Chapter 1591: Virtuoso's Trump Card
Saber9's attack could not be considered weak by any means.
Although this was the less powerful version, from Lin Huang and Virtuoso's point of view, it was at least at the level of a half-step Lord.
Seeing that Nine Gloom's figure had utterly vanished and even his aura was no longer present, the first reaction from Lin Huang and the others was—could Nine Gloom finally be dead at last?!
However, a moment later, the three of them had a change of expression almost simultaneously. All of them looked at a spot on the ground not too far away.
A new vine tendril suddenly extended from the surface of the earth, then a second and a third… Within the blink of an eye, they consolidated into a humanoid figure.
It was Nine Gloom, clad in the silver armor from earlier!
"I almost died…" The silver-armored Nine Gloom could not help exclaiming as his body regenerated.
"As expected, I most certainly underestimated you." His gaze finally alighted on Saber9 now. "However, I don't suppose you have any remaining strength to attempt a second attack like the one you just pulled off."
Nine Gloom's speculation was because he could sense Saber9's aura slowly decreasing. This was a phenomenon that would only happen when one's Divine Power was drained.
Nine Gloom's guess was absolutely correct. In fact, Saber9's actual condition was even worse than Nine Gloom's initial speculation.
Drawing on the life-saving saber formation left by his Primordial form had resulted in a definite backlash for Saber9.
Currently, not only had he suffered a drain on his Divine Power, his spirit and physical body had been taxed to the limit. He was on the verge of collapsing entirely.
Fortunately, apart from discovering that Saber9 had no more strength left to fight, Nine Gloom did not sense any further anomalies.
As for Lin Huang and Virtuoso, they had no idea that Saber9 was in such a dire condition after his attack. However, before he made his move, Saber9 had already informed both of them that he could only launch a single attack. Whether or not it killed Nine Gloom, he no longer had the strength to fight anymore.
When Virtuoso saw the look that Saber9 sent them, they needed no words to understand what it meant.
Saber9 had completely lost his capacity to fight. The only chance for killing Nine Gloom now depended on their own trump card.
At this point, Virtuoso spoke to Lin Huang through voice transmission, "If I'm not able to kill him after using my trump card, run as far away as you can. Don't bother about the two of us; we both have means of survival."
When he heard this, Lin Huang knew that the other two had not considered that he himself might have a trump card or two. However, upon thinking about it, he let it pass. After all, the pair had trump cards left to them by Almighties who far surpassed lord-level. From their point of view, if their trump cards could not kill Nine Gloom, then none of Lin Huang's trump cards would be very effective.
However, in his heart, Lin Huang could not help grumbling, 'This is Nine Gloom's God Territory. Even if I really wanted to flee, where would I go anyway?!'
At that moment, Virtuoso added, "Our means of survival might very well affect you."
Only then did Lin Huang realize that Virtuoso was not asking him to flee from Nine Gloom's pursuit but to get away from the effect that would result from the pair using their trump cards.
After this exchange with Lin Huang, Virtuoso then turned their attention back to Nine Gloom.
This enemy that they were facing had certainly far exceeded their expectations in terms of difficulty.
Initially, Virtuoso had thought that even if Saber9 activated his trump card on his own, it might still be sufficient to kill this wretched fellow in front of them, despite the attack being significantly less powerful. Even if it failed to kill Nine Gloom, it might still injure him severely.
However, from the looks of things, Nine Gloom appeared to be completely fine. They wondered what sort of special technique he might be using.
Despite having been on the receiving end of Saber9's nigh half-step lord-level attack, even Nine Gloom's aura showed no signs of weakening at all.
Virtuoso was not at all sure if their trump card would be able to kill him.
A great many thoughts passed through their mind within just that brief period.
They lifted their head and looked at Nine Gloom again, then attacked without hesitation.
They performed rapid, complicated hand seals with both hands. At the same time, the mask covering their face swiftly began disintegrating, turning into points of starlight that consolidated speedily above Virtuoso's head.
In some astonishment, Lin Huang raised his head and looked over at what was forming above Virtuoso's head. To some degree, he could make out that it was a human face with both eyes tightly closed at present.
Very soon, the massive, seemingly illusory face floating in midair had consolidated completely.
Lin Huang could not help staring at that face. It was utterly flawless; each detail could be considered exquisite. Even if it were magnified over a hundred times, not a single defect would be found. However, Lin Huang still could not be certain if the master of the face was female or male.
As soon as the gigantic face consolidated fully, its eyes finally opened slowly.
Those eyes were dark blue. The moment they opened, Lin Huang felt as if he could see the entire universe revolving within them. However, when he blinked and looked at them again, those eyes displayed no signs of vitality; they looked supremely indifferent. At the same time, they seemed to transcend everything else.
The instant the eyes opened completely, a golden glow suddenly flared up in the darkness of the void right in front of them.
The golden glow was approximately the size of a piece of gravel—perhaps even smaller. The light it gave off was very weak; it could even be considered dim.
It gave one the impression of a firefly's glow on a summer night; perhaps even fainter than that.
Lin Huang could not even feel any energy waves from that tiny golden gleam. However, he instinctively felt that it was dangerous and that he should stay as far away from it as he could.
Saber9's reaction was even more straightforward. He seemed to be aware of the potential of this attack; unobtrusively he teleported to hide behind Virtuoso.
Nine Gloom obviously sensed the danger posed by this attack. Countless vines surged wildly toward Virtuoso and the golden glow, attempting to hamper the attack.
However, the strange thing was, his vines went through Virtuoso and Saber9's bodies easily. They pierced through the golden glow as well, but nothing happened.
It was as if Virtuoso, Saber9, and the golden glow were just projections that did not really exist.
Given the futility of the attempt, Nine Gloom did not try to attack Lin Huang after that. Something seemed to occur to him, and he hurriedly performed a series of hand seals with both hands. Countless black vines transformed into white fog, encasing him in multiple layers. Within the blink of an eye, he had become a giant white cocoon. There was no telling how many layers he was enveloped in.
"A spiritual defense technique?!" Under his mask, Lin Huang's brows shot up. He finally knew why he had not sensed any Divine Power waves from the golden glow earlier.
Virtuoso's attack was a purely spiritual attack technique!
Nine Gloom had sensed this, so he had set up a heavy spiritual defense without hesitation.
By the time Nine Gloom's cocoon had fully formed, Virtuoso's golden glow had also fully consolidated.
The golden glow "slowly" drifted like a firefly and lightly penetrated the giant white cocoon…
Naturally, the slowness was a visual illusion experienced by Lin Huang and Saber9. In reality, this attack was impossible to dodge.
Everything happened within the blink of an eye—from Virtuoso using voice transmission to tell Lin Huang to run, to them using their trump card to consolidate that massive face; then to the golden glow shooting out and Nine Gloom extending countless vines in an attempt to stop Virtuoso's attack, to Nine Gloom using his spiritual defense technique to complete his cocoon.
Subsequently, Lin Huang saw a dazzling golden ray of light rising from the giant cocoon.
In the beginning, it looked like sunlight piercing through the cracks of an eggshell, except that these were rays shining through gaps in the cocoon. However, a moment later, the giant cocoon swiftly began to collapse, and countless golden rays began to shine through even more gaps. Finally, the giant cocoon collapsed entirely, and all of earth and heaven were illuminated by that dazzlingly bright golden light!
"This time Nine Gloom has to be dead, right?!" Lin Huang squinted in the direction of where the golden light had burst forth. He could no longer sense any remnants of Nine Gloom's aura.
Chapter 1592: Lin Huang's Tiny Trump Card
In the void, the dazzling golden glow released a burst of ultimate brilliance for an instant, then gradually began to dim.
Lin Huang could sense that as the golden glow released its burst of light, Virtuoso's aura was obviously weakening.
Noticing his scrutiny, Virtuoso spoke through voice transmission rather weakly.
"I'm fine—my God's soul is slightly drained, that's all. However, I don't have any strength left to fight for the short term, not after that attack."
Lin Huang nodded slightly and glanced at Saber9 a short distance away, who was also in the same weakened condition. "Don't worry; I'll protect the two of you until you recover your combat strength."
The moment Lin Huang finished speaking, the three of them almost simultaneously turned their heads to look in the direction where the golden glow had just released its rays.
Saber9's expression was indescribable.
Meanwhile, Virtuoso spoke to Lin Huang through voice transmission right away, "Run as far as you can! Don't bother about us!"
However, Lin Huang remained where he was without moving. He squinted slightly, staring at the spot where countless vines now extended out of thin air.
Nine Gloom was still alive!
In reality, the most shocking thing about the whole matter was that the trump card Virtuoso had used just now was a spiritual attack. Furthermore, they had sensed beyond all doubt that Nine Gloom's God's soul had been utterly wiped out in the attack.
The death of the spirit was different from the death of the physical body.
Generally speaking, for many powerhouses who were proficient in the art of spirit cultivation, the death of the physical body was a minor matter. As long as their spirits remained intact, there were many ways for them to revive and resurrect themselves.
If a spirit cultivator's spirit was wiped out, that meant he was truly dead. It was virtually impossible for them to have a method of resurrection.
However, Nine Gloom had managed it. His spirit had been completely eradicated during the attack, but he had resurrected himself. Not only that, he seemed completely unharmed.
Such a technique was simply incredible!
Naturally, Nine Gloom noticed how shocked Lin Huang and the others were. He spoke again, his body as yet not fully consolidated.
"Your trump cards are certainly powerful. However, each of you can only use them once at most. If the three of you each kill me once, you'll still only be able to kill me three times…" At this point, Nine Gloom was smiling extraordinarily happily as he spoke, "But I have far more than three lives!
"The three of you should just stop your futile struggles; it will all be in vain. What's the point of it anyway?"
When Saber9 heard that, his expression became truly awful indeed.
Virtuoso shot a glance at Lin Huang. Noticing that Lin Huang had not run away, they were about to speak to him through voice transmission again, asking him to leave. However, they noticed that Lin Huang's aura was skyrocketing.
Within the mere time it took for a breath, he had elevated from true god-level to heavenly god-level right away.
His aura was over ten times more powerful now.
