moment, no technique can possibly elevate one's combat strength so drastically.
"Also, God Bless was founded after the Master God elevated to true god-level. Zhuge Feifan, Wei Ping and the rest were the most outstanding and talented young people back in that generation. Their combat strength was only on holy flame-level back then. The Master God trained up to a hundred people after the search for talent, but Zhuge Feifan and the other three were the only ones who survived.
"According to their memories, the Master God spent most of his time exploring ruins and sites. He would only return to God Bless two to three times annually to check on the four's cultivation progress and the organization's development.
"The Master God didn't stay long in the gravel world. He was only here for less than a hundred years. After leaving the gravel world, he left a Virtual God rank-9 clone behind. His clone also explored ruins and sites but he got stuck in a grade-7 ruins more than 300 years ago because he didn't make it out in time. He only got out when the ruins was reopened a few years back. He then returned to the gravel world.
"What I find strange is that since the Master God's clone returned, he has been looking for ways to get his real life to return to the gravel world for the past few years. He didn't explain why he's doing that. All he told Zhuge Feifan and the rest was to find ways to bring his real self back."
"It sounds like he's found some treasure in the ruins, but the clone is incapable of retrieving it. Therefore, he's hoping that his real self can come back to retrieve the treasure." Lin Huang offered his speculation.
"I think it goes deeper than that." Bloody shook its head. "Of course, what you said is possible too."
"Another thing that I don't understand is that with the Master God's ability 700 years ago, he could've defeated all the powerhouses in the entire gravel world on his own and rule the cultivation world with God Bless.
"The new era had just begun at that time. Apart from Mr. Fu and a handful of demigods, there were very few imperial-level powerhouses. All the organizations had just been founded, so he could totally defeat them easily. However, he chose to use God Bless to work secretly, placing many spies into other organizations. Not only did they not interfere with the organizations, but the spies were also helping the other organizations grow.
"Over 700 years ago, apart from the Land of Origin, Division 1 was just built. Maybe he thought that harvesting back then wouldn't be an accomplishment to him and figured he would harvest what he sowed years later." Lin Huang thought about it and decided that the Master God might have had such a mindset back then.
"That's possible," Bloody agreed, "It's like finding a bunch of baby Swine Beasts on the streets. Eating them all would be a waste, so one would rear them and eat them when they get bigger."
"Did you learn anything else about God Bless and the Master God?"
"I found out about Mr. Fu being attacked although we know what exactly happened now. It was Zhuge Feifan who arranged that. He and Qi Shihan did it. They were the two God's Messengers who had the most powerful abilities in God Bless. The reason why Mr. Fu couldn't find any evidence was that Zhuge Feifan cleared all evidence as soon as the mission failed.
"Also, it was God Bless's doing the time when close to half of the demigods and a few Virtual Gods were killed in the grade-7 ruins in Division 1. Moreover, it was the Master God's clone who did it himself. They thought of sacrificing a massive amount of demigods and Virtual Gods as a medium for the dimensional god relic to build a stable gateway by force. Their intention was to get their Master God to come. However, it failed eventually.
"That's everything about God Bless and the Master God. There's no need to talk about the details. I'll share the memory that I've sorted with you, so you can look at the details when you have the time."
"How about the Union Government? They should have quite some secrets too, don't they?" Lin Huang asked immediately.
"There is more information about the Union Government," Bloody confirmed while smiling.
"You wouldn't have thought that the Union Government and the Hunter Association are in contact with the great world. Furthermore, the two organizations have the same mastermind. Their mastermind is an organization called the Hunt in the great world."
"No wonder the Union Government is so close to the Hunter Association! I've never heard them falling out throughout the past 800 years." Lin Huang came to a realization.
"The Hunt isn't considered the top organization in the great world. They don't even have a Lord. Compared to Dynasty behind you, they're not worth mentioning at all. However, that organization is a powerful giant to the gravel world.
"The reason why the Union Government and the Hunter Association stand out among other organizations and emerged as the boss today is that the Hunt has been helping them secretly.
"However, the Union Government wasn't the Hunt's affiliate organization since the beginning. Instead, their members passed a trial organized by the Hunt that took place in a ruins over 700 years ago."
Chapter 1086: Anyone Capable Will Be the Grand Duke
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Before 7 a.m. the next day, Lin Huang knocked on Huang Tufu's door that was next to his room.
Huang Tufu opened the door in his shorts, appearing like he had just woken up.
In reality, not sleeping for a whole year would not pose a problem to him since he had reached that level. However, he did drink with Lin Huang last night and had fallen asleep with the help of alcohol in his body.
"Go take a shower now. We're going for breakfast." Lin Huang frowned slightly upon sniffing the alcohol stench wafting from Huang Tufu's body.
"So early?" Huang Tufu yawned. The aroma of the pancakes and the barbecue swept towards Lin Huang.
