Chapter 1781: Above Dao-level
After calculating the number of Dao seals, Lin Huang examined the changes in his body carefully.
His physical body and God's soul had gone through three rounds of transformation in total throughout the closed-door cultivation session.
The first transformation happened when the consolidated Dao seals broke through 18,000.
The first round elevated his physical body and God's soul to major dao-level officially.
The second transformation happened when the consolidated Dao seals broke through 1.08 million.
The round of transformation caused his physical body and God's soul to break through major dao-level, reaching a new height.
The third transformation happened when the consolidated Dao seals broke through 10.8 million.
This round caused a leap in the state of his physical body and God's soul again.
Even Lin Huang had no idea how powerful his physical body and God's soul were exactly.
However, he could sense clearly that each particle in his physical body and God's soul was covered in level-10 million Dao tattoos.
He was sure that even if he did not use an Odylic defense at all, with such a level of Dao tattoo coverage, even a limit major dao-level powerhouse would not possess the strength to break through his defense.
As he had never come in contact with powerhouses above major dao-level, he could not speculate on their level of strength.
What surprised Lin Huang the most was that his Divine Telekinesis seemed to be able to divide itself endlessly when it reached such a level. It was no longer restricted.
In addition, his God Weapon flying daggers seemed to be able to divide themselves endlessly as well.
One had to know that the set of God Weapon flying daggers in his body transformed together with his physical body and God's soul.
Now that his physical body and God's soul had transformed three times, the set of God Weapon flying daggers in his body had also transformed three times.
He did not know what grade his God Weapons, that were initially precious treasures, were now.
He only knew that exotic treasure was the grade above precious treasure, but he did not know what the grade above exotic treasure was.
No matter what, he could definitely kill a major dao-level powerhouse in a single hit judging by the strength of the God Weapons in his body.
He had refined all of the Kingdoms during this round of closed-door cultivation, and obtained a great leap in strength that he had never experienced before.
Lin Huang knew that it was time to head back.
He looked around after walking out of the virtual realm cabin. At the same time, he spread out his Divine Telekinesis again, yet he did not find even one Void.
In reality, he was quite suspicious of this situation.
The reason being was that whenever he came into the virtual realm to consolidate Dao seals, every time a Dao seal was consolidated, it would attract Voids who coveted his Dao seals.
However, he had consolidated close to 20 million Dao seals this time, yet not even one Void came knocking at his door.
He would even wait for a moment intentionally after he had just consolidated a Dao seal at the beginning.
He did that as he was worried that there would be Voids coming to interrupt his next round of consolidating Dao seals.
However, the truth proved that he had been overthinking things.
Not even one Void came even after he had consolidated 19.5 million Dao seals.
Although Lin Huang could not understand why that was so, he soon let it go.
After scanning his surroundings with Divine Telekinesis, he put away the virtual realm cabin and concealed his aura. He then returned to the material realm.
Almost as soon as he returned, he sensed a powerful aura.
The intensity of the aura had clearly surpassed the limit of major dao-level.
"This aura should belong to Sovereign Xuan." Lin Huang instantly made some guesses about this person's identity.
He also came up with a rough evaluation soon after. "The intensity of his aura… is roughly the same as when I had mastered six million Dao seals…" (The number of Dao seals does not directly reflect one's ability)
"So my current level of ability should've surpassed dao-level?!"
Comparing the strength of auras, Lin Huang came to a rough judgment of his ability.
"It seems like I must find out what the level above dao-level is as soon as I can."
Lin Huang thought and spread out his Divine Telekinesis through the entire star zone.
Initially, he only wanted to see what Lin Xin and the rest were doing. However, from the scan, he was surprised to find out that the star zone he was in was a little similar to the virtual realm. However, it was weaker.
He even had the feeling that he could easily tear this world apart.
"Is this the projection of a Kingdom? It's quite weak."
Lin Huang had just recalled that Liu Fu had mentioned that the entire Dongxuan City was the projection of Sovereign Xuan's Kingdom.
After merely a glance, he instantly understood the theory behind such a projection.
Its true nature was that of the state of the half-descended Kingdom.
He connected the materials in his Kingdom to the material realm, yet his Kingdom did not descend into the material realm completely.
After understanding the theory behind it, Lin Huang knew that he could do that too.
He could not help but think that he could actually find a barren sky and build such a nation when the Sword Alliance was established in the universe.
On one hand, everyone from the Sword Alliance would have their safety guaranteed. On the other hand, it would not affect their communication and exchanges in the universe.
Lin Huang did not try to tear this world apart after recalling his Divine Telekinesis, although he was quite curious about what would happen if he did.
However, he knew that Sovereign Xuan would instantly sense it as soon as he tried it.
Indeed, his current ability had far surpassed Sovereign Xuan's, but he did not want to expose his true ability.
After putting the virtual realm cabin away, Lin Huang opened the door and saw Bai still standing there.
That one glance alone gave him the sudden feeling that Bai was too weak.
In his eyes, Sovereign Xuan's aura was like the sun. When compared, Bai's aura was like a dim spark that could be put out by a mere, simple press of his finger.
'I should spare some time to elevate the imperial monsters' abilities…'
'As well as the God's Figurine's Combat Souls…'
Bai was a little frightened to be stared at by Lin Huang. He finally could no longer hold back a moment later and asked, "What's wrong?"
He did not sense the changes in Lin Huang from the closed-door cultivation session at all. After all, the gap between their abilities was just too great.
"Nothing. I just thought I should spare some time to elevate you and the rest's ability," Lin Huang said honestly.
Bai was stunned when he heard, after which he nodded to agree with him.
He also knew that they had been completely left behind in the dust by their master now.
After recalling Bai into card form, Lin Huang summoned Sword 1 through voice transmission.
"Let's take a walk to familiarize ourselves with the local markets."
Sword 1 agreed to his request without hesitation. He initially planned to spend some time during these two days taking a stroll through the markets.
Lin Huang wanted to check out the markets mainly to familiarize himself with the prices in the universe, to better compare them with Royal's market.
There were many dao-level carcasses that he wanted to sell in his storage ring.
If the Feister Star Zone paid higher than the auction on Royal's side, he did not mind handling them here directly.
They walked over to the closest market.
After a simple stroll, they headed to another few markets.
The day was soon gone as they strolled about.
Over the next few days, Lin Huang and Sword 1 had visited almost all of the markets in the Feister Star Zone.
Eventually, Lin Huang went back to Royal's auction page and posted the dao-level carcasses on it.
The reason being was that he realized that there were actually not many dao-level powerhouses in Dongxuan City after doing the comparison. He would not get a good price for all sorts of dao-level resources.
Therefore, it made sense to purchase dao-level resources here, but it would not be worth it to sell them here..
Chapter 1782: Speaking to Xia Bing
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After posting all of the dao-level monster carcasses on Royal's auction page, Lin Huang thought about it and decided to contact Xia Bing using a temporary communication device.
Knowing that he did not want to expose his identity, she left him a contact number before leaving the mystic territory.
After putting on his God Weapon mask and white robe, Lin Huang called Xia Bing's number.
The video call was connected a moment later.
Xia Bing's image, which sported a head-full of red hair, was projected on the screen. She was sitting on a couch; she looked like she was at home.
"I didn't expect you to take the initiative to contact me so soon." Xia Bing looked at Lin Huang with a smile.
Her condition was completely different compared to when she was in the mystic territory. She was clearly much more relaxed at the moment.
"How's the development on your side?" Lin Huang did not bother to make any small talk and asked directly.
Naturally, Xia Bing knew what he was asking about.
"I've done everything that I should. I've informed all of the organizations involved, and I've submitted all of the evidence I have." Although she said that, she clearly looked quite helpless. "It's chaos between the higher-ups these days in the Star Cluster. We held meetings every day. We're preparing ourselves for an internal investigation, including me, the person who reported the case."
"What about the other organizations?"
"From what I know, they're almost in the same situation." Xia Bing hesitated for a moment after saying that. She glanced at Lin Huang and decided to tell him, "However, the Longevity Tribe requests that I hand over White Brow's body. Not only that, they don't believe the authenticity of the video evidence that I recorded. The reason they gave is that I could've faked the video."
"I thought I'd hand them the body. Now that you've mentioned that, there's no need to do so anymore." Lin Huang grinned under the mask.
"The Longevity Tribe has been known to conceal their members' faults. Their tribe is huge, and there are many powerhouses. The tribesmen are used to being spoiled. I actually expected their reaction. They responded like that to an outsider like me in order to protect White Brow's reputation. They must be investigating internally as well."
