Chapter 1411: Resolving the Crisis
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang did not know whether to laugh or cry when he heard his opponent suggest a one-on-one duel.
Because of Thousand Face's disguise, his externally displayed combat level was only Virtual God rank-3, but his actual combat level was already at Virtual God rank-6.
As for the Crow God's will projection, his combat level was only at Virtual God rank-2.
His combat level alone was four ranks below Lin Huang.
Moreover, Lin Huang had already been able to take down medium-rank True Gods when he was just a Virtual God rank-3. Now that he had been elevated to Virtual God rank-6, his true strength was in no way inferior to an ordinary ninth-rank True God. Even then, this was still not considered one of his trump cards.
Even if the Crow God Primordium personally came here, there was a high chance that he would have perished on the spot while facing Lin Huang. Furthermore, this current opponent was only the Crow God's will projection, and his combat level was only at Virtual God rank-2.
The Crow God's will projection was ecstatic upon hearing that Lin Huang had agreed to his one-on-one challenge.
Although Lin Huang was a Virtual God rank-3 and therefore at a combat level that was a little higher than his own, the Crow God was not afraid at all.
"Since this is a one-on-one duel, let's determine the rules in advance. During the fight, any methods are permissible. If you lose, you must let me leave unscathed."
"Not a problem. However, what will you do if you lose?" Lin Huang asked with a smile.
"I'll give up setting the teleportation coordinates, and will no longer be involved in anything related to my Primordium's plans to invade the gravel world." The Crow God's will projection strove hard to obtain a chance of survival for himself.
"You don't have to go through such a hassle. All you have to do is give up your life," Lin Huang said, casually laying out his demands.
The Crow God's expression immediately filled with dread, but he was also aware that he had no other choice. If he wanted to survive, he had to win!
His mood soon calmed down, and his confidence returned as he remembered his trump card.
"Let's fight then. I hope you'll keep your word! If I win, let me leave safely."
"Don't worry, as long as you can win, I'll let you go!" Lin Huang nodded quickly.
The two managed to come to an agreement, and Xiao Mo swiftly stepped aside.
He was very confident in Lin Huang's abilities. If Lin Huang's opponent had been a True God, then Xiao Mo might have been a little worried. However, the opponent this time was just a Virtual God rank-2, and his combat level alone was a rank lower than Lin Huang's.
When Xiao Mo heard the Crow God's will projection suggest one-on-one combat, in his heart he even had a moment of silent mourning for the Crow God.
Lin Huang stood tall and proud on this battlefield of two but did not make any immediate moves.
The disparity in strength between himself and the Crow God was too great. If he were to attack, the other party would not stand a chance at all. Besides, Lin Huang also wanted to see what tricks the Crow God had that gave him such confidence to issue such a challenge against himself.
The Crow God was full of confidence in his own abilities; he also immediately used his trump card at the very first instance.
He stood on top of the sea king species' head and his pupils turned an inky-black color.
The next second, all the pupils of the sea king species under his feet turned pitch black as well, and it opened its blood-covered mouth.
Just when Lin Huang thought the sea king species would launch an attack, a number of figures suddenly sprang out from its mouth.
Lin Huang took a closer look and saw that they were sea monsters, all at virtual god-level combat strength. The one with the lowest combat strength was a Virtual God rank-1 while the highest was a Virtual God rank-4, and there were more than thirty of them.
Seeing this, Lin Huang finally knew where the Crow God's will projection got his confidence from.
"Is this where your confidence to challenge me comes from?"
"A total of thirty-four virtual god-level monsters; the ones with the highest combat strength are the three Virtual God rank-4s. You can just surrender now and avoid any pain before I take control of them to attack." It seemed that the Crow God's will projection regarded himself as invincible.
"It seems that you still don't know enough about me." Lin Huang shook his head and smiled. "Don't you know that I'm an Imperial Censor?"
After saying this, Lin Huang snapped his fingers.
The next second, a figure appeared in front of Lin Huang.
It was a white-haired man wearing a black robe, and running streaks of blood were faintly visible on the garment.
The one summoned this time, impressively enough, was Bai.
His True God aura was only briefly revealed for a moment before Bai immediately restrained his aura, quickly sealing his combat strength to Virtual God rank-9.
Even so, as soon as Bai's Virtual God rank-9 aura radiated forth, the Crow God's will projection was still instantly dumbstruck.
Of course, he knew that Lin Huang was an Imperial Censor, but he had always thought that no matter how strong Lin Huang's imperial monsters were, their combat strength would be still limited. After all, the level of an imperial monster's combat strength was limited by the combat strength of their imperial master. However, the imperial monster in front of him with the terrifying aura had a combat strength that far surpassed his imperial master, Lin Huang.
"Spare only him; that will be enough."
At Lin Huang's command, Bai's figure flashed as he charged directly into the flock of monsters, launching a one-sided massacre.
In less than three seconds, all thirty-four virtual god-level monsters had been killed on the spot, including the sea king species under the feet of the Crow God.
Just as Lin Huang had said, not a single soul was spared!
Xiao Mo, who was watching the battle from not too far away, was also dumbfounded. He had clearly sensed that a few of the monsters controlled by the Crow God possessed combat strength that was above his own. However, one single imperial monster summoned by Lin Huang had easily slaughtered them all as if they were just a flock of chickens or a pack of dogs.
The Crow God's will projection, who was previously full of confidence, was now like a general without an army. He had even lost the mount under his feet.
The color instantly drained from the Crow God's face. He had already used up his trump card. Originally, he had thought that if he utilized his trump card right at the beginning he could win the battle without too much of a hassle, but he had not expected things to turn out like this.
After killing all the monsters, Bai only glanced vaguely in the Crow God's direction. He did not attack him further and returned to Lin Huang's side in a flash.
Even though Bai did not utter a single word from start to finish, he still caused the Crow God immense stress.
Especially when that pair of blood-red pupils glanced over at him just now—the Crow God could clearly feel the other's roiling bloodlust. If it were not for Lin Huang's instruction to "Spare only him" earlier, he feared that this fellow would come right up to him and cut him down without a word.
"You've lost." Lin Huang smiled as he looked at the Crow God.
Just as the Crow God was about to open his mouth and deny this, he suddenly noticed that Lin Huang—who had spoken just a while ago—had disappeared without him realizing it.
Almost at the same time, he felt a slight coldness against his neck.
He turned his head and looked to his right; goodness knows when Lin Huang had appeared there. The slender silver blade in Lin Huang's hand was now in front of the neck of the Crow God's will projection, and the blade had already cut into his flesh by about one millimeter. The incision on his neck was starting to bleed.
"Tell me the Crow God's plan," Lin Huang's unwavering voice came from beside him.
"I'll die whether I say anything or not, so why should I tell you?" The Crow God's will projection still chose to resist.
"As long as you tell me, you don't need to die." Lin Huang turned his head and looked at the Crow God's will projection. "Even if you live, you won't cause any problems."
Hearing this, the face of the Crow God's will projection turned pale once again. He did not know whether he should be glad to hear that or feel insulted by it.
However, he hesitated for only a moment before coming to a decision.
"I won't say anything."
As the will projection of the Crow God, although he had his own will, his consciousness still prioritized the interests of the Crow God Primordium. The Primordium's benefit was more important than his own life and death.
This was actually what Lin Huang had expected.
"Well, in that case, I'll have to take a less friendly approach."
Right after Lin Huang said this, a figure appeared in front of him again.
It was a cat-like creature with a strange appearance, resembling a saber-toothed tiger with a long nose.
After being summoned, the creature's pupils quickly locked onto the Crow God and instantly turned pitch black, as if soaked in ink.
The Crow God's will projection suddenly stopped moving, and the pupils of his eyes also turned an inky-black color.
After a moment, the Nightmare Tapir suddenly gave a grunt.
The pupils of the Crow God's will projection also instantly faded from black and turned scarlet.
The pair of scarlet eyes instantly locked onto Lin Huang.
Then, a blood-red beam shot out from the pupils of the Crow God's eyes, traversing the void like a thunderbolt and aiming straight for Lin Huang.
The speed of this attack was no less than that of a ninth-rank True God.
It was obvious that the one who launched the assault was no longer the Crow God's will projection, but the Crow God Primordium.
If anyone else from the gravel world faced this attack, all they could do would be to close their eyes and wait to die.
However, this was Lin Huang that the Crow God was attacking.
The corner of Lin Huang's lips quirked up slightly, and he met the attack without hesitation, sword in hand.
The sword gleam also turned into a blood-red lightning bolt and charged even more rapidly toward the blood-colored electric arc unleashed by the Crow God.
The two rays of brilliant red light collided together almost instantly, and boundless Divine Power surged forth wildly, turning into a Blood-red Vairocana within the void and completely illuminating the entire sky.
The dazzling Blood-red Vairocana blazed for more than ten minutes before gradually dissipating.
Only Lin Huang was left standing in his original position. The Crow God's will projection, on the other hand, had dispelled the moment the two attacks collided, turning into dust in the wind.
Obviously, there was no way the Crow God's will projection would have been able to sustain the arrival of the Crow God Primordial. After unleashing that attack, his physical body could not withstand the burst of energy and had thus automatically collapsed.
Seeing that the Crow God's will projection had been defeated, Lin Huang turned his head and looked in the direction of the dimensional gateway.