Lin Huang felt a little suffocated at that moment. He never expected to get this since he managed to dodge it yesterday.
He added after shutting down his breathing system, "Remember to brush your teeth."
After Huang Tufu washed up, both of them arrived at the ground floor of the hotel by the elevator. Then, they checked out at the front desk directly.
"So, are we really going back to Emperor City?" Huang Tufu could not help but ask as they walked out of the hotel.
"Why? Don't you want to leave?" Lin Huang teased while smiling.
"No, but Zhuge Feifan…"
"Zhuge Feifan is already dead." Lin Huang threw that out directly. He proceeded to speak before Huang Tufu could react, "Let's see if the uncle selling pancake is opened today."
Huang Tufu's eyes lit up when he heard about pancakes. "I want ten this time!"
However, when they returned to Emperor City, Huang Tufu looked bummed.
The uncle selling pancakes did not open his stall today. As usual, he was capricious. Although they had gone there on purpose, they got nothing. Feeling helpless, they settled their breakfast at a random noodle stall next door.
Lin Huang, on the other hand, felt nothing. It did not matter if they did not get to eat the pancakes.
As soon as they returned to the Dynasty headquarters, Lin Huang asked Huang Tufu to gather Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan at the Emperor Palace.
At the Emperor Palace, Lin Huang and the three Grand Dukes of Dynasty got together.
Lin Huang only asked after waiting for the three of them to take their seats, "How's the business district restoration going?"
"The ruins has been cleared entirely and we've sent the survivors for treatment. We've also sent out a massive amount of compensation. We've informed the family members of the dead that we found to arrange for their burial. We gave a handsome pension to the family members. Besides that, we've arranged temporary accommodation for those who lost their houses, and we've also built a community. The rest that we have to do will be the rebuilding work. We estimate that we can rebuild the entire area within half a year."
"You must have encountered some obstacles, didn't you?" Lin Huang figured those family members of the deceased must have their piece to say.
"Those are minor ones. We've already settled that," Huang Tianfu said casually. Clearly, it was not his first time encountering something like that.
"That's great." Lin Huang nodded. "Then, I'll move on to the main agenda."
"Firstly, I'd like to say that I have a document in my hand. It's the list of God Bless spies in all the organizations. I'll give you guys this list, so you guys can use the resources and relationships you have to sell this list to people who need it in exchange for the resources Dynasty needs.
"Do this quickly because the Union Government might get this list soon. It'll be difficult to sell it at a good price by then.
"I'll send you guys a material list later on. I hope that you guys can look for these materials from the money you obtained from selling the list. Of course, collect as much as you can. There's no pressure. I do this mainly for you guys to obtain resources."
"Master Emperor, how credible is this list that you're talking about?" Huang Tianfu asked.
"100%. It came directly from the God Messengers' heads." Lin Huang chose to be honest about him killing God Bless's four God's Messengers since there was no need for him to hide from them.
Huang Tianfu did not ask further after hearing that. He said, "Understood. We'll try our best to sell this piece of news out."
"Secondly, I've some ancient cultivation methods with me. They can be used to build a brand new cultivation system to get to virtual god-level.
"Apart from the Princes and Dukes, I hope that you guys can select immortal-level and holy fire-level young people who are talented and have the potential for me. I'll teach them the cultivation methods then."
The three Grand Dukes secretly felt helpless hearing that. They were already demigods, so they had no chance of elevating.
With Lin Huang's cultivation methods, many people might elevate to virtual god-level which would surpass the three of them.
The three of them did not suspect Lin Huang might have lied about having the cultivation methods.
"Thirdly, I'll open the Dynasty trial zones continuously before I leave this gravel world for you guys to obtain the resources and points from going in. The demigod who has the highest points in the trial zone leaderboard will win God Blood from me as a reward and elevate to perfect-stage demigod-level."
The three Grand Dukes experienced a slight change of expression hearing that.
"When do the three of you think is the best time to open the trial zones?" Lin Huang asked.
"Anytime is fine, to be honest. It's just that we might need some time to prepare ourselves," Huang Wunan replied.
"We'll only need one or two days to prepare. If you want them to go into the trial zone as soon as possible, Master Emperor, you can launch it in three days. It shouldn't be a problem." Huang Tianfu gave a detailed reply.
"We'll do it three days later then. By then, I'll open a grade-1 trial zone for imperial-level and demigod-level powerhouses. I'll send the details of the trial zone that I've picked to your guys later."
"So, these are the three main things that I want to say…"
"We'll make a move," Lin Huang called out to them just when Huang Tianfu and the rest were leaving.
"I'll try my best to find ways for you guys break through demigod-level. I'll get it done for you guys as long as it's available in the great world."