"The entire Eastern Eight Zone is looking for moles now. Even if they want to protect White Brow, it's impossible for them to go against the flow."
"If you need more evidence, I can give you the bodies of Yan Jun and the rest. Of course, that excludes White Brow's body." Lin Huang had added the Longevity Tribe to his 'hate list'."
"That's great, I'll have ample evidence then. After all, there are techniques to retrieve the memories that are left behind." Xia Bing nodded in agreement.
She did not say much about Lin Huang refusing to hand White Brow's body over.
"If you hand over Jin Feng and Hu Shan's bodies, I'll try my best to request some resources for you," Xia Bing continued to speak.
"Thanks." Lin Huang nodded. "Let me know when you have time and we'll conduct the handover."
"I'm in the Sky Mirror Star Zone in Starshine City. I have a meeting at 9 am tomorrow. Try your best to give them to me before that, so that I can submit those bodies as evidence." Xia Bing thought about it and scheduled the meeting time.
"Sure." Lin Huang nodded.
He had a lot of time anyway. It would mainly depend on Xia Bing as to when they would meet.
"There's one more thing…" Xia Bing hesitated for a moment and decided to speak eventually. "Can you show yourself if they want you to act as a witness?"
Lin Huang fell into silence for a moment and shook his head. "They're not lacking in witnesses. Apart from you and me, there's Wang Xuanan from Royal and the others who were also chased after. There are at least six to seven people in total. There are definitely enough witnesses. Not only that, it's easy to find these witnesses through their memories. I don't think it's necessary for me to show myself."
"Moreover, they will definitely be suspicious of my identity if I show up looking like this. As long as the aura's strength is similar, anyone could put on a mask and white robe to disguise themselves as me. It's easy to get a peak dao-level powerhouse in the universe. Apart from creating more suspicion, I think my appearance won't be beneficial for the investigation of evidence later on. The reason being is that they will definitely come back to me to prove the authenticity of the evidence."
"Of course, I'm quite selfish too. Unless it's absolutely necessary, I don't want to show my face or expose my real identity."
"Actually, I suggested that mainly because I'm worried that there would be people disguising themselves as you and providing fake evidence to mess things up," Xia Bing said while looking rather helpless.
"If there really are people pretending to be me, you can use our video call to expose them," Lin Huang said mercilessly.
The communication devices in the universe came with an automatic recording function.
No matter video call or voice call, they would be recorded automatically. It would store the recordings for a year by default, and they would be destroyed automatically after a year.
"I'd like to declare in all seriousness that my real identity is confidential. Apart from me, nobody in the entire universe knows who I am, nor does anyone know my contact information. Including Xia Bing, nobody can contact me in any way. For this video call, I used a temporary encrypted communication device to call Xia Bing myself. After this call ends, the contact number and all of the information will be destroyed automatically."
"You guys have sufficient witnesses and evidence. I don't think it's necessary for me to show myself, nor will I attend any of the meetings of the organizations in the Eastern Eight Zone. If anyone shows up as me, it must be a person disguised as me from the Black Abyss. The person who invited the imposter, no matter who he is, which organization he's from, or how high his status is, is definitely a spy from the Black Abyss!"
Lin Huang smiled at Xia Bing after he was done saying all that in a serious tone. "If anyone shows up as me, you can expose them using the declarations."
"I have a faint feeling that this might actually come in handy." Xia Bing nodded with a smile.
"Is there anything else? If not, I'll see you tomorrow," Lin Huang asked.
"One more thing… When you come and leave tomorrow, it's best that nobody sees you and that you're not captured on camera. The reason being is that people might create rumors using that information, saying such things as I met you and asked for your contact details or something like that. If such a thing happens, your credibility will drop," Xia Bing reminded him. "I think that should be all. I'll think about what I might've missed out on later. If there is anything else, we'll talk about it when we meet tomorrow."
"Got it." Lin Huang nodded in agreement.
After hanging up on the call with Xia Bing, the temporary encrypted communication ring in his hand began to burn rapidly.
Within three to five seconds, it had turned into ashes completely.
He knew that the details of the call with Xia Bing just now had been wiped. Only she would have the archive on her side.
He lowered his head to check the time on a communication device and counted the hours until he had to meet Xia Bing. "Eleven more hours to go…"
Chapter 1783: Fantasy Island
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
There were not many powerhouses above dao-level in the Eastern Eight Zone. Almost each and every of them would project their Kingdom in the Eastern Eight Zone to build their own city.
Among these cities, there were dimensional portals that would teleport one over directly.
As long as Lin Huang paid enough Divine Crystals, he could get from Dongxuan City to any city in the Eastern Eight Zone. He could even leave the Eastern Eight Zone and go to the other zones nearby.
However, to go to Starshine City this time, he did not choose to teleport from Dongxuan City directly.
Instead, he disguised his identity and bought a ticket with a disposable Star Crystal Card.
He teleported from Dongxuan City to another city—Yuangong City.
He changed his identity again, and then he bought another ticket with a disposable Star Crystal Card to a second city—Tianfu City.
From Tianfu City, he used his third identity to teleport to his real destination—Starshine City.
Naturally, he was still using a disposable Star Crystal Card to pay for the third teleportation.
The three Star Crystal Cards were destroyed as soon as they were used.
After he arrived in Starshine City, Lin Huang secretly compared the abilities of the three divine cities' city governors.
Judging by the strength of their auras, the levels of strength of the three divine cities' city governors was similar to that of Sovereign Xuan from Royal.
"The weakest one has an aura similar to mine when I had four million Dao seals, while the most powerful one is on par with when I had eight million Dao seals…"
After drawing those conclusions, Lin Huang had a clearer idea of his true ability—The few cities' city governors were not his match.
Naturally, the thought merely flashed through his mind.
Very soon, he focused his thoughts elsewhere and used a disposable Star Crystal Card to buy a star map. He then found the exact location of the Sky Mirror Star Zone, as well as figured out the route to get there.
This time, he did not put on a new disguise for the fourth time. Instead, he went to the dimensional portal directly with his third disguise and teleported to his final destination—the Sky Mirror Star Zone.
After arriving in the Sky Mirror Star Zone, Lin Huang spread out his Divine Telekinesis silently. Very soon, he found Xia Bing's whereabouts.
She did not sense his probing at all. She was taking a bath in a relaxed manner.
Lin Huang recalled his Divine Telekinesis instantly when he saw that.
He appeared at a breakfast spot he had found when he was probing with his Divine Telekinesis earlier in a flash.
He ordered breakfast and ate it slowly.
After finishing it, Lin Huang flipped through the news and the few mainstream public information platforms in the universe. It was almost 8.30 am when he checked the time.
He then turned off the device and appeared in the living room of the hotel room where Xia Bing was in a flash.
The moment he appeared, the mask made from his God Weapon was put on automatically. At the same time, he changed into a white robe.
Meanwhile, Xia Bing happened to be sitting on the couch in the living room. She looked at Lin Huang, who had appeared out of nowhere.
"Take a seat."
At the same time Lin Huang took his seat, she waved her hand to activate a shield formation to block themselves from the outside world.
As soon as he took his seat, he took out a storage ring directly and put it on the coffee table.
"Apart from White Brow, the rest are in there."
Xia Bing did not take the ring directly. Instead, she asked with a calm expression, "Are you really planning to keep White Brow's body?"
"I can sell it." Lin Huang raised his eyebrows under the mask. "I think many people would want a limit major dao-level powerhouse's body."
"You'll offend the Longevity Tribe completely then." Xia Bing rolled her eyes at Lin Huang.
"I'm not afraid of them. If they want it, they can join the auction," Lin Huang added.
"I wouldn't have told you about the Longevity Tribe's reaction if I knew this would happen." Xia Bing looked rather helpless.
In reality, she knew that Lin Huang was only saying that.
Even if he wanted to sell it, nobody in the Eastern Eight Zone would dare to take White Brow's body.
The Longevity Tribe had been known to conceal their members' faults. Nobody in the Eastern Eight Zone dared to offend them simply.
Naturally, if he insisted on selling it, he could definitely do so outside of the Eastern Eight Zone.
Xia Bing did not dwell on the topic. Instead, she extended her arm to take the ring. She started examining its contents.
A moment later, she lifted her head and looked at Lin Huang. "You removed Jin Feng and Hu Shan's rings as well?"
"It wasn't me. It was White Brow who did it." Lin Huang pushed the responsibility away immediately.
Xia Bing shook her head and said nothing more.
Naturally, she knew that White Brow's ring had become part of Lin Huang's spoils, and he should have his own way of unlocking those storage rings.