Nearby, Saber9 noticed Lin Huang's transformation as well and was rather startled.
He had seen people using specific techniques to elevate their rank, but he had never seen anyone who had elevated an entire level.
After all, there was an immense gap between ninth-rank True God and first-rank Heavenly God.
However, Lin Huang had elevated just like that, as if it were as easy as breathing.
Lin Huang was the only one who knew that he was not using some secret skill to elevate his combat strength. He had merely used a Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card.
Once he had crushed the card, elevating his combat strength was a piece of cake. He went straight from ninth-rank true god-level to first-rank heavenly god-level. (This is not a bug. The Provisional Combat Strength Upgrade Card cannot create a tenth-rank true god-level. It can only directly elevate Lin Huang to heavenly god-level based on the normal standards for combat strength.)
Lin Huang could clearly sense how powerful he had become. Each particle in his physical body and soul seemed to have undergone a qualitative transformation.
He merely took a step forward and completely disappeared from Virtuoso and Saber9's view.
They could no longer perceive Lin Huang's movements by sight. Even their Divine Telekinesis was unable to track his motion trajectory.
Nine Gloom, whose physical body had only just fully consolidated, was feeling exactly the same as Virtuoso and Saber9.
Under his silver armor, his burning pupils contracted slightly. He forced himself to calm down, laughing maniacally. "I've told you, even if you kill me again, it's futile. I'll just resurrect once more…"
"In that case, I'd love to see exactly how many times you can resurrect!"
A voice suddenly spoke, and a specter-like figure appeared in front of Nine Gloom.
The next instant, a blood-red arc cut Nine Gloom in half at the waist, killing him.
Lin Huang sheathed his sword back into its scabbard and hovered in midair.
His aura was terrifying and overwhelming; it showed no signs of decreasing either.
He remained on the spot where he had killed Nine Gloom; it did not seem as if he were going to move. Clearly, he was going to guard Nine Gloom's corpse.
Virtuoso and Saber9 were relieved when they noticed that Lin Huang's aura remained at heavenly god-level instead of dropping.
However, they were a little curious about exactly how powerful Lin Huang's earlier attack had been.
This was because he had moved and attacked far too swiftly, so they had not been able to get a clear view.
They merely saw Lin Huang vanish. When he reappeared again, the blood-red arc had already slaughtered Nine Gloom.
The two of them had not even been able to sense the Divine Power wave in the attack, let alone the sequence power contained within it.
In no time at all, Nine Gloom resurrected on the spot once again.
Lin Huang did not make his move immediately. Instead, he waited patiently for the other's body to fully consolidate.
"That was a sneak attack—how shameless of you!" Nine Gloom spit furiously at Lin Huang as soon as he regained consciousness.
"You were too slow." Lin Huang gave a mocking laugh.
Despite noticing that Nine Gloom was rapidly mobilizing his vines to form a shield, Lin Huang did nothing to stop him.
He merely stared at Nine Gloom as if he were a complete idiot.
Once Nine Gloom's figure had fully consolidated, more than a hundred tiers of massive shields had already formed.
"Are you done with all those tiers?" Lin Huang enquired.
Nine Gloom ignored him. Instead, he seized every second to continue forming layer upon layer of shields.
When Lin Huang saw this, he did not bother waiting any longer.
Grasping his sword hilt, he unsheathed the blade in an instant.
This time, the sword gleam shot forward like a bolt of lightning, aiming right at the center of all those massive shield layers.
A second later, all the shield layers shattered into fragments.
It was like a bullet easily traveling through layers of thin glass.
The hundreds of massive shield layers were instantly pierced through without a single trace of difficulty.
The red lightning bolt-like sword hardly slowed down at all after it went through all the massive shields. It pierced straight through Nine Gloom's body, leaving a hole that was the size of a small bowl.
The instant the hole appeared, Nine Gloom's body cracked like glass and disintegrated into fragments.
His thriving life force immediately dispelled.
Within the time it took for a mere two to three breaths, Lin Huang had easily killed Nine Gloom twice.
As they watched what was happening, Virtuoso and Saber9 had no idea what to say.
Although they knew Lin Huang was powerful, they had treated Lin Huang as a powerhouse of the same level despite their prodigious backgrounds.
However, at that very moment, both of them finally witnessed Lin Huang's true trump card.
Although the strength of each of his attacks was not as powerful as that of their trump cards, the frightening thing about Lin Huang's trump card was that it was not a one-time-only affair.
Once his combat strength had elevated to heavenly god-level, he was able to overwhelm Nine Gloom repeatedly. This sort of lasting endurance was the most terrifying thing about his trump card.
Chapter 1593: Nine Gloom Surrenders
"Impossible!"
Shrieks of rage came from the countless regenerating vines. Within the blink of an eye, they consolidated into the silver-armored Nine Gloom again. Under his helmet, his eyes were now scarlet in the extreme.
"That giant shield I formed was compounded with eighteen levels of sequence power. Given the number of sequences you've mastered, it ought to be impossible for you to shatter it!"
Nine Gloom said this because he was utterly unable to figure out how Lin Huang could deliver such a powerful attack.
Although he had no way of finding out Lin Huang, Saber9, and Virtuoso's exact combat strength, he had more or less figured out the number of sequence chains the three had mastered, based on the previous battle.
He also knew that Saber9 and Virtuoso had been able to kill him earlier because they had utilized unique methods for their trump cards. Therefore, those could not be considered part of their inherent power.
However, Lin Huang—who was right in front of him—had merely elevated his combat strength and breached Nine Gloom's defenses just like that, relying only on his own abilities.
To Nine Gloom, this was unimaginable.
That was because, theoretically, this sort of provisional combat strength elevation technique could only elevate the amount of one's Divine Power and its intensity. It could not give someone mastery over more sequence chains.
If an individual had only grasped comprehension of one sequence chain, even if they could temporarily elevate their combat strength from first-rank heavenly god-level to ninth-rank heavenly god-level, they would still only have mastery over one sequence chain. The number of sequence chains would not increase.
However, judging from both Lin Huang's attacks, he did not appear to have elevated only his combat strength. The number of sequence chains he mastered had increased as well.
"Theoretically, what you said is correct," Lin Huang responded, smiling faintly, "However, that's based on your cognitive limits."
Lin Huang's mastery of sequence chains did not come from however many sequence chains he could grasp and comprehend. It actually depended on how many sequence chains his physical body and spirit strength could sustain, because he could borrow all the sequence chains his sword servants had mastered.
When he was still only at ninth-rank true god-level, he could sustain a limit of thirteen god sequence chains (twelve sequence chains including Sword Dao heavenly rule). Now that he had elevated to first-rank heavenly god-level, this number had tripled to become thirty-nine sequence chains.
Based on pure numbers alone, this was at least twice what Nine Gloom had mastered.
Such compounding of sequence power was not a simple math equation.
Each time a level of sequence power was mastered, it had the advantage of being able to offset flaws that were difficult to remedy in other areas.
"The number of sequence chains I've mastered is far beyond what you expect!"
Lin Huang smiled at Nine Gloom, who was frantically forming shield layers.
He knew that his opponent was buying time to create more such shield layers. Furthermore, this time, the massive shields had a completely different form from the last round. They were embedded into the ground and seemed to be a deflection technique.
This did not bother Lin Huang at all. He patiently waited until Nine Gloom had formed over a hundred shield layers. Only then did he ask, smiling, "Are you done layering your defenses this round?"
Lin Huang charged forward with his sword again as soon as he finished speaking.
This move was still a stab, but it was completely different from his attack earlier.
The sword gleam thrust forward almost gently. It pierced through the multiple layers of massive shields as easily as slicing tofu.
It did not make any great noise or commotion. It merely left a gash smaller than a thumb on all the shield layers.
When the sword gleam finally pierced through all the hundred-over layers of massive shields and impaled the silver-armored Nine Gloom right between his brow, all the shields did not collapse. They remained as they were.
Only a moment later, when Nine Gloom's aura dispelled completely, did all the giant shields gradually vanish once their source of Divine Power had been lost.
Upon seeing that, Saber9 could not help exclaiming, "That attack of his is already bordering on the threshold of Heavenly Dao."
There were three levels to Sword Dao heavenly rule—Heavenly Sword, Heavenly Heart, and Heavenly Dao.
Even a heavenly god-level sword cultivator would be in the top tier among Heavenly Gods once he crossed the threshold of Heavenly Dao. A single sequence chain alone would have an attack effect comparable to over ten levels of compounded sequence power.
This was where the strength of sword cultivators and saber cultivators lay.
However, Virtuoso noticed something else. "The way he combines and applies the various sequence powers doesn't look as if he's only just mastered them at all.
"I've a slight feeling that what he's just displayed might be far from the limits of his true abilities."
Saber9's pupils contracted slightly at this point. He glanced intently at Virtuoso, then fixed his eyes on Lin Huang again, his expression inscrutable.
Even though Nine Gloom had still resurrected after being killed three times in a row, Lin Huang did not panic in the least. He merely waited patiently for Nine Gloom to finish regenerating.
Lin Huang did not seem to mind at all what kind of methods Nine Gloom still had up his sleeve. No matter what, he could still suppress him with brute strength.
"I'm pretty sure you can't sustain this state for too long, can you?" Nine Gloom took the initiative to talk to Lin Huang again even before his body had fully consolidated, "However many times you kill me, it's no use—I can regenerate. All I have to do is to hang on until this state of yours comes to an end; sooner or later, the three of you will become my trophies!"
"Oh, really?" There was a hint of derision in Lin Huang's tone, "Even if your substitution technique really has some connection to all of the Nirvana Trees here, you can only die and resurrect 300 times.
"Even if you factor in the time I wait for you to resurrect and set up your defenses, I'd only need three to five seconds at most to kill you each time. Even if we calculate it as five seconds per resurrection, I'd only need half an hour at most to kill you 300 times.
"Furthermore, I can sustain this state for more than half an hour…"
The first time Lin Huang had killed Nine Gloom earlier, Xiao Hei's push notification had popped up, notifying him that he obtained a Nirvana Tree card fragment. He was confused for a moment but immediately realized that Nine Gloom was using a substitution technique. Furthermore, it was connected to the Nirvana Trees.