"Just you thinking of getting us that is kind enough," Huang Tianfu said while smiling, but a gleam of helplessness flashed by his eyes.
Bloody's voice came after the three of them left the Emperor Palace. "You're recruiting fresh blood so openly. Aren't you scared that they might leave?"
"No, the three of them are smart. They know they can't be replaced easily. Even if new demigods elevate to perfect-stage demigod-level, there will be differences in their abilities. Otherwise, the last Emperor wouldn't have selected the three of them.
"For the juniors who might elevate to virtual god-level, they won't be able to break through virtual god-level within such a short period of time.
"What they need to do is to prove they have enough value to maintain their position of the three Grand Dukes before those juniors grow. They must prove that they're irreplaceable!"
"I've already told them what I want. I hope to grow Dynasty, so my core team must be able to support Dynasty that's going to be more powerful in the future. The three of them know very well that they have to improve with time. I believe that they can prove their value."
"What if the three of them don't meet your standards?"
"Then, we'll replace them with someone else. Whoever is capable will be the Grand Duke!"
Chapter 1087: Alibi
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At the Union Government headquarters in First City in Division 1.
Guan Zhong sat on the couch without any expression on his face. He was quiet.
When he woke up approximately half an hour earlier, the first thought that flashed through his mind was that Zhuge Feifan must have escaped with An Jing.
However, he saw two silhouettes lying on the ground not far away when he got up from the dusty ground.
Looking closely, they were Zhuge Feifan and An Jing.
An Jing was in a deep sleep but Zhuge Feifan was dead.
His head was a mess ever since he found Zhuge Feifan's body. Until now, he had still yet to figure what exactly had happened.
"I've sent An Jing home. She won't remember a thing when she wakes up. However, I must tell you that you've crossed the line this time." Qian Rui marched into the room. "I've got someone to check through Zhuge Feifan's body. Can you tell me what exactly happened now?"
"I've no idea." Guan Zhong shook his head forlornly. "I was defeated, but he didn't kill me. He was already dead when I woke up."
Guan Zhong was just a confused witness. His head was a mess and he was in a state of shock and sadness. After all, Zhuge Feifan was his master who had brought him up.
"So, did someone interfere after you?!" Qian Rui came to an understanding. A third person must have interfered.
Guan Zhong just snapped back to his senses and nodded. "I think so."
"Apart from Zhuge Feifan's Godhead being taken away, everything else was still there, even his Emperor's Heart Ring," Qian Rui continued, "The person was clearly after the information in his head. He must've successfully obtained all of Agency EA's secrets throughout the centuries."
"His Godhead was taken?" Guan Zhong lifted his head to look at Qian Rui in horror. "Is the Emperor still around?"
"He left with the Third Grand Duke early in the morning." Qian Rui heard from the hotel staff that Lin Huang had left early in the morning.
"It must be the Emperor who did this! He has the ability and the motive, and he happened to be in First City." Guan Zhong was connecting the dots in his head quickly and pointed out the culprit. "He ran back to Emperor City early in the morning. Clearly, he's guilty of his actions."
"It's futile for you to say anything without any evidence." Nonetheless, Qian Rui remained calm.
"Get the surveillance! He definitely left the hotel!"
"He left the hotel for some time with Huang Tufu last night indeed, but they had barbecued food and enjoyed some drinks in the business district. They went back to the hotel after that," Qian Rui explained.
"I know about this because my intel told me that they left the hotel in the middle of the night. I used my Divine Telekinesis to monitor them. I watched them going into the barbecue stall until they left after paying. They never left my Divine Telekinesis range at all."
"So, you mean he has an alibi?" Guan Zhong shook his head. "He can fake one."
"But I didn't see any loopholes. Even if it was a disguise, it's an alibi after all since he can do it such an extent that we can't find any loopholes." Qian Rui did not argue about the authenticity of the alibi with Guan Zhong, but he stated the deeper truth.
"I want to see the surveillance!" Guan Zhong was persistent.
"I've gotten someone to get the hotel surveillance. In the business district, not all stalls had surveillance. Only a part of them do. I've gotten them to bring it over as well." Qian Rui did not decline Guan Zhong's request. He had already gotten someone to bring the surveillance footage.
Approximately half an hour later, the people came with the footage.
In the office, a Surveillance Mosquito that contained all the surveillance data projected the images.
Guan Zhong and Qian Rui watched the footage one after another and found no flaws at all.
They watched the footage from Lin Huang and Huang Tufu leaving the hotel room to the time they returned.
Apart from being away from the surveillance range approximately 20 to 30 meters away along the business district, Lin Huang and Huang Tufu seemed normal all the time.
The barbecue stall that Lin Huang and Huang Tufu had gone to for skewers happened to have surveillance too. It showed the footage of Lin Huang and Huang Tufu eating skewers and drinking. Both of them did not even go to the washroom throughout the meal, let alone anywhere else.