"Is there anything else you'd like to say?" Lin Huang asked when he saw Xia Bing putting the storage ring away.
Xia Bing thought about it and decided to add further.
"If you really want to get rid of White Brow's body, don't do it in the Eastern Eight Zone. Nobody in the Eastern Eight Zone would dare to take it, including the black markets. If you dare to display the dead body in any markets in the Eastern Eight Zone, someone will definitely report it to the Longevity Tribe."
Lin Huang nodded after hearing that. "Got it. Anything else?"
"That should be it. However, there should be more developments after the meeting today. How do we stay in contact after this?" Xia Bing knew that Lin Huang would not give her his contact number.
"How long before you think they will have a result?" Lin Huang thought about it and asked.
"Should be soon. After the new evidence has been submitted, all of the organizations should respond on the same day. I speculate that there'll be a preliminary conclusion after a week at most," Xia Bing said after a moment of thought.
"I'll contact you in a week then." Lin Huang nodded.
Realizing that it was time to bid farewell, Xia Bing lowered her head to check the time. "Is there anything that you'd like to ask or request?"
Lin Huang hesitated for a moment and asked eventually.
"I'd like to get the information regarding the level above dao-level. The more detailed, the better."
"You're breaking through?!" Xia Bing had shock written all over her face.
Lin Huang had guessed that she would have such a reaction. He did not explain, but continued talking, "It will be fine as well if you know any channels where I can obtain the information."
"I can send you a simple overview. However, only the few top organizations in the Eastern Eight Zone have the exact details of that, and one would need a high level of authorization to get their hands on it. Unless you're willing to expose your real ability and increase your authorization in your own organization, you won't be able to obtain it."
"However, it's not a dead-end. There's a black market called Fantasy Island outside the Eastern Eight Zone. You can purchase most things that you can't find in the other zones. It's just that many things are sold at a premium price. Fantasy Island should have the information you're looking for."
"Nobody knows who the owner of Fantasy Island is. We only know that it's an ionized dimension. It's open irregularly once or more every year. They'll usually send the old clients the invitation before opening."
"I happened to receive this year's invitation a few days ago. Fantasy Island will open two days later in the evening. There's nothing that I want to trade, so I can transfer the invitation to you."
Xia Bing took out a card the size of a palm from her storage space and passed it to Lin Huang as she spoke.
Lin Huang took the card and examined it.
It was a card with golden edges. There were complicated Dao tattoos engraved on the back, and there was only a colored pattern on the front that looked like an island.
"You'll find out Fantasy Island's exact opening time when you spread your Divine Telekinesis into it. When it's time, insert your Odyl into it, and you'll be teleported to Fantasy Island directly. It's the same when you want to come back, just insert your Odyl. You only get one two-way teleportation with each invitation, and it'll be destroyed automatically after that."
"Got it. Thanks." Lin Huang nodded.. He put the card away in his storage space after spreading his Divine Telekinesis into it to look for the opening time.
Chapter 1784: Hush
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The first thing Lin Huang did after returning to the Feister Star Zone was to send Xia Bing a message with a new temporary communication device.
Very soon, she sent a simple overview of the information above dao-level.
Lin Huang downloaded it instantly and examined it as soon as he received it.
The information was rather basic, with a total word count of less than 1,000. However, it did give him a preliminary understanding of the level above major dao-level.
The level above major dao-level was called heavenly dao-level.
As major dao-level powerhouses could no longer consolidate more Dao seals when they were at limit major dao-level, and their Kingdoms were so full that they could no longer increase their ability, someone thought of a solution—consolidating more Kingdoms to increase their ability.
Therefore, the cultivation of heavenly dao-level was spread out gradually.
There were a total of nine ranks for heavenly dao-level, from rank-1 to rank-9.
Each time a Kingdom was consolidated, it meant that the person's rank would be elevated. When nine Kingdoms were consolidated, it would be rank-9.
Lin Huang was in a daze as he read up to this point.
The reason being was that this was not his method of cultivation at all.
He had consolidated close to 20 million Dao seals in his Kingdom and himself personally, yet it was far from his actual limit.
The data that Xia Bing sent only had a rough explanation about it.
There were no further detailed descriptions on the nine ranks, nor did it mention how to consolidate one's second Kingdom.
"Seems like I must pay Fantasy Island a visit…"
…
Two days passed by quickly.
In the evening, Lin Huang put on a mask and held onto the invitation card. The moment Fantasy Island opened, he inserted his Odyl within.
The next second, he and the invitation card vanished at the same time.
When he snapped back to his senses, he realized that he was now in a sunny town.
It was quite different from what he had expected.
He thought that, although its name was Fantasy Island, its nature should still be that of a black market.
A black market should be discreet. Never had he imagined the bright, sunny scene in front of him.
"This dimension seems to be the projection of a heavenly dao-level powerhouse's Kingdom as well…" Lin Huang lifted his head to look into the sky.
He could sense that the Fantasy Island's size was many times smaller than Sovereign Xuan and the rest's Kingdoms. It was approximately the size of a normal city on Earth.
Although the dimension was much more powerful, its nature was still that of a projection of a Kingdom.
Sensing that the number of people around him was growing, Lin Huang soon put his thoughts aside and began to observe the guests who had arrived like he did.
Everyone more or less had a disguise. There were many who were wearing masks like he was.
He sensed their levels roughly. Among those who were in his field of vision, the weakest one was a Lord, and there were minor and major dao-level powerhouses everywhere.
As he thought carefully, he understood what was going on.
One would need to insert their Odyl to activate the invitation card. Not many people below lord-level could consolidate Dao seals in advance.
To avoid attracting unwanted attention, Lin Huang had disguised himself as a major dao-level powerhouse, while his aura fluctuations were maintained at approximately 500,000 Dao seals.
Although it was sunny, and it seemed calm and harmonious here, Lin Huang knew that this was just on the surface.
He did not forget Xia Bing's reminder.
"Find out which shops conduct information transactions."
Lin Huang spread out his Divine Telekinesis directly.
In reality, Xia Bing reminded him that he should try his best not to use Divine Telekinesis, as people would assume that he was probing or provoking them.
However, the strength of his Divine Telekinesis had far surpassed dao-level, so the possibility of being noticed was low.
As he scanned with Divine Telekinesis, Lin Huang saw over ten shops that conducted information transactions.
He chose the one that occupied most space and had the most sophisticated furnishings.
To him, having such a large space in this place and not being worried about the jealousy and envy of their peers, proved that the boss was someone capable.
Lin Huang lifted his head and glanced at the sign as he appeared at the shop entrance in a flash.
One word was carved in black on the sign—Hush.
Nobody knew if it was the shop's name or the boss' calligraphy work.
After stepping into the door, a pretty female attendant welcomed him instantly.
"May I know if you'd like to sell or obtain information?"
"Obtain." Lin Huang merely spit out one word.
"Please follow me to Room 10…" The female attendant suddenly paused and surprise flashed through her eyes as she looked once again at Lin Huang. However, she adjusted her emotions quickly. "Please follow me to Room 1."
She brought Lin Huang into the elevator as she spoke.
Naturally, Lin Huang had noticed her odd behavior, as well as the change in room number at the very last minute. However, he said nothing and followed her to the fifth floor.
The female attendant brought Lin Huang to the entrance of a room on the fifth floor before stopping. "We're here. Please go in, sir."
Lin Huang noticed that, apart from him and the female attendant, there was not even a guest or another attendant on this floor.
Nevertheless, he did not care and walked into the room directly.
There was a tall counter behind the door.
A rather hunched old man checked out Lin Huang subtly before speaking in a hoarse voice.
"Sir, may I know what kind of information you need?"
Lin Huang smiled as he stared at the hunched old man. "Stop pretending. You must be the boss?"
Seeing that the man said nothing, Lin Huang added with a smile, "To be exact, you should be the boss of this Fantasy Island."
The moment he entered, he sensed that the old man's aura was at least at the peak of heavenly dao-level, even though he did not release his aura at all.
That was the senses between powerhouses. He also knew that the old man should have sensed his real ability too. Therefore, the old man had arranged for this meeting specially.
"I can't believe I've been exposed so easily…" The hunched old man waved his hand. The entire room changed significantly.
The rather dim consultation room suddenly transformed. It was now a bright, small meeting room.
The hunched old man revealed his real appearance as well.
He was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his early 50s. He seemed outstandingly charismatic. One could tell that he was a powerhouse who had been sitting at the top for a long time.
"Take a seat." The middle-aged man sat on the leather couch on his own and lifted his head to look at Lin Huang with great interest.