He unleashed Sword Dao true meaning, God Rule Power, and Elemental Enlightenment unrestrainedly, aiming one attack after another at the dimensional gateway.
Unlike the Space Rule of the Abyss Brink that had accumulated space rifts throughout hundreds of millions of years, the Space Rule of this newly-created dimensional gateway had yet to completely stabilize.
Under the influence of various Rule Bending Powers, the Space Rule of the dimensional gateway quickly became unstable.
Seeing that the inside of the dimensional gateway was beginning to undergo a change, Lin Huang did not halt his efforts. Instead, he continued to unleash attacks, putting his all into every blow.
Just like that, after more than half an hour, the dimensional gateway finally let out a rumble and collapsed entirely.
The space rift in the gravel world also began to close up at a speed visible to the naked eye. In less than three minutes, the space rift finally completely disappeared.
Only then did Lin Huang sheathe his sword and stand up, letting out a long sigh.
Chapter 1412: Destroying Root and Branch
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After dealing with the matter of the Crow God and conducting a round of inspection to determine that there would be no future problems, only then did Lin Huang bring Xiao Mo and the group of Sword Servants back to Emperor City.
The matter of the Crow God was considered temporarily resolved. Although the Nightmare Tapir had been interrupted while it was reading the memory of the Crow God's will projection, it had still managed to retrieve a small part of it.
In the Emperor Palace, Lin Huang carefully examined the segment of memory obtained by the Nightmare Tapir before looking down at Xiao Mo below.
"The matter of the Crow God can be considered temporarily finished for now. It's unlikely that he will invade again within the near future. Xiao Mo, you can be at ease and go about your own affairs now—but if you sense any anomalies, remember to notify me at the first possible instant."
After he had finished speaking about Xiao Mao's affairs, Lin Huang turned and looked at the twelve Sword Servants who had been assigned to Xiao Mo.
"The mission that I entrusted to the twelve of you has been completed. Following this, all of you should join the Sword Alliance that has been set up. Later, report to Sword103 and let him arrange things as he sees fit."
After sending Xiao Mo and the others away, Lin Huang narrowed his eyes slightly; after pondering for a little while, he dialed a number.
A moment later, the video call connected; the image projected was Jiang Shan, the chairman of the Union Government.
"Emperor Lin, it's been a long time since I last saw you." As usual, Jiang Shan wore a smart suit, a genial smile on his face. He almost always appeared like this on any occasion.
More than a year ago, Lin Huang had been merely a junior in his eyes. However, now that Dynasty had grown to be one of the giants among the organizations, Lin Huang—firmly positioned as its Emperor—was already equal to Jiang Shan in terms of status.
"Indeed, it's been more than a year since we last met." Lin Huang smiled and nodded. "Chairman Jiang, I will visit and reminisce with you another day when I have more time. Today I will just get straight down to business without much small talk. The reason why I've contacted you today has to do with the matter of the Crow God's invasion of the great world…"
"The Crow God's invasion?!" Jiang Shan was taken aback when he heard that.
"Last year the Crow God sent his will projection down—all of you ought to be aware of this matter, right?" Lin Huang asked this because even if the Union Government had not participated in the affair at the time, a clash like that between Virtual Gods could not be hidden from the Union Government's eyes and ears.
"Wasn't the will projection of the Crow God routed at that time last year?" Jiang Shan obviously knew what had happened back then.
"We've always thought that the will projection of the Crow God had been taken care of back then. I only found out on my return this time that he escaped through Golden Cicada Molting; he's been hiding in the Peaceful Ocean for the last year or so. It took us three months to finally locate his hiding place and we just finished killing him ten minutes ago.
"Before I killed him, I also managed to obtain a small amount of information and plans about the Crow God through various means. In a little while, I'll organize this information in a document and send it to you. Apart from that, there is also a video that I took. It's a dimensional gateway opened by the will projection of the Crow God. I have already destroyed this dimensional gateway, and the Crow God should not be able to lead an army through for the foreseeable short-term.
"However, what the Crow God left behind in our world is definitely not confined to a single will projection. If they can open a dimensional gateway, it's possible that they may open a second and a third…"
"Do you want to make a move against Purple Crow?!" Jiang Shan immediately understood Lin Huang's intentions.
"It's not that I want to make a move against Purple Crow but we must eliminate this hidden danger," Lin Huang deliberately emphasized the word "we".
"As long as Purple Crow exists, their plans for opening the dimensional gateway to welcome the arrival of the Crow God won't be entirely extinguished."
Lin Huang stared at Jiang Shan's projection intently; it was very obvious that Lin Huang would not be altering his decision already.
Jiang Shan pondered for a moment. "What do you want the Union Government to do then?"
"It's very simple. Spread the news of Purple Crow's futile attempt to release the Crow God. Dynasty can take the lead on the remaining matters. Considering that everyone's focus is mainly on the conquest of wastelands and ruins, the Union Government can even afford not to be the main force behind the clean-up operation."
"How about this. Why don't you send your document over first— I'll convene a meeting to discuss it and come back to you afterward," Jiang Shan chose to proceed cautiously.
"Very well, we'll be in contact later."
After hanging up the call with Jiang Shan, Lin Huang spent a few minutes organizing the documents and then sent them to Jiang Shan along with the video.
Once the information had been sent, he thought about it for a while and forwarded a copy of the same documents and the video to Dynasty's Huang Tianfu and Misery's Zhi Ji. He then dialed both their numbers at the same time.
In just a moment, the video call connected. Both Huang Tianfu and Zhi Ji were startled—this was the first time that Lin Huang had brought them together for a video call.
"Afterwards, have a look at the documents that I just sent to both of you. In the next few days, gather people and prepare to eliminate Purple Crow!"
"Eliminate Purple Crow?!" Huang Tianfu could not figure out why Lin Huang had suddenly come out with something like this. Based on his previous impressions, Lin Huang never had been a person who looked for trouble.
Zhi Ji also raised his brows when he heard this. Although he did not ask any questions, the expression on his face displayed some confusion.
"The Crow God's will projection created a space dimensional gateway on the seabed of the Peaceful Ocean. If I had discovered it just a few days later, my guess is that the Crow God would have directly come through with an army of True Gods. For the specifics, you can look at the attachment afterward.
"I've already contacted the Union Government; once they've issued the announcement, Dynasty can immediately make a move. Misery can join in a few days later—wait for other organizations to come in first.
"Another thing—just the two of you gathering your people together will suffice. Don't disclose any specifics of your movements; as long as both of you know that's good enough. This is to prevent the news from leaking out, and the people of Purple Crow scattering and hiding before we can take action."
Once he had given his instructions, Lin Huang hung up the call again.
About half an hour later, he finally received Jiang Shan's video call request once more.
After the call connected, Jiang Shan's projection clearly showed that he was in a conference room and that he was not alone.
"Emperor Lin, thank you for waiting. We have read the documents and we have discussed a preliminary plan…"
The video conference with the Union Government lasted nearly half an hour before ending.
It was finally determined that the punitive expedition against Purple Crow was to be led by the Union Government.
As Lin Huang had expected, the main direction of the Union Government's discussion was still the distribution of benefits.
Lin Huang allocated the follow-up matters to Huang Tianfu and the others; he then entered closed-door cultivation once more.
It took three days to complete the refining of the Void Hunter's Divine Fire. Of the ten pieces of seventh-rank divine tinder, the first piece had at least finished being refined.
Although he did not elevate to seventh-rank Virtual God, Lin Huang could exceed one rank for a short time, temporarily increasing his combat strength by one rank without any side effects.
After refining the Divine Fire, he enquired about the progress of Huang Tianfu's discussions with the Union Government. Once he knew that things were going well and they were ready to take action, he felt relieved and continued with closed-door cultivation.
In the Emperor Palace, he crushed Epiphany Cards one after the other, learning more sword skills every day…
Chapter 1413: Item Card—Time Cabin
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Due to his use of Epiphany Cards, Lin Huang's comprehension of sword skills was now several times faster than in the Great Heaven Trial previously, and the number of new sword skills he mastered exceeded 3,000 almost every day.
After almost a month, the total number of sword skills he had mastered soared from the original 200,000 to 300,000.
Under normal circumstances, mastering 300,000 sword skills basically meant advancing to Sword Dao true meaning Level-3—the threshold of the True Self Level.
However, Lin Huang was not able to achieve a breakthrough.
He was also aware that since breaking through to Sword Dao true meaning required opportunity, there was little sense in continuing to cultivate his sword skills. Therefore, he turned his cultivation direction toward Rule Bending Powers instead.
He crushed Epiphany Card after Epiphany Card and started a new round of cultivation.
The urgency of the situation was partly because of the upcoming invasion of the great world.
Another reason was that he had discovered his strength was still far removed from the top-tier True Gods.
Among the True Gods of the great world, the Crow God's ability was at intermediate to high level, not far from the top-rank True Gods. Even so, the Crow God of legend had still mastered one hundred and eight Rule Bending Powers.
Of course, Lin Huang was also aware that the Crow God had not cultivated all one hundred and eight Rule Bending Powers to an extremely high degree, otherwise he would be ranked among the top True Gods.
The Crow God's apparent mastery of one hundred and eight Rule Bending Powers was probably mostly on a surface level.