After watching the footage, even Guan Zhong began to doubt if he had made a wrong assumption.
"See, I told you that his alibi has no loopholes at all." Qian Rui spread his arms helplessly.
"How is it possible?" Guan Zhong could not understand that.
"There are two possibilities. One is that the method he used to create the alibi is too outstanding, so outstanding that we can't find any loopholes. Another possibility is that his alibi is real and someone else killed Zhuge Feifan." Qian Rui provided the two conclusions.
"If he didn't do it, why did he return to Emperor City the first thing in the morning?" Guan Zhong questioned.
"Maybe something really came up in Dynasty. That's a possible coincidence too." Qian Rui was not helping Lin Huang, but he believed evidence more.
Guan Zhong fell into silence for a moment with his head hanging down. He spoke again a while later, "Let's contact Lin Huang to get him to do a video playback to find the culprit. If he's willing to help, it proves that it wasn't him who did it and we can find the real culprit. If he refuses to help, he's most probably the one who did it."
"Call him then."
Guan Zhong called Lin Huang's number, and the video call request was soon picked up.
In the video projection, Lin Huang was in the Star Titan pilot cabin.
"Anything, Old Guan?"
"I've just returned to the Union Government and found out that you've gone back to Emperor City early in the morning. Why did you leave so soon? You didn't even say goodbye," Guan Zhong asked while smiling.
"Something came up in Emperor City, so I came back earlier," Lin Huang explained briefly.
"But there's a new development in our investigation this morning. We need your help."
"I really can't go anywhere now, but you can tell me about the development. I can help analyze for you," Lin Huang said passionately.
"Zhuge Feifan is dead!" Qian Rui answered directly before Guan Zhong could proceed to test Lin Huang.
Lin Huang appeared stunned. "Dead? Did you guys find him?!"
"We didn't kill him. We only found his body," Guan Zhong added.
"Do you guys know who did it?"
"We don't." Guan Zhong shook his head again. "We've no idea what exactly happened yesterday, that's why we're asking for your help. We'd like to watch last night's video playback."
"I'd like to help you guys, but I really can't leave these few days." Lin Huang refused to help them.
Guan Zhong and Qian Rui peeked at each other secretly and stopped insisting.
"If that's the case, sorry to trouble you. We'll think of something else."
Guan Zhong looked determined after hanging up the call. "Lin Huang is definitely the culprit."
"So what if you found that out? Do you have evidence? If you don't, he can totally say that you're slandering him." Qian Rui patted Guan Zhong's shoulder while smiling weakly. "Just let it go. At least, he left the full body for us. He even left behind Zhuge Feifan's Emperor's Heart Ring."
Chapter 1088: The Trial Zone Opens
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang knew that his actions had been exposed as he hung up on Guan Zhong's call. However, he no longer cared about that.
Guan Zhong and Qian Rui took the initiative to call him to test him, but that already proved that they could not find any reliable evidence. They were not sure if he was the one who killed Zhuge Feifan.
However, him rejecting to carry out the video playback for them was equivalent to admitting he was the murderer.
Nevertheless, he could only decline the request.
If he agreed to do that, Guan Zhong would recognize the bruised corpse right away when they saw the playback. He would be giving the Union Government a piece of solid evidence.
Although Guan Zhong and Qian Rui were sure that it was him who did it, they had no solid evidence to go after him.
In reality, Lin Huang was very careful about this. All he did was to retrieve Zhuge Feifan's memory and he left no traces behind. Not only did he leave Zhuge Feifan's body behind for the Union Government, but he also did not even take his Emperor's Heart Ring away. He only took the Godhead that was insignificant to the Union Government.
The confidence he had added with the fact that he had not left any traces behind gave the Union Government no way of coming after him.
On the Union Government's side, since they had no solid evidence, they could only let it go eventually.
Time flew by, and three days soon passed.
Throughout the three days, apart from celebrating Lin Xin's official 19th birthday on the 8th August which was on the second day, Lin Huang spent most of his time in closed-door cultivation to refine the Godheads in his body.
The demigod-level broken Godheads only took a while to be refined under his burning Divine Fire. However, the 13 complete Godheads that he had just obtained recently were much slower to refine.
He calculated the speed of refinement roughly.
A demigod-level broken Godhead only took one to five minutes to be completely refined. Almost none of them took longer than ten minutes.
However, the Virtual God rank-1 Godhead took approximately ten continuous hours to be refined.
Meanwhile, the Virtual God rank-2 Godhead took almost 20 hours while the Virtual God rank-3 Godhead took almost 40 hours.
The refinement time would double for almost every rank higher.
Lin Huang also calculated the time to refine a Virtual God rank-9 Godhead. It would take around 2,560 hours which translated into at least over a hundred days even if the person refining it did not sleep or rest.