Lin Huang had not bothered to expose Nine Gloom's secret earlier as it did not really matter. However, when Nine Gloom brazenly pretended to his face that he could not be killed, Lin Huang could not stand it any longer. Therefore, he chose to reveal his insights into the true facts of the matter which he had gained from the very beginning.
Nine Gloom went dead silent as soon as Lin Huang said this.
He had never expected that Lin Huang would see through his technique.
Virtuoso and Saber9, who were watching off to one side, finally came to a sudden realization.
In truth, Virtuoso had already speculated about this possibility when he saw that his trump card had not killed Nine Gloom. However, such a substitution technique was rare and unusual. Not only that, almost all of Nine Gloom's substitution techniques were different. Therefore, Virtuoso could not be absolutely certain.
They only confirmed their earlier speculation when Lin Huang made his revelation.
Saber9, on the other hand, genuinely had no idea what technique Nine Gloom had been using all this time. He had not considered that Nine Gloom might be using a substitution technique either. However, although he had never come in contact with this type of substitution ability, he had heard of it. Once Lin Huang revealed the truth, he immediately understood.
When Nine Gloom saw that his greatest secret had been exposed, his confidence immediately plummeted.
Initially, he had thought that he would be able to bluster at the three of them and get them to retreat after discussing terms.
Never had he thought Lin Huang would expose him right away.
An incredibly powerful technique like substitution also had severe limitations.
In reality, he was not connected to each of the three hundred-over Nirvana Trees at all. At his current spirit strength, he had already reached his limit connecting to only eleven trees. In other words, including his own life, he only had twelve lives.
At present, he had already been killed five times consecutively by Lin Huang, Saber9, and Virtuoso.
At the rate Lin Huang had killed him off—as fast as slicing and dicing vegetables— Nine Gloom felt that he would truly die at Lin Huang's hands in merely half a minute.
All kinds of thoughts flashed through Nine Gloom's head at lightning speed. After weighing things up again and again, in the end, he chose to surrender.
"How about this—we come to a compromise. All of you want the castellan's seal. I can give it to you and release you from my God Territory as well. However, in return, you're not allowed to attack me any further! When you obtain the complete castellan's seal, you can't obliterate my existence either."
That was as far as he could go in terms of compromise.
Even Virtuoso and Saber9 were rather swayed when they heard this.
However, Lin Huang outright rejected this proposal. Without hesitation, he slashed down with the battle sword in his hand.
"After we kill you, we can obtain the castellan's sea tool!"
Chapter 1594: Nine Gloom's Demise
There were two reasons why Lin Huang refused to accept Nine Gloom's surrender.
The first was that by killing Nine Gloom three times, he had obtained two Nirvana Tree card fragments and a complete Nirvana Tree card. He felt that he would be able to gain more by killing Nine Gloom.
The other reason was that he was unsure if Nine Gloom's surrender was just a strategy for a temporary compromise. He could give in briefly just to save his life and give them the castellan's seal fragment. He could also take back his words once he was safe, after Lin Huang and the other two had departed, and mobilize the entire inner world to kill the three of them.
From Lin Huang's point of view, letting Nine Gloom go was a risky choice.
Furthermore, he disliked trouble. Therefore, he made a safer, simpler decision.
A slash of his sword and Nine Gloom was dispatched once more.
The minute he revived, Nine Gloom immediately upbraided Lin Huang.
Lin Huang did not bother wasting words and merely killed him again with yet another slash.
Nine Gloom revived once more a moment later. This time, he finally realized that his insignificant life was completely within Lin Huang's hands. He had completely changed his attitude now, pleading desperately.
"…Just tell me what you want from me. There's no need to be so ruthless… I've only achieved what I have now after cultivating for millions of years. Can't you let me go…?"
He had no choice but to admit defeat, as he had already used his substitution technique seven times. Including his own life, he was only left with five lives now.
However, Lin Huang was merciless. He killed him again, his face expressionless.
When Nine Gloom regenerated this time, he begged Virtuoso and Saber9 for mercy, attempting to plead for his life through the other two parties.
However, Virtuoso and Saber9 were not greenhorns. Naturally, it was impossible for them to pity him. Moreover, both of them had considered the possible risks if they let Nine Gloom go. They remained silent throughout and continued watching as bystanders.
When Nine Gloom revived for the ninth time, he knew that it was futile for him to beg.
As soon as his body consolidated, he manipulated countless vines, sending them surging at Lin Huang.
Lin Huang thought that Nine Gloom was going to fight back. However, he was not expecting Nine Gloom to swiftly retreat and flee toward the distance the moment he attacked.
"Haha…"
A cold chuckle escaped Lin Huang. With one slash of his sword, countless vines were annihilated. A blood-red gleam shot out from his sleeve.
The blood-red gleam was as fast as lightning—many times faster than the fleeing Nine Gloom.
Within the time it took for a breath, the gleam caught up with him and pierced right through his silver armor.
The moment Nine Gloom's silver-armored body toppled to the ground, the blood-red gleam retreated and shot back into Lin Huang's sleeve.
Although Virtuoso and Saber9 had not been able to see the blood-red gleam's attack too clearly, they knew it was Lin Huang's telekinetic flying dagger the moment they saw the lightning arc shooting out from his sleeve.
Nine Gloom evidently had no idea that Lin Huang possessed such a technique.
After his tenth death, Nine Gloom revived again for the eleventh time.
He attempted to utilize a strategy of attack, defense, and escape both times. However, Lin Huang managed to counter this each time and kill him again.
Currently, Nine Gloom had completely used up his substitution chances. He was left only with his original life now.
Before his physical body even consolidated completely, he swiftly formed another shield.
The layers stacked up one over the other on the shield. By the time Nine Gloom's physical body had fully consolidated, the massive shield already had over a hundred layers on it.
At the same time, a Dimensional Whirlpool swiftly formed behind him.
Clearly, since his multiple attempts at escape were futile, he planned to flee via dimensional teleportation.
Lin Huang merely raised his brows slightly and slashed out with his sword, piercing through the massive shield's multiple layers easily. Nine Gloom had only taken half a step through the Dimensional Whirlpool in mid-air when his body was impaled.
At that moment, a vine that looked like a tiny black snake escaped from the shadow below Nine Gloom's silver-armored foot. His aura shrank to almost nothing, and he wriggled toward the Dimensional Whirlpool.
Lin Huang gave a cold snort, and countless blood-red lightning arcs shot out violently from his sleeve. The moment the tiny black 'snake' entered the Dimensional Whirlpool, the entire Whirlpool was punctured with so many holes it looked like a sieve.
This included that tiny black snake, which was torn to shreds.
A moment later, the Dimensional Whirlpool collapsed, and the tiny black snake's decimated body fell out of it. The pieces gradually but swiftly assumed Nine Gloom's original countenance again—a demonic face thickly overgrown with vines. In the very last moments of his life, the glare he fixed on Lin Huang was seething with rage and resentment.
In this last battle, Nine Gloom had chosen to discard the silver-armored body that had integrated perfectly with him since his rebirth. He thought he could attract Lin Huang's attention with this silver-armored physical body while he slipped away in secret.
As long as he got as far away as he could from the battlefield, he could then utterly confine Lin Huang, Virtuoso, and Saber9 within his God Territory. He could then attack them with endless vines until Lin Huang's elevated mode had worn off. At that point, he would be able to turn the tables on them.
Never had he thought that his escape plan would be discovered by Lin Huang, after all. At the very last moment, his life had been ended by a telekinetic flying dagger.
In the end, the demonic face was unable to leave any last words. Every single one of the vines charred rapidly, turning into ashes that filled the air…
The formidable, longest-lived character in the inner world had now fallen!
Lin Huang stood where he was, seemingly staring at Nine Gloom's gradually disintegrating corpse. In reality, he was looking at the push notification that had popped up in front of him.
"Congratulations, host. You've obtained a complete Monster Card—Silver-Armored Nine Gloom (Supreme God)
"Monster Card: Silver-Armored Nine Gloom "
"Rarity: Supreme God"
"Monster Name: Not named yet"
"Type of Monster: Unique-type / Unknown Tribe"
"Bloodline: Death Spring"
"Combat Level: Ninth-Rank Heavenly God (Ninth-Rank heavenly god-level)"
"Major: Control, Combat Cultivator…"
"Summon Authority: Activated"
"Card Remarks: Worth training!"
"Remarks: An extremely rare and special symbiotic creature type!"
Lin Huang had not at all expected to obtain a complete Monster Card from killing Nine Gloom.
'That's a delightful surprise.'
He merely cast a quick eye over the card information and closed the page in front of him. He then turned around to look at Virtuoso and Saber9.
"Has he really been killed for good this time?" Saber9 asked immediately.
He had a full-blown case of paranoia, thanks to Nine Gloom's resurrection ability.
"Don't worry, he definitely won't revive now." Lin Huang was absolutely certain of this.
After all, he had now obtained a complete Monster Card. Naturally, it was impossible for Nine Gloom to revive anymore.
"Substitution is a truly powerful technique, but it also has severe limitations. I'm guessing eleven substitutions was his limit." Virtuoso nodded in agreement. "Also, given he regenerated so many times, it was possible to tell that he could only be revived on the spot where he died. He couldn't change the coordinates of his regeneration, nor could he control the interval between each revival…"
"Since he isn't regenerating where he fell, it proves he's well and truly dead this time," Saber9 interjected before Virtuoso could finish speaking.
"Let's not waste any more time. We'd better hurry up and collect any loot, then leave as soon as we can," Lin Huang urged, raising his head to glance at Nine Gloom's God Territory, which was now collapsing.
The battle fluctuations from earlier would certainly have attracted the attention of other powerhouses in the inner world. As soon as Nine Gloom's death was confirmed, it was very likely that many others would swarm out of the woodwork to gain a share of any loot.
Given Lin Huang and the other two's current situation, getting embroiled in that would be extremely problematic.
Clearly, Virtuoso and Saber9 realized this as well. Ignoring their bodily weakness, they swiftly joined in to collect the battle spoils.
Chapter 1595: Elevating to Tenth-Rank!