Even so, however, the number of Rule Bending Powers that the Crow God had mastered still made Lin Huang envious.
This was also why he had immediately devoted himself to the cultivation of Rule Bending Power after his Sword Dao breakthrough was unsuccessful.
However, what Lin Huang did not know was that during his closed-door cultivation, many things had happened in the outside world.
On the second day of Lin Huang's retreat into closed-door cultivation, the Union Government issued a notice about Purple Crow, declaring that the organization had colluded with the great world's Crow God in his failed attempt to invade the entire gravel world.
Once this news broke, all the cultivators were in an uproar.
Practically every cultivator knew that Purple Crow was one of the top dark organizations and its members had done many unsavory things. However, no one had ever thought that they would team up with the great world powerhouses so these enemies could attempt to invade the gravel world.
Purple Crow's actions immediately stirred up public outrage.
Just minutes after the Union Government released their notice, the Hunter Association and Dynasty issued a condemnation of Purple Crow and joined the faction calling for the organization's eradication
Seeing that the three giants within the organizations had come forward to express their views, the other organizations—both large and small—quickly followed suit and joined the faction condemning Purple Crow.
In no time at all Purple Crow became an object of infamy and was spurned by all the cultivators.
On the same day that the Union Government issued their condemnation, they gathered a group of Virtual God powerhouses and headed straight to Purple Crow's lair.
The Hunter Association and Dynasty also prepared their respective virtual god-level teams and joined the punitive expedition.
On Dynasty's side, there were even two Sword Servants who joined the ranks denouncing Purple Crow.
There were a total of 37 people in the three virtual god-level teams. The lowest level of combat strength was second-rank Virtual God, and the highest was naturally the two Sword Servants who had suppressed their cultivation bases. Both of them were at ninth-rank virtual god-level.
With such a team, it only took less than ten minutes and very little effort to raze Purple Crow's headquarters to the ground.
As for the people in the building, naturally, none of them survived.
The Union Government led a team to clear out Purple Crow's headquarters; within the next few days, the major organizations joined the Purple Crow extermination extravaganza.
In just three or four days, almost all the branches of Purple Crow had been eradicated. The only thing was that many people heard in advance about Purple Crow being besieged and fled before their own branch could be suppressed.
In the half-month or so that followed, the major organizations actively participated in the siege of Purple Crow, trying to get a share of the spoils.
After the enthusiasm in suppressing Purple Crow had died down, the Union Government and the other organizations began to resume their explorations of wastelands and ruins, continuing to hoard resources frantically in preparation for battle.
Meanwhile, Dynasty and Misery continued to search for where the remaining members of Purple Crow were hiding and eradicated them through overt and covert approaches respectively.
As the days passed, the number of Elemental Enlightenments that Lin Huang mastered every month increased, bolstered by the effect of the Epiphany Cards.
In the blink of an eye, three months had gone by and Lin Huang had mastered another ten Elemental Enlightenments—an increase of more than twice his usual.
He did not come out of closed-door cultivation; instead, he dialed Huang Tianfu's number.
"How is the situation in the outside world these past few months?"
"These three months have been calm. Except for the hullabaloo during the eradication of Purple Crow, all the major organizations have resumed their original status quo. Under our joint efforts with Misery, the remaining members of Purple Crow who escaped have now been completely dealt with.
"There hasn't been much happening at the Abyss Brink either. All the major organizations now have people keeping a close eye on it; if there's even a whisper of trouble we'll know.
"The exploration of the ruins and wastelands and the acquisition of resources are also going very smoothly. Except for the first month when most of the Virtual Gods participated in the elimination of Purple Crow when progress slowed down slightly, things have gone back to normal.
"However, there's something that I think I had better let you know. The Union Government might have become aware of the existence of the Sword Servants. While participating in the siege of the Purple Crow headquarters, Sword168 made a move. Although his actual combat strength was concealed at that time and he restrained himself, he was still noticed."
"If they know, then they know." Lin Huang no longer cared about whether or not the Sword Servants' identities were revealed. "It will be fine as long as they are not too high-profile."
"Is there anything happening over in Misery?" Lin Huang asked again.
"Apart from when Zhi Ji called me once previously to discuss the suppression of Purple Crow, we have not been in contact since. After the Union Government and the others withdrew from the siege, the people of Misery disguised themselves as members of Dynasty to participate in seeing to the aftermath. Any outsiders all thought that the follow-up matters were taken care of by Dynasty; Misery's role was not revealed.
"I don't know much about the situation afterward on his side, and there's been no news about Misery on the Internet. For any specifics, it's best that Your Majesty asks Zhi Ji directly."
Lin Huang nodded. "Oh yes, has Lin Xin come out of closed-door cultivation?"
"No, Mr. Fu checked last month and she is still in normal closed-door cultivation."
"How about Xiao Mo? Is there anything out of the ordinary on his side?" Lin Huang was still not completely at ease about the Crow God situation.
"Xiao Mo has been in closed-door cultivation since he came back three months ago. He hasn't come out or contacted me," Huang Tianfu returned.
"Then there should be no problem…" Lin Huang muttered in a low voice.
"Your Majesty, when are you going to come out of closed-door cultivation?" Huang Tianfu could not help asking.
"I'm not sure yet…" Lin Huang was still not satisfied with the improvement in his abilities over the last three months and he was reluctant to exit closed-door cultivation like this. "I may still need some time."
After hanging up the call with Huang Tianfu, Lin Huang chatted with Zhi Ji for a while about Misery.
Aside from participating in the punitive expedition against Purple Crow, everything on Misery's end was also calm.
Once he had ended the call with Zhi Ji, Lin Huang frowned slightly. His frustrations did not stem from the outside world, but from within himself.
Currently, his combat level could improve no further; of all the main approaches he could use to increase his abilities, the only remaining avenues open to him were advancement in Sword Dao true meaning and the mastery of more God Rules and Elemental Enlightenments.
However, even if he used Epiphany Cards, elevating his Sword Dao true meaning and mastering the various Rule Bending Powers would still require a great deal of time.
Right now what he lacked most was time.
One and a half years had passed out of his previously anticipated three years, and the invasion of the great world could happen at any time. Even if the invasion did not begin until a year and a half later, based on his current cultivation progress, any improvements that a year and a half could make in his abilities would be insufficient to satisfy him.
"Xiao Hei, besides the Epiphany Card, are there any other cards that could speed up my cultivation and also be compounded with the Epiphany Card?" Lin Huang could not help asking.
"There are several, but the one that best suits your current situation would be the Item Card—Time Cabin."
Chapter 1414: Continuing Closed-Door Cultivation
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Time Cabin?"
"The Time Cabin Item Card is a four-star Limitless Card that can only be activated after you advance to virtual god-level; its lowest rank is also four-stars."
"A Time Cabin will form after the card has been used. This Time Cabin can only be seen and used by the card user. Others will not be able to see or touch it, or even be aware of its existence."
"In a four-star Time Cabin, the slowest adjustable speed of time is one percent that of the outside world, and the fastest is one hundred times that of the outside world. However, the adjustment must be completed within the first three minutes of entering the Time Cabin—once set, it cannot be modified."
"Each Time Cabin Item Card is valid for 24 hours of use. It will disappear automatically after the valid period is over. However, Item Cards can be compounded one on top of the other and each additional card will increase the valid period by 24 hours."
"The lowest rank is four-stars, so is there a five-star card?" Lin Huang asked quickly, "Is the time flow of a five-star Time Cabin Item Card faster?"
"For a five-star Time Cabin, the slowest adjustable speed of time is one-thousandth that of the outside world and the fastest is one thousand times that of the outside world. All other aspects are identical to a four-star Time Cabin."
Upon hearing this, Lin Huang took a moment to consider.
Since advancing to virtual god-level and activating the four-star card pool, he had not killed many True Gods. He had only accumulated a total of 115 four-star cards. To seal the Demonic Buddhist Holy Son, he had also used up 10 cards specified for the exchange of a Seal Card, leaving him with 105 cards remaining.
In other words, specifying an exchange for a Time Cabin Item Card could only be used ten times at most. Each use was equivalent to one hundred days of cultivation, so ten times would be one thousand days.
"Fortunately, I'm only virtual god-level so I only need to use a three-star Epiphany Card. The four-star cards specified in exchange for the Time Cabin will give me one thousand days of cultivation time, which should be enough."
Once his thoughts had reached this point, he immediately took action and said to Xiao Hei, "I'll specify an exchange for 5 Time Cabin Item Cards first."
"Do you confirm the use of 50 four-star card draw chances for the specified exchange of Item Card "Time Cabin" X5?"
"Yes, I confirm this!"
"Using four-star card draw chance X50, converting …"
"Congratulations to the host, you have obtained the Item Card "Time Cabin" X5!"
Lin Huang immediately took out a Time Cabin card and inspected it.
On the front of the card was a simple wooden cabin floating in the starry sky. It evoked an odd sense of intangibility and the absurd.
Lin Huang turned the card around and checked the information on the back of it.
The description was consistent with what Xiao Hei had mentioned.
However, there was one thing that Xiao Hei had not brought up, which was that the Time Cabin also had a confinement function.
This function would directly raise the speed of time to one hundred times the normal upper limit of the card's time flow. In other words, the confinement function of the four-star Time Cabin could increase the flow of time to 10,000 times that of the outside world.