Throughout the three days, he refined 12 out of the 13 Godheads. However, the refinement speed for the Virtual God rank-9 Godhead he had gotten from the Master God's clone was a painful one.
On the fourth morning, Lin Huang walked out of the Emperor Palace.
Those Dynasty Dukes who had earned the eligibility to participate in the trial had arrived.
Apart from a handful of them who were working on something else, basically all the imperial-level and demigod-level Dukes applied.
However, Huang Tianfu only approved less than two-thirds of them. He needed the rest to guard the Dynasty headquarters and branches.
In the end, only 67 of them passed the assessment, including the Third Grand Duke Huang Tufu, Huang Wuji, and the rest of the Princes who had elevated to imperial-level.
Before it was even 8 a.m., all of them had gathered in the meeting room.
All of them stood up when they saw Lin Huang walking into the meeting room.
"Take a seat." Lin Huang walked onto the podium after he gestured for them to sit.
"The trial zone that I picked for you guys this time is just a grade-1 trial zone in the great world. However, it's a grade-6 forbidden area in this gravel world. There are a few virtual god-level monsters. Therefore, please don't take it lightly judging by its low grade.
"I've already gotten Mr. Tianfu to send all of you the information of the trial zone two days ago. Please inform me if you haven't gotten it right now."
Lin Huang waited for a while, but nobody spoke.
"I believe all of you have studied the information and you should've done the preparation beforehand. I don't need to waste everybody's time to repeat what's written in it. Let me brief you on some of my expectations.
"Firstly, no sabotaging! As soon as you enter the trial zone, no matter whether you're exploring on your own or whether you're forming a team, please don't fight your own people!
"I don't care what kind of conflicts you guys have had before or what disputes you guys come up with in the trial zone. If I find out about it, I'll kill those who attack their own people! I opened the trial zones and set up a reward system to encourage you guys to grow, not to instigate internal conflicts.
"You guys can solve the conflicts you might have after the trial has ended. Don't play tricks in the trial zone! You can come to look for me or look for the Third Grand Duke if you can't solve it, and we'll help.
"For those who are dissatisfied with your trial results, you can join the second or third trial to prove your abilities!
"Secondly, I hope that all of you survive. Each and every one of you here is a powerhouse with top combat strength in Dynasty. All of you are Dynasty's pillars of support. No matter who we lose, it's a great loss to Dynasty, to me, and the Third Duke.
"I hope that all of you can survive each trial, to grow stronger and to walk further together with Dynasty!
"In the trial zone, don't be blinded by pride. Surviving is the most important thing that you need to do. If you encounter something that's beyond your capabilities, dodge or run if you have to. Don't take it forcefully. You guys should know that you guys can obtain more points as long as you survive. Then, you'll obtain more rewards and become more and more powerful.
"Thirdly, obtain as many points as you can. After you've accomplished the first and second points, try your best to reap as many resources as you can in the trial zone. Ignore whether the competitor is someone from a major organization in the great world. Take what you fight for, and kill when it's necessary. It's alright even if you'll have to kill the Royalties. In the trial zone, the Royalties can be the prey in proper battles as well. Don't blame anyone if you get killed."
Lin Huang listed the three points briefly. The people who were listening were resting their minds.
When it was 9 a.m. sharp, Lin Huang opened the trial zone's dimensional portal with his Royalty authorization.
A golden dimensional portal opened in the meeting room. The 67 participants queued and walked into it one after another.
When all of them had entered, the golden dimensional portal closed slowly and faded slowly before vanishing completely.
Huang Tianfu sighed softly upon seeing the trial dimensional portal vanishing. "I hope for minimum casualties in this trial."
Lin Huang patted Huang Tianfu's shoulder. He wanted to say something to comfort him but said nothing after thinking to himself.
"I'm thinking of trading the few Godheads in the treasure for god relics of the same value." Lin Huang voiced his request after a moment of silence.
"Nobody is using the few Godheads anyway, so just take them, Master Emperor." Huang Tianfu waved his hand.
"Let's just trade them with items of the same value. They're the property of Dynasty after all." Lin Huang felt bad for taking them without anything in exchange. He had already taken a soul jewel for nothing earlier.
'Isn't Dynasty your property too?' Huang Tianfu thought to himself but he dared not say it out loud.
"Throughout the month while the trial is going on, I might be spending most of the time in closed-door cultivation. Please gather as many materials, Godheads, and broken Godheads as you can. I'll pay you in advance later. Please take note of soul jewels if there's any around, and inform me if there's news as soon as you hear it. Don't worry about interrupting my closed-door cultivation," said Lin Huang and he projected the blue teardrop soul jewel that he had obtained from Dynasty's treasure chest earlier.