Within a minute, Lin Huang and the other two had completely looted Nine Gloom's lair.
As for the two hundred-over interconnected Nirvana Trees that covered the area, they transferred them all into Lin Huang's God Territory.
Once they had finished collecting the spoils of battle, the three of them did not linger, swiftly departing from Nine Gloom's territory.
"The battle fluctuations have stopped…"
An Argus Bug Beast poked its head out of the ground, peering from a distance in the direction of Nine Gloom's territory.
This creature's territory was located closer to Nine Gloom's, so it sensed the battle fluctuations between Nine Gloom and Lin Huang's group almost right away. It was even able to distinctly sense the aftermath of the battle.
However, because Nine Gloom was such a powerful entity, it dared not risk probing with its Divine Telekinesis.
In the end, it finally could not restrain itself any longer and spread its Divine Telekinesis roughly about twenty minutes after the battle fluctuations had stopped.
When it saw the destroyed, desolate ruins that used to be Nine Gloom's lair, the Argus Bug stared for a long time, not even blinking.
"W-What happened?!"
A moment later, it was more than absolutely certain that Nine Gloom's aura had been utterly obliterated after it had scanned the entire area with Divine Telekinesis a few times.
"Someone killed Nine Gloom?!" As it came to this conclusion, a film of secretion resembling cold sweat seeped out of its carapace.
As Nine Gloom's neighbor, it was naturally aware of how powerful Nine Gloom was. However, someone had still managed to kill such a powerful entity—one could imagine just how incredibly strong that individual was.
After dithering where it was for a while and making sure with Divine Telekinesis that there were no auras of other powerhouses around, the Argus Bug Beast finally made up its mind to head over and investigate Nine Gloom's territory.
At that moment, apart from the Argus Bug Beast, several other monsters around Nine Gloom's territory sensed the anomaly in Nine Gloom's territory as well. They decided to visit the area too and see for themselves.
While these powerhouses were making their way to Nine Gloom's territory, Lin Huang and the other two had long since left via teleportation.
The three of them stepped out of the Dimensional Whirlpool at an abandoned building in the inner world, which was located an extremely long way from Nine Gloom's territory.
These were the return coordinates they had set before they embarked on their mission.
There were no heavenly god-level monsters around as this was a wasteland that spanned thousands of kilometers.
As soon as they stepped out of the Dimensional Whirlpool, Virtuoso retrieved a crystal from their space storage and activated the formation rune on it.
The next second, a virtually transparent barrier formed almost immediately, enveloping the entire building.
Under this barrier, the auras of all three of them were completely cut off from the outside world. They would not be sensed now.
"In our current condition, the two of us definitely can't leave the Abyss. If we're attacked on the way back, we'll just be a burden to you," Virtuoso put the formation crystal down and turned around, saying to Lin Huang, "So for the next few days, the two of us will have to temporarily stay here and recuperate. We'll leave together when we've more or less recovered our ability."
"Approximately how long will that take?" Lin Huang asked.
"I'm guessing at least ten days to half a month," Saber9 was the first to answer this question, "The trump cards that we forcibly used earlier have definite repercussions. We need sufficient time to nurse our physical body and spirit so that the backlash won't leave behind any unseen injuries."
Beside him, Virtuoso nodded slightly, "We might need to trouble you to protect us for this period of time."
"Of course!" Lin Huang agreed right away, "Let's divide the loot first."
Once he finished speaking, Lin Huang brought out all the loot he had collected earlier, including all two hundred-over Nirvana Trees.
"In this battle, even though the both of us did contribute our efforts, you're the one who deserves the most credit. Not only that, you killed Nine Gloom," Virtuoso said while bringing out the spoils they had collected, "If we go by contribution, the two of us actually have no right to take anything."
Saber9, who was standing by, said nothing. He also brought out all of his loot and piled it onto the ground.
"The two of you killed Nine Gloom once each, respectively, and exhausted your trump cards as well." Lin Huang in no way felt that he should take everything.
"Let's do it this way. Apart from the Nirvana Trees, all the other loot is yours," Virtuoso took a moment to think, then proposed a distribution plan, "You take half of the Nirvana Trees, while Saber9 and I share the remaining half. However, we won't take them for free. We'll trade you for them at the universe's market price."
"I agree." Saber9 indicated his consent.
"Let's not talk about market price. You can just divide the Nirvana Trees between you," Lin Huang said generously.
"Do you know how much a Nirvana Tree costs in the universe?" Virtuoso's tone was rather odd.
"How much is it?" Now that Virtuoso had brought the matter up, Lin Huang was rather curious.
"A heavenly god-level Nirvana Tree's starting price at auction would be that of a top-notch god sequence relic," Saber9 revealed, smiling.
Lin Huang was stunned when he heard this, upon which he hurriedly changed his mind. "I think it's a great idea then, trading them at the market price…"
One must know that Virtuoso and Saber9 would get over a hundred trees if they were to share. The value would be on par with over one hundred top-notch god sequence relics.
Although Lin Huang was not petty, a profligate gesture like giving away over one hundred top-notch god sequence relics for free was something he would never be able to do.
"Would you like Divine Crystals or something else?" Virtuoso asked.
"I don't want Divine Crystals. Let's trade with other resources then. I haven't figured out what I want yet, though," Lin Huang said after giving it some thought.
"We owe you then. Tell me when you've thought of what you want. I'll inform Saber9 at that point." Virtuoso nodded.
"Alright!"
After the three of them had discussed things, they very soon divided up the loot.
Virtuoso and Saber9 each sat down cross-legged and began recuperating from their injuries.
Lin Huang watched for a while. After pondering for a little, he left behind a clone, then exited the building.
Virtuoso and Saber9 would need over ten days at least for their recovery this round. He could not possibly keep waiting here the entire time.
Apart from helping Virtuoso to obtain the castellan's seal of Phantom City, Lin Huang's purpose for entering the Abyss this time was to elevate his combat strength.
To do this, he needed to plunder a massive amount of Rule Bending Powers.
Furthermore, in the Abyss, there were massive numbers of heavenly god-level monsters that could be slaughtered. It was the perfect place for plundering.
After leaving the building where Virtuoso and Saber9 were recovering, Lin Huang used his Divine Telekinesis to search for heavenly god-level monsters nearby. He then began a gory massacre.
Within a mere day, he had slaughtered hundreds of mid-level and high-level Heavenly Gods. He successfully plundered over one hundred million Rule Bending Powers and over one thousand sequence powers, successfully elevating to ninth-rank true god-level.
After elevating to ninth-rank, Lin Huang could distinctly feel that this was not the end of true god-level yet.
After his elevation, he could still plunder more Rule Bending Powers by killing Heavenly Gods. His body had not yet reached satiety in its ability to contain Rule Bending Power.
Therefore, for the next few days, he chose to continue his plundering.
For one, he wanted to see how much Rule Bending Power his body could actually contain. For another, he wanted to know if there was a tenth-rank after ninth-rank.
Lin Huang ran into some small problems over the next few days.
The reason was that the powerhouses in the inner world soon noticed that heavenly god-level powerhouses were disappearing en masse. Some hid completely in the surface world, while some teamed up in groups.
However, this did not significantly affect Lin Huang's hunting.
Very quickly, four days went by. The limit on the number of Rule Bending Powers that Lin Huang could plunder reached a new high.
He achieved another breakthrough in his combat strength once he obtained almost six hundred million Rule Bending Powers.
He had broken through from ninth-rank to a rank that nobody had ever reached before—tenth-rank true god-level!
After he had achieved a breakthrough in his combat strength, Lin Huang noticed that his body's capacity for containing Rule Bending Powers increased once again.
For the next ten days or so, he continued hunting and plundering. However, he discovered that the efficiency of his plundering rapidly began to plummet.
There were fewer and fewer Heavenly Gods in the inner world.
Given that Heavenly God powerhouses had several times formed groups to fight him, and all of them had been consecutively massacred, almost all of the remaining Heavenly Gods had fled out of the inner world.
For almost ten days after that, the number of Rule Bending Powers he mastered merely broke through to 1.3 billion—far from even reaching his upper limits.
However, Saber9 and Virtuoso had now come out of their closed-door cultivation one after the other. Lin Huang had no choice but to stop his hunting.
Although they had spent close to half a month cultivating, the pair had yet to regain peak condition. They had recovered to around ninety percent at most.
However, both of them knew that they would need several times the duration they had spent to be restored to their peak. Therefore, they decided not to hold things up any further.
As soon as Lin Huang himself returned to the building, Saber9 and Virtuoso spoke almost simultaneously the moment they saw him.
"You've gotten more powerful again?!"
Although Lin Huang had hidden his combat strength, they were very familiar with his aura from the time they had spent together. Even if the change was very subtle, they were able to sense it.
"You've broken through to heavenly god-level?!" Saber9 could not help asking.
"It doesn't really seem like he's broken through to heavenly god-level…" Beside him, Virtuoso repudiated Saber9's speculation.
"I've only broken through to ninth-rank," Lin Huang explained, smiling.
He did not reveal the rest, which was that he had then broken through to tenth-rank.
The pair did not pursue the matter further after hearing that.
After all, whatever chance encounters Lin Huang ran into were his own private affair. They did not continue probing.
"How are you both?" In reality, Lin Huang could sense that the duo had yet to regain peak condition. He could also roughly guess why they were in a hurry to get out of closed-door cultivation. He only asked what he did to find out if they were prepared.
"We're not in too bad a shape." Virtuoso nodded.
"Yes, we can't drag things out any further." Saber9 nodded as well.
The expedition of conquest that the powerhouses from the great world were carrying out in the Abyss was just a small-scale operation that was impossible to maintain for an extended length of time. If Lin Huang and the others delayed any further, it would be hard for them to leave the Abyss when the lord-level powerhouses from the great world had left. If by chance, the three of them were targeted by half-step lord-level or lord-level powerhouses, they would not be able to leave at all, even if they wanted to.
"Let's go then!" Lin Huang said nothing more
Virtuoso put away the formation crystal and summoned the Dimensional Whirlpool again. The three stepped into it, one after the other, without hesitation.
