Chapter 1201: Blasphemy Dragonpede
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The grade-6 ruin under the Union Government's jurisdiction was called the Demon Swamp. It had many abyss creatures and demons. It was said that the total number of monsters exceeded those in the usual grade-6 ruins.
Moreover, through the exploration before, it was known that there were at least 20 virtual god-level monsters in this ruin.
That was the reason why Lin Huang chose to go there first.
"The volcano beneath us is the entrance. It's approximately 1,000 meters beneath the spiritual lava," Guan Zhong said while smiling pointing at the volcano ahead. "Although this ruin is open all year round, almost nobody below imperial-level can get to the entrance."
Lin Huang sensed the intensity of the spirit beneath and nodded. "This spiritual volcano's spirit intensity is above an imperial-level powerhouse's Life Power. With the pressure coming from the depth of 1,000 meters, indeed, it blocks all cultivators below imperial-level from going in."
He looked around and finally found out why the mountain was called the Crouching Dragon. "No wonder this mountain is called the Crouching Dragon. The connected mountain range resembles a winding giant dragon. If I'm not mistaken, we're standing on the dragon's head. Am I right?"
"That's right," Guan Zhong agreed with a smile.
"If this is the dragon's head, then what's that volcano?" Lin Huang asked while pointing at the spiritual volcano beneath them.
"People living nearby call it the dragon jewel."
"They're pretty creative." Lin Huang raised an eyebrow.
He thought the scenery was beautiful as he stood tall at the top of the dragon's head. He snapped a few pictures and said to Guan Zhong calmly, "I'll go down then. Thanks for your service."
"Sure."
Lin Huang leaped and allowed his body to freefall. He only adjusted his direction slightly just before falling into the crater. He summoned a pitch-black god relic battle armor as he entered the crater while his body was engulfed in dust.
A maroon layer of defense emerged on the surface of the battle armor as he inserted his Divine Power into it.
He plunged straight into the boiling lava just when the defense layer appeared.
Heat throbbed from all directions all of a sudden. Even with the Divine Power blocking it out, the spiritual lava made one uncomfortable.
Lin Huang was plummeting rapidly. He scanned the area with his Divine Telekinesis at the same time and soon found where the entrance was.
Guan Zhong, who was standing on top of the dragon's head outside of volcano, watched Lin Huang fall into the crater. He then summoned a dimensional portal and stepped into it.
As he passed through the entrance of the ruin, Lin Huang got a rough idea of the ruin before he landed.
The sky was dark blue, and it looked like night had just fallen. Dusk covered the wilderness.
Lin Huang did not even see a single monster in his field of vision.
However, he could not help but grin as he widened his range of Divine Telekinesis.
"How careless…"
There was no other reason for him to smile so gleefully other than that there were actually monsters around him as he scanned the area with his Divine Telekinesis. There were monsters called Predator Plants disguised as weeds spreading across the wilderness. There were at least tens of thousands of them.
Nonetheless, with his naked eye, Lin Huang did not see any.
Apart from that, there were a couple of Carrion Maggots hiding underground.
The Carrion Maggot was at least ten meters long. Their bodies were as poisonous as pure venom. Although they loved eating rotten meat, they would make an effort to get onto the ground to hunt on their own sometimes.
Although the Predator Plant was an immortal-level monster, the couple of Carrion Maggots underground had imperial-level combat strength.
An imperial-level powerhouse might be at risk if he were to enter such a place without any preparation.
Noticing the existence of the two types of monsters, Lin Huang stopped descending. He summoned Bloody calmly while hovering mid-air.
In her red dress, Bloody sensed the existence of the Predator Plants and Carrion Maggots as soon as she was summoned. "Let's cast parasites on a few of them. See if there's anything useful in their memories about this ruin."
To be honest, Bloody was unwilling to cast her parasite on monsters that had poor combat strength and low grade. However, she did it without hesitation since the order came from Lin Huang.
A few invisible Leech Pods flew out and soon penetrated the few Predator Plants and Carrion Maggots' bodies.
Currently, she had Virtual God rank-2 combat strength. Almost no living thing below Virtual God rank-2 could sense the existence of her Leech Pods. The parasitization on the few local monsters was completed smoothly.
Almost the moment when the Leech Pods penetrated their bodies, the information in those monsters' heads were sent to Bloody.
Bloody spent less than a second sorting that information out.
"This is the south of the ruin. There should be a virtual god-level monster around 8,000 kilometers towards the north. They've no idea about the exact information of that virtual god-level monster. However, I have a rough idea about the exact route following the terrains and distribution of monsters."
"Then, let's head over there. There's no need to waste time using our feet," Lin Huang suggested and summoned Thunder.
Thunder, which had elevated to quadruple mutated mythical-level, had undergone a change of form again. Its feathers were now deep indigo with patches of beautiful golden patterns on them. Its pupils were golden purple. Its body was much more muscular than before, but it did not look bulky at all. Instead, it appeared as elegant as before but was more overbearing now.
Lin Huang leaped onto Thunder's back with Bloody and patted it.
"Follow Bloody's instructions."
Thunder flapped its wings and flew into the sky like a bolt of purple lightning. The entire sky echoed with thunder.
As the purple lightning soared into the sky, Thunder deviated and flew straight towards the north.
Within a minute, they arrived at their destination on Thunder's back.
Lin Huang only sensed the virtual god-level monster with his Divine Telekinesis when he was close.
It was an evil spirit-type monster from the abyss called the Blasphemy Dragonpede. Lin Huang had read about such a monster in the Union Government's archives.
The monster was a dark purple giant centipede. With its two pitch-black wings, it was thousands of meters long.
Its favorite food was dragonkin's babies and sky dragons with dragonkin's bloodline. Moreover, such a monster was deadly. It could poison almost all the monsters on the same combat strength.
Lin Huang also sensed that the monster was only on Virtual God rank-2, which was the same with Bloody and the rest.
While he was going to summon Lancelot to fight it, he never expected Thunder to attack the monster that occupied the swamp as soon as it noticed the monster. It did not even wait for Lin Huang's order.
Chapter 1202: Thunder Vs Blasphemy Dragonpede
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Black mist curled around the Blasphemy Dragonpede. It lifted its upper body from the swamp when it sensed Thunder's aura from far away. Its hundred legs were dancing with its straighten body, appearing very terrifying.
Seeing Thunder approaching its direction, the Dragonpede shrieked in rage. Underneath, Thunder responded in kind. However, its reply was even more determined.
It flapped both of its wings. The dusky sky was filled with dark clouds that covered the entire sky.
As purple lightning bolts lit up around its body, more lightning sparkled in the clouds above.
Screech!
The lightning bolts around Thunder's body charged when it shrieked for the second time. Countless purple beams of light accumulated between the gaps in its feathers. They turned into thousands of lightning bolts and shot out like a pouring lightning waterfall.
At the same time, the dark clouds in the sky had purple lightning sparkling within them. The lightning rained down like a storm, and soon integrated with the lightning bolts that rained out from Thunder.
Endless purple lightning bolts drowned the gigantic Blasphemy Dragonpede.
However, a shriek emerged from the lightning bolts a moment later. The shriek sounded similar to a dragonkin's shriek, but it was even sharper. There was a ripping sound that sounded more evil and brutal.
Before the shriek ended, a gigantic silhouette flew out of the lightning bolts.
At that moment, the silhouette was at the same height as Thunder. Upon closer inspection, it was the Blasphemy Dragonpede.
It flapped its wings and hovered into the sky. There were faint purple lightning bolts lingering on its dark purple shell. However, the lightning bolts did not seem to affect its movement at all.
Lin Huang also noticed there seemed to be zero wounds on its body. "Hmm, it seems like the attack doesn't work on it."
"It makes sense. A monster such as the Blasphemy Dragonpede has powerful defenses. Furthermore, there's dragonkin bloodline in its body. It has immense immunity to elemental attacks," Bloody explained, "However, Thunder didn't give it its all earlier. It was just attacking it in a testing manner."