Chapter 1089: Leaving Closed-door Cultivation
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang went into closed-door cultivation after arranging the opening of the first trial zone and traded the four Godheads in Dynasty's treasure chest as well as the 30-odd broken Godheads Dynasty had found throughout the few days with god relics and demigod relics.
Although a month was far from him refining the Virtual God rank-9 Godhead, he could at least shorten the time to elevate to imperial-level within this period of time.
If he did not focus on the refinement in closed-door cultivation and let the Divine Fire refine it on its own, it would take more than a year for the Virtual God rank-9 Godhead to be completely refined. Needless to say, Lin Huang could not wait that long.
Since he went into closed-door cultivation, he spent 24 hours every day refining the Godhead with his Divine Fire. Initially, he planned to rest every ten days to maintain his peak performance. However, Bloody Robe and the Eclipse Boa completed their elevation on the fourth day.
Lin Huang calculated the time. It had been the 11th day since the Eclipse Boa and the rest went into elevation mode.
Bloody Robe and the Eclipse Boa that had been elevated soon turned into cards. Then, they were sealed.
Lin Huang was busy activating the Divine Fire in his body, so he did not study the cards thoroughly. He only peeked and proceeded with the refinement, knowing that it was Bloody Robe and the Eclipse Boa who had completed the elevation.
On the fifth day of closed-door cultivation, the Death Knight and the Fallen Knight also completed their elevation. They became quadruple mutated mythical-level Monster Cards.
As usual, Lin Huang merely peeped at them.
In the evening on the eighth day, Grimace had finally completed his elevation. As he was working on Dynasty's new regulations with Bloody back then, he went into elevation two days later than the Eclipse Boa and the rest. Nevertheless, he spent a total of 13 days completing the elevation.
By then, the batch of five imperial monsters had elevated to mythical-level Monster Cards. However, they were sealed and could not be summoned at the time being.
Lin Huang did not check the five Monster Cards since they elevated. He had been following the plan that he set for himself, not even wasting a minute to refine the Godhead.
When it was the tenth day of the closed-door cultivation, Lin Huang went to bed at midnight sharp as planned and he set the alarm clock on his Emperor's Heart Ring to wake him up at 10 a.m. He would sleep every ten days and for ten hours each time to maintain his peak performance for the refinement.
On the 11th day at 10 a.m., Lin Huang guzzled a bottle of water after he was woken up by the alarm clock. He then began his closed-door cultivation again.
Just like that, he spent 24 hours every day activating the Divine Fire in his body to burn without stopping. He would sleep every ten days and drink a bottle of water. He did not even eat or spare a second to waste.
The strict closed-door cultivation that could be deemed to be close to self-harm lasted for 30 days. Lin Huang finally loosened after that.
When the 30th day ended, he slept for more than 20 hours before walking out of the Emperor Palace.
It was almost past 10 a.m. when he got out of the Emperor Palace. The first thing he did was to head out for food.
He had ten servings of dumplings at the fat aunty's stall, blowing the fat couple's minds away. He then returned to the Dynasty headquarters in satisfaction.
As soon as he returned, he went straight to Huang Tianfu to ask about the trial results.
Huang Tianfu saw Lin Huang from far away and went to him. "Master Emperor, I saw you left right after you came out of the closed-door cultivation. Was it something urgent?"
"Nothing, I was just too hungry." Lin Huang took out a bottle of water and drank it before asking, "The one-month trial should've ended yesterday. How're the results? Is the death toll high?"
"The result isn't bad at all. In fact, it's even better than I expected. The death toll is lower than expected. Out of the 67 participants, only two didn't return. The two of them who didn't make it back are on imperial-level. None of the demigods died."
Lin Huang was pretty satisfied with the results because it was impossible to have a 0% death rate. They only lost two people out of the 67 participants, so the death rate was less than 3% which was considered extremely low. After all, the trial zone was comparable with a grade-6 forbidden area whereby there were virtual god-level monsters.
"That's not bad. Do you have the ranking yet?"
"We've already sorted it out. I'll send the list to you right now, but it was Tufu who ranked No. 1. He doesn't need God Blood."
"Those who don't need God Blood can trade for god relics or god items." Lin Huang expected that to happen. "Apart from the champion, those who rank No. 2 and No. 3 should be rewarded too. You guys can discuss the proper reward."
"Apart from that, I think we can set up a leaderboard for the top ten participants on the list and publish it on Dynasty's forum. Let everyone see the names and points obtained to encourage more people to go into the trial zone."
"That's a good idea." Huang Tianfu agreed to that right away.
"Let me know when you guys are done setting the reward and the next trial opening time. I won't be participating in the discussion." Lin Huang planned to focus on elevating to imperial-level.
"Sure, we'll try to do it by today or tomorrow." Huang Tianfu acknowledged.
"How're the sales of the spy list?"