Chapter 1596: Going Back The Way They Came
After getting out of Phantom City, Lin Huang and the other two quickly contacted Lan Ling and Tu Tong.
Within half an hour, the five of them finally met up together again.
Lan Ling and Tu Tong were obviously somewhat moved upon seeing that Lin Huang, Virtuoso, and Saber9 all appeared to be in one piece and that nobody was missing.
"Did you find the Phantom City?!" Tu Tong asked, restraining his emotions.
"We did." Virtuoso nodded.
"Did you get the stuff?" Tu Tong hastily followed up with this.
"Yes, we even managed to obtain it a little more smoothly than anticipated," Virtuoso replied, smiling.
"I thought all of you wouldn't be coming back…" As Lan Ling spoke, tears welled up in her eyes.
"This girl has been crying goodness knows how many times over the last couple of days," Tu Tong said, somewhat at a loss for words.
"Silly girl, stop crying. Look, aren't we all here now in one piece?" Lin Huang comforted her rather helplessly.
Although age-wise, he was the youngest within the group, he was considered on par with Virtuoso and Saber9 in terms of ability. Naturally, he thought of Tu Tong and Lan Ling as his juniors.
He also knew that Virtuoso and Saber9 were not the types who would comfort people. He had no choice but to step into the breach himself and help Lan Ling calm down as soon as possible.
"All of you have been missing for over twenty days. To be honest, when you didn't return on the third day, I guessed that you might already have gone ahead and entered Phantom City right away. You didn't come back either as the days went by, which further confirmed my speculations."
"There was a powerful guardian at Phantom City. We went in directly, after considering that you might not make it past the guardian, given your level of ability," Virtuoso explained.
In reality, this was just an excuse. The real reason was that right after passing the guardian's test, the three of them had been so impatient to get inside Phantom City that they had hurried through the gates, completely forgetting about Tu Tong and Lan Ling.
It was not until after they had passed through the gates into Phantom City that they belatedly recalled there were two remaining members of the group who had not entered yet. Therefore, the three of them discussed the matter and came up with this explanation.
Fortunately, Tu Tong and Lan Ling believed the explanation and did not dwell further on it.
Tu Tong said very frankly, "To be honest, by the time both of us had waited until the fifteenth day, we were sure that all of you had perished in Phantom City. But this girl was unwilling to leave; she insisted on waiting some more. She told me to wait for another fifteen days and see. If you hadn't come out by then, she would leave with me and say nothing more about it. I couldn't sway her, so I had no choice but to wait with her. Honestly, we didn't really hold out much hope. I can't believe that we did actually wait until you came back…
"Of course, we haven't been idle all this time either. We've been cultivating while hunting the monsters that are nearby…"
When Tu Tong saw that Lan Ling still could not calm down, he had no option but to describe in detail what they had encountered in the last twenty or so days.
By the time he finished speaking, Lan Ling's emotions had finally settled down at last.
Under questioning from the pair, Lin Huang and the other two also gave a brief account of what had transpired in Phantom City.
At the end, when they heard how Lin Huang had killed Nine Gloom, Tu Tong and Lan Ling's gazes were filled with admiration when they looked at him.
The five of them conversed for a while, then Virtuoso finally got down to business.
"I've obtained the castellan's seal of Phantom City, so my objective for this trip has been achieved. Do the rest of you have anything you want to do in the Abyss? If there is, do speak up if you need help so we can work together and finish it as soon as possible. If not, then let's get ready to leave."
As he spoke, Virtuoso glanced around the rest of the group, his gaze lingering on Lin Huang very briefly.
Everyone shook their heads.
As far as Lin Huang was concerned, he had already elevated to tenth-rank. Although he had yet to reach peak tenth-rank, there was no need for him to finish this in the Abyss.
Furthermore, the most urgent matter at hand was to get Virtuoso and the rest out of here. After all, Virtuoso and Saber9 were not in the best of conditions.
As for the rest, Virtuoso had invited them to come along and help, so they did not have any other objectives.
Virtuoso nodded slightly after seeing that Lin Huang did not say anything. "Alright then, let's go!"
Lan Ling immediately said, "We've already worked out our return route."
Previously in Phantom City, everything was cut off from the outside world. Therefore, Lin Huang, Virtuoso, and Saber9 had dared to use dimensional teleportation techniques.
However, they did not dare do so now that they were back in the Abyss.
This was because there was a definite chance of the spatial fluctuations attracting the attention of half-step Lords or even Lords.
The safest way of returning was to go back the way they had come.
Fortunately, since Lan Ling and Tu Tong had had nothing to do for the last few days, they had already figured out part of the return route.
With Tu Tong leading the way, all five of them rose slightly into the air. They set off in the distance, flying low the entire way.
Along the way, they did encounter obstacles in the form of Night Demon Firs and Dead Spirit Vines in the dense forest. These were instantly dispatched by Lin Huang's flying daggers. Virtuoso and the rest did not even have a chance to attack.
After getting out of the Demonic Fir Forest, the five continued hurrying along.
On the way, Lin Huang easily killed off any monsters that attacked them. None of the creatures required a second flying dagger to dispose of them.
Virtuoso and Saber9 initially thought they would be able to help if any of the creatures got away from Lin Huang.
They had not expected that Lin Huang would not even give them a chance to do so.
Secretly, they were grateful when they saw this. They thought that he had taken all the fighting upon himself as he was worried about their injuries.
In reality, however, Lin Huang was grabbing all the monsters for himself only so he could plunder more Rule Bending Powers.
In less than half an hour, they had returned to the familiar toxic fog swamp.
Sensing that Tu Tong was slowing down in the lead, Lin Huang immediately said via voice transmission, "There's no need to slow down. I'll get rid of all the monsters we encounter along the way. Just prepare to defend yourselves in case."
If it were anyone else, Tu Tong might have hesitated. After all, the toxic fog swamp was different from other places. The Fiendish Swamp Monsters and Poison Arrow Frogs were extremely skilled at ambush and stealth killings. Not only that, they were immensely poisonous.
However, after hearing the story of how Lin Huang had killed Nine Gloom—a ninth-rank lord-level powerhouse—and after seeing him kill the Night Demon Firs and Dead Spirit Vines in one hit, Tu Tong chose to believe Lin Huang with barely any hesitation.
The five of them continued flying at full speed over the toxic fog swamp.
Almost immediately, the Fiendish Swamp Monsters ambushed them. Lin Huang sent his telekinetic flying daggers shooting out, easily slicing through all the tentacles that besieged them. Not only that, the flying daggers impaled the Fiendish Swamp Monsters one after the other.
The initial ambush instantly turned into a massacre.
Lin Huang had originally planned on killing his way through. He had not expected, however, that before all of them had even gotten halfway over the swamp, there would already be very few monsters trying to ambush them.
It was not that there were no hidden monsters in the toxic fog swamp. It was just that they saw how forcefully Lin Huang suppressed their attacks and did not dare try anything more.
This proved that even monsters with low intelligence had survival instincts as well.
After passing over the toxic fog swamp, the five of them found themselves out of the foggy area at last.
"If we proceed any further, we'll come to the Disaster Abyss Land."
Tu Tong and Lan Ling were still a little worried about such a place.
Not only did the Disaster Abyss Land have many different Disasters, but the various extreme negative emotions were also frighteningly infectious. It would be extremely problematic if any of them were contaminated.
"Don't worry. Now at least we can basically confirm that we're only in the middle layer of the Abyss. The highest combat strength of the Abyssal creatures here is only ninth-rank heavenly god-level—no higher than that. It's the same in the Disaster Abyss Land as well," Lin Huang was very casual when saying this, "Just head back using our original route."
Although he sounded indifferent, the other four could tell that he did not take ninth-rank Heavenly Gods seriously at all.
When they heard this, Tu Tong and Lan Ling's worries immediately settled, almost miraculously.
The two of them proceeded to lead the way and swooped into the Disaster Abyss Land with practically no slowing down.
Chapter 1597: The Bug Queen Has Awakened?!
The Disaster Abyss Land still had that familiar stench and was filled with an air that made one extremely uneasy.
Lin Huang and the rest chose to return by their original route.
Under Tu Tong and Lan Ling's guidance, the five of them entered the Gluttons' territory first.
Compared to before, the five of them progressed through the area more than a few times faster now.
Within less than an hour, they had navigated through the Gluttons' territory.
However, in this short one hour, Lin Huang killed over 200 Gluttons. His efficiency in slaughtering them was certainly no lower than in the beginning when he spent a full day doing so.
After going through the Gluttons' territory, they continued on their original route from before, passed through the territories of the Greeds, Jealousies, and Furies one after the other.
The number of god rules that Lin Huang had plundered increased steadily.
Over four hours later, the five of them finally left the Disaster Abyss Land.
Following the route in her memory, Lan Ling soon located the Demonic Bug Maze the five of them had entered when they first arrived in the Abyss.
Tu Tong and Lan Ling's expressions were somewhat uneasy as they stared at the Demonic Bug Maze from a distance.
Nobody in the Abyss would willingly take the initiative to enter the Demonic Bug Maze.
One reason was that there were many Bug Tribe beasts within the Maze. One could exhaust oneself to death just by fighting them.
Another reason was that as soon as one entered the Maze, it was extremely difficult to find an exit and come out alive.
Fortunately, Lin Huang and the rest did not need to locate an exit. All they had to do was to find the coordinates that the five of them had been teleported to inside the Demonic Bug Maze.
There were many dimensional weak points in the Abyss that connected to various other worlds.
Virtuoso had also recorded down many dimensional weak points just in case. However, the problem was that something had happened to the coordinates when they were teleported in. As a result, they had been sent to an area outside the map that Virtuoso was familiar with.
Apart from the dimensional weak point the five of them had entered through, they had no idea at all where another weak point like that might exist. Even if they discovered another dimensional weak point, they would not dare to use it, as they had no idea what kind of world that particular weak point might lead to.
Therefore, their only option was to return to the spot where they had entered.
That spot just happened to be the Demonic Bug Maze ahead of them.
This time, they did not forcibly break in.
The Demonic Bug Maze was different from other places in that the sheer number of creatures alone would be sufficient to exhaust them all to death from the fighting.