Lin Huang was not shy at all. He sat across from the man with a coffee table between them.
"I'm curious about why a powerhouse like you would conceal his combat strength and come to my Fantasy Island," the middle-aged man smiled as he asked while serving Lin Huang a cup of tea.
Lin Huang took the tea casually and displayed a faint smile. "If I say I'm just here to obtain some information, would you believe me?"
The middle-aged man stared at Lin Huang for a moment and nodded while smiling, "I would."
"So what kind of information are you looking for exactly?" He only asked after falling silent for a moment.
"I want information regarding heavenly dao-level and above heavenly dao-level. The more detailed, the better.." Lin Huang only spoke after hesitating momentarily.
1
Chapter 1785: Dominator-level!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The middle-aged man sitting across the coffee table glanced at Lin Huang with an odd expression, but he was not nosy enough to ask further. Instead, he nodded directly and said, "I can provide that information for free. Is there anything else that you need?"
Lin Huang fell into silence momentarily before lifting his head to look at the middle-aged man. "Do you have information about the Black Abyss here? As well as information about Aza…"
The middle-aged man had a slight change of expression as he listened up to this point. He interrupted Lin Huang instantly, "It's better that you avoid mentioning that person's name as much as possible."
"Regarding the Black Abyss' information, we can provide it to you as long as you pay enough. However, about that entity, we can't provide you with any information."
"I can only tell you that, if it wasn't for the fact that He was in hibernation, the simple action of you mentioning his name earlier would be enough to contaminate you and turn you into an Abyssal creature."
Lin Huang frowned slightly, but he was still unwilling. "Then can I ask if He's the god of the Abyss?"
"Yes, and no." The middle-aged man looked rather troubled, but he answered anyway, "If you must delve deep into this, I'll provide you with an ancient precept—The Abyss is just His dream."
The precept the middle-aged man provided was almost identical to what White Brow had said.
However, Lin Huang still could not really understand if that was just a simple statement, or whether there was a deeper meaning behind it.
"If you have a dispute with the Black Abyss, you will only need to learn about them. Don't go looking for information about Him," the middle-aged man hesitated for a moment and advised him anyway.
"Aren't the people from the Black Abyss His believers?" Lin Huang asked in slight confusion.
"Will a God care for the worship of ants?" The middle-aged man raised his brows.
Lin Huang instantly came to a realization and nodded. "I get it now. The conflicts I have with the Black Abyss stays with the Black Abyss."
The middle-aged man seemed to be relieved. "Anything else?"
Lin Huang fell silent for a while before speaking again, "I'd like to know about the information outside the universe…"
"I can provide that to you for free as well." The middle-aged man nodded. "Of course, it'll just be the basic information."
"That's good enough." Lin Huang nodded in satisfaction. "Thanks."
"Do you need anything else?" The middle-aged man asked again.
Lin Huang thought for a moment and shook his head. "That's all for now.
"However, I have my doubts." Lin Huang lifted his head and said to the middle-aged man as he stared at him, "Why are you giving me this information for free?"
The middle-aged man smiled when he heard that question. "I'm a businessman. It's only natural for me to befriend a potential client. Although I have clients who are beyond heavenly dao-level like you, there aren't many of them. Although this current transaction might be small, there might be larger ones and more opportunities in the future."
"Moreover, the information I'm providing you for free is public information in many places outside the universe. I don't want you to find out that I received money from you for such free information when you leave the universe."
Lin Huang nodded with a smile after hearing his words. "Sure. I look forward to a great transaction opportunity in the future."
"Oh yeah. My name's Qian Shisan, let's be friends." The middle-aged man stretched out his hand toward Lin Huang.
"Lin Xie." Lin Huang gave him his pseudonym.
In reality, he knew that with the man's capabilities, no matter whether he told him his name or not, it would be easy for him to find out who he was.
He did not give his real name to indicate his stance that he did not want people to know his identity. He did not provide a ridiculous pseudonym as that would have been too insincere. Therefore, he gave him the pseudonym that he had used before.
After sharing each other's names and chatting for a little bit, they conducted the official transaction.
Lin Huang spent some money to purchase information about the Black Abyss. Very soon, Qian Shisan gathered the few information pieces he was providing for free, as well as the information about the Black Abyss, and sent them to Lin Huang's temporary communication device. He then saw him off.
Watching Lin Huang's figure gradually disappear, Qian Shisan smirked lightly and mumbled softly, "I believe that we'll meet again soon enough…"
Lin Huang downloaded the information Qian Shisan sent him as soon as he returned to the Feister Star Zone. He then began to examine them in all seriousness.
The first thing he looked at was the information about heavenly dao-level and beyond heavenly dao-level that Qian Shisan had provided for free.
This document was undoubtedly much more detailed than the one Xia Bing had provided.
The so-called heavenly dao-level was the level evolved from when one's Kingdom in their body was full and could no longer consolidate any more Dao seals.
In reality, there was an important threshold to this level, which was to consolidate a Heavenly Dao in their Kingdom.
All of the Dao seals would be consolidated into a Heavenly Dao!
As soon as they achieved that, their Kingdom could be considered full.
That was the foundation needed to consolidate the second Kingdom.
However, the process of consolidating a Heavenly Dao was extremely dangerous.
The process of consolidating a Heavenly Dao from Dao seals was similar to consolidating god sequence chains into Dao seals. Energy as terrifying as nuclear fusion would be released as well.
The energy impact would be released by the consolidation of millions of Dao seals…
The impact on the Kingdom was over a hundred million times more powerful than the time when one consolidated god sequence chains into Dao seals.
Even if it was just the aftermath, it was powerful enough to destroy most limit major dao-level powerhouses' physical bodies and God's souls.
That was why there were many Lords and dao-level powerhouses in the universe, but there were very few heavenly dao-level powerhouses.
There were not even 30 heavenly dao-level powerhouses in total in the entire Eastern Eight Zone.
Meanwhile, for the nine levels of heavenly dao-level, the difficulty of each new Kingdom consolidation and Heavenly Dao would be multiplied.
The reason being was that Kingdoms would repel each other. Not only that, the Heavenly Dao was something that could not coexist.
Each time a new Heavenly Dao was consolidated, the old Heavenly Dao in the previous Kingdom would stir up a riot.
Therefore, the higher the rank of heavenly dao-level, the more difficult it would become.
If one was careless, they might have their Kingdoms destroyed and Heavenly Daos collapse.
The least serious consequence was having one's level drop, but they might also have their Kingdom and Heavenly Dao crushed entirely and fall back to major dao-level. There would be no hope in leveling up in their entire lives from then on.
The most serious case would be having their Kingdom explode, and their physical bodies and God's souls turning into ashes instantly!
Lin Huang could not help but exclaim as he read up to this point, "Heavenly dao-level is so dangerous!"
After reading every word listed in the information about heavenly dao-level, Lin Huang soon proceeded to read further.
He finally saw the level above heavenly dao-level—dominator-level!
The so-called dominator-level was to collide and integrate the nine Kingdoms to consolidate a supreme Kingdom when one had reached complete-stage heavenly dao-level rank-9!
This process was tens of thousands of times more dangerous than consolidating a Heavenly Dao to get to heavenly dao-level. The reason being was that integrating nine Kingdoms into one would mean that the nine Heavenly Daos would collide with each other. One would then crush the nine Heavenly Daos into fragments and consolidate them once again!
Not only would that require one to be fearless, possess great perseverance, but it would also require a physical body and God's soul that was sufficiently powerful.
Furthermore, this process was even more dangerous than consolidating a Heavenly Dao to achieve heavenly dao-level.
The reason being was that the slightest mistake would result in the Heavenly Daos and Kingdoms being destroyed, erasing one's physical body and God's soul completely.
Moreover, one could integrate chaotic cosmoses that were like the universe as soon as they elevated from heavenly dao-level to dominator-level, becoming a dominator that controlled many chaotic cosmoses!
Chapter 1786: Infinite Universe
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Chaotic cosmos…"
Lin Huang looked at the information that detailed what was outside the universe with his eyes wide.
According to the description, just like the universe, the complicated dimension that contained countless great worlds, mini worlds, gravel worlds and regular universes was called the chaotic cosmos.
Meanwhile, there were similar countless chaotic cosmoses outside the universe.
The countless chaotic cosmoses made up the chaotic ocean.
Some called it the ocean of chaos, some called it the infinite universe, some called it the only universe, while some called it the supreme universe…
The reason why the chaotic ocean had so many names was because it was boundless and constantly expanding.
Everything in the world was created there; everything was included.