"It's not too bad. It was quite a failure in the beginning because not many people believed in the list. Then, someone bought it and investigated following the list. The news spread, so it became a hit. However, we've only managed to sell over ten copies before the Union Government published the list."
"Since the list came out, all the organizations have been looking for internal spies throughout the past month. Not only were all the God Bless spies killed, but many of the spies coming from other organizations were also exposed. The innocents were dragged into this."
"Nobody knew who God Bless was before, but they're famous overnight now. They've become public enemies now."
"I must say that their behavior is terrible indeed. Apart from getting their people to be spies, they've even gotten the spies to penetrate into all the organizations. Some of them might have even ended up being the upper echelon. If not careful, the entire organization might end up becoming God Bless's affiliate organization."
"They did this to themselves." Lin Huang had no sympathy for God Bless. They would not be killed if they had not done what they had.
They had the ability to rule the entire continent, but the Master God was greedy. Besides wanting to rule the world, he even got the spies to penetrate other organizations and even helped the organizations grow. His plan to grow the organization killed him eventually.
"Did the Union Government look for me?" Lin Huang asked again.
"No. After you went into closed-door cultivation, they spread the news that the Agency EA's founder ran away and was killed a few days later. They must be busy with the rebuilding of Agency EA throughout the month."
As Bloody expected, the Union Government took the blame themselves. They could only take up the responsibility of killing Zhuge Feifan. Otherwise, outsiders would make fun of them for not even being able to capture a traitor themselves.
The Union Government taking up the responsibility would mean that it was the end of the incident, making Lin Huang secretly relieved.
"Is there anything that I need to know about?"
"That's about it." Huang Tianpu thought about it. He did not seem to miss out anything.
"How about the materials that I asked for before going into closed-door cultivation? How much did you guys manage to collect?"
"We've collected half of the materials, seven Godheads and 83 broken Godheads. As for the soul jewel that you mentioned, we didn't find anything that's similar at all."
"Send me this batch first. Continue to look for the remaining materials, Godheads, and broken Godheads. Take note of the soul jewel too." Lin Huang nodded.
"Are you going into closed-door cultivation again?" Huang Tianfu asked, raising his brow.
"Yes, but not now. I've something else to deal with today."
Chapter 1090: Grimace's Elevation
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang left Emperor City first thing in the morning and headed towards Division 3.
He visited Sweep City's black market and the Wanbao Auction. He only returned to Emperor City after getting his hands on the materials that he had asked for earlier.
On Dynasty's end, although they were also helping to collect materials, they were using their own sources. Meanwhile, the black market in Sweep City was the Heretics' source. For the Wanbao Auction, it came from the noble families.
Naturally, using three different sources to look for the materials he needed was more efficient than using a single source.
After returning to the Emperor Palace, Lin Huang got Huang Tianfu to bring out the materials they collected. Amassing them together with the materials he had purchased from Division 3, he asked Bloody to help sort them out.
On the other hand, Lin Huang finally had the time to look at the cards of Grimace and the rest who had just elevated to mythical-level.
The front of Grimace's card was completely different now.
He looked like a 20-year-young man. He wore black and red tones of clothing and had a black cap on his head, complete with a monocle on his left eye. Half a white mask adorned the right side of his face. There was nothing on the minimalistic mask at all, not even a swirl of pattern. He held a short, red walking stick in his right hand which appeared a little like Harry Potter's magic wand.
After studying it for a while, Lin Huang soon turned the card around to look at Grimace's detailed information.
"Monster Card: Grimace
"Rarity: Mythical-level
"Monster Name: Mysterious Duke
"Type of Monster: Mysterious-type / unidentified tribe
"Nickname: Mystic
"Combat Level: Imperial-level Yellow Gold-rank
"Major: Control
"Major Skills: Mask Domination, Puppet Domination, Fraud Game, Illusion Master…
"Minor Skills: Supreme Intelligence, Divine Telekinesis, Trap Master, Magic Mirror…
"Summoning Authority: Denied
"Card Remarks: Recommended to train with maximum effort!"
Grimace already wielded similar skills such as the Mask Domination, the Puppet Domination, the Illusion Master and the Trap Master before, so Lin Huang already knew the approximate effects of those skills were after merely taking a glance.
However, there were two skills that he did not really understand what the exact effects were. He tapped them open to read the details.
"Fraud Game: The legendary Mystic will invite you to play a game in which the Mystic will have total control of the contents and rules. The final winner can ask the losers to do one thing without any conditions. No matter what the request is, the losers cannot reject.
"Remark 1: The Mystic has a choice not to reveal all the game rules and contents to the invitee. The Mystic can bluff in the game.
"Remark 2: As soon as the game rules and content are set, there's no way of changing it in the middle of the game.
"Remark 3: A maximum of three people can be invited per day, but the same person can only play the game once a day.