Moreover, the Demonic Bug Maze's internal structure was extremely complex. If they alerted the enemy and were pursued by the Bug Tribe, it would be difficult for them to find the initial coordinates if they happened to panic and go down the wrong tunnel.
Based on the plan they discussed along the way, the five of them used Virtuoso's illusion to camouflage themselves as five Bladefoot Worms.
The Bladefoot Worms were fairly ordinary patrol groups in the Demonic Bug Maze.
"My illusion has a limited effect on ninth-rank Heavenly Gods. Let's hope we're lucky," Virtuoso warned them beforehand.
After the five had finished camouflaging themselves, they headed into the Maze's entrance one by one.
"We're quite lucky." Tu Tong sighed with relief when he realized that there were no bug beasts around.
"This way." Lan Lin made certain of their direction and rapidly led the team forward.
Despite their sense of urgency, the five of them did not dare to reveal any flaws that might give them away. They could only move ahead slowly at the Bladefoot Worm's normal patrol speed.
Over half an hour went by; so far everything had gone smoothly.
They ran into some bugs along the way, and they even passed by a few of the bugs' gathering areas, but they were not discovered.
However, when they encountered a decaying giant beetle, Virtuoso suggested that they hide inside it.
Along the way, they could not guarantee that the group would not bump into bug beasts with powerful psychic powers that might expose their disguise. It would be safer to hide within the decaying giant beetle's body.
The five had no objections to this suggestion. Actually, the five of them remembered that they had also hidden in a decaying giant beetle's body over a month ago when they had just entered the Demonic Bug Maze.
This poor decaying giant beetle suffered the same fate as its predecessor.
After Virtuoso had taken control of the creature via their illusion skills, Lin Huang cut an opening on its abdomen. The five of them blocked their sense of smell and enveloped themselves in Divine Telekinesis. They then wriggled into the beetle's body one after the other, retracting their auras as much as they could.
Under Virtuoso's control, the decaying giant beetle turned around and slowly moved in the direction from which the five of them had come.
These decaying giant beetles were not particularly welcome in the Maze.
They possessed low intelligence, and they moved very slowly. An intense rotten stench emanated from their bodies, and they were poisonous as well. Basically, no bugs were willing to get close to them.
The Demonic Bug Maze accepted the decaying giant beetles' presence because they would eat the trash the other bugs left behind. They were the scavengers of the entire Maze.
They would wander among the various Bug Tribes daily in search of food remnants.
No matter where the decaying giant beetle went, all the bugs would not find anything unusual about that.
It was not the first time that Lin Huang's group had hidden in a decaying giant beetle's body; they found it much easier this time around.
It was still the same familiar stench and the same familiar sticky feeling.
Now that they were in a familiar place, Lin Huang even had an absurd thought cross his mind. 'If not for the intense stench of decay, the corrosive toxin, the infectious Abyssal energy particles, and the stickiness, this fellow could actually be considered quite a good mode of transport. At least it walks steadily; it doesn't jolt at all.'
All five members of the group fell silent for a long time in the decaying giant beetle's abdomen.
Apart from Lan Ling, who would speak occasionally as she pointed out the way, the rest did not say a word.
In an environment like this, everyone lost their desire to converse. All they wanted was to arrive at their destination as soon as possible so that they could get out of these filthy conditions.
"What plans do the rest of you have after we get out of here?" Lin Huang could not help breaking the silence as he sensed the atmosphere was rather oppressive.
"Go into closed-door cultivation to refine the castellan's seal, then elevate to heavenly god-level." Virtuoso's answer was simple.
Seeing that Virtuoso did not plan to say anything more, Tu Tong was the next to take up the subject. "I'll go into closed-door cultivation so I can break through to heavenly god-level as soon as possible."
"Me too." From where she was off to one side, Lan Ling gave an even simpler answer.
"I've been rather enlightened, this trip into the Abyss," Saber9 glanced at Lin Huang as he said this, "I'm preparing to go into closed-door cultivation for a while to digest things. I'll think about elevating my combat strength only after that."
"Do you still plan on remaining with Death Sickle?" Virtuoso suddenly asked Lin Huang.
"I think Death Sickle is pretty good," Lin Huang answered with a smile, "They have resources, and they're reliable. I don't have to worry about anything."
"Are you interested in visiting the Club to look around?" Virtuoso used voice transmission to ask this.
Lin Huang was startled when he heard that. Immediately, he asked through voice transmission, "Does the Club have a branch in the great world?"
"Of course it does. There are branches in all the worlds where there are Club members." After saying this, Virtuoso seemed to feel that they had not been cautious enough, so they added, "There are a handful of worlds that have only one or two members, so there aren't any branches there. The number is too low."
"How many members does the branch in the great world have?" Lin Huang asked.
"Including you and I, there are five who are presently still alive," Virtuoso went on to explain, "There are two who are like you—they're locals. There's one who is like me, a reincarnated being's clone."
"What are their combat strengths like?" Lin Huang probed a bit further.
"Apart from both of us, they're all Lords." Virtuoso's answer made Lin Huang fall silent.
After a moment of consideration, Lin Huang shook his head. "For now, I won't contact the other three yet."
He could not be certain whether or not there were spies from the Raiders among those three.
In reality, although he had developed a sort of friendship with Virtuoso from their trip into the Abyss, he had yet to trust Virtuoso completely and exclude them from being a Raider.
Furthermore, before he had sufficient ability to protect himself, he did not wish to reveal himself and attract the Raiders' attention, especially lord-level Raiders.
"Very well, I can understand that." Virtuoso seemed to see through Lin Huang's caution. "If you don't personally meet them, however, I can't reveal their identities to you. I hope you can understand why."
"I understand." Lin Huang nodded.
The voice transmission conversation between the two only took a moment. Saber9 and the rest did not notice anything.
Now that Lin Huang had initiated things, all five of them engaged in desultory, somewhat forced conversation.
After approximately two hours or more, there had been some scares along the way, but nothing had happened. Finally, the decaying giant beetle brought the five of them to the spot they had set coordinates for when they initially entered the Abyss.
After Virtuoso had alerted everyone, all five of them exited the decaying giant beetle's body one by one.
Virtuoso remained cautious and did not remove the illusion that camouflaged the five of them as Bladefoot Worms.
They glanced at the decaying giant beetle; in the end, they did not kill it. Instead, they let Virtuoso wipe its memory and send it on its way.
Not long after the decaying giant beetle had left, Virtuoso brought out a space-time flying shuttle the size of a human palm and rapidly performed complicated hand seals.
A moment later, the space-time flying shuttle tore open a Dimensional Whirlpool in the void.
At almost the same time, the entire Demonic Bug Maze began to vibrate intensely. A terrifying aura rose at alarming speed from deep under the ground.
"The Bug Queen has awakened?!"
Lin Huang and the others immediately stepped into the Dimensional Whirlpool without hesitation, fearing it might already be too late.
The instant the Dimensional Whirlpool closed, a sharp claw pierced through the layers of space and landed right on the spot where the Whirlpool had vanished.
Right after that, a shriek of pure rage echoed through the entire Demonic Bug Maze.
Chapter 1598: The Immeasurable Calamity Fire
In the Great Heaven Palace, Lin Huang patiently sorted out the rewards he had obtained from this trip into the Abyss.
Above all else, the biggest gain was that his combat strength had broken through two ranks. He had elevated from eighth-rank true god-level to tenth-rank.
Although he had yet to achieve peak tenth-rank, he had mastered over 1.5 billion types of rules in his inner world.
Based on the precedents established previously, Lin Huang guessed that he might have to accumulate up to 1.8 billion to reach his limit.
This was not a difficult task for Lin Huang. It was just a matter of time.
In truth, he could now actually start thinking about how to elevate to heavenly god-level.
However, he put that problem aside for now and resumed checking over his gains.
Over the past one month of killing various heavenly god-level monsters in the Abyss, apart from plundering Rule Bending Powers, he had also plundered over twenty thousand god sequence chains. The god sequence chains in the God Territory within him had surpassed thirty thousand in number.
He had obtained over five thousand God Territory Shell Remnants.
In general, most people would not dare to refine the God Territory Shell Remnants of Abyssal creatures, as there would still be a great deal of Abyssal energy remaining within. Such energy was an extremely virulent contaminant.
However, this was not a problem for Lin Huang.
The Eternal Fire left by Qi Muxiong's Goldfinger could absorb and convert all sorts of energy, including Abyssal energy.
Others would be terrified of Abyssal energy, worried that they might be contaminated by it. However, to the Eternal Fire, the Abyssal energy was delicious.
All Lin Huang had to do was wait for the Eternal Fire to completely devour the Abyssal energy. Then he could start to refine and integrate the five thousand-over God Territory Shell Remnants.
Apart from these resources that he could directly utilize, Lin Huang had also obtained a massive amount of materials from Abyssal creatures. Not only that, most of these were heavenly god-level materials.
A lot of these were superb research materials. Many others could also be used to refine weapons and medicines.
Based on the amount and the quality of materials he now possessed, Lin Huang felt certain that he would be able to get a handsome price for all of them.
Naturally, the gains he obtained this round also included the hundred-over Nirvana Trees, but Lin Huang did not plan on selling them.
Virtuoso had given Lin Huang some information on the function of the Nirvana Trees. All it took was a mere glance at this, and he immediately realized how precious the trees were. If he were not forced into an absolute last resort, he would not part with them at all—not a single one of them!
Apart from these surface gains, Lin Huang had managed to obtain several Skill Cards and over a dozen complete Monster Cards from Xiao Hei due to the multitude of Abyssal creatures he had slaughtered.
Among the dozen-over Monster Cards, apart from the supreme god-level Silver-Armored Nine Gloom, who was at ninth-rank heavenly god-level, there were two pseudo-supreme god-level Monster Cards. They were Greed from the Ascetic Buddhist Tribe and a humanoid female Jealousy. Both of these possessed high combat strength, and they were both seventh-rank heavenly god-level.
After spending half an hour or so to sort out all of his gains, Lin Huang finally retrieved from his space storage the item with the highest value that he had obtained from this trip to the Abyss.