However, under the confinement function, all living beings would have all their sensory powers blocked except for their sense of time. This meant that they would be aware of the passage of time but nothing else. Even their sense of their own Divine Power, Divine Fire, and various Rules Bending Powers would be blocked. In other words, it was impossible to cultivate under these conditions.
"This confinement function is a method of punishment, right?" Lin Huang could not help asking after reading the card's detailed description.
"The Time Cabin was originally an item created based on penalty. The very first Time Cabins were used to punish the wicked."
"In other words, I can also lock people in and use the card as an item to trap people?" Lin Huang immediately found a new use for this card.
"Yes. But a four-star card can only trap a True God at most, and a card is only valid for one day. Once its period of effectiveness has passed, the Time Cabin will disappear on its own and the other party will be released."
"Uh, that seems rather costly." Lin Huang was rendered somewhat speechless.
Although the other party might feel they had been detained for 10,000 days, in fact, only one day had passed in the outside world.
Using this kind of card to trap the enemy was indeed rather ineffective.
Upon considering that he might not even have enough to use for himself, Lin Huang gave up the idea of using the Time Cabin to trap his enemies.
Lin Huang felt too lazy to continue chatting with Xiao Hei and immediately crushed a Time Cabin card.
The card turned into little points of starlight, which condensed into a simple wooden cabin in front of him, less than two meters away.
The cabin looked similar to the image on the front of the card—extremely simple and crude. From outside, the interior could be estimated to be around only ten square meters, which could fit a bed at most.
However, based on Lin Huang's experience, although it looked dilapidated and small from the exterior, it was not necessarily the same on the inside. After all, many dimensional items looked mediocre externally, but they often contained a great deal in their internally.
Lin Huang did not think too much about it; he pushed the door open and went in.
As soon as he entered, he was immediately taken aback.
A look around revealed that the cabin's interior was also laid out like a simple small cabin, which appeared to be almost exactly what was seen from the exterior.
The entire space was just over an estimated ten square meters and did not even have a bed, let alone a table, chair, or bench. It was just an empty room with a floor and ceiling. Except for a wooden door, the walls had nothing, not even windows.
"This cabin is worse than the room I stayed in when I graduated from college… At least that place had a window and a bed." Lin Huang did not expect that the cabin would be consistent both inside and out.
However, he calmed down quickly. After all, he only had three minutes to set the speed of time in here. If he did not do so within three minutes, the time flow would be the same as the outside world by default, which was equivalent to wasting a Time Cabin card.
"Set the speed of time."
As soon as Lin Huang finished speaking, a translucent dial suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Speed of time."
"Outside World: Time Cabin=1:1."
Lin Huang moved his finger to the number behind and began to swipe up.
The numbers quickly jumped one by one; 1, 2, 3…
Lin Huang dialed to 100 before he was unable to swipe up any further.
Right now, the time ratio on the dial had changed.
"Outside World: Time Cabin=1:100."
After he had finished the adjustments, a translucent dialog box popped up in front of Lin Huang again.
"Lock in the speed of time?"
"Yes." Lin Huang thought for a moment and still decided to say yes.
"Set the current speed of time as the default speed of time?"
"Yes." Lin Huang thought about it for a while and chose yes.
After the time had been set, the dial in front of him quickly disappeared. Lin Huang suddenly discovered that there was a clock on the wall opposite the wooden door; he had no idea when it had appeared.
He was very certain that when he entered just now, there were no decorations on the walls at all, merely four blank white walls.
However, he also quickly noticed that the wall clock was not displaying time—rather, it was counting down.
"The countdown has begun?"
Lin Huang raised his eyebrows and immediately sat down with his legs crossed. He regulated his breathing, calmed down, and then took out an Epiphany Card. After crushing it, Lin Huang closed his eyes and began a new round of Elemental Enlightenment cultivation…
Chapter 1415: Lin Huang Comes Out Of Closed-Door Cultivation
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Time in the outside world passed by one day after another, and Lin Huang's time in the Time Cabin was a hundred times faster due to the time flow. With every day that went by in the outside world, he had cultivated in the Time Cabin for 100 days.
Through the acceleration of the Time Cabin, the number of Rule Bending Powers that he had mastered skyrocketed almost every day.
It took him eight days to master 86 new Elemental Enlightenments, then another two days to master 24 new God Rule Powers.
At this point, the total number of Rule Bending Powers that he had mastered soared to 120.
A True God's mastery of Rule Bending Power was divided into four levels: First Glimpse, Adept, Control, and Fullness.
Lin Huang used Epiphany Cards to advance all 120 Rule Bending Powers to Control level, which was also the current limit of an Epiphany Card. To reach Fullness level, Lin Huang estimated that at his current standard, every Rule Bending Power would need at least one additional Epiphany Card. It might even take two or three cards to reach Fullness.
In fact, a complete Rule Bending Power was the foundation for forming a god sequence chain.
However, any True God who managed to comprehend Rule Bending Power at Fullness level was the equivalent of having half a foot over the threshold of heavenly god-level. Among True Gods, this was definitely the penultimate in abilities.
Lin Huang was quite satisfied with his current ability. All 120 Rule Bending Powers were at Fullness level and his comprehensive abilities were already very close to the top-tier True Gods of the great world. Even if he was not as good as a handful of peak-level individuals, he was at least one rung below the highest level.
Although the Crow God Primordium had mastered 108 kinds of Rule Bending Powers, based on his general ability, Lin Huang guessed that most of the 108 Rule Bending Powers mastered by the Crow God were probably at First Glimpse level. Not many of those powers were at Control level.
After ten days of closed-door cultivation in the Time Cabin, Lin Huang's overall ability skyrocketed again, and his previous sense of insecurity was finally reduced.
"It's a pity; if I had another Time Cabin card, it should be possible to advance my Sword Dao to True Self Level." Lin Huang still felt that it was a pity, but he had only five four-star card draw chances left, which were not enough to be exchanged for a Time Cabin card.
As he watched the Time Cabin in front of him gradually disintegrating and transforming into endless fragments before dissipating in the void, Lin Huang shook his head and collected his thoughts.
Right at this moment, his communication ring began to vibrate non-stop.
Since communication signals had been blocked by the Time Cabin, messages from before had been accumulated until now and were currently being sent through.
Lin Huang immediately clicked on the communication page and discovered that three days ago, Mr. Fu, Zhi Ji, and Huang Tianfu had tried to reach him on his number.
The first missed call was from Huang Tianfu around 8 a.m., the second missed call was from Zhi Ji from around close to 9 a.m., and the third was from Mr. Fu. The missed call showed that it had taken place around 12 p.m.
Lin Huang frowned slightly; he guessed that something had happened three days ago.
Seeing that there were still many unread messages in his inbox, he quickly clicked on them to check.
The first message had been sent by Mr. Fu at 5:15 a.m.
"Apprentice, the seal at the Abyss Brink has just experienced abnormal fluctuations. We suspect it might have been ripped by external forces. I have already notified the Union Government. Please come out of closed-door cultivation as soon as you see this message!"
The second message had been sent by Huang Tianfu at 8:22 a.m.
"Your Majesty, the guardians at the Abyss Brink have already sent news that the seals of three space rifts have been ripped, and the spatial fluctuations from these three space rifts are getting stronger and stronger. I have summoned all the Virtual Gods of Dynasty and a meeting will be held later to discuss preparations."
The third message had been sent by Zhi Ji of Misery at 8:41 a.m.
"Your Majesty, the seal of the Abyss Brink has been broken. I have summoned all the virtual god-level Red Robes in Misery. We await your instructions."
The fourth message had been sent by Mr. Fu at noon.
"Apprentice, I will go to the Abyss Brink to investigate the situation with people from the Union Government. I will inform you and Tianfu of the specifics when the time comes."
The few messages after that had all been sent by Mr. Fu. Each message had attached photos and videos.
Lin Huang immediately clicked on them to check them out; the more he looked at them, the more he frowned.
In the photos sent by Mr. Fu, the number of space rift seals being broken kept increasing.
In the beginning, only the seals of three space rifts had been destroyed. The next day, it became seven, and on the third day, it became twelve…
On the third day, virtual god-level explorers started being teleported over through the space rifts.
Fortunately, the Union Government was well-prepared. Together with Mr. Fu who was a Virtual God rank-9, they immediately formed a battle formation and instantly killed the explorers.
After quickly browsing through the videos and photos sent by Mr. Fu, Lin Huang got up without hesitation and pushed open the door of the Emperor Palace.
Sword101 and Sword102 greeted him immediately at the entrance of the Emperor Palace.
"Both of you, summon all the Sword Servants and hurry to the third level of the Abyss Brink as soon as possible!"
Once he had given his orders, Lin Huang made a sweep with Divine Telekinesis and appeared in Huang Tianfu's office the next second.
"Your Majesty, you've come out of closed-door cultivation?!"
Upon seeing Lin Huang, Huang Tianfu finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"What's the situation now?"
Although he had received front-line news from Mr. Fu every day, Lin Huang still wanted to find out about the situation on Huang Tianfu's side.
"It's not going well. More and more seals have been destroyed, and over the past two days, the great world has begun to teleport over to try and probe." Huang Tianfu's expression was not pleasant and shook his head.