"Remark 4: As soon as the game results are announced, no matter how far apart the winner and losers are, the losers must complete the winner's request within a given period of time. The losers will have to give up what the winner specifies if the losers don't manage to complete the request in time. The specified item can be soul, flesh, feelings, lives, or anything at all."
…
"Magic Mirror: One random unique ability will be given each day such as the Dimensional Mirror, the Mirror Clone, the Mirror Seal, the Mirror Reflection…
"Remark 1: The assigned ability is totally random and cannot be controlled.
"Remark 2: You can only use one mirror a day.
"Remark 3: The effective time of each ability is 24 hours."
…
"The Fraud Game is a little similar to the Rule Bending Power while the Magic Mirror has high uncertainty. If I'm lucky, I'll get a great skill, but if my luck is bad, it might backfire." Lin Huang did not dwell further on the two skills after he was done looking at them. Instead, he proceeded to check the other four cards.
"Monster Card: Eclipse
"Rarity: Mythical-level
"Monster Name: Solar Boa (originally Eclipse Boa)
"Type of Monster: Ancient Epoch-type / Mutated Serpent Tribe
"Nickname: Engulfer
"Combat Level: Imperial-level Yellow Gold-rank
"Major: Engulf
"Major Skills: Sun and Moon Engulf, Splitting Flesh, Body Control, Endless Engulf, Energy Exchange…
"Minor Skills: Negative Energy Immunity, Toxin Immunity, Seraphic Speed, Superhuman Strength…
"Summoning Authority: Denied
"Card Remarks: Trainable!"
…
"Monster Card: Bloody Robe
"Rarity: Mythical-level
"Monster Name: Skeleton Lord
"Type of Monster: Spirit-type / Skeleton Tribe
"Nickname: Conqueror
"Combat Level: Imperial-level Yellow Gold-rank
"Major: Death
"Major Skills: Sealing Chains, Hellish Fire, Dead Heart, God of Death's Stare…
"Minor Skills: Undead Reincarnation, Mount Activation…
"Summoning Authority: Denied
"Card Remarks: Trainable!"
…
"Monster Card: Death (Death Knight)
"Rarity: Mythical-level
"Monster Name: Death Lord
"Type of Monster: Spirit-type / Hellish Knight Tribe
"Nickname: Deceased
"Combat Level: Imperial-level Yellow Gold-rank
"Major: Death
"Major Skills: Immortal, Spirit Army, Dead Eye, Death Punishment…
"Minor Skills: Disastrous Ring, Death Ring…
"Summoning Authority: Denied
"Card Remarks: Trainable!"
…
"Monster Card: Fallen (Fallen Knight)
"Rarity: Mythical-level
"Monster Name: Fallen Lord
"Type of Monster: Undying species / Hellish Knight Tribe
"Nickname: Immortal
"Combat Level: Imperial-level Yellow Gold-rank
"Major: Undead
"Major Skills: Nonuple Inferno, Undead Army, Fallen Infection, Life Assimilation…
"Minor Skills: Cursed Ring, Death Ring…
"Summoning Authority: Denied
"Card Remarks: Trainable!"
…
All five cards gave a great boost in ability since the elevation. Furthermore, the number of skills was even multiplied. Some of the main skills had new branch skills emerging from them. The different elevation direction in abilities was clearer to him now.
After reading the details of the five cards, Lin Huang could not wait for the day he elevated to imperial-level.
"Their combat strength should elevate to perfect-stage imperial-level purple gold-rank. By then, they should be able to fight Virtual God rank-1s with their imperial-level purple gold-rank combat strength."
As he put the five cards away, Bloody finished sorting out the materials.
"We've gathered a substantial amount of materials this time. We've gotten enough elevation materials to elevate six imperial monsters, namely Bing Wang, the Witch, the Imp, the Malachian Fiend, Thunder and me. The elevation materials for the Warlord and the two Dark Crescent Snakes are almost there too. However, I won't be elevating now. Let's see after you've elevated to imperial-level."
"Alright, thanks for the trouble." Lin Huang nodded, feeling a little sorry. Indeed, he needed Bloody to be by his side for now. As soon as Bloody elevated, it would be sealed due to his authorization. Then, Lin Huang would not be able to summon it.
In reality, Lin Huang also kept the few pseudo-mythical-level monsters including Lancelot, the Evil Dominator, and Killer with him. They did not need materials to elevate since they could be upgraded to mythical-level with merely an Advance Card.
Compared to legendary-level Monster Cards, being on pseudo-mythical-level, they were still good enough to fight at the moment. They could at least fight imperial-level purple gold-rank powerhouses with imperial-level yellow gold-rank combat strength.
The main reason why Lin Huang had been holding back on their elevation was that he wanted to have a few imperial monsters with him for battles. That way, he could prevent fighting on his own if he encountered some trouble along the way.