Lin Huang nodded. In reality, he could tell that Thunder indeed had not given its all. It was just a test attack. On a certain level, it was using a ranged attack to trigger the Blasphemy Dragonpede.
"Thunder seems to be a little excited to be encountering it, doesn't it?"
"Birds are the natural enemy of snakes and worms, so this is their instinct," Bloody explained further, "It's normal for Thunder to behave like water meeting fire when it encounters such a venomous centipede."
"I see." Lin Huang had always thought that monsters would lose their original instincts when they elevated. He even thought the instinct would go away entirely. Never had he thought that its animal instinct would still be there when Thunder elevated to mythical-level. The hatred between birds and worms did not disappear at all.
Within the short few seconds that Lin Huang and Bloody chatted, Thunder had collided with the Blasphemy Dragonpede a few times.
Although the Blasphemy Dragonpede was powerful, no matter whether it was the natural suppression that Thunder was born with or its low grade, it lost to the latter in all aspects.
Wounds started forming on its body as a result of the few collisions.
Thunder finally stopped testing its foe after gaining a rough understanding of its opponent's ability.
The lightning bolts on its body had now turned golden.
The tiny golden lights under its feathers accumulated into lightning bolts. They then covered the Blasphemy Dragonpede like a web.
The Blasphemy Dragonpede flapped its wings in an attempt to flee. However, it could not overcome the lightning bolts and drowned in it.
This time, black char marks appeared on its shell whenever the golden lightning hit its body. It groaned from the pain.
"Thunder is winning the battle like a piece of cake. Should we catch it alive?" Lin Huang raised his brow when he saw what was happening.
All the while, he was sitting on Thunder's back with Bloody. Although Thunder knew that both of them would be fine even if they got hit by the impact of the battle, it had been protecting them throughout the battle.
"This Blasphemy Dragonpede is born less powerful than Thunder. The fact that it's only triple and a half mutated, it's incomparable with a complete quadruple mutated monster. Moreover, Thunder has a double bloodline of the Thunder Lord and the Storm Phoenix, so it can kill many Virtual God rank-3 monsters." Bloody was not surprised by the outcome of the battle.
Just when she said that, the golden lightning web contracted rapidly. The Blasphemy Dragonpede shrunk together with the web, and Thunder grabbed its head with its claws. Consequently, the Blasphemy Dragonpede totally lost its ability to fight back.
Lin Huang and Bloody leaped from Thunder's back then.
Although it had shrunk substantially, the Blasphemy Dragonpede's head was much bigger than Lin Huang's body.
It glared dangerously at Lin Huang and Bloody with its four bloody eyes. If not for its head that was being squeezed by Thunder, it might have spat toxin to attack the duo standing before it.
However, Lin Huang was fearless as he faced this monster. Even if he did not have Thunder and Bloody next to him, he could fight a Virtual God rank-3 with his current ability. The giant centipede before him only had Virtual God rank-2 combat strength.
On the other hand, Bloody took a step forward directly and pressed her hand against the Blasphemy Dragonpede's head. She was not afraid of the toxin on its body.
Her parasitization was completed within three seconds.
Later on, she spent approximately half a minute reading and sorting out its memories. She then turned around and walked to Lin Huang to share the sorted memories with him.
Lin Huang closed his eyes and took some time to digest it. Then, he opened his eyes again.
"Including this one, there are a total of 23 virtual god-level monsters in this ruin. Most of them are on Virtual God rank-1 to rank-3, and only two of them are on Virtual God rank-4. There are no man-made buildings in the entire ruin, which means we don't have to waste time looking for human remnants and search for treasures."
Lin Huang thought the plan was pretty reliable, whereby he could rest after killing the monsters and wait for the ruin to reset itself.
"There isn't much useful information in this centipede's head." Bloody was dissatisfied with the giant centipede's memories. She suggested after Lin Huang mentioned waiting for the ruins to reset, "According to the Union Government records, the interval to reset the ruin is pretty long. Even if we kill many monsters, it'll take more than 72 hour for each reset. I think it's unnecessary for us to wait for it to reset."
"I think so too," Lin Huang agreed. "With Thunder's speed, I think we'll only take an hour and a half at the most to kill all 23 virtual god-level monsters. After we're done with the first batch of virtual god-level monsters, we'll do it again when it resets at midnight. We can leave right after that, so we don't have to wait for it to reset for the second time. The second reset will take three days. I can kill the monsters in the other two ruins in that time."
"Do we take its Godhead?" Bloody turned her head to look at the Blasphemy Dragonpede.
"There's no need. You can make the Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 monsters your puppets." Lin Huang shook his head. "Now that I'm on imperial-level, the effect of Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 Godheads is dropping. I'd rather make the best of it."
Bloody nodded and said nothing more. She then put the Blasphemy Dragonpede away into her God Territory.
Lin Huang spread his Divine Telekinesis out and searched for loot around the swamp where the Blasphemy Dragonpede lived. He then hopped onto Thunder's back.
"Let's go to our two o'clock about 12,000 kilometers away."
Thunder flapped its wings before Lin Huang could even finish speaking. It flew through the sky like a flash of purple lightning.
The dark clouds in the sky only faded slowly a long time after Thunder left.
Chapter 1203: Rotten Heart
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Time flew by, and almost an hour had passed.
Lin Huang only managed to kill half of the 23 virtual god-level monsters. His efficiency was much lower than he expected.
In reality, apart from the Blasphemy Dragonpede they first encountered, Lin Huang did not get Thunder to fight those Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 monsters. He got Bloody to cast parasites on them and put them away in her God Territory. Among the Virtual God rank-3 monsters, he summoned Lancelot, the Evil Dominator, Killer, Kylie, and the rest of his battle imperial monsters to practice.
Although he saved ample time by putting the Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 monsters away, the time Lancelot and the rest took to practice was much longer than Lin Huang expected initially.
He thought he would only need one and a half hours to kill all 23 monsters. Unfortunately, after an hour had passed, he had only killed 12 monsters.
"The next one is a Virtual God rank-4 monster. I'm afraid Lancelot and the rest…" Bloody reminded just when Thunder flapped its wings and flew off.
"Lancelot and the rest aren't a match for it." Lin Huang knew his imperial monsters' abilities very well. "So, Bai will fight next."
He was very curious about how much of Bai's ability had increased since it elevated to pseudo-supreme god-level.
Thunder only took a minute to travel across ten thousand kilometers.
Lin Huang and the rest sensed their next target from far away. It was the Rotten Heart.
The Rotten Heart was an evil spirit-type monster with a unique form.
The monster truly looked exactly like its name. It appeared like a gigantic heart that was festering. It was dark with pus all over it. Dark purple veins bulged and throbbed, making it look even more terrifying. It had no eyes, mouth or ears.
It sensed its surroundings through the sonic coming from pumping its own body. In reality, it was similar to a bat.
Standing on Thunder's back, Lin Huang gazed down at the Rotten Heart from far away. As expected, it was the same as recorded in the Union Government's archives.
However, the Rotten Heart also noticed Thunder's existence whilst Lin Huang was observing it from far away. Instinctively, it attacked Thunder from a distance.
A black ray shot out like a lightning bolt, going after Thunder.
Thunder flapped its wings and barely dodged the assault. It never thought the second and third black rays would shoot out consecutively.
As Thunder was busy evading the attacks, Lin Huang inspected the black rays closely and realized they came from the black threads that stemmed from the body of the Rotten Heart. It was similar to the Vampire Particles Bai used to have, but the method of using it was different.
Initially, Lin Huang planned to summon Bai to fight when they got closer.
However, now that the opponent had initiated the attack, he could only summon Bai directly.
In its black robe, Bai nodded at Lin Huang as soon as it was summoned. It soon fixed its eyes on the Rotten Heart.
Although it was only on Virtual God rank-2, Bai was fearless when it glared at the Rotten Heart that was on Virtual God rank-4. Instead, its will to fight ignited.