Its existence was the starting point of time, as well as the starting point of space…
Before its appearance, everything was nothingness.
Since it appeared, its existence was eternal.
The chaotic cosmoses it contained were not only boundless in quantity, they were also endless in time and space.
1
No matter how many parallel universes were split off from a chaotic cosmos, no matter which timeline a chaotic cosmos was on, from the beginning to end, one could find it in this chaotic ocean any time.
It did not only contain all material planes, it also contained the dreams, imaginations, and the split-second thoughts of all the living beings on the material plane…
All of the writers, artists, playwrights, creators of all sorts… All of the living beings, non-living beings, tangibles, non-tangibles, souls, thoughts and information that could be imagined… Everything was contained within this boundless cosmos.
It could derive everything within a second.
Lin Huang had always speculated that there was a broader world outside the universe.
Never had he thought that it would be such a supreme cosmos.
After reading about the chaotic ocean, Lin Huang looked back at the system of dominator-level.
The combat strength categorization of dominator-level was very simple and straightforward.
One would be at dominator-level rank-1 when they refined one to ten chaotic cosmoses.
One would be at dominator-level rank-2 when they refined 11 to a hundred chaotic cosmoses.
One would be at dominator-level rank-3 when they refined 101 to 1,000 chaotic cosmoses.
One would be at dominator-level rank-4 when they refined 1,001 to 10,000 chaotic cosmoses.
One would be at dominator-level rank-5 when they refined 10,001 to 100,000 chaotic cosmoses.
The strength of one's Kingdom when they broke through to heavenly dao-level was the main factor in deciding how many chaotic cosmoses one could refine.
Due to the restriction of the strength of one's Kingdom, most dominator-level powerhouses would usually stop at dominator-level rank-1 and could no longer move on. The ratio almost surpassed 80% among the dominator-level powerhouses.
The higher the rank, the fewer the people.
There were only a couple of dominator-level rank-5 throughout the history of the entire chaotic ocean.
Not only that, according to all of the data records, since there was a history record of the chaotic ocean, nobody had even broken through past dominator-level rank-5.
"The legendary Aza should be at rank-4 at least. He might even be at dominator-level rank-5…" Lin Huang frowned as he speculated.
It was only after he came across this information that he finally believed what White Brow said back then.
To Aza, the universe was just a speck of dust.
To powerhouses at dominator-level rank-4 and dominator-level rank-5, the universe was just a regular chaotic ocean, and it was merely one-ten-thousandth of the Kingdoms in their body. Indeed, they could destroy it with a mere flip of their hand.
Although Lin Huang speculated roughly how powerful Aza was, he was not exactly shocked.
Instead, he thought that, compared to the chaotic ocean, a dominator-level rank-5 powerhouse was not as shocking to him.
"The highest combat strength is just dominator-level rank-5 due to the restriction of the strength of one's Kingdom…" Lin Huang had tens of thousands of thoughts running through his mind when he read that. "The foundation of my Kingdom is countless times more powerful than powerhouses of the same level. Is it possible that I can break through past dominator-level rank-5?"
Lin Huang merely fantasized for a moment, before discovering a realistic problem.
"One would need to consolidate nine Kingdoms to get to heavenly dao-level. How can I consolidate a second Kingdom of the same strength now?!"
He could not help but feel troubled as he thought up to this point.
He got his Kingdom completely by chance.
It was almost impossible to build a Kingdom that was of the same strength.
After some fruitless thinking, Lin Huang shook his head to get rid of the messy thoughts he had.
"Forget it, I won't think about it for now. I'll fill my Kingdom with the maximum number of Dao seals it can contain, after which I'll finally think about what to do next."
He then looked at the third document.
He paid for this document. Qian Shisan asked for an exotic treasure, and Lin Huang had given him White Brow's corpse.
Since he did not plan to return the corpse, this was the best possible use for it.
Moreover, the corpse was with Qian Shisan now. He did not have to worry that it would end up with the Black Abyss or the Longevity Tribe.
Lin Huang checked the document thoroughly after opening it.
He had finally found out details regarding the Black Abyss.
The Black Abyss originated from the Raiders.
It was a heavenly dao-level Raider, who had accidentally triggered a clone Aza left behind deep in the Abyss while he was hunting in the Abyss. He was contaminated by the clone and became Aza's believer.
However, the contamination did not turn him into an Abyssal creature, but instead he hid among the Raiders by remaining in his original form and mental state.
Later on, the heavenly dao-level powerhouse used all sorts of techniques to lure many Raiders to join him.
There were even some powerhouses at peak major dao-level who were elevated to heavenly dao-level with the power Aza's clone provided.
There were a total of seven official Black Abyss members. There were all heavenly dao-level powerhouses.
The most powerful one among them was suspected to have reached heavenly dao-level rank-9.
The seven of them had many dao-level reserve members under them.
At the moment, at least one-third of the Raiders had been contaminated by Aza's power and had become members of the Black Abyss…
Lin Huang could not help but frown lightly after reading that information.
Naturally, he did not like the Raiders at all, as they had been his enemies from the beginning. However, he indeed did not expect that they had been contaminated by the Black Abyss internally to this extent.
He did not have any sympathy for the Raiders' situation, nor did he have any good feelings about the Black Abyss.
To him, the conflict between the Black Abyss and the Raiders was merely part of this dog-eat-dog existence.
Nevertheless, Lin Huang did not really want to see the Raiders being fully converted into Black Abyss members. The reason being was that the people in the Black Abyss were basically Abyssal creatures by nature.
If he had to compare which was more evil, the Black Abyss was definitely more evil compared to the Raiders.
The reason being was that their hunting targets were not limited to Club members and other travelers. To them, all cultivators, and even regular people, were viable targets.
To them, everyone only had two options. They either had to accept the contamination of Aza, or die.
Therefore, to be exact, the Black Abyss was the public enemy of the entire universe in the truest sense!
Chapter 1787: Imperial Monsters Elevating to Major Dao-level
After returning from Fantasy Island, Lin Huang had been waiting for the results of the auction from Royal's side.
Naturally, he did not stay idle.
Considering that Bai and the rest of his imperial monsters' combat strength was indeed holding him back, and that they would take forever to cross the threshold of major dao-level if they were to cultivate on their own, he thought he would use the Combat Strength Upgrade Cards directly. Apart from the Bug Tribe, he elevated his 25 imperial monsters from lord-level all the way up to major dao-level.
However, he merely elevated them to major dao-level and stopped there.
This was mainly because it would exhaust Xiao Hei's Origin Energy if he elevated them any further.
Moreover, major dao-level combatants were considered powerhouses in the universe. As long as they did not stir up trouble for themselves, they usually would not encounter anything too dangerous.
After he elevated all of them to major dao-level, Lin Huang released them.
Apart from Bloody, who stayed by his side, the rest of the 24 imperial monsters formed groups of two to three to explore the universe on their own.
"You've elevated our combat strength to major dao-level directly, then your current level of ability…" Bloody could not help but ask.
"I'm not exactly sure whether I'm at major dao-level or heavenly dao-level." Lin Huang shook his head while forcing a smile.
"What do you plan to do next then?" Bloody continued to ask.
"Let's establish the Sword Alliance first. We might need to settle some matters regarding the Raiders and the Black Abyss, as well as some grudges." Lin Huang thought he would have to establish a foothold first.
His ability was not weak, but the Sword Servants under him, as well as Lin Xin and Lin Xuan's abilities, were far from sufficient.
"Inform Sword 1 that I'll participate in every Sword Alliance meeting."
Bloody nodded.
"We'll talk about the rest after setting up the Sword Alliance."
"You'll take charge of the Sword Alliance's matters during this period of time. I'll get Sword 1 and the other Sword Servants to work with you." Naturally, Lin Huang believed in Bloody's ability.
Bloody only left after the two were done talking about business and had chatted for a little while.
For the next few days, Bloody pushed the Sword Alliance's development forward resolutely, putting the Sword Alliance officially on track in the universe.
Meanwhile, Lin Huang spent some time entering the virtual realm to consolidate all of the Dao seals that were unsealed from his imperial monsters' elevation. He had gained over 2.6 million Dao seals this time.
He had officially consolidated a total of 22.2 million Dao seals, breaking through the 20 million mark.
He could clearly sense that the number was still far from the limit that his body could contain.
He received the storage rings that Yang Ling had unlocked as soon as he left closed-door cultivation.
He examined them carefully as soon as he received them.
The first one was White Brow's storage ring.
The first thing he saw was seven Goldfingers as he spread out his Divine Telekinesis into the ring.