"Yesterday, I asked Sir Baiyu and Tufu to take half the Virtual Gods to the Abyss Brink as backup. There were also seven Sword Servants who went with them."
Lin Huang also noticed that in addition to Sword101 and Sword102 who were guarding his hall, there was also a Sword Servant keeping watch on Lin Xin's roof.
"How about on Misery's side?" Lin Huang asked again.
"They are more or less in the same situation as us. They have also sent half their Virtual Gods," Huang Tianfu explained, "Only yesterday the Union Government publicly announced the news to the cultivation world, and the organizations with Virtual God guardians sent people for reinforcements."
"Good enough; I understand." Lin Huang nodded.
"Lin Xin and Xiao Mo haven't come out at all?" he asked again. Using Divine Telekinesis, he found that they were still in his courtyard.
"No, they have been in closed-door cultivation all this while and have never left the courtyard." Huang Tianfu shook his head.
"I'll take a trip to the Abyss Brink. If I don't give orders for it, there's no need to send additional manpower from Dynasty for the time being," Lin Huang finished speaking, and sent another message to Zhi Ji of Misery, giving injunctions of a similar nature.
After closing the communication page, Lin Huang immediately summoned a dimensional portal and looked up at Huang Tianfu, "You only need to take care of the Dynasty headquarters for now. If there's really a need for reinforcements, I'll notify you."
As soon as he finished speaking, before Huang Tianfu could respond, Lin Huang had stepped into the dimensional portal.
Huang Tianfu opened his mouth to say something but saw that Lin Huang had already entered the dimensional portal. The portal slowly closed; Lin Huang stood on the other side of it and waved at Huang Tianfu with a calm expression as if he were just going for a short trip…
Chapter 1416: Conversation In The Tent
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When he stepped out of the dimensional portal, Lin Huang was already at the entrance of the Abyss Brink.
After storing the portal, he plunged into the Abyss Brink. As he steadied himself on the first layer, his figure took a step forward and appeared directly at the entrance of the second layer.
"Space Rule at Control-level really is convenient," Lin Huang muttered in a low voice before stepping through the entrance to the second layer.
Once he had entered the second layer, he took another step, appearing at the entrance to the third layer.
As he entered the third layer of the Abyss Brink, Lin Huang made a sweep with Divine Telekinesis and located Mr. Fu and the others in no time at all.
The next instant, his figure appeared right away in the area where Mr. Fu and the others were.
Mr. Fu and a few Sword Servants reacted immediately when they sensed the presence of another person, looking in the direction where Lin Huang was.
"Apprentice?!" Only upon seeing Lin Huang did Mr. Fu realize that it was his apprentice. "You came out of closed-door cultivation?"
"Teacher." Lin Huang nodded and walked toward Mr. Fu. "I just came out of closed-door cultivation today.
"I saw the messages that you left me; what's the situation now?"
The reason Lin Huang asked was that the last update he had received was from yesterday, and Mr. Fu had not mentioned anything about today's situation.
"Not very optimistic." Mr. Fu heard this question and saw Lin Huang's happy expression suddenly diminish. "Currently there are more than 30 space rifts on the entire third layer of the Abyss Brink, which is more than there were two years ago."
"This is normal. In the past, some space rifts were hidden; they were concealed within rocky cliffs or deep underground. It would be difficult to detect them if they didn't emit spatial fluctuations. It's not a bad thing if they are revealed now," Lin Huang commented.
"The problem is that since yesterday, the great world has been trying to send explorers over. Moreover, the combat level of the explorers who are being sent is getting higher and higher, and it's getting harder to deal with," Mr. Fu expressed his concerns, "If these 30 plus rifts teleport explorers over at the same time, we currently don't have enough manpower to handle things."
Since most of the Virtual Gods from the major organizations were only at beginner-stage Virtual God combat level, they had to cooperate with one another and form battle formations when fighting.
At the moment, apart from Mr. Fu, everyone else was preparing to greet their enemies with a show of force. The seven Sword Servants despatched by Dynasty and the five Sword Servants despatched by Misery were all temporarily disguised as beginner-stage Virtual Gods. Each had formed a battle formation.
Except for Mr. Fu, there were currently only 28 combat teams on the entire third layer of the Abyss Brink.
"Don't worry, reinforcements will be here in two days." Lin Huang said comfortingly.
He was not worried at all because there were more than two hundred Sword Servants on the way.
These Sword Servants were sixth-rank True Gods in terms of actual combat strength. As soon as the will of the gravel world was suppressed, their combat strength could also be unsealed.
Right now there was a lull where no explorers had been teleported over yet. Lin Huang's appearance here quickly attracted the attention of the major organizations.
After all, before he went to the great world, he was considered a celebrity in the cultivation world. He was number one on the top searches every day. Those present were all top cultivators; even if they had never met Lin Huang before, his face was not unfamiliar to them—not to mention, there were quite a few who had interacted with him before.
The seven Sword Servants with Dynasty also came to greet Lin Huang with the other members.
"Your Majesty!"
The seven of them did not address Lin Huang as Swordmaster because he had instructed them not to do so. After all, they were now pretending to be members of Dynasty, so it was more appropriate to address him as Emperor.
Lin Huang nodded slightly, his gaze alternating between the members of Dynasty. One glance in Misery's direction gave him a quick glimpse of their troops' lineup—there were five Sword Servants present. The row of people there also looked in Lin Huang's direction. At this time, everyone's attention was on Dynasty, which was not unexpected.
As Lin Huang's gaze left Misery, Dongfang Bai—the vice chief of the Union Government who was leading the team—walked over with Guan Zhong and other familiar faces.
"Emperor Lin, if it wasn't for seeing you in person today, I would have suspected that the news of your return to the gravel world half a year ago was fake," Dongfang Bai greeted Lin Huang courteously.
"Chief Dongfang, it's been a long time," Lin Huang naturally greeted him with a smile, "I have been in closed-door cultivation since I came back. I'd mentioned before that if I had time, I would visit the Union Government and have tea with you, but I haven't been able to spare a moment at all.
"I just came out of closed-door cultivation today. I initially planned to take a break, but I had an unexpected message from Teacher, so I hurried over."
"You're a busy man." Dongfang Bai reached out and shook hands with Lin Huang.
"It's still manageable; it's not as busy as the work that all of you are doing."
"We are usually fine, but these past few days have been incredibly busy." The two exchanged a few pleasantries and Dongfang Bai finally started coming to the point. "Although we have started preparing much earlier, all our preparations are inadequate when facing this group of intruders.
"Emperor Lin, do you have any good suggestions regarding this invasion?"
"My suggestion is very simple. Let's join forces, stop infighting, and do our best in confronting external enemies. If there is conflict, let it go for the time being. At this moment we can't afford to waste time dealing with internal issues. Our enemy is far more powerful than before. The gravel world may become a satellite territory of someone else if we're not careful."
Since the conversation between the two was not conducted via voice transmission, Lin Huang's words were clearly heard by everyone present.
Most people agreed, but a few looked disdainful.
"I think so too; everyone should temporarily put aside their grievances and cooperate wholeheartedly to weather these difficulties. We can resolve any conflicts we might have after we defeat the invaders." Dongfang Bai also smiled and passed onto another topic.
"Let's not talk about these unpleasant things for now. Emperor Lin, I haven't seen you for more than a year; aren't you going to invite me for some tea together?"
As soon as Dongfang Bai said this, Lin Huang immediately understood that the man wanted to have a private talk.
Mr. Fu glanced over and Lin Huang quickly glimpsed a tent not far away. He smiled and nodded at Dongfang Bai. "If you'll come this way please."
Lin Huang led Dongfang Bai and his party into the tent. Several Sword Servants were about to follow but a glance from Mr. Fu stopped them; he himself followed into the tent.
This tent only looked like one from the outside. It was actually Mr. Fu's god palace relic, and it was almost the same level as the Emperor Palace.
The interior decorations clearly reflected that it was indeed Mr. Fu's temporary imperial residence; Lin Huang had been here several times in the past.
"Mr. Fu, this palace must have cost a considerable amount!" Dongfang Bai had seen many high-quality items, but even he could not help exclaiming in surprise.
"When I bought it, I did spend a lot of my savings indeed." Mr. Fu smiled.
Lin Huang's expression was indifferent; he did not say anything. He had on hand even god sequence relics used by Heavenly Gods; furthermore, he had accumulated dozens of god rule relics. He also had the seven God Weapons with development potential. When brought out, any random one of these items was more valuable than this palace, so he naturally had no interest in participating in the discussion.
The line of people entered the hall; after they were seated, Mr. Fu took out his treasured tea to entertain them.
Dongfang Bai finally sat upright and directed an inquiry at Lin Huang.
"Lin Huang, you've been in the great world for a year, so you certainly know more about it than we do. Tell us honestly—what is the ability level of these invaders this time? Is it possible for their skills to surpass low-rank True Gods? "
Lin Huang glanced at Mr. Fu, thinking that he had mentioned something to the Union Government. However, he saw Mr. Fu shake his head slightly, indicating that he had not said anything.
Dongfang Bai and the others also noticed these non-verbal signals. "From the looks of it, you did conceal something previously."
Lin Huang could do nothing except nod. "Since the invasion has begun, there is no need for secrecy anymore.