This object was a red, irregularly-shaped thumb-sized crystal. Its color resembled a ruby illuminated by the sun, but its form was like a leftover fragment from a large piece of glass that had been crushed.
This small, inconspicuous crystal that did not emanate even a single trace of Divine Power waves was Virtuoso's payment to him by way of thanks at the end of the trip—a Soul seal fragment.
A Soul seal was a remnant of a crushed Dao seal after a spirit-cultivating Lord had died.
Since a Dao seal might be crushed into fragments that varied in number and quantity, each fragment would contain different information.
An example would be the Sword seal fragment that Lin Huang obtained from Virtuoso previously. In reality, not all Sword seal fragments contained Sword Dao Inheritances. Some might contain complete Sword Dao Inheritances, while some might contain incomplete Sword Dao Inheritances. Then again, some might only contain sword skills or memory images about cultivation.
Simply put, refining a Dao seal fragment was like opening a mystery box.
Those who were lucky might obtain the complete skill inheritance from the Dao seal Lord's main cultivation path. Those who were unlucky might only be able to see some worthless information in images.
As soon as Lin Huang had returned to the great world, he could barely wait to enter the Great Heaven Palace. Apart from sorting out his loot, his main objective was actually to open the mystery…no, to refine this Soul seal fragment.
He scrutinized the ruby-like Soul seal fragment in his hand carefully. The bright red light within the crystal looked like flowing lava; it also resembled a burning charcoal fire.
Lin Huang had a rough idea of what the main cultivation path of this Lord's Elemental Dao might be.
Without any hesitation, he extended his Divine Telekinesis and wrapped it around the Soul seal fragment, drawing it between his brows.
Under the guidance of Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis, the Soul seal fragment fell like a meteor, heading toward Lin Huang's spiritual dimension.
The moment it dropped into his spiritual dimension, the crystal began to burn intensely, radiating endless sparks.
At the same time, countless golden divine patterns lit up on the crystal's surface, the light from it growing more and more intense.
After the divine patterns lit up, the entire crystal began showing traces of hairline cracks. Not only that, as the divine patterns grew brighter, the bigger the cracks became.
In the end, the crystal disintegrated completely, turning into blood-red stars that masked the divine patterns.
Meanwhile, the divine patterns were spinning wildly like tiny golden snakes as they hurtled toward Lin Huang's Sword Soul.
They turned into golden streams of light that penetrated the middle of the Sword Soul's brow.
Almost at the same time, Lin Huang felt an upheaval in his mind, and endless strange messages immediately surged in.
He quickly did a scan with Divine Telekinesis to see if there were any cultivation method inheritances. However, he did not find any God's soul cultivation methods. Instead, he only found a fire element cultivation method inheritance called the Immeasurable Calamity Fire.
Just when Lin Huang was feeling a little disappointed, he saw a spark light up on the Sword Soul's brow.
"This…this is the Immeasurable Calamity Fire's tinder?!" The inheritance messages were transmitted into Lin Huang's head immediately.
After the spark lit up, it swiftly began spreading from the Sword Soul's brow at alarming speed. Within the time it took for a breath, it had set the entire Sword Soul alight.
"What's happening?!"
Lin Huang was shocked when he saw this. He was even a little dumbfounded.
The intense pain and burning sensation that was transmitted from the Sword Soul caused him such agony he felt as if he might die. This burning was targeted at his God's soul.
However, he soon saw an even more terrifying scene.
The flames from the Calamity Fire not only spread throughout the Sword Soul's entire body but even began spreading to areas outside the Sword Soul.
Days passed. In endless agony, Lin Huang watched the flame burning every single place within his body.
The flame even spread outside his body until his physical flesh began to burn.
Even his telekinetic threads were on fire, every single one of them.
The intense burning sensation spread through every nerve in Lin Huang's body. He could not think of any way to douse the fire. However, a phrase flashed through his head suddenly.
"The true spirit doesn't die, it revives in countless calamities!"
In his confused, blurred state, Lin Huang could not even remember where he had seen this phrase. However, he gradually began to calm himself. He set aside all distracting thoughts and held fast to his true spirit, completely entering a state of emptiness.
The burning body in the Great Heaven Palace was losing its life force bit by bit.
One day, two days, three days…
A hundred days, two hundred days, three hundred days…
A thousand days, two thousand days, three thousand days…
The flame burned for an entire three thousand and thirty-three days before finally extinguishing itself gradually.
On the spot where Lin Huang had initially been sitting cross-legged, there remained only a pitch-black scorched body. Even its features were completely unrecognizable.
After an unknown length of time, a surge of life force arose from the blackened body.
The scorched corpse that had been sitting with its legs crossed suddenly opened its eyes…
Chapter 1599: Lin Huang Versus Sword1
Lin Huang had utterly not anticipated that the benefits he obtained from this Soul seal fragment would so greatly surpass his expectations.
Although there was no Soul Dao inheritance in this Soul seal fragment, there was an Immeasurable Calamity Fire tinder concealed within it.
As soon as it had been integrated, the tinder was swiftly set ablaze. Not only had the flame grown, but it had also fully cleansed Lin Huang inside out.
Lin Huang checked carefully and discovered that the benefits he had reaped were considerable.
His physical strength had originally been merely at ninth-rank heavenly god-level, but now it had achieved peak ninth-rank heavenly god-level.
Ninth-rank heavenly god-level combat cultivators aside, his physical body was in no way weaker than any other top-tier ninth-rank powerhouse.
His God's soul was also strong enough to reach peak ninth-rank heavenly god-level, which might possibly be second only to a ninth-rank heavenly god-level Soul Dao cultivator.
Even the speed of Seamless's normal revolutions had increased approximately threefold. The number of telekinetic thread divisions per hour had elevated to nine thousand threads.
His Divine Telekinesis had also reached peak ninth-rank heavenly god-level strength.
If he were to use only telekinetic weapons, he would still be evenly matched against most top ninth-rank heavenly god-level powerhouses.
The Sword Soul's strengthening by the flame had caused Lin Huang's Sword Heart to become even more intensely luminous. He had only just elevated to Heavenly Heart Sword Dao not long ago, and now he was already at the peak of Heavenly Heart.
Aside from that, the size of his entire God Territory had increased almost onefold.
It had to be said that the benefits Lin Huang had reaped from the Immeasurable Calamity Fire far surpassed what he would have gotten by directly obtaining a Soul Dao Inheritance.
Anyway, in truth, Lin Huang did not lack for Soul Dao Inheritances. He had yet to digest the half-step lord-level telekinesis inheritance he had obtained from God Capital previously.
The inheritance had come from a half-step lord-level Divine Telekinesis Master, and Lin Huang felt it was a better fit for his specialization.
Not only that, the nameless Divine Telekinesis visualization images from the inheritance had come from an unknown civilization in the ancient era. According to Lin Huang's inherited memory, this half-step Lord had not completed visualizing them either.
Out of one hundred and eight visualization images, Lin Huang had only visualized eighty of them at present.
As it took too much time to visualize the later images, he could only put them aside for now.
Lin Huang's thoughts drifted for a while before he looked at the red flame burning in his palm.
"The Immeasurable Calamity Fire…"
This was a flame that could aid in cultivation. Its main purpose was to assist in Soul Dao cultivation, but it could be used to aid in physical cultivation as well.
Since the Immeasurable Calamity Fire came with unique attributes, it could consume any sort of flame. It could also replicate all the characteristics of the flames that it consumed.
It could even imitate all sorts of Fire God Rules and god sequence chains…
However, Lin Huang was thinking about something else as he stared at the ever-changing form of the Immeasurable Calamity Fire in his palm.
Did Virtuoso know that there was this Immeasurable Calamity Fire hidden in the inheritance?!
One had to be aware that Lin Huang had almost been killed by the Immeasurable Calamity Fire earlier.
This inheritance appeared to have helped him progress. In reality, however, it concealed an infinitely murderous intent.
If Virtuoso had known prior to this that the Immeasurable Calamity Fire was concealed in the inheritance, it proved that they had intended to dispose of Lin Huang and wanted to seize the opportunity to kill him.
However, upon careful consideration, Lin Huang felt it was not very likely that Virtuoso would know about the Immeasurable Calamity Fire.
After reaching an agreement with Virtuoso regarding the Abyss trip, Lin Huang had used Death Sickle's channels at the first possible chance so that he could check for information about the Dao seal fragment he had received as pre-payment.
Through Odyl, half-step Lords and lord-level powerhouses could indeed discover the attributes of various Dao seal fragments and some other general information. However, they would not be able to tell what information was contained within the seal.
Only by refining could one discover in detail the contents of the Dao seal fragment.
Furthermore, each Dao seal fragment would be imprinted in the refiner's body after refinement. It could not be extracted unless the refiner died.
There was also another reason why Lin Huang felt fairly sure that Virtuoso knew nothing about the Immeasurable Calamity Fire.
When Virtuoso initially invited Lin Huang to enter the Abyss with them, the proposed condition was to first pay Lin Huang the Soul seal fragment, with the Sword seal fragment to be paid upon completion of the deal. It was Lin Huang who had requested for the Sword seal fragment first and the Soul seal fragment at the end of the trip.
If both of them had gone by Virtuoso's original arrangement, Lin Huang would have obtained the Soul seal fragment first.
If he had died at that point, it was of no benefit to Virtuoso when going into the Abyss.
Lin Huang's excessive caution was not because he lacked trust in his friends.
It was just that after hearing Yang Ling's story, he could not help but be extremely vigilant.
A Raider could masquerade as Yang Ling's brother, lying low around him for over ten thousand years just for the opportunity to plunder the Goldfinger within him.
It was entirely possible for them to disguise themselves with any identity, just to get close to Lin Huang.
In truth, Lin Huang did not really trust the Club's headquarters, much less one of their small branches.
After all, everything about the Club that he learned, including their stance against the Raiders, had been revealed by the Club members themselves.
He had not been able to find out anything at all about the Club on other channels.
Fortunately, this time it was all smoke and no fire. Not only had he not died, but he had also advanced even further in his abilities.
He was sufficiently confident in himself at present. Apart from lord-level and half-step lord-level entities, he did not fear being challenged by any other powerhouses.