White Brow was not a traveler, so he could not integrate Goldfingers at all. He must have obtained the seven Goldfingers after hunting Club members. He left them behind to trade with the other travelers inside the Raiders.
However, Lin Huang had now come into possession of these Goldfingers.
Apart from the Goldfingers, there were a bunch of reincarnated beings' tools and elixirs.
White Brow, a reincarnated being, could use these things, but Lin Huang could not. He could only get rid of them at auctions or by trading other resources for them with people at the Club.
Apart from Goldfingers, and those special items such as reincarnated beings' tools, there were two exotic treasures and some ten precious treasures.
There were a few precious treasures that were suitable for his imperial monsters that had just been elevated to major dao-level.
Those were the only things that Lin Huang was interested in.
What he thought was a pity was that he did not see any dao-level powerhouses' corpses and Kingdom Shell Remnants in White Brow's storage space.
After checking White Brow's ring, Lin Huang checked out Yan Jun's.
As a major dao-level powerhouse as well, there were surprisingly few items in his storage ring, which was pathetic.
There were Goldfingers in his storage ring too, but there were only two.
As he was a regenerated being, there were no reincarnated beings' tools and elixirs in his ring.
Apart from the two Goldfingers, there were only four precious treasures that Lin Huang was interested in.
Among the four precious treasures, there was only one armor that the imperial monsters under Lin Huang could use.
Later on, he checked Jin Feng and Hu Shan's storage rings.
He obtained two exotic treasures and some ten precious treasures.
The remaining 30 or so storage rings basically belonged to minor dao-level powerhouses.
There were only a total of five Goldfingers, over ten precious treasures, and some 20 dao-level God's corpses that Lin Huang thought were useful.
There were also hundreds of spiritual treasures that were valuable.
Meanwhile, for the remaining miscellaneous items, the 40 or so storage rings could probably be traded for two to three precious treasures.
After calculating the spoils, Lin Huang retrieved all of the Goldfingers.
The Goldfingers were basically grade-1. Not only did he think that he would not use them, he thought they were quite useless to Lin Xin and Yang Ling as well.
Therefore, he chose to let his Goldfingers devour them.
The first one he retrieved was the grade-3 Goldfinger, Critical Hit Hammer. It devoured six grade-1 Goldfingers consecutively, elevating it from the fourth stage to the tenth stage, which was the limit.
The Critical Hit Hammer's critical hit effect increased from the lowest ninefold to the highest one hundredfold!
The second Goldfinger Lin Huang retrieved was the grade-4 Gate of All Realms.
After letting the Gate of All Realms devour three Goldfingers, the number of virtual bodies it could create increased from seven to ten.
However, that was not its limit.
Sensing that a grade-2 Goldfinger was needed for the Gate of All Realms to create more virtual bodies, Lin Huang fed it the only grade-2 Goldfinger in this batch of spoils.
After the Gate of All Realms devoured it, the limit of virtual bodies it could create increased from 10 to 20.
Lin Huang then put the Gate of All Realms away in his body.
He fed the remaining four grade-1 Goldfingers to the grade-4 Soul-controlling Tablet directly.
After feeding his Goldfingers, Lin Huang sorted out his storage ring.
He summoned Sword 1 after retrieving every resource that was useful to him, and he gave the remaining spoils to Sword 1.
"Handle these miscellaneous items as you wish. You guys can do whatever you want. You can trade them for Dao Weapons or other resources. They should be enough to fund the Sword Alliance's preliminary operations."
Although those miscellaneous items were nothing to Lin Huang, they were items in legitimate dao-level powerhouses' storage rings. To the Sword Servants who had just been elevated to Lords, some of these items could be traded for a couple of supreme-grade Dao weapons each.
Shock clearly flashed through Sword 1's eyes when he received the ring, but he soon regained his composure.
He was already used to Lin Huang's surprises.
He no longer thought it unusual no matter what this Lord Swordmaster could do.
He even held the faint belief that there was nothing that this Lord Swordmaster could not do!
Lin Huang dwelled on his thoughts for a long time as he watched Sword 1 leave.
"The Sword Servants' abilities are indeed quite weak.. Perhaps the only way to elevate them quickly is to rely on the Kingdom's accelerated time, which is dumb…"
Chapter 1788: Two Possibilities
Lin Huang, Bloody and Sword 1 gathered in the lounge.
"How is it going with the Sword Alliance lately?" Lin Huang took the lead in asking.
"We've already completed the registration process at Royal, and we've started to accept missions." Sword 1 paused as soon as he was done speaking. He sneakily lifted his head to peep at Lin Huang before continuing to speak, "We've also spread the news of us recruiting new people but… nobody is applying."
"There are many who inquired, but they aren't even willing to come for the interview after finding out about us."
"What do you guys think the issue is?" Lin Huang raised his brows. In reality, he expected such a situation to happen.
Bloody said nothing when she heard that question. Instead, she looked at Sword 1 quickly.
Sword 1 felt his throat dry up and gulped before speaking again, "I think we're too weak at the moment. We're not good enough to attract new members to join."
"In the universe, heavenly god-level combatants make up an organization's basic battle strength, and there are Lords everywhere. Although your name is in the spotlight as the Lord Swordmaster, and we've also mentioned that you have dao-level combat strength, apart from you, we're all lower-rank Lords."
Bloody finally spoke up when she listened up to this point.
"Should we join the Sword Alliance?" Bloody looked at Lin Huang. The "we" she was referring to were naturally the imperial monsters.
"I don't think that it'll be helpful." Lin Huang shook his head after giving it a moment of thought. "Even if you guys joined, there will be a large strength gap in between. The new members will soon notice the issue after they join."
"Also, the Sword Alliance would definitely be investigated if you guys joined with your current levels of ability. At that point, my real ability would definitely be exposed."
Lin Huang turned his head to look at Sword 1 after falling silent for a moment.
"How many people do we need to maintain the operations of the Sword Alliance?"
Sword 1 was momentarily stunned before he responded instantly, "There are actually only three things running as part of the daily operations now."
"The first one is sorting out items, including spolis and rewards, as well as distributing the materials."
"Another is handling the transactions of items."
"The last one is obtaining information about the outside world and relaying messages."
Only approximately ten people were needed in total.
"Almost all of them are busy with the missions that Royal posted."
Lin Huang nodded after hearing that. "How about this? We'll keep 20 people in the universe who will be responsible for the Sword Alliance's daily matters. The rest will go into the Kingdom in my body to work hard on their cultivation."
"The 20 people will only need to stay there for a year. They will go into my Kingdom to cultivate the year after. They will replace the 20 people in the Kingdom at that point. They'll be rotated in and out every year from then on."
"We'll draw lots to decide on who will stay. To be fair, those who have stayed put will be removed before we draw lots for the next batch randomly," Lin Huang added after thinking about it. "Also, those who stay put will be given tenfold of the items and rewards during the year in which they are on guard duty as compensation."
"I'll go ahead and make the necessary arrangements."
Sword 1's eyes lit up when he heard Lin Huang's words. Naturally, he knew how much benefit there would be should they be given the opportunity to go into Lin Huang's Kingdom.
Apart from the 10,000 times accelerated timeflow, there were also countless monsters of different tribes to be hunted in there. The elevation speed of their combat strength and ability would be at least 10,000 times faster.
The three of them discussed some details in the meeting room before Sword 1 left in a flash. He began to sort out the matters that Lin Huang tasked him to do.
On that day itself, all the Sword Servants gathered together.
Including Sword 1, 214 Sword Servants drew lots in front of Lin Huang and Bloody.
The 20 people who ended up having to stay behind looked terrible.
Apart from Sword 2, who stayed behind in the great world, among the 11 initial Swordmaster's bodyguards, only Sword 8, who looked like a little girl, drew the lot to stay put.
In reality, she did not understand what the purpose of the draw was at all.
Sword 1 took the initiative to voice out when he saw that. "I'll trade with Xiao Ba. She doesn't know anything about the Sword Alliance's operations. I'm worried that she'll only mess things up if she stays behind."
"I don't think that's necessary. I can teach her whatever she doesn't know," Bloody spoke directly before waiting for Lin Huang to agree to her suggestion, "Moreover, apart from Xiao Ba, the remaining 19 people know what they should do."
Lin Huang nodded to agree to what Bloody said after hearing that. "Don't worry, Sword 1. The Sword Alliance has me. Don't waste your gift. Focus on your cultivation for the next 10,000 years!"
Seeing that Lin Huang had spoken as well, Sword 1 could only nod in agreement.