"The invasion of lesser worlds by the great world is usually initiated by high-rank True Gods. In many cases, the initiators are ninth-rank True Gods who have their own independent organizations; it might even be several ninth-rank True Gods joining forces…"
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the Union Government's several representatives suddenly turned extremely sour.
Chapter 1417: 90% Certain
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The third layer of the Abyss Brink.
Watching Dongfang Bai of the Union Government leading a group of people into Dynasty's tent, almost everyone knew that the meeting was more than just them having a cup of tea.
Many were secretly speculating on what the vice chief of the Union Government and the Emperor of Dynasty might talk about.
What astonished many more people was that Dongfang Bai and the others walked out of the tent less than ten minutes later. All their expressions upon coming out were extremely sour.
"What's wrong? Why are the people from the Union Government wearing such unpleasant expressions?!"
"Those expressions—could it be that something went wrong with the negotiations?"
"According to legend, vice chief of the Union Government Dongfang Bai never displays his feelings. Even if he encounters something extraordinary, his face won't show anything unusual. What did Mr. Fu and Lin Huang say today that made him completely abandon control of his facial expression?!"
When they saw the expressions of Dongfang Bai and the others, everyone wondered what happened.
Afterward, people saw Lin Huang and Mr. Fu coming out later, looking as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Everyone's curiosity was suddenly piqued further and they secretly speculated about what had happened in the tent.
The Heretics were also talking about it.
"Boss, go and ask what happened." A purple-haired girl in pigtails elbowed the Presiding Judge, Sun Zhuo, in the waist.
"I won't go!" Sun Zhuo immediately shifted his gaze from Dynasty's camp.
"You're obviously bursting with curiosity, why don't you go ask?" The girl, Cao Ya, was persistent.
"I'm not curious." Sun Zhuo turned and walked toward his tent, his face cold.
"The look in your eyes just now betrayed you; don't think I can't see it just because you're wearing a mask. That look is obviously saying, 'What happened, I really want to know!'…"
"Shut up, if you want to know, you can go ask yourself!" Sun Zhuo kept walking—out of sight, out of mind. He went straight into his tent.
Seeing that she could not bother the Presiding Judge any further, Cao Ya smiled and turned to look at the Vice Presiding Judge, Zhou Tong.
Before she could say anything, Zhou Tong dug out a booger with his pinky. Lifting his eyes, he met her gaze and flicked his pinky with a bland expression. "Can't you see that I'm busy? Go ask them yourself!"
After he finished speaking, he put his pinky into his other nostril.
Cao Ya was a little discouraged. She shifted her gaze from Zhou Tong, then looked in Lin Huang's direction.
Perhaps because he sensed someone staring, Lin Huang turned his head a fraction and caught sight of Cao Ya looking at him.
Cao Ya was taken aback for a moment when their eyes met. She hesitated, then walked slowly over toward the Dynasty contingent.
"Your Majesty, can you tell me a little about what you said to Dongfang Bai just now?" Cao Ya decided to ask anyway when she went over to Lin Huang. "I'm just curious. If you can't say anything, then just forget about it; treat it like I never asked."
She did not use voice transmission when she said this so everyone heard her words clearly. They immediately pricked up their ears and waited for Lin Huang to answer this question.
Lin Huang glanced at the retreating silhouettes of Dongfang Bai and his party. Dongfang Bai had just said that after reporting to the Union Government headquarters, the news would be announced as soon as possible. If they continued to conceal the truth, people would be taken by surprise by when True Gods of medium or even high-rank descended from the great world.
If it was announced now, although it would hurt morale, it could also give everyone a few days to make more adequate preparations.
"The Union Government will make an announcement in the next two days." Lin Huang did not use voice transmission either and glanced past Cao Ya at the people behind her. "I can only reveal one thing. If we want to deal with the upcoming crisis, everyone must be more prepared."
Although Lin Huang had not said anything specific, the majority of people fell silent when they heard those words.
Even Zhou Tong, who was picking his nose in the distance, paused his hand briefly.
There had been a lot of discussions previously because many people thought this matter was mere gossip, and probably only related to the Union Government and Dynasty.
However, Lin Huang's remarks meant that everyone was involved. In other words, the issues discussed between himself and Dongfang Bai in the tent just now were closely related not just to everyone present, but perhaps even the entire gravel world.
Recalling the expressions of Dongfang Bai and the others earlier, it was not difficult for everyone to guess that what Dongfang Bai had learned from Lin Huang was most certainly not good news.
Cao Ya had originally come in a spirit of curiosity, but she too fell silent when she heard this answer. Without further questions, she nodded slightly, then turned and walked toward the Heretics' encampment.
Most of the people present knew that Lin Huang had been in the great world for a year, and his understanding of it was far more in-depth than everyone in the gravel world. Since he had mentioned a matter like that, he must have known something; it would not be baseless chatter. Besides, there was also his status as Emperor. As the leader of one of the six organization giants, his words would carry a lot of weight with everyone.
Many people immediately contacted their headquarters to report what Lin Huang had just said.
On the Union Government's side, Dongfang Bai and his party entered their tent, returned to the palace, and immediately dialed the number of Chief Jiang Shan.
After a while, the call connected.
Seeing the expressions of Dongfang Bai and the others on the video projection, Jiang Shan's heart thudded hard for a moment.
"What happened?! The intruders have officially arrived?!"
"Not yet."
When Dongfang Bai said this, Jiang Shan breathed a sigh of relief, but then he heard the next sentence.
"There's worse news!"
The chief of the Union Government's heart suddenly began racing again.
"Lin Huang said that in order to avoid unnecessary panic, he concealed something in the information that he gave us. The invaders' highest combat strength is not that of the third-rank True Gods that we estimated previously, but ninth-rank True Gods. There may even be several ninth-rank True Gods arriving at the same time…"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Shan's face suddenly turned bloodlessly pale.
At the same time that Jiang Shan was having this conversation with the Union Government, Mr. Fu was also talking to Lin Huang through voice transmission.
"It seems that your combat strength has not improved following your last closed-door cultivation?"
"There is indeed no improvement. This round of closed-door cultivation was mainly for mastering more Rule Bending Powers," Lin Huang nodded and admitted.
"How about the elevation of your abilities? You said before that if a ninth-rank True God really arrived, you could not guarantee that you would win. How about now?" Mr. Fu asked again.
"It shouldn't be a big problem now." Lin Huang smiled.
"How sure are you?" Mr. Fu asked insistently again.
"90%." Lin Huang was entirely confident in himself.
"It's really 90%?!" Fu Xian asked rather uneasily. He was afraid that Lin Huang was deliberately deceiving him to give him peace of mind.
"As long as I don't encounter someone with half a foot across the heavenly god-level threshold, I should be able to handle it." Lin Huang did not hide anything from Mr. Fu.
"That's good!"
Mr. Fu finally felt relieved when he heard these words. He knew his apprentice, and if Lin Huang had said so, then he must have absolute confidence in himself.
Chapter 1418: Weighty News
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When the truth of the matter was revealed to the Union Government, Jiang Shan immediately held a video conference.
The final outcome of the discussion was that the actual situation would be shared with all the Virtual Gods, but it was not to be disclosed to the lower levels.
There were too many individuals below virtual god-level. If the news spread, it would only cause widespread panic; things would also be difficult to control.
Besides, this war with the invaders was essentially a battle between gods, and the outcome depended on high-level combat strength above virtual god-level. It did not matter if the common people were aware of the actual situation or not. To avoid civil unrest, concealing the truth was the best way of dealing with things.
After determining their plan of action, at noon that day, Dongfang Bai gathered the group of people in the Abyss Brink together.
When many of the Virtual Gods present saw the serious expression on Dongfang Bai's face, they could already basically guess that the announcement this time would not bring good news. Many of them felt a little nervous.
"What I want to announce this time is bad news. After hearing it, I hope that you will keep calm and not panic.
"The highest combat strength of the invaders that we are facing this time is not low-rank True God level as previously expected, but high-rank True God level—it might even be ninth-rank True God…"
As soon as Dongfang Bai said this, almost everyone present was confused.
It should be noted that low-rank and high-rank were two completely different things.
There were no True Gods in the gravel world. If the enemy were low-rank True Gods, they might be able to rely on Mr. Fu and several other concealed high-rank Virtual Gods to serve as the core of a battle formation. In a situation like this, there might still be a chance of winning.
However, if the enemy were high-rank True Gods, it meant there was no chance of turning the tables.
It should be noted that no matter how strong a battle formation was, there was also a limit to how far abilities could be improved.
Judging from the current situation of the gravel world, even if Mr. Fu—who was a Virtual God rank-9—and several high-rank Virtual Gods served as the core, joining forces with all the Virtual Gods in the gravel world to form a battle formation, the highest level that the final formation could hold out against was third-rank True God. Any higher rank and it would be impossible.
If they encountered fourth-rank True Gods, they would barely have the ability to fight them, let alone if they encountered high-rank True Gods above the seventh-rank.
"We're done for; we haven't a hope. Let's go home to wash up and sleep, at least I can rest for a few days."
"Then what did we come here for? What was the point of everything we've done over the past few days?"
"If our enemies are only low-rank, we may be able to turn the tables if everyone works hard. But with high-rank True Gods, it's no longer a disparity that a battle formation can hope to bridge!"