Lin Huang put away the fire in his palm, his eyes gleaming brightly. He got up and pushed open the doors of the Great Heaven Palace.
When he saw that Lin Huang had come out of closed-door cultivation, Sword1 hurriedly stood up from his cross-legged position at the doors.
It did not matter if Lin Huang was at the Great Heaven Palace or not—Sword1 never abandoned his role as a guardian. Day and night, he kept watch at the doors of the Great Heaven Palace.
When he sensed Lin Huang's aura, delight flashed through Sword1's eyes once more.
"You seemed to have improved again during this round of closed-door cultivation, Lord Swordmaster."
"A little bit."
Lin Huang nodded lightly and took a few steps forward. He suddenly turned his head to look at Sword1.
"Sword1, come to the arena with me. I want to see what the level of my actual combat skill is now."
"Of course, Lord Swordmaster," Sword1 agreed without hesitation. He was also eager to find out how powerful Lin Huang was now.
One reason why Lin Huang chose Sword1 to be his sparring opponent was that he was the nearest in proximity. Another reason was that Sword1's ability was considered to be the best among all the Heavenly Gods—close to half-step Lord even.
Lin Huang wanted to know if his abilities had reached the same level as Sword1. If not, he wished to find out how far apart they were.
The two of them entered the arena and fought intensely for one full day before finally ending the battle.
In truth, approximately half an hour after the battle began, Lin Huang already knew that his abilities were lacking in comparison with Sword1.
Going by just the number of sequences that each of them could use, Lin Huang was already outclassed.
Although the Immeasurable Calamity Fire had made Lin Huang stronger, his physical body and spirit strength could only sustain eighteen god sequence chains at most.
As a rank-5.5 super genius, Sword1 had mastered thirty-one god sequence chains. Even though he had suppressed his ability to match Lin Huang's level, only using eighteen god sequence chains, his familiarity with sequence power and his combat experience were things that Lin Huang could not compare with by far.
To Sword1, the final sparring result was a draw. However, Lin Huang himself knew that he had lost.
In the great world, Sword1's ability would certainly be ranked as one of the top three powerhouses below half-step lord-level.
Being able to face a powerhouse like this on equal footing was sufficient proof of Lin Huang's own abilities.
As Sword1 had screened off the sparring session, none of the other Sword Servants witnessed it.
However, the next day after Lin Huang had left, some Sword Servants still managed to find out about the spar and that Lin Huang and Sword1 were evenly matched in battle.
The news immediately spread like wildfire to all the Sword Servants. All of them were in a state of disbelief when they first heard this, but after that, their admiration for Lin Huang knew no bounds.
Only Sword1 remained seated at the doors of the Great Heaven Palace, cross-legged and eyes closed, looking as if nothing had happened.
However, if anyone were to look closely, they would see that the corners of his mouth had quirked up in the tiniest of smiles.
Chapter 1600: We'll Rent The Devil Hunter Star Zone To You
When Lin Huang left the Great Heaven Palace, a mere three and a half days had passed in the outside world.
Lin Huang took a quick look at the date, then stepped through the dimensional portal and returned to the Devil Hunter Star Zone.
He had chosen the Devil Hunter Star Zone as his temporary station mainly because it was sufficiently far from the human world's core zone and not under the jurisdiction of any major organizations. Moreover, it had sufficient resources and was quite suited for future development.
Another important reason was that the Sword Servants under Lin Huang's command were mainly Protoss or members from other tribes. There were less than ten humans in total. If their identities were discovered by any major human organizations, things would become slightly problematic.
In no time at all, Lin Huang managed to locate the gathering place for Lin Xin and the others through a Divine Telekinesis scan.
This was a series of connected palaces constructed on a high mountain.
Lin Huang passed through multiple sword formations in a flash and entered the palace courtyard.
Almost as soon as he appeared, the Sword Servants sensed his aura and immediately hurried over to welcome him.
Only four Sword Servants had remained at this station; they were led by Sword12. Lin Huang noticed that Sword12 had disguised his combat strength as first-rank heavenly god-level, while the other three Sword Servants had disguised theirs as high-rank true god-level as well.
Lin Huang was taken aback at first but then immediately realized the reason for them doing so.
"Welcome back, Lord Swordmaster!"
"This gathering point that you've found isn't bad at all," Lin Huang commented, looking around and smiling.
"The Sword Alliance's headquarters naturally has to be at least a bit more impressive," Sword12 answered with a chuckle, his bald head gleaming.
"You've set up the Sword Alliance?" Lin Huang raised his brows at this.
Although he did return to the Devil Hunter Star Zone occasionally, over the last few months he had been busy with his own affairs. He had initially intended to found the Sword Alliance when he had time to spare since it was not urgent. He had never expected Sword12 to have already set it up. He did recall mentioning this to Sword12 during a casual chat previously, about wanting to set up the Sword Alliance in the Devil Hunter Star Zone.
"I thought I'd set it up first, so I registered at the Hunt's station, then bought this piece of land as our headquarters," Sword12 explained immediately, "In the end, because I was registered as heavenly god-level, the Hunt certified the Sword Alliance as a grade-4 organization right away…"
Lin Huang continued nodding as he listened.
Once his combat strength had elevated to tenth-rank, the Sword Servants' combat strength had been unsealed to ninth-rank heavenly god-level. Their abilities had almost been restored to their previous peak.
However, to prevent attracting unwanted attention, on the surface Sword12 only displayed first-rank heavenly god-level ability. When he set up the Sword Alliance, the other Sword Servants also hid their true strength.
Since Sword12 was human, as well as a heavenly god-level powerhouse, it was a piece of cake for his application to be approved.
After doing some background checks, the staff from the Hunt had even approached Sword12 with the suggestion that he take up the post of the Devil Hunter Star Zone's guardian. (Of course, they did not fully relinquish all the rights and authority.)
Every ten years, the Hunt had to reassign a Heavenly God to guard this remote zone; furthermore, nobody was willing to come here. If it were not a border that had to be guarded, the Hunt would have given up on this area long ago.
Although the entire star zone was considered to be fairly prosperous, the actual annual income was low, as half of the gross profit was to be given to the guarding Heavenly God.
Now, suddenly, a Heavenly God who was going to set up an organization there had shown up. The Hunt was more than happy to 'rent' out the piece of land. At least they would have a big part of the burden taken off their shoulders.
Sword12 agreed to this after some consideration. The reason was that if he became guardian, it would be of the greatest benefit to the Sword Alliance's development in the Devil Hunter Star Zone.
To a grade-6 top organization like the Hunt, a small organization of less than ten members formed by a first-rank Heavenly God would be limited, no matter how much they expanded. They were not sufficiently powerful to become a threat.
The biggest beneficiaries of the Hunt's generosity were Sword12 and the Sword Alliance.
This had even attracted a considerable number of true god-level powerhouses to try and join the Sword Alliance, but they had all been excluded by the test that Sword12 had set up.
"No wonder the other organizations on this planet are all gone…" Lin Huang finally understood why the handful of organizations that had been guarding the planet previously were no longer there when he had done a Divine Telekinesis scan earlier.
Clearly, they had given way to the grade-4 Sword Alliance organization and moved out.
Just when Lin Huang was done chatting with Sword12, Lin Xin appeared before Lin Huang in a flash. She too had sensed his aura.
"Big brother!"
Lin Huang lifted his eyes. Lin Xin was completely clad in form-fitting black training wear that set off her figure admirably.
He also noticed that her forehead and neck were beaded with tiny sweat drops. She must have been sparring with someone earlier.
Lin Xuan showed up right after Lin Xin arrived.
Obviously, Lin Xin had been sparring with Lin Xuan earlier.
Lin Huang only needed a glance to ascertain their combat strength.
Lin Xin had broken through to first-rank true god-level, while Lin Xuan had elevated to third-rank.
"Not bad, you two have broken through to true god-level." Lin Huang nodded in satisfaction.
"I just broke through two days ago." Lin Xin was over the moon at Lin Huang's compliment.
In truth, even without her explaining, Lin Huang could also see this from her aura waves.
"You've improved a lot too. It's only been a few months, and you've elevated two ranks." Lin Huang looked at Lin Xuan.
He had come back here a few times over the last few months, but Lin Xuan had almost always been in the Battlefield of the Dragon Abyss, so Lin Huang could not tell how his cultivation progress was going.
"I've still got a long way to go compared to you." Lin Xuan could vaguely sense the immense power concealed within Lin Huang's body. As of right now, he regarded Lin Huang as the ultimate role model to pursue.
"Where are Chan Dou and Xiao Mo?" Lin Huang inquired. His Divine Telekinesis had not picked them up on the scan.
However, he guessed the answer as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
"Where else can they be?" Lin Xin pursed her lips in a little moue.
From beside her, Lin Xuan explained, "Xiao Mo said he won't leave the Battlefield of the Dragon Abyss until he's achieved Virtual God rank-9. Chan Dou said he wants to elevate to true god-level as soon as he can. Huang Wuji went with them."
"It's not a bad thing for them to be so ambitious." Lin Huang nodded, smiling.
Right after that, he asked, "How about Old Fu?"
Ever since Mr. Fu elevated to second-rank true god-level, he felt that his cultivation progress had begun to slow down. Subsequently, he had gone traveling after bidding farewell to Lin Huang and the others.
However, there was a Sword Servant secretly following him. For one, it was to covertly ensure his safety. For another, it was to report on Mr. Fu's recent activities.
"Everything has been going well lately," Sword12 disclosed the information that he obtained, "He recently entered some ruins with a new acquaintance. It's just a ninth-rank true god-level ruin left behind by a Heavenly God who failed to elevate. It's not particularly dangerous."
Lin Huang nodded after hearing that. To him, Mr. Fu was not merely his teacher, but family as well.
After reporting everything to Lin Huang, Sword 12 left with the other three Sword Servants.
Once the Sword Servants left, Lin Xin—inquisitive child that she was—hung around Lin Huang, wanting to know what had been happening to him lately.
Lin Xuan did not display any desire to leave either. He quietly walked behind the siblings, who were chatting while walking, and followed them into Lin Huang's courtyard.