"Alright. Those who drew the lot to stay behind, don't be sad. You'll take their places next year. As compensation, I'll customize a set of cultivation methods to get to major dao-level for you guys exclusively!"
The 20 people who drew the lot to stay behind became excited after hearing what Lin Huang said.
Now those who were going into the Kingdom looked envious instead.
Over the next few days, after Lin Huang sent the Sword Servants into his Kingdom, he had been kept busy developing cultivation methods for the Sword Servants.
He then gave the cultivation inheritance to the 20 Sword Servants who stayed behind one by one.
Bloody got Sword 8 to stay by her side. She did not participate in handling the Sword Alliance's matters.
In reality, the remaining 19 people were sufficient to run the Sword Alliance for the time being.
After Lin Huang was done with the Sword Servants' matters, the appointment he scheduled with Xia Bing a week ago was due.
He changed to another temporary communication device and called Xia Bing again.
A moment later, she accepted the video call request.
Xia Bing, who had a head full of red hair, was smoking as she leaned on the railing on the balcony. There was a sky full of dark clouds behind her.
"You look like you're in a bad mood." Lin Huang did not expect Xia Bing to be in such a state. "Does this have anything to do with the situation?"
"Uh-huh," Xia Bing responded and put out the cigarette. She puffed out the smoke before speaking while frowning slightly, "I suspect that… the Longevity Tribe is completely on the Black Abyss' side."
Lin Huang could not help but furrow his brow when he heard that.
Indeed, he had not thought of such a possibility at all. He thought that the Longevity Tribe would only have spies among them like White Brow.
He soon calmed down after the shocking revelation.
"Can you tell me more about it?"
"After I submitted the corpses, all the organizations came to the Star Cluster to bring the corpses back immediately. Later on, all of the organizations should've done a thorough investigation and obtained some information."
"Two days ago, the seven organizations held another video meeting. In the middle of the meeting, the Longevity Tribe's patriarch suddenly spoke out. He said that you had contacted the Longevity Tribe yourself and used White Brow's corpse to threaten them to provide you with resources. They even showed video evidence…"
Lin Huang was speechless when he heard that. "That's ridiculous. Why would I want their insignificant resources?!"
"I recorded the video, I'll send it over to you later. No matter what, the video that they came up with was quite impressive. The person in the video wore the exact same mask and clothes as you did. It's no different from the video taken in the mystic territory. That person imitated your voice too, and it's exactly the same. Even White Brow's corpse looked exactly the same."
"After they played the video, they even said that we were accomplices. I couldn't take it anymore, so I played the video of our conversation that I recorded directly."
"After your declarations were made public, the Longevity Tribe's patriarch and the two deputy patriarchs looked terrible, as if they had eaten flies."
"What happened later on?" Lin Huang could not help but laugh as he listened up to this point.
"They were even more determined that we were accomplices. They said that we were the spies from the Black Abyss and had framed White Brow. They even said their fake video was an act that you had put up intentionally to slander them."
"I think there are two possibilities regarding this situation. One is that something is definitely wrong with the Longevity Tribe. The other possibility is that someone really disguised themselves as me to mislead them in order to create chaos."
"I think the second possibility might be more plausible…" Lin Huang fell into silence momentarily before voicing his opinion..
Chapter 1789: Great Void Mirror
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"If something is really wrong with the Longevity Tribe, then there are even more reasons why they wouldn't speak out easily like that, especially to the point of making a fake video to frame me and saying that I blackmailed them. This lie can be exposed too easily. If I attended the meeting myself and confronted them, their lie would be exposed directly, which would be equivalent to them revealing their identity as spies."
"Although there's nothing to like about the Longevity Tribe, I don't really believe that their entire tribe belongs to the Black Abyss," Lin Huang provided his own hypothesis.
"If what you said is the truth and that someone is framing the Longevity Tribe on purpose, then it'd be even harder to get to the bottom of things." Xia Bing frowned slightly.
"So what happened after you guys argued? What else did they talk about?" Lin Huang continued to ask.
"Later on, those few people from the Longevity Tribe and I were asked to leave the meeting room. Before they find out whether something is wrong with White Brow, we can no longer participate in future meetings," Xia Bing said while looking annoyed.
"There's nothing… wrong with handling it this way," Lin Huang mumbled softly.
However, as soon as he said those words, he saw Xia Bing glaring angrily at him in the projection.
He explained immediately, "What I meant is that they're being pretty fair."
Xia Bing harrumphed. "I'm clean anyway, so I'm not afraid of them. Let them go ahead and investigate me!"
Lin Huang fell into silence for a long time, after which he could not help but ask, "How can they investigate? Are they going to trigger the Abyssal energy by reading their memories?"
"You're overthinking things. How is it possible that such a method exists?!" Xia Bing shook her head and explained in all seriousness," Star Cluster's Star Masters went over to summon the Great Void Mirror."
"The Great Void Mirror treasure?" Lin Huang was stunned when he heard the name. He retrieved the related memories within the Origin Energy fragments from the Nirvana Trees. "This thing really exists?!"
Legend had it that the Great Void Mirror was a treasure that contained terrifying power.
Lin Huang had always thought that it was only a legend. Never had he thought that it really existed.
"The Great Void Mirror has always existed, but it has been in hibernation during this era." Xia Bing nodded. "Only Dominators who surpass heavenly dao-level can use this treasure normally. It'd be too taxing for a heavenly dao-level powerhouse to use it by force. Not only that, the treasure will enter hibernation after each usage."
"What's the function of the Great Void Mirror? Can it tell the truth?" Lin Huang asked rather curiously.
"The Great Void Mirror's innate function is to study all things. To put it simply, it can see the nature of all substances. Not only that, its probing range extends to anywhere in the entire universe, including all of the great worlds, mini worlds, gravel worlds, ancillary dimensions and planes within the universe.
"It will fail to study things under three conditions. The first is if its target is a dominator-level powerhouse. The second would be the target has a barrier-type treasure of the same level. The third would be that the target is in a dominator-level powerhouse's Kingdom."
"Star Cluster would definitely not only investigate me and the people from the Longevity Tribe when using the Great Void Mirror. They will probably investigate you too. I think you definitely can't hide your identity any longer."
Xia Bing gave a simple explanation of the uses of the Great Void Mirror and reminded Lin Huang about what was likely to happen as well.
Lin Huang raised his brows slightly beneath his mask.
In reality, judging by what Xia Bing said, he was not exactly worried that his real identity would be exposed. The reason being was that the God Weapons in his body were treasures as well.
Especially that Soul Weapon, blocking God's soul was just one of its basic functions.
He did not think that the Great Void Mirror's probing could penetrate the barrier effect of the Soul Weapon in his body.
Naturally, he could not say that to Xia Bing. He merely fell into a period of momentary silence before speaking again, "If they can investigate me, then there's nothing that I can do. However, if they do find out my real identity, they'd find out that I'm not a member of the Black Abyss."
"The entire Eastern Eight Zone is in chaos right now. All the organizations are overwhelmed now. Even if they really found out your identity, as long as you're not associated with the Black Abyss, nobody will have the time to stir up trouble with you," Xia Bing comforted him.
"Indeed, the regular members of the seven organizations are busy. However, if my real identity is exposed to the Black Abyss or the Raiders, it's only a matter of time before they come looking for me," Lin Huang voiced his concern after hearing what Xia Bing had said.
She thought for a moment and soon spoke again, "I'll speak to the Star Master later. If they really find out your identity, they won't expose it. As long as they confirm that there's nothing wrong with your status, there's no need to reveal your information to other people."
"Thanks," Lin Huang thanked her with a nod.
The two of them chatted for a little bit more and ended the video call after scheduling another call a week later to learn about how the situation would develop.
…
Three days later, four Star Masters, three male and one female, gathered at the Stargazing Pavilion.
The four of them locked eyes, and the lady in the black dress asked, "Are you guys ready?"
The three men nodded slightly.
"Then let's act as planned. I'll stand guard and the three of you will summon the Great Void Mirror."
The lady appeared above the Stargazing Pavilion's rooftop in a flash directly as soon as she was done speaking. She waved and set up a starlight barrier to envelop the entire Stargazing Pavilion within.
Almost at the same time she moved, the three men sat with their legs crossed and performed several complicated hand seals.
At that moment, the entire Stargazing Pavilion seemed to have fallen into a magical state. It began to shimmer, appearing partly hidden and partly visible at the same time.
A moment later, the Stargazing Pavilion that was some 1,000 meters tall suddenly vanished into thin air.
The female Star Master was the only person remaining, as she hovered in the air with her eyes somewhat closed. She seemed to not find the situation strange at all.