…
Seeing the hard-won unity from the past few days instantly dissolving, Dongfang Bai clenched his fists. He had expected this situation to happen.
"The enemy's strength is far beyond our expectations; we could even say that we have almost no chance of winning. But is everyone really willing to just hand over our world, our hometowns, to these invaders from the great world?!
"Once our world becomes a vassal world, all of our resources will become fair game for the invaders. Not just the various minerals—the crystal cores in various monsters, and even the Godheads in our bodies, will become their hunting targets.
"More than that, some cultivators may even be sold as slaves by these invaders, and female cultivators are likely to become targets of assault. They don't care if the living entities of a vassal world live or die, much less about the dignity of these people.
"It's even possible that after hundreds of years, they will exhaust all the resources of this world. To prevent us from taking revenge, they will slaughter all the living entities in our world!
"Are you willing for our future to become like that?!
"We may die if we resist. But if we don't resist, all of us—even our children and grandchildren—will live a life worse than death itself!"
…
Even Lin Huang was affected by the inflammatory nature of Dongfang Bai's speech.
Many of those present who had already planned to give up renewed their fighting spirit once more.
Resistance might lead to death, but at least it would be a dignified death.
Instead of being hunted down like dogs, it was better to fight to the death like a wolf now.
However, there were also a few people who were not inspired by Dongfang Bai's speech and chose to withdraw to wait and see.
"The Emperor's Heart will be sending today's news to all the Emperor's Heart Rings of those at virtual god-level, but it will be sent in encrypted form. The message cannot be forwarded and will be automatically deleted within ten seconds after it has been read. I hope that everyone will not disclose the news to relatives and friends below virtual god-level to avoid causing unnecessary panic.
"If it's discovered that anyone has deliberately spread the news to the lower levels, causing riots, we will execute this individual immediately!"
Actually, Dongfang Bai had kept some things to himself. For example, the Emperor's Heart would monitor all the Emperor's Heart Rings for all virtual god-levels—all keywords related to the invasion of the great world would be blocked, and the corresponding information and records would be automatically deleted, and so on.
Less than half an hour after Dongfang Bai had finished speaking about the invaders, the Union Government also issued an announcement for all those at virtual god-level.
Outside of the Abyss Brink, everyone who read this announcement was stunned.
By the time people regained their senses, the news had been automatically deleted, and many people immediately contacted the Union Government to clarify the matter. Everyone who received the answer broke down to some degree.
On the side of the Abyss Brink, seven people beat a retreat and voluntarily withdrew from the operation.
As for those who stayed, most of them did so not because they had been swayed by Dongfang Bai's speech, but because everyone had analyzed the pros and cons of the matter.
If they stayed and resisted, they could at least fight freely.
If they did not resist, they might be able to eke out an ignoble existence for a little. Once the invaders had won, sooner or later they would wipe out the remaining Virtual Gods in the gravel world and eliminate any destabilizing factors. There were only two possibilities then—either be hunted or be a slave.
Those who were able to become Virtual Gods were powerhouses in terms of their mentality. After countless battles, they rarely retreated without putting up a fight. So, even if theoretically they knew the chances of winning were zero, most people still chose to bite the bullet and tough it out. For them, retreating without putting up a fight was a path taken only by the weak.
Upon seeing that most of the people had stayed, Lin Huang felt slightly more relieved. He had actually been a little worried that the news would cause everyone to fall apart. After all, their opponent was a strong enemy and they had almost no chances of winning. Fortunately, everyone's mentality had basically steadied. In the faces of many people, he even saw their determination to pledge their lives for the cause.
"Everyone is very motivated—at least this is good news," Mr. Fu smiled and said.
"Yes, I've been worried that everyone's mentality would break down before the war started." Lin Huang also smiled and nodded, "From the looks of things, these people are not afraid."
The two were chatting when suddenly, several spatial fluctuations occurred.
Almost at the same time, spatial fluctuations were reported in three different locations. Lin Huang immediately explored the surroundings with Divine Telekinesis and found that there were fully eight space rifts emitting fluctuations…
Chapter 1419: Don't Forget, I Am A Imperial Censor
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
As the spatial fluctuations spread, a group of Virtual Gods who were in the Abyss Brink immediately returned to the area that they were guarding, formed a battle formation, and entered a state of readiness for battle.
Lin Huang used Divine Telekinesis to sweep the area. The intensity of the auras behind the spatial fluctuations was only at beginner-stage virtual god-level, so he was not bothered.
When he arrived, there were a total of twenty-eight battle formations. Even after the seven individuals had pulled out, after reorganization, there were now twenty-six teams, which was enough to deal with eight invaders.
Mr. Fu had not taken any action either but watched silently on the sidelines with Lin Huang.
A few moments later, explorers teleported over through the eight space rifts almost simultaneously.
The twenty-six teams that formed the battle formations did not hesitate; they made their move immediately and killed the eight explorers within seconds.
This wave of danger could be considered to have temporarily passed.
The expression on Mr. Fu's face did not relax at all, however.
"There are definitely more explorers today compared to yesterday. Yesterday, at most, there were teleportations from three dimensional gateways; there were eight today."
"That's because they're increasing the intensity of their tests." Lin Huang was no stranger to this type of invasion. There had been extremely detailed descriptions in the information Bloody had provided.
"Most of the 30 over space tunnels here have been used multiple times. Under normal circumstances, the space tunnels that have been exposed to Space Rule for a long time are unlikely to have any internal spatial stability issues. Even if there were any problems, they would be small ones.
"What they did yesterday was not to test whether or not the space tunnels are effective, but to run trial tests. Yesterday they tried more than 30 tunnels one by one; some even tried more than once, and all the explorers were killed within seconds. In terms of the probability of damage to the space tunnels, this is extremely unlikely. They must have realized by now that it's not a problem with the space tunnels.
"If I don't miss my guess, they'll have probably guessed that someone on our side is running interference. Therefore, today they should be running a series of trials to determine whether or not someone is killing their explorers on our end.
"From the looks of things currently, the leader of the invaders is quite cautious in terms of character.
"If I were the leader of these invaders, I would increase the number of explorers and the level of combat strength in turn. At the very least, I would first locate a tunnel that I am sure is 100% alright. Once I find a tunnel like this, I will use it as a breach and initiate the first round of invasion as a test!"
When he heard this, the expression on Mr. Fu's face became even more serious.
After a moment of silence, he asked, "Do you want to call for reinforcements?"
Lin Huang thought for a moment. "We can call for them now, yes. Barring any surprises, this war should officially start within the next two days."
When Mr. Fu heard this, he immediately contacted the Union Government.
Lin Huang also sent a message to Huang Tianfu and Zhi Ji.
About half an hour later, the Union Government sent a notice to all the organizations with virtual god-level guardians, informing everyone that the situation in the Abyss Brink was critical and inviting them to join forces against the enemy.
When most of the Virtual Gods saw the news, they immediately packed up and set off directly for the Abyss Brink as fast as they could.
Of course, there were still a handful of people who chose to wait and see.
On Dynasty's end, apart from Huang Tianfu and the Sword Servants guarding Lin Xin, as well as Xiao Mo who was still in closed-door cultivation, all the other Virtual Gods were despatched.
On Misery's end, apart from Zhi Ji who stayed behind, as well as the remaining five Sword Servants, the rest of the Virtual Gods were also despatched.
However, in the half-hour between the Union Government receiving the news from Mr. Fu and their announcement, three more waves of invaders arrived on the Abyss Brink.
All three waves happened simultaneously across eight or nine dimensional gateways, and none of them overlapped with the initial wave from before.
A total of four waves of intruders arrived, and all 33 space tunnels were tested.
Lin Huang guessed that the other party might have had more than 33 probes in the great world, and there should be a few space tunnels that were genuinely damaged, resulting in unsuccessful teleportations.
After these four waves of tests, everyone was on full alert and ready to deal with the arrival of a new wave of explorers at any time.
Fortunately, before the fifth wave came, more Virtual Gods began to arrive on the third level of the Abyss Brink.
Many Virtual Gods had already pinpointed the entrance location of the Abyss Brink. Some had only taken daily necessities, put them in their storage rings, and set off right away—naturally, they arrived very quickly.
These newly-arrived Virtual Gods also very quickly got into a state of battle readiness and formed a new battle formation team.
When the fifth wave of explorers arrived, the original twenty-six teams had increased to twenty-nine, one more than the twenty-eight teams that had been there when Lin Huang first arrived.
However, in this wave, the number of space tunnels with spatial fluctuations occurring doubled from eight to sixteen.
The next moment after the spatial fluctuations occurred, Lin Huang raised his brow slightly.
"The explorers have gone from Virtual God rank-3 to rank-4!"
His Divine Telekinesis had detected that the combat level of this wave of explorers was higher.
However, he was not too worried. Except for the two teams of Sword Servant, most of the twenty-nine battle formations currently had Virtual God rank-3s as the core, and the strength of all the formations was close to Virtual God rank-5. There were even three teams whose cores were Virtual God rank-4s, and their battle formation strength was close to rank-6. Moreover, the number of battle formations was almost double the number of explorers.
Lin Huang's judgment was correct. This wave of sixteen newly-arrived explorers was quickly eliminated by the twenty-nine formations on the spot.
When the sixth wave of explorers arrived, the twenty-nine battle formation teams in the gravel world had increased to thirty-one.