As its black robe fluttered in the wind, the bloody patterns on the robe lit up like lava. They were flowing like they were alive.
A bloody crystal the size of a thumb extended out from between Bai's brows. His black pupils turned bloody red at that moment.
A layer of bloody mist began lingering around his body and covering him entirely.
Bai hovered mid-air and shot a deadly glare at the Rotten Heart with its bloody eyes. The bloody mist around its body began solidifying into bloody tentacles without it doing anything.
The hundred bloody tentacles expanded before Bai rapidly. They turned into bloody whips that tore through the black threads from the Rotten Heart and snapped them mercilessly.
Bai's Almighty Vampire Particles were clearly a level higher than the opponent's technique.
However, that was not the end of it. After blocking the attack, the bloody tentacles proceeded to charge in a frenzy towards the Rotten Heart.
Beneath, the Rotten Heart did not dodge the attack. Instead, it began pumping intensely like a beating heart at a frequency that only increased with time.
Lin Huang, who was watching the battle aside, soon noticed that circles of energy waves radiated from its pumping. Furthermore, the energy waves were getting denser and more powerful.
Almost when the bloody tentacles were ten meters before the Rotten Heart, it had reached its peak whereby the circles of energy waves spread hundreds of times faster than the speed of sound.
The bloody tentacles seemed to drown in mud as they slowed down. They could no longer go any further when they arrived around five meters before the Rotten Heart.
Bai frowned slightly when it saw that. It extended an arm from a distance and held its stance steady.
The tentacles seemed to have received an order as they stopped fighting on their own and began integrating quickly. Approximately one to two seconds later, the hundred tentacles became one.
Bai smirked and transformed the integrated tentacle into a giant drill immediately. It began working right away.
Lin Huang was stunned to see that. He subsequently chuckled out loud. "No wonder the skill evolved into the Almighty Vampire Particles after he elevated."
The drill began spinning quickly as soon as it was formed. It then proceeded to approach the Rotten Heart.
Although the beating waves from the Rotten Heart were powerful, it could not stop the drill from advancing further.
A couple of thick, black tentacles flew out of the Rotten Heart's body all of a sudden as the drill was about to penetrate its body.
The black tentacles bonded with the drill Bai created.
A moment later, Bai's attack was eventually blocked. However, it had reached its goal.
The bloody mist around it began transforming into bloody flying daggers.
One after another, the flying daggers flew at an alarming speed. They were going after the Rotten Heart.
Lin Huang noticed that Bai's attack was actually similar to his telekinetic attack, but the telekinetic threads were turned into Almighty Vampire Particles. Flying daggers were neither god relics nor demigod relics, but they were consolidated by the Almighty Vampire Particles automatically.
After breaking through the defense made of energy waves, Bai used a flying dagger attack immediately. He wanted to harm his opponent effectively before the Rotten Heart even managed to react.
However, the Rotten Heart reacted as soon as it happened. The black threads soon changed into a dense web.
The flying daggers were like insects stuck on a spider web when they collided with it. They could not get free.
Bai did not have any concerns on its face when its attack failed again. Instead, its will to fight was getting more and more intense.
Bai snapped its fingers after recalling the flying daggers and drill made of the bloody mist. The bloody mist around it transformed once again as it snapped its fingers. Soon, they turned into tentacles of sharp sabers.
On the other hand, the Rotten Heart dared not hold back at all. A mass of black threads began coming out of its body. They then merged into black tentacles of various weapons.
Chapter 1204: Body Severed By Tide of Boa
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In the air, the black and red tentacles turned into various weapons and collided. Each collision was comparable with a Virtual God rank-4 powerhouse's full-force attack.
The collisions of the black and red Divine Power created deafening explosions consecutively. Thunder roared continuously as if there was a furious storm.
The impact coming from the collisions of two types of Divine Power alone spread thousands of kilometers away. Almost everything turned into dust wherever the impact passed by. The ground collapsed, and rivers and lakes dried up. Even the clouds in the sky were chased away. Almost all the holy fire-level to imperial-level monsters died.
A vacuum was formed as a result of the strong collisions. Circles of waves formed in the sky and spread tens of thousands of kilometers away.
The trees in the ruins were broken by strong winds. Many other plants were even uprooted. Dark clouds filled the sky and the ground cracked. It looked like doomsday had come.
The level of battle even surpassed Lin Huang's personal abilities.
Lin Huang, who was situated in the middle of the battlefield, had to carry a Mirror (the elevated Dark Mirror since Lancelot had elevated to mythical-level) to block the impact of the Divine Power.
He involved himself in the battle quietly. However, he realized that he would only be beaten no matter what. Putting the rest aside, he would be completely crushed in terms of speed alone.
He could only catch the shadows of the duo's attacks. Unfortunately, his body could not react in time at all.
The duo's intense attacks lasted for over ten minutes. Apart from Lin Huang, Bloody, and Thunder who were still alive, everything around was pulverized into dust.
The main reason why they could watch the battle in such a relaxed manner without being affected was the powerful defense coming from the Mirror.
In the middle of the battlefield, although the Rotten Heart had been suppressed, it persisted with its stubborn defense and had yet to lose.
Bai frowned slightly upon seeing that it could not defeat it.
He had consolidated up to 1,000 tentacles from the Almighty Vampire Particles. However, the black threads were crawling out of the opponent's body too. They were no fewer than his.
Although the opponent's black threads were much weaker than his Almighty Vampire Particles whereby they would be broken again and again, they recovered continuously.
Lin Huang realized Bai's problem as he watched the battle.
Perhaps because it was its first battle ever since he elevated to pseudo-supreme god-level, Bai was eager to prove its improvement by winning the battle. However, it encountered a cunning opponent this time. It seemed to have noticed Bai's eagerness and slowed the battle rhythm down on purpose. As a result, the battle stagnated.
Just when Lin Huang was going to remind him, Bloody spoke through voice transmission before he could say anything, "Bai, don't let it drag the battle rhythm out. Your overall ability is much more powerful than its own, but it's limited. It's very hard to oppress it entirely. All you'll have to do is to kill it in this battle. Don't try to win it perfectly. The more distracting thoughts you have, the more disadvantages there are for you in this battle. Don't think about anything else now. Just think of how to kill it in the fastest way."
Bai was stunned when it heard what Bloody said. It then noticed its problem subsequently. It shook its thoughts off immediately and stopped thinking of ways to defeat it perfectly.
Its attack soon became precise after that. It stopped colliding with the opponent's black threads. Instead, each attack went after the opponent's body.
The Rotten Heart began showing its weakness and become clumsy as soon as Bai changed its battle rhythm.
Lin Huang peeked at Bloody next to him after seeing Bai's changes.
Although he did not hear what Bloody said to Bai, he figured that she must have pointed something out for it.
There were more and more wounds on the Rotten Heart's body.
However, a black liquid would flow out whenever there was a wound on its body. The wound would then recover right away.
Bai had no concern with that. It knew that such a technique of its opponent would be draining.
Some ten minutes later, the healing on the Rotten Heart's wounds began to slow down. Even the black tentacles were weaker than before.
Bai sped up his attack frequency after noticing that.
The wounds on the Rotten Heart's body that was already clumsy increased all of a sudden. Its body was pumping rapidly. Although it had strengthened the black tentacles' defense, the draining of Divine Power was clearly more now.
Bai was calm because it had completely mastered the battle rhythm.
Realizing that it was now on the losing end, the Rotten Heart's pumping began to speed up. It was beating faster each second than before.
The rotten parts in the black heart began cracking.
At the same time that the black juice was spilling, there would be thick rotten tentacles coming out of it. The hundred rotten tentacles were completely different from the appearance of the black fluid earlier. They were more like the real stuff made of flesh and blood.
As the rotten tentacles grew, there was an intense noxious stench lingering in the air. Lin Huang felt dizzy after merely inhaling a little bit of the air. He shut his breathing system immediately and shouted at the rest at the same time, "Stop breathing. Its tentacles are toxic!"
A black silhouette came as soon as Lin Huang spoke. Thunder was the first to react. It flapped its wings slightly and dodged the black silhouette.
Lin Huang had just realized that the black silhouette that came earlier was a rotten tentacle coming from the Rotten Heart. It was attacking Lin Huang and Thunder.
Bai was enraged to see the Rotten Heart attacking.
"You're seeking death!" Two red glows shot out of Bai's eyes whilst endless bloody mist curled out of his body. They turned into ferocious bloody boas one after another. Tens of thousands of gigantic bloody boas were going after the Rotten Heart like a tide.
The Rotten Heart did not yield. Up to a hundred black rotten tentacles charged at the tide of the boa.
The bloody boas tore the rotten tentacles one after another. However, the bloody boas would be dyed black as soon as they touched the black liquid that shot out of the tentacles.
Lin Huang was frowning a little as he watched the whole scenario.
"Can the toxic even infect pure energy?!"
Five to six minutes later, the bloody boas tore up to a hundred rotten tentacles into pieces. However, almost half of the 10,000 boas were infected by the black toxin.
Nevertheless, Bai did not plan to stop fighting at all. It proceeded to control the giant boas to attack the Rotten Heart. They were tearing it apart.
In the beginning, the Rotten Heart would strive to recover itself. It even attempted to defend by extending its black tentacles. However, the bloody boas would bite them off each time it extended its tentacles.
After attempting it for some 20 times, it finally realized that there was no way for it to turn the tables around at all.
The Divine Power in its body had been drained, so its flesh could no longer recover. It could only watch its body being torn apart by the giant boas surrounding it, eating it alive.
In reality, it did not last long since its Divine Power was drained. Approximately five to six seconds later, it was devoured by the bloody boas one after another. A black Godhead hovering in the air was the only thing left behind.
Chapter 1205: The Galactic Hive's First Show
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Bai fled the battle in the air. The bloody patterns on his black robe seemed to be dormant again. Not only had they stopped flowing, but even the color was also dimmer. The lava-like color was now bright red as if it was painted on a picture.
The bloody crystal on his forehead penetrated his body automatically. His pupils that were bloody red became black and bright again.
Just when Bai was ready to recall the mist that was almost black, Lin Huang called out to him, "These participles have been infected. Will it be okay if you recall them?"
"Don't worry. I got them infected on purpose." Bai nodded and explained calmly, "In reality, this Rotten Heart has the same nature as my ability, which is the Blood Bond. However, his Blood Bond is special whereby it's a cursed virus. It's very suitable for battle. I got my Almighty Vampire Particles infected on purpose to engulf its cursed virus to obtain a new Blood Bond technique."
"Are you sure about this?" Lin Huang was still worried. It was not that he had no trust in Bai's ability, but the black rotten tentacles seemed like bad news no matter what. It might pose a problem if Bai were reckless.
"Let me show you." Bai knew the reason why Lin Huang was worried. Instead of explaining it with words, he demonstrated it directly.
He created a cloud the size of a fist from the black mist and another cloud the size of a thumb from the red mist. He placed both of them in a transparent, sealed energy bubble.
In the bubble, the red mist attacked the black mist as soon as they touched. It engulfed the black mist mercilessly. The same unit of red mist was produced whenever each inch of the black mist was engulfed.
The black mist attempted to extend its tentacles to infect the red mist a few times but its attempt was to no avail. The red mist would consume and convert the black mist each time it extended its tentacles.
Within ten seconds, the black mist was completely destroyed. The Almighty Vampire Particles were the only thing left in the entire sealed bubble.
"I didn't do anything throughout the entire process. I allowed them to do that," Bai said while smiling at Lin Huang after popping the bubble with its finger. "My Almighty Vampire Particles usually won't be affected by such a virus because my Blood Bond grade is higher than the Rotten Heart. Its virus is just food to my Almighty Vampire Particles. The reason why they were infected was that I removed the defense on purpose, allowing the virus to go in. The goal is to analyze and simulate how the virus works."
"Alright then." Lin Huang was relieved to see Bai's demonstration.
"Can I have the Godhead?' Bai turned his head to look at the black Godhead hovering mid-air nearby after explaining.
"You can have it if you want," Lin Huang offered. He did not ask Bai why would he want the Godhead. He knew that Bai had its reasons.
"This Godhead has signed a Blood Bond. I can use it as a medium to master the Rotten Heart's Blood Bond ability better. I can refine this Godhead directly when I elevate to Virtual God rank-4 and obtain the Rotten Heart's complete inheritance." Bai provided a detailed explanation anyway.
"You can have it if it's helpful to elevate your abilities. There's no need to explain in such detail," Lin Huang responded with a smile. "Put it away now. We need to move on."
Bai only put the Godhead away in its body after getting Lin Huang's permission.
The three of them hopped onto Thunder's back. Thunder flapped its wings and flew towards their next target.
Bloody cast parasites on six of the remaining ten virtual god-level monsters. Grimace and the rest practiced on the other three Virtual God rank-3 monsters. Meanwhile, Bai fought the Virtual God rank-4 monster.
The battle this time was much easier than killing the Rotten Heart before.
The Virtual God rank-4 monster that Bai fought was a Dead Spirit Dominator that was an expert in close-range combat.
Bai used the Rotten Heart's ability that he had just signed the Blood Bond with directly. His bloody tentacles turned black with the curse and toxin. The battle had just started for less than ten seconds, but a simple contact slashed the Dead Spirit Dominator's abilities by more than half.
Subsequently, the battle turned around as if Bai was beating a child. He spent less than two minutes settling this battle. However, Bai did not ask for the Virtual God rank-4 Godhead this time. Instead, it gave it to Lin Huang.
Lin Huang spent almost two hours decimating all the 23 virtual god-level monsters.
He checked the time. It was only past 11 in the morning. He was bored, so he had lunch early. Bai, Bloody, and Thunder took their favorite snacks out as their lunch.
It was noon after lunch, and Lin Huang was done chatting with his few pets.
The ruins would only reset the monsters after midnight. In other words, they would have to wait for another 12 hours. Lin Huang was bored just thinking of it.
Although it was noon at the moment, it seemed like the sky was turning dark.
Lin Huang lifted his head to gaze at the sky. The moon aside, there was not even a single star. He was getting really bored. He thought of something as he was dull to his very core.
"The Queens need many carcasses as material to give birth to Bug Tribe fighters. There are so many monsters in this ruin. Isn't this the best source of Bug Tribe material?!"
A daring idea came into Lin Huang's head as he thought about this point.
Almost in the next second, a massive galactic hive the size of a moon landed in the ruin.
This hive was oval like a football. It hovered some ten meters above the ground.
It was Lin Huang's first time summoning the galactic hive since he obtained it.
Even he was amazed when he saw the true form of the hive in reality.
Bloody, Bai, and Thunder were completely dumbstruck as they stood frozen where they were.
"Is this the legendary galactic hive?!" Bloody could not help but mumble. She had read about such a thing in the ancient documents more than once. However, it was her first time seeing the real thing. She was well and truly shocked.
Meanwhile, Bai and Thunder were speechless.
The bugs in the galactic hive used the hive as a medium. They did not occupy Lin Huang's summoning authority at all. He could summon a few hundred million or even a billion of them.
Lin Huang contacted the four Bug Tribe Queen Mothers and issued his order, "Clear the entire ruins!"
The four Queen Mothers that got his order cascaded the order to the bugs under them through the hive immediately. A stream of bugs rushed out like a tide when they received the Queen Mothers' orders.
They flew in all directions under the Multi-eyed Worms, the Superbrain Worms, the Golden Bugs, and the thousands of Bug Servants' command.
Chapter 1206: A Great Sweep
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The four Queen Mothers that took the form of young girls sat in four corners of the galactic hive.
Under their command, the seven Virtual God rank-2 bugs led the 10,000 pseudo-mythical-levels and more than 30 million imperial-level purple gold-rank bugs to sweep the place.
The stream of bugs rushing out of the galactic hive covered the sky like dark clouds.
Lin Huang had cleared all of the 23 virtual god-level monsters in the ruin earlier. Now, the most powerful monster was merely on demigod-level while the rest of the monsters ranged from holy fire-level to imperial-level. The level of the monster horde was nothing compared to the number of monsters in the bug horde.
The bug horde was like a locust plague. They killed all the monsters wherever they passed, leaving no lives behind.
Approximately ten hours later, the bug horde cleared the entire ruin. Billions of abyssal and demonic monsters were killed. The few virtual god-level monsters put the carcasses away into their God Territory.
The monster carcasses were valuable material to the Queen Mothers, so they brought them to the latter.
Meanwhile, Lin Huang had been practicing his sword skills in a relaxed manner tduringthe ten hours.
It was 10.30 p.m. when the bug horde returned. The ruin remained looking as if it was dusk.
Bloody nodded at Lin Huang. "They've cleared everything. At least, there's nothing alive within my range of observation." She was actually secretly in awe about how terrifying the Bug Tribe was.
"The total amount of monsters killed is around 3.3 billion. I didn't calculate the exact data."
"The rough figure will do," said Lin Huang. He gazed into the galactic hive after chatting with Bloody.
In the hive, the seven virtual god-level bugs took out the monster carcasses from their God Territory respectively and gave them to the four Queen Mothers.
The Queen Mothers who obtained the sea of monster carcasses soon went into breeding mode. They transformed from human forms to their Bug Tribe forms. They began devouring the monster carcasses one after another after connecting to the incubator.
Lin Huang learned about the Queen Mothers' habits from the hive's inherited memories. Since the Queen Mothers were already on Virtual God rank-2, it would be meaningless for them to breed fighters below virtual god-level. Therefore, when the material obtained was of a lower grade, the Bug Tribe Queen Mothers would not breed fighters of the same combat strength as the material. Instead, they would store the material as sources of energy whereby they would be nutrients used in breeding imperial-level monsters.
Among the 3.3 billion monsters, most of them were on holy fire and immortal-level. Less than a tenth of them were imperial-level monsters. With these low-grade monster carcasses as material, the imperial-level purple gold-rank bugs that the Queen Mothers would eventually breed might come up to be less than a hundred million.
Even though that was the case, Lin Huang was pretty satisfied with the results.
After all, he had obtained tens of millions of Bug Tribe fighters without doing anything.
He put the galactic hive away into his body after seeing that all of the fighters had returned while the four Bug Tribe Queen Mothers had entered incubation.
He practiced his sword skills for another one and a half hours patiently. The sky in the ruin turned bright all of a sudden when it reached midnight.
Lin Huang lifted his head to peer up. A bloody crack extended across the sky rapidly. At first, it was less than a meter long, but it grew tens of kilometers long within a short few seconds. The crack resembled a stroke in the sky that had been drawn with a red pen.
As the crack expanded in the sky, tiny cracks began to appear below it. The sky seemed to have failed to bear the existence of the crack and it began to tear.
Time passed by. Slowly, the red crack appeared to be expanded by an invisible force. It looked like an eye beginning to open from a state of being shut.
The entire Virtual Eye hanging in the sky made it look like the sky had a bloody pupil growing in it and was studying the world.
The red, bloody glow turned the dusk into day. However, the day looked a little odd, as if the entire ruin had been dyed red.
Although the Virtual Eye was far away, Lin Huang clearly saw that there were many black silhouettes standing at the Virtual Eye that had just opened.
As the Virtual Eye stabilized, the black silhouettes rushed out of it like a waterfall. Lin Huang managed to notice that the black silhouettes which were rushing out were monsters.
He did not hesitate any longer and summoned Thunder again. "Let's go to the Virtual Eye!"
Thunder flew with Lin Huang and Bloody on its back. It only took two to three minutes to arrive at the area where the Virtual Eye was.
Lin Huang summoned the galactic hive again, showing no mercy after taking a glance at the Virtual Eye with monsters spurting out of it.
The four Queen Mothers that had received his order conveyed his order again. In the galactic hive, more than three billion imperial-level purple gold-rank monsters rushed out of it in a frenzy. They attacked and destroyed the monster horde coming out of the Virtual Eye.
Even the Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 monsters were parasitized by Bloody as soon as they came out. They had no idea what exactly happened at all.
As for the Virtual God rank-3 monsters, Lin Huang did not summon Lancelot and the rest to practice. After all, it was not suitable for them to practice their skills under such chaos. Instead, he got the seven virtual god-level bugs to attack and kill them as soon as they could.
Lin Huang summoned Bai again when the Virtual Eye sent its first Virtual God rank-4 monster.
Bai sensed his opponent's existence immediately. It went into battle mode before Lin Huang even gave his order.
The massacre at the entrance of the Virtual Eye was undoubtedly much more efficient than before.
Within approximately three hours, all of the three billion monsters that rushed out of the Virtual Eye were killed.
Apart from the two Virtual God rank-4 monsters which had taken some of Bai's time, all of the monsters were killed right away, including the Virtual God rank-3 monsters.
The Virtual Eye finally disintegrated completely when it finished releasing the last batch of monsters at 3 a.m.
The three billion monsters that came out of the Virtual Eye ended up as carcasses strewn all over the place.
The seven virtual god-level bugs cleared the battlefield quickly and put all of them away into their God Territory.
Meanwhile, Bai passed the two Virtual God rank-4 and five Virtual God rank-3 monsters' Godheads to Lin Huang.
It was almost 3.30 a.m. when the entire battlefield was cleared.
Lin Huang hovered mid-air and looked at the empty ground. The ruin was silent.
"The Virtual Eye will open again in three days. I wonder what would people from the Union Government think if they came within these three days and saw an empty piece of land."
"I guess the people from your hometown would say they must look dumb," Bloody mocked.
Lin Huang lifted his head and glanced at the sky that was dusky again after putting the galactic hive away in his body while riding on Thunder's back with Bloody and Bai.
He knew this should be the last time he would visit this ruin.
"Time to go! Next stop, the Hunter Association's Hunting Garden!"
Chapter 1207: Hunting Garden
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Hunter Association's grade-6 ruin was called the Hunting Garden.
The reason it was given such a name was that there were many varieties of monsters in this ruin.
Under normal circumstances, an ordinary ruin would only have 20 to 30 types of monsters. Very few of them had more than 40 types of monsters. However, according to the Hunter Association's records, they confirmed that the Hunting Garden had 183 types of monsters. It was said that over 20 types of monsters were never found. Nobody had ever managed to take photos as proof for some reason, so their existence was never proven.
There was something unique about the monsters in the Hunting Garden whereby most of them were carnivorous. There was a minority of them that were omnivorous, but almost none were herbivorous. These monsters had powerful hunting skills.
Lin Huang was very interested in such a ruin.
Since he had booked his slot earlier, he headed straight to the Hunter Association headquarters in foothold No. 1A2, Hunting City.
The person who was responsible for serving him was the deputy chief, Wu Xing, who was a tall and big man.
Although he looked like a lummox, in reality, Wu Xing's character was the complete opposite of his appearance. He was great in interpersonal relationships.
Lin Huang had no idea whether he was really friendly or was pretending. However, the experience made him comfortable. Wu Xing had a great sense of propriety in everything he did, and that alone impressed Lin Huang.
Most people had no sense of propriety as Wu Xing did. At least, Lin Huang could not achieve that. Furthermore, among the many people he knew, Huang Tianfu might be the only one whose sense of propriety could compare with Wu Xing's.
Lin Huang was chatting with Wu Xing along the way. He realized that he had arrived at the entrance of the Hunting Garden.
"This is the entrance of the ruin and it's also the furthest I can send you." Wu Xing stopped walking.
Lin Huang nodded and thanked him. Then, he stepped into the ruin.
Compared to the Demon Swamp, this ruin was completely different. Lin Huang felt like he had stepped from summer into spring as soon as he got in. The ruin looked like it was spring with lush flowers and trees around. There was even a small river flowing not far away.
This ruin did not look like a ruin at all. It looked more like a tourist spot where it was spring all year round.
Lin Huang was stunned to see the scenery. However, he snapped back to his senses after being distracted for a moment.
He remembered clearly of the ruins' description in the Hunter Association's record – Intruders would be treated as prey by the local monsters at all times.
Lin Huang summoned Bloody as soon as he stepped into the meadows of the ruin.
"This ruin has beautiful scenery," Bloody could not help but comment when she glanced around as soon as she was summoned.
Subsequently, the duo did the usual whereby Bloody spread her Leech Pods out to get a rough map of the entire ruins.
Later on, instead of killing virtual god-level monsters one by one, Lin Huang summoned the galactic hive and got the seven virtual god-level bugs to lead the bug horde to clear the ruins.
The Hunting Garden was only slightly smaller than Union Government's Demon Swamp, but there were considerably fewer monsters in it. There were only a total of 300 million monsters, which was only around a tenth of the total amount of monsters the Demon Swamp had.
Moreover, there were only six virtual god-level monsters. Among them, the two monsters with the highest combat strength were only on Virtual God rank-3. That was the reason why Lin Huang used the hive directly with zero concern.
Some five hours later, the 300 million monsters were cleared by the bug horde. There was no living thing within the range of Bloody's observation.
Lin Huang checked the time after watching the bug horde return to the hive. It was only past 2 p.m., and it would take another ten hours for the monsters to be reset.
The ruin would take 48 hours to reset each time, which was shorter than the Demon Swamp's 72-hour window. However, Lin Huang clearly did not plan to stay.
It was boring enough for him to wait for ten hours, and he could only kill time by practicing his sword skill. He had no patience to wait for 48 hours. To him, he could do many things within those 48 hours.
The change in light was the other difference between the Hunting Garden and the Demon Swamp.
The Demon Swamp always looked like dusk before the night fell, but the Hunting Garden had clear changes between day and night. It was almost the same as the outside world.
Approximately four hours later, the sky dimmed when it was 6.30 pm.
In reality, no sun could be seen in the ruin. Lin Huang had no idea what the source of light was in there. There was no light source at all in the dark blue sky above.
The sky finally turned completely dark when it was almost 8 p.m. However, that did not affect Lin Huang practicing his sword skills at all.
Soon, another three and a half hours passed. A Virtual Eye appeared rapidly in the sky just when the needle on the clock passed midnight.
Lin Huang looked confused when he saw the Virtual Eye that had just risen in the Hunting Garden.
Next to him, Bloody smiled. "I can't believe that we finally get to see the colorful Virtual Eye that we've only seen in records."
"It's my first time seeing it too," Lin Huang responded while smiling.
The Virtual Eye hanging in the sky was colorful with nine different colors. Although it looked strange, it gave him an odd sense of comfort.
Just when Lin Huang was discussing the color of the Virtual Eye with Bloody, the colorful Virtual Eye stabilized. A stream of various monsters began rushing out like a pouring waterfall.
Lin Huang had not put the galactic hive away since earlier. Seeing monsters rushing out now, he gave his orders to the four Queen Mothers again without hesitation. He told them to kill all of the monsters coming out of the Virtual Eye.
Almost the next second he gave his order, endless bugs rushed out like dark clouds, heading towards the Virtual Eye.
This time, Lin Huang did not observe the battle at a close distance. He watched the battle through Bloody's Leech Pods from far away.
Due to the restriction as a result of the difference in combat strength and the speed of monsters being sent out from the Virtual Eye, the battle was one-sided from the beginning. The monster horde was completely oppressed and annihilated
The same thing happened to the virtual god-level monsters. They were killed by the Superbrain Worms and the rest just when they showed up from the Virtual Eye.
The one-sided massacre only ended some three hours later. All of the monsters that emerged from the Virtual Eye were killed. There was no exceptions.
Watching the colorful Virtual Eye disintegrate in the sky while the bugs returned to the hive one after another, Lin Huang could not help but smirk as he recalled the hive back to his body.
"The Hunter Association's Hunting Garden is completed! So, what's next?"
Chapter 1208: Shadow Killer's Visit
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was almost 3.30 a.m. when Lin Huang returned from the Hunting Garden to Emperor City.
The first thing he did was sort out the loot as soon as he returned to the Emperor Palace.
They killed almost seven billion monsters from the two grade-6 ruins throughout the few days, namely the Demon Swamp and the Hunting Garden.
Among the monsters killed, there were 58 virtual god-level monsters. Lin Huang had also obtained a total of 17 Virtual God rank-3 to rank-4 Godheads.
Apart from the bunch of Godheads, Lin Huang also obtained almost 20,000 complete Monster Cards throughout the two days. Most of the Monster Cards were legendary-level. Only three of them were pseudo-mythical-level.
There was also a pile of card pieces. He did not integrate them. Instead, he stored them in the card piece mall as back-up.
The Godheads and cards aside, in reality, the biggest reward he obtained was the seven billion monster carcasses. The carcasses were breeding material for the Bug Tribe Queen Mothers.
According to Bloody's calculation, the four Queen Mothers should be able to breed 200 million imperial-level purple gold-rank Bug Tribe fighters with the seven billion monster carcasses.
Initially, there were only over 30 million Bug Tribe fighters in the galactic hive. Throughout the round of breeding, the number of bugs would be increased by a few more times.
Apart from that, Bloody also obtained 40 Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 Parasitic Puppets. She experienced a boost in her abilities.
One could say that this round of kills gave Lin Huang's overall abilities a substantial boost.
After sorting out the loot, he tossed the 17 Godheads that he had just obtained into his body and began to practice his sword skills.
Lin Huang's Emperor's Heart Ring began vibrating all of a sudden when it was almost 11 in the morning.
In the midst of practicing his sword skills, he picked up the video call immediately upon seeing that it was Huang Tianfu calling.
"What's up?"
"Misery sent us a message. They've come to an agreement with the Union Government. But the Union Government got Misery to join anonymously because of their reputation. Moreover, to avoid future inconveniences, Misery will sign an agreement with Dynasty instead. If they do that, when Misery is exposed of being in the circle, the Union Government can pretend that they know nothing and push the responsibility onto us." Huang Tianfu knew the Union Government's plan very well.
"Isn't that what we want?" Lin Huang grinned when he heard that.
"But are the people from Misery reliable?" Huang Tianfu asked, feeling concerned.
Lin Huang fell into silence for a moment and thought about it carefully. In reality, it was unnecessary for him to hide the truth from Huang Tianfu any longer. "Misery is already an affiliate organization under me."
"Do you mean they're under Royal now?" Huang Tianfu did not expect that. He was clearly stunned when he heard what Lin Huang said.
"Yes, I've registered them under Royal," Lin Huang acknowledged.
"I get it now. Dynasty will give our all no matter what Misery needs in the future," Huang Tianfu soon accepted the truth.
"Dynasty is Dynasty, and Misery is Misery. Both organizations will develop individually. You don't have to worry about the development on Misery's side as they won't interfere with us either," Lin Huang added, "There's no need for you to treat Misery as competition. Dynasty's competition will forever be Dynasty."
"Your humble one understands," Huang Tianfu replied without any change in his expression.
"Anything else?"
"Shadow Killer set an appointment two days ago. They'll visit tomorrow at 9 a.m."
"I'm around tomorrow," Lin Huang confirmed.
"Also, the remaining demigods have elevated to virtual god-level successfully throughout the past two days with Mr. Fu's help," Huang Tianfu added, "I'm thinking of announcing about the demigods elevating to Virtual Gods after we've come up with an agreement with Shadow Killer."
"Sounds great. We'll do as you say." Lin Huang did not raise any objections.
After hanging up on Huang Tianfu's call, Lin Huang recalled that Shadow Killer's grade-6 ruin was the only one left that he had yet to visit.
"It's time to leave the gravel world after signing an agreement with Shadow Killer in these few days. Let's visit the last grade-6 ruin."
It was in the middle of the night. Lin Huang practiced his sword skills until approximately midnight. Figuring that he was meeting Shadow Killer the next day, he quickly washed up and went to bed.
The next morning, he entered Dynasty's office after breakfast.
Although Shadow Killer was a giant, they had always been low-profiled no matter what they did. They did not announce their visit to Dynasty this time. Otherwise, the Internet would have been stirred early in the morning, and Dynasty would have definitely trended again.
In reality, within Dynasty, only the three Grand Dukes and a few Dukes knew about this. The rest of the members had no idea about the visit.
When it was around 8.50 a.m., the people from Shadow Killer arrived.
Everyone gaped at the group of 11 people as soon as they walked into Dynasty's office.
Lin Huang welcomed them at the entrance with Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan. They brought the people from Shadow Killer to the meeting room on the highest floor.
The people in the office discussed excitedly among themselves after they left. They were guessing who those people in the black robes were. They seemed to be so honorable that the Emperor had welcomed them himself.
In reality, Shadow Killer's leader was not the demigod Ying Shisan who the outsiders knew about. Instead, it was Yue Shen who led the team to Dynasty this time. His combat strength was on Virtual God rank-3.
Among the ten people behind him, there was one Virtual God rank-3 and another Virtual God rank-4 while the rest were demigods.
The one with the highest combat strength on Virtual God rank-4 was a lady. She wore a black veil on her face and even blocked her Divine Telekinesis function.
Lin Huang merely stole a glance and figured that Shadow Killer must have found a way to elevate demigods straight to virtual god-level because a Virtual God rank-3 Godhead was the most a person's body could bear.
After entering the meeting room, Yue Shen from Shadow Killer went straight into the subject after they chatted for a while and introduced themselves.
"What we want from working with Dynasty is very simple. We want the same privileges as the Union Government and the Hunter Association."
The first response Lin Huang had was, 'Has our intel been exposed?' when he heard that. However, he soon realized that was not the case.
"No offence, but do you know what's the collaboration we have with the two union organizations?" Huang Tianfu could not help but ask.
"We've no idea what exactly it is, but the condition must be too hard to resist for you guys to be work with the Union Government," Yue Shen said while smiling.
"So, how are sure that what the Union Government wants is also what you guys want?" Lin Huang asked.
"We're not sure. That's why we're visiting to ask what exactly that is. If that's what we, Shadow Killer, want as well, we'll proceed with the discussion. If not, there's no need to go any further," Yue Shen said like everything made sense.
Huang Tianfu and Huang Wunan looked at Lin Huang. They seemed to be asking for Lin Huang's permission to tell the truth.
Lin Huang nodded lightly. "There's no harm to tell you guys. What we offered the Union Government is access to Royal's trial zones."
Chapter 1209: A Salted Fish Should Have A Salted Fish's Realization
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The discussion between Dynasty and Shadow Killer went well the next two days.
Misery also signed the agreement the same day when Shadow Killer signed theirs. They joined the circle anonymously. The circle that Dynasty and the Union Government built became the most powerful alliance in the entire gravel world.
With the five giants, including the Union Government, the Hunter Association, Misery, Shadow Killer, and the Mystic Butterfly together with the soon-to-be giant Dynasty, this alliance was invincible.
The heretics, which was a top organization, became the weakest one in the circle. They could only play the position as a dependant party.
The heretics' upper echelons were surprised to see the Hunter Association, the Mystic Butterfly, and Shadow Killer joining the circle recently.
They were in a meeting when they heard about Shadow Killer joining.
"Holy sh*t! Four out of the five giants have joined them!" the Vice Presiding Judge, Zhou Tong, forgot to remove his little finger from his nostril when he heard about Shadow Killer joining.
"Don't forget that Dynasty is the soon-to-be giant. We, the heretics, are the weakest among the entire circle," added the hunk, rubbing his feet.
"Luckily, we joined early and managed to butter Dynasty up. Had we only joined now, I guess Dynasty would've just kicked us out," Cao Ya said while biting her nails.
"I don't think we're that bad…" the Presiding Judge, Sun Zhuo, shrugged helplessly.
However, Sun Zhuo was completely ignored. They proceeded with the next topic on their own.
"Exactly which organization has joined us anonymously?"
"It's most probably an underground organization."
"Do you guys think it might be Misery?" Cao Ya said, still biting her nails.
"Boss, the application from the anonymous organization should pass through you. You should know which one is it, am I right?" the hunk rubbing his feet turned his head and asked Sun Zhuo.
Sun Zhuo hesitated for a moment and nodded, figuring that it was only a matter of time that they would find out. "Yes, it's Misery. Keep this within ourselves, and don't spread it around!"
"It's really Misery?! Now, all five giants have gathered. It's insane!" the Vice Presiding Judge Zhou Tong explained out loud in his thick nasal voice.
"I've always thought that we weren't bad, but now I feel like we're just trash!" Cao Ya felt like she had just received a slap on her face.
"Five giants and one soon-to-be giant… So, it's six dragging one on. I think that's pretty good. There's always one that's slowing the team down. Why can't we be it?" Vice Presiding Judge Zhou Tong proceeded to dig his nose, appearing like he did not care.
"Don't you have any humiliation in you?" the hunk rubbing his feet scoffed while glaring at him.
"A salted fish should have a salted fish's awareness. We're salted fish. Why should we waste our efforts pretending that we're seafood?" Zhou Tong spoke in his nasal voice while proceeding to dig his nose.
"Because seafood is more expensive," answered Cao Yao who was sitting next to him.
"Xiao Ya, it was only a rhetorical question," said Zhou Tong while glaring at her.
"Oh."
"Let's continue our meeting. Stop the irrelevant topic right now!" Sun Zhou was getting more and more upset as he listened to them speak. He ended the topic after slamming the table.
…
After signing the agreement with Shadow Killer, Lin Huang followed the team back to their headquarters in Silhouette City in foothold No. 1A11.
He spent half the evening downloading the documents in Shadow Killer's library and archives. The next morning, he headed straight to the last grade-6 ruin opened to the gravel world.
The grade-6 ruin under Shadow Killer's jurisdiction was called the Shadow Land.
Day did not exist in the entire ruin, only night.
Apart from many dark creatures, there was a unique monster in this ruin called the Shadow Beast.
The Shadow Beast was an evil spirit that possessed the ability to control its shadow.
Such an ability was actually mediocre. However, it would turn its body into a shadow to be immune to physical attacks.
Fortunately, among the Queen Mothers' Bug Tribe army, there were bugs that could handle such a monster. Lin Huang was prepared ahead thanks to Bloody's reminder.
After summoning the galactic hive, Lin Huang did not get all of the bugs to attack. Instead, he only got the bugs that could fight Shadow Beasts to battle.
Throughout the few days, the four Queen Mothers were done with approximately a third of the breeding from the monster carcasses. The 30 million-strong bug army was boosted to 100 million. Among the 100 million Bug Tribe army members, only around ten million of them could harm the Shadow Beasts. It slowed down the hunting speed of the Bug Tribe army by heaps compared to before.
From 8 a.m, the Bug Tribe army spent some 15 hours killing the 400 million-odd monsters in the ruin.
There were a total of ten virtual god-level monsters among them. Three of them were on Virtual God rank-3 while the remaining seven were either on Virtual God rank-1 or rank-2.
The ruin refreshed in the middle of the night when they had rested for less than an hour.
The Virtual Eye that was opening in the Shadow Land was completely black.
Once again, Lin Huang led the galactic hive to block the entrance in order to kill the monsters coming out of it.
When it was around 1 p.m, they finally cleared the Shadow Land to decimate it into a land of nothingness.
Since it would take 48 hours for the Shadow Land to refresh, Lin Huang did not stay and wait in the ruin. Instead, he left in satisfaction and returned to Emperor City.
He began sorting out the loot he obtained this round as soon as he returned to the Emperor's Palace.
"Six Virtual God rank-3 Godheads, a total of 14 Virtual God rank-1 and rank-2 puppets, over 800 million monster carcasses — enough for the Queen Mothers to breed close to 30 million Bug Tribe fighters, two complete pseudo-mythical-level Monster Cards, over 2,200 complete legendary-level Monster Cards and over 800 million card pieces…
"Now that I've downloaded everything in all the libraries and archives as well as clearing all the grade-6 ruins available, it's almost time to leave," Lin Huang mumbled softly after sorting out the loot.
"I think it's best that you don't announce your departure. Just tell people that you're going into closed-door cultivation," Bloody suggested.
"I think so too," Lin Huang agreed.
The reason why Dynasty was currently in the limelight was mainly that people followed what was happening to Lin Huang. Even though he did not participate in the exact management and operation of things, he was influential in Dynasty's development of the people in the cultivation world. At least, many new members joined Dynasty because of him.
If Lin Huang were to announce his departure, many people would think that he had left Dynasty entirely. According to Bloody's data analysis, if Lin Huang left Dynasty, there would be at least an 83% drop in new Dynasty members. That was something that Lin Huang did not want to happen.
"How about your friends? Will you bid them farewell?" Bloody reminded, "Or will you lie to them that you're going into closed-door cultivation too to prevent them from leaking it unintentionally?"
In reality, Lin Huang was almost done with everything before his departure. The only thing that he had yet to do was inform his old friends such as Yi Yeyu.
Hearing Bloody's questions, he went into silence for a moment and shook his head. "There's no need to hide it from them. I'll spend some time meeting them and bidding them farewell these few days."
Chapter 1210: Fatty's Troubles
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang looked at the time after chatting with Bloody for a while. It was almost two in the afternoon.
He spread his Divine Telekinesis range out and realized that the three Grand Dukes were there. Furthermore, most of the Dukes who were at the agreement-signing ceremony with Shadow Killer were there too.
He left the Emperor's Palace in a flash and appeared in Huang Tianfu's office.
Huang Tianfu was chatting with Huang Wunan and Huang Tufu. They were surprised to see Lin Huang's sudden appearance.
The trio greeted Lin Huang as soon as they saw him, "Master Emperor!"
"Tufu, you're still here. Is the headquarters busy today?"
"We announced the news about demigods elevating to Virtual Gods this morning and created a stir on the Internet. The Union Government, the Hunter Association, the Mystic Butterfly, and Shadow Killer called to ask if the news is real," Huang Tianfu explained with a candid smile.
"No wonder everyone is here…" Lin Huang recalled that Huang Tianfu had asked for his opinion on whether to announce the news after signing the agreement with Shadow Killer. "I almost forgot about that."
"Go ahead with this. Tianfu, help me gather everyone for a meeting tomorrow morning. It's best that everyone can attend. There's something that I want to announce."
"I'll inform them later," Huang Tianfu agreed directly without asking what the matter was.
Huang Tufu was more straightforward, so he asked directly, "What's the matter, Master Emperor?"
Lin Huang, who was turning around to leave, stopped. He turned his head and looked at Huang Tufu. "All of you will find out tomorrow."
Lin Huang did not interrupt them seeing Huang Tianfu and the rest were busy.
He called Zhi Ji from Misery when he returned to the Emperor's Palace. He got him to arrange the meeting that would take place the day after tomorrow.
Zhi Ji did not ask about that any further.
After hanging up the call with Zhi Ji, Lin Huang thought about it and called Yin Hangyi.
The call was picked up after ringing less than twice. Fatty's round face occupied the entire screen.
"Can you not stick your face so close to the screen every time?" Lin Huang grumbled.
Fatty moved his face a little further away from the screen and argued, "It's not like you've no idea that I have short arms. It's more troublesome to put my face a distance away."
"You're complaining about moving your hands, but how come you never complain when you're eating?"
"Of course, it's different when I eat. Eating can replenish my energy!" Fatty always had odd theories of his own.
"Replenish your energy? It's no wonder you're so fat!"
Lin Huang finally got down to business after messing around with Fatty. "How's home?"
Fatty hesitated for a moment after hearing that. He then nodded and said, "Not bad. Same old, same old."
However, his hesitation was undoubtedly like slow motion to Lin Huang who saw through it crystal clear.
"What happened? Stop messing around with me," Lin Huang probed further.
Fatty only told the truth after realizing that he could not hide it from Lin Huang.
"Nothing much. It's just that the people in town heard about me coming back alive and said that my family is bad luck. It's just conflict among neighbors. There's nothing to worry about."
In reality, Lin Huang expected such a thing to happen. The reason being, Fatty looked exactly the same as he was two years ago. People who knew him from the past could definitely discern it. Especially because he lived in such a small place like Nanmu Town, everyone had seen each other and they all basically knew one another. They recognized each other's faces even if they did not know each other. Moreover, the entire town would find out about something as soon as it happened no matter how minor it was. There was no way of hiding anything in that town.
Lin Huang advised Fatty to move in order to prevent trouble like that. Fatty was just concerned about his old lady who had been living in the town for over a decade. He was afraid that the old lady was unwilling to move because she had gotten used to her life.
"So, how's business?" Lin Huang asked again when he realized Fatty was reluctant to talk more about his family.
"Business has been affected slightly." Fatty shook his head, feeling helpless. "There's a high-end restaurant close to the main outlet in Baqi City. They've been competing with us. The people in town found out about that and sold the news about me coming back alive to them. They hired people to make up rumors when they dined at our restaurant. They said that a dead person made the food and that people would have bad luck after eating it. Apart from that, they said the reason why our food is so delicious is that we use human meat… Many people in Baqi City heard the stories they made up, and some of the regulars did not dare to dine in our restaurant any longer."
"People are clearly making things up. Can't you get the Union Government to handle this?" Lin Huang frowned slightly.
"I did, but it didn't work. They said it was the customers who said that. There's nothing that they can do since it came from the lips of the customers. The Union Government ran their checks for a while and found those people who made up the rumor. Those people said that someone else told them that. They didn't want to tell who told them that, so that was the end of it," Fatty updated.
"I'm just complaining and venting to you, so don't worry about it. You're the Emperor. Take care of your own stuff. This is just something insignificant. You don't have to worry about this." Fatty was unwilling to get Lin Huang involved in this.
"Oh yeah, is there anything that you want to tell me?" Fatty changed the subject upon noticing Lin Huang fall into silence.
"I'll have a gathering on the 18th. I invited some old friends over, and Yi Yeyu will be there too. Come join us. Treat it as a getaway to clear your mind." Lin Huang invited Fatty with a smile.
"The witch examiner will be there too?" Fatty widened his eyes and revealed a lecherous smile. "Are both of you…?"
"You should use your brain capacity to figure how to be a better Food Hunter instead," Lin Huang interrupted Fatty instantly, "On the morning of the 18th, I'll get someone to pick you up."
"Oh yeah, get the old lady and the rest to come too. Just treat it as a vacation. I'll arrange the food and accommodation. I can send someone to be your tour guide if there's somewhere you'd like to go," Lin Huang added.
"That's too much to ask for."
"Don't worry. Emperor City is my territory. Of course, I have to give you guys the best," Lin Huang assured, "Tell the old lady that if she doesn't want to come, I'll knock on her door myself."
"Sure, I'll treat it as a holiday then," Fatty agreed.with a grin.
After hanging up on the call with Yin Hangyi, Lin Huang called Yi Yeyu, Yi Zheng, Leng Yuexin, Li Lang, Chan Dou, and his senior brother, Liu Ming to invite them to the gathering.
They agreed to come without hesitation.
These