Meanwhile, the vanished Stargazing Pavilion appeared in a dazzling sky full of stars in another dimension.
The Star Cluster's three Star Masters sat in a triangle at the center of the first floor of the Stargazing Pavilion. They had completed their hand seals.
A quaint bronze mirror formed slowly mid-air between the three Star Masters.
The three of them then transferred Odylic Force to the bronze mirror through the air.
About half an hour later, the bronze mirror had finally consolidated completely.
A voice as loud as a bell spread throughout the entire Stargazing Pavilion.
"Tell me, who or what do you want to find out to have woken me up this time?"
Among the three Star Masters, the one who was the most muscular spoke first, "Senior Great Void, there's an organization called the Black Abyss that appeared in our Eastern Eight Zone recently. They seem to be Aza's followers. They planted many spies within all of the organizations in the Eastern Eight Zone. We'd like to ask you to check on a few people to see if they're spies or not."
"Who are they?" The bell-like voice did not seem to bother asking for further details and went straight to the heart of the matter.
Another Star Master said nothing, but projected images of Xia Bing, the patriarch and the few deputy patriarchs from the Longevity Tribe, as well as the remaining leaders from the seven organizations. The last image who was projected was Lin Huang in his mask and white robe.
Merely a moment later, a white light shone on Lin Huang's image projection. The bell-like voice spoke in a rather upset manner, "I cannot find out who this person is."
The three Star Masters were stunned when they heard that, and they could tell from the Great Void Mirror's tone that it was upset. Nevertheless, they dared not ask why it could not find out Lin Huang's identity.
About two to three minutes later, three glaring red gleams shone on three projections.
A gush of faint black mist gradually appeared on the top of their heads.
"The three of them have high-grade Abyssal energy remaining in their bodies."
After saying that, the bronze mirror that was hovering in the air faded away rapidly.
Chapter 1790: The Star Cluster Under Attack
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When the Great Void Mirror disappeared completely, the three Star Masters finally stopped transferring Odylic Force.
The short two to three minutes the Great Void Mirror was activated had drained a significant amount of Odylic Force within the three's bodies. They only had one-third of their Odyl remaining compared to the time when they were at their peak.
Fortunately, nothing went wrong in between. They were relieved.
Apart from that man in white robe and mask, they had gotten the answers they needed about the rest.
The three of them were satisfied with the results from using the Great Void Mirror.
They stood up one after the other in the Stargazing Pavilion.
"What do we do next? Should we reveal the three spies' identities first? Or should we keep the matter under wraps and get the three organizations they're from to handle it themselves?" The Star Master who was the most muscular asked the other two.
His name was Zhao Ji. He was the only combat cultivator among the four Star Masters from the Star Cluster.
To be exact, he majored as a combat cultivator as well as a spear cultivator.
When one was at heavenly dao-level, it was rare for one to be a pure combat cultivator. They would basically have another main cultivation direction to match their current cultivation.
In the entire Eastern Eight Zone, including him, there were only three heavenly dao-level combat cultivators.
"I think you're overthinking things. The three people who knew that we were going to use the Great Void Mirror must've escaped from the beginning." A young Star Master who looked like he was only in his 20s shook his head whilst smiling. "Although we only said that we'd investigate Xia Bing and the Longevity Tribe during the meeting, anyone who's not too dumb would know that we definitely wouldn't miss the chance to conduct a thorough investigation while using the Great Void Mirror this time."
"The more time we waste now, the more time those three will have to hide. We should make the information public now directly and release a joint manhunt order. They'll be caught off guard!"
The Star Master who looked the youngest among the three was called Guan Yi. In reality, he was the oldest one among them. He remained in his youthful form because he did not like appearing old.
"However, it's not nice to make the investigation results from the Great Void Mirror public directly without informing the three organizations." The middle-aged man who looked to be in his early 40s finally spoke.
His name was Wan Peng. He looked the oldest, but he was actually the youngest among the three, and he had the least experience. He was the last to join Star Cluster among the four Star Masters.
"We definitely can't reveal the information directly. It'd be too disrespectful." Zhao Ji frowned slightly for a moment before speaking again, "We'll inform the decision-makers, excluding the three organizations and the three people, via text. We'll also inform them that we'll be making the information public instantly to avoid letting the three people escape. All of the seven organizations will arrest those three people!"
"I think that's a good idea." Wan Peng nodded immediately.
"Up to you guys. I'm too lazy to text anyway." Guan Yi flung his sleeves and appeared outside the Stargazing Pavilion in a flash.
"How was it? Did you guys get any results?" As soon as Guan Yi got out, the Star Master in a black dress above the Stargazing Pavilion could not help but ask out of curiosity.
Her name was Xing Ling'er, one of the Star Masters of Star Cluster. She was also the founder Xing Wuji's daughter.
"It can be considered successful. Apart from that guy in a mask whom we didn't find any information about, we found out the identity of those few spies from the Black Abyss." Guan Yi nodded and looked around before asking, "Nothing unusual happened here, right?"
"Would I be sitting here so casually if something had gone wrong?" Xing Ling'er appeared next to Guan Yi in a flash while smiling. "Who are the three spies? Can you tell me?"
Zhao Ji and Wan Peng exited the Stargazing Pavilion in a flash as soon as Xing Ling'er spoke those words.
Guan Yi peeped at the two of them. Seeing that Zhao Ji was writing the text with his head lowered, Wan Peng did not deny her request and spoke slowly.
"The Longevity Tribe's…"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Just as Guan Yi had spoken, four black arrow gleams shot out with terrifying speed.
Their targets were the four Star Cluster's Star Masters!
They arrived before the four of them almost instantly.
The four of them shrunk their pupils almost at the same time.
Guan Yi failed to dodge. He could only tilt his body slightly to avoid the attack from penetrating his heart. The black electric arc hit his chest instead.
His entire body was thrown out uncontrollably and hit hard against the Stargazing Pavilion.
The starlight barrier Xing Ling'er had set up, which enveloped the entire Stargazing Pavilion, collapsed instantly. After Guan Yi's body penetrated the barrier, he slammed into the Stargazing Pavilion.
In reality, the Stargazing Pavilion's nature was that of a spiritual treasure. Its toughness was evident, but it was still broken when Guan Yi smashed into it.
Among the other three, Zhao Ji was a combat cultivator, and had the fastest speed among the four Star Masters.
However, he was busy writing the text. It was already too late by the time he reacted. He could only avoid the attack hitting his vital points.
Still, the arrow took his left arm.
Wan Peng and Xing Ling'er were the only ones who managed to dodge the attack and remained unscathed.
Nevertheless, the two of them looked terrible. Never had they thought that they would be attacked at the Star Cluster's headquarters.
Not only that, Zhao Ji who had the most powerful ability among the four of them was injured badly by that one attack. Guan Yi's aura had also clearly dropped. It was uncertain as to whether he could participate in the battle.
"Old Guan! Are you alright?" Although Zhao Ji was hurt, he shouted at Guan Yi immediately.
"I'm not dead!" Guan Yi yelled in reply, but he said the second half of his sentence to the three of them through voice transmission, "I can't join the battle within a short period of time."
At that moment, four figures in black robes and masks appeared suddenly.
The four of them looked almost the same. They were covered in black robes from head to toe; only their masks were different.
One looked like an inexperienced youth, one looked like a fiend, one had a swollen face and one wore a mask of a fox.
Xing Ling'er scoffed. "Don't think we don't know who you guys are! Do you think you can hide yourselves just by wearing a mask?!"
The four of them said nothing and attacked directly.
The man with a mask that looked like an inexperienced youth pounced at Xing Ling'er directly.
The person with the swollen face mask pounced at Wan Peng.
Meanwhile, the fiend-faced masked man pounced on Zhao Ji, who had lost an arm.
The last person in a fox mask charged toward the collapsed Stargazing Pavilion, targeting Guan Yi who had lost much of his combat strength.
"How dare you?!" Zhao Ji shouted in rage when he saw that.
He shook his spear and forced the fiend-faced masked man to retreat. He attacked the person in the fox mask.
The person in the fox mask went forward instead of retreating. Just when the two were about to collide, a blue glow lit up within the pupils of the person under the fox mask.
Zhao Ji stopped moving at that very second.
However, at that moment, a black electric arc shot forth.
It took advantage of Zhao Ji's split-second pause and penetrated his eye directly. The black electric arc shot through his head…
"There's an archer hiding!" Wan Peng exclaimed immediately.
They thought that the archer had been hiding among the four masked people earlier. Never had they thought that there would be a fifth person hiding..