Seventeen explorers from this new wave were also easily killed.
It was fairly easy to resist a further six waves of invaders one after another.
However, the expressions on everyone's faces did not relax, because they knew that the next wave of the invasion would be even more intense.
"We haven't got enough manpower…" Mr. Fu was about to get up to join forces against the enemy but was stopped by Lin Huang.
"Teacher, have you forgotten about my occupation?" Lin Huang asked with a smile.
Just as Mr. Fu looked a little surprised, Lin Huang crushed a handful of Monster Cards.
One after another, imperial monsters automatically coalesced and formed in front of him.
Lin Huang summoned a total of ten imperial monsters in this wave—Bloody Robe, Malachian Fiend, Imp, Eclipse Boa, Death Knight, Fallen Knight, Herculean King, Bing Wang, and two Dark Crescent Snakes.
These ten imperial monsters were not considered to be in the first ranks of Lin Huang's command, but their combat strength was already at third-rank true god-level. (After achieving true god-level, Monster Cards below the rank of Supreme God no longer elevated their combat strength alongside their the host; they needed to hunt on their own to increase their combat level.)
Sensing the rejection of the world will along with Lin Huang's secret voice transmission, the ten imperial monsters immediately sealed their combat strength to Virtual God rank-9.
The sudden appearance of ten imperial monsters immediately attracted the attention of almost all the Virtual Gods present.
Chapter 1420: The Second Round of Summoning
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"I've heard that Lin Huang was not only a sword cultivator, but an Imperial Censor as well, but I always thought that being an Imperial Censor was just his minor. I never thought that his imperial monsters would be this powerful!"
"Are all these really Lin Huang's imperial monsters?! Judging by the strengths of their auras, they're obviously high-level Virtual Gods, right?!"
"He's not the Emperor of Dynasty for nothing. If these ten imperial monsters were to join hands, I fear that the whole gravel world would be no match for them!"
Seeing the appearance of Bloody Robe and the other summoning beasts, everyone started discussing it among themselves.
Although most of the people present could just make out that the ten imperial monsters were high-level Virtual Gods, there were a few astute Virtual Gods among them who could clearly sense that the ten imperial monsters were all Virtual God rank-9.
At the Union Government's side, there was a slight change in Dongfang Bai's expression before it reverted to normal almost instantly, as if nothing had happened.
Guan Zhong, who was standing at one side, frowned slightly and muttered in a low voice, "He's much stronger than he was a year and a half ago…"
At the Heretics Camp, Presiding Judge Sun Zhou tore his gaze away from the group of summoning beasts and turned to look at Zhou Tong and Cao Ya. "No matter what happens in the future, the Heretics must never become enemies with Dynasty!"
"Are those ten summoning beasts that strong?" Cao Ya could not help asking.
"They're not just peak-stage Virtual God rank-9, but they're also quadruple mutated mythical-level monsters! What do you think?" The reason Sun Zhou knew all this so clearly was because he had a detection-type god rule relic. Just a quick glance had left him utterly flabbergasted.
"All ten of them are quadruple mutated?!" Cao Ya could barely keep her voice down.
Quadruple mutated monsters were few and far between in the gravel world. She had never seen one despite spending the last few centuries cultivating to virtual god-level, which justified her great shock at seeing ten of them by Lin Huang's side at the same time.
Even though the others could not sense the fine details about these ten imperial monsters, there were still a few among them who were able to sense the high combat levels they possessed. They were also very aware that, in this part of the gravel world, the Emperor of Dynasty was unrivaled. They all silently contacted the leaders of their own forces and passed the news back.
Lin Huang noticed the small movements of the people but did not try to stop them—he knew very well that it was only a matter of time before his strength was revealed.
Even if it was concealed for now, it would have been revealed anyway when the war breaks out in two days. It did not make much difference if it was revealed two days earlier or later.
Lin Huang looked away from the other factions and his gaze fell upon the ten imperial monsters before him.
"I don't think I need you guys to take action this round, but when the spatial fluctuations come through next round, all of you take one space tunnel each and block off any incomers. Attack them the moment they arrive, and kill off any that you can. Don't treat this like a game, this is war!
"At present, the world will of the gravel world has not been fully suppressed yet, so your combat levels are temporarily capped at virtual god-level rank-9. You can release your combat powers and fully display your strengths once the world will has been completely suppressed. When the time comes, you will no longer feel any sense of rejection."
Bloody Robe and the other summoning beasts nodded and patiently waited for the battle to begin.
Not long after Lin Huang ended his speech, the seventh wave of explorers arrived.
However, this wave exceeded everyone's expectations. Spatial fluctuations were transmitted from thirty-three tunnels practically at the same time.
Even Lin Huang and Mr. Fu were dumbfounded when they sensed the spatial fluctuations being transmitted.
"You will take action this round too." Lin Huang immediately changed his mind and gave orders to the ten imperial monsters.
After receiving instructions to take action, Bloody Robe and the others immediately set off, each of them rushing to the location of a space rift!
The moment Bloody Robe and the others set off, thirty-one contingents of battle troops also made their moves, assigning themselves to the remaining twenty-three space rifts that were not taken by the imperial monsters. They knew that the strength of a single imperial monster far exceeded that of several contingents of battle troops combined, and therefore did not require their assistance.
Through the spatial fluctuations, Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis sensed that Virtual God rank-4s were still being sent over in this wave.
He was slightly relieved—if they were any stronger, the virtual god-level battle formation from the gravel world would have a hard time killing them.
Shortly after, thirty-three virtual god-level rank-4 explorers were teleported over and were immediately ambushed.
Bloody Robe and the other imperial monsters instantly cut them down, not even waiting for the explorers to fully step out of the dimensional gateway.
The battle formation sites were obviously a bit slower, but they still managed to complete the coordinated attacks.
Just when everyone let out a sigh of relief, several explorer monsters suddenly crawled out from the pile of corpses.
When everyone had least expected it, they saw a thumb-sized Eclipse Boa suddenly open its mouth wide. A terrifying suction instantly enveloped the three resurrected explorer monsters, and they were swallowed in an instant.
"To think that there were three undying species hiding in there!"
Dongfang Bai and the others broke out into a cold sweat.
The mysterious undying species… it would be very difficult to kill them in a short time without knowing their fatal spots, unless you used a rule power or other special means. If it were not for the Eclipse Boa swallowing the three undying species, they feared that those over in the great world would immediately decide that the space tunnel that the three undying species went through had no issues.
Thanks to the Eclipse Boa making a timely move when it did, they had won this round's mind games.
"In the next round of exploration, we can be sure they'll either increase the number of explorers or their combat level. It seems like having ten imperial monsters is still not enough to ensure our safety…" A handful of cards appeared in Lin Huang's hand.
The Demonic Buddhist Holy Son who was a Supreme God rank-5, Bai who was a class-4.5 Pseudo-supreme God, and Charcoal, Tyrant, Grimace, Lancelot, Killer, Evil Dominator, Warlord, Thunder and Witch who were at mythical-level rank-4 were all impressively lined up in order.
These were all of the monster cards in Lin Huang's possession that were at mythical-level rank-4 and above, aside from the Bug Tribe card.
After the cards were crushed, eleven imperial monsters quickly materialized in front of Lin Huang.
The Demonic Buddhist Holy Son was dressed in white, his face half-Buddha, half-demon. However, at this moment, the aura emitted throughout his entire body was not cruel or fierce at all. His combat level was also the highest—when he was sealed, his combat level was at ninth-rank true god-level, and he was even a powerhouse that was only half a step away from reaching heavenly god-level. At the moment, his combat level was affected by his host, Lin Huang, and was suppressed at sixth-rank true god-level.
Lin Huang's gaze fell upon the Demonic Buddhist Holy Son. "From today onward, your name is—Ku Rong."
"I thank you for bestowing this name upon me, Master!"
The Demonic Buddhist Holy Son pressed his palms together in front of him and took a deep bow toward Lin Huang, looking like an eminent monk that had reached enlightenment.
After Lin Huang finished his sentence, a ray of golden light suddenly lit up from between the Demonic Buddhist Holy Son's eyebrows, and the demon half of his face started to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye. In the blink of an eye, that part of his face became as smooth as jade-like as the normal half of his face.
A strange light flashed in the eyes of the Demonic Buddhist Holy Son; the Abyssal energy that had caused him so much suffering for endless days and nights had suddenly disappeared completely.
He focused his cultivation and realized that the energy was not actually gone, but had become dormant. Besides that, the energy that was originally uncontrollable was now under control.
After a brief inspection, Ku Rong immediately snapped back to reality and once again pressed his palms together and gave Lin Huang another deep bow. Although he did not say anything this time, Lin Huang understood the reason for his actions.
After returning a nod to Ku Rong, Lin Huang's gaze fell on Bai and Grimace.
Among the eleven of them, apart from Ku Rong, Bai and Grimace had the highest combat level. They were both at fourth-rank true god-level, whereas Lancelot, Charcoal, and the others were at third-rank true god-level.
The combat strengths of the eleven of them were only displayed during the moment they were summoned, and they sealed their own powers under Lin Huang's urging. It had been suppressed to virtual god-level rank-9.
Looking at the eleven summoning beasts that suddenly appeared in front of Lin Huang, the numerous Virtual Gods that were present were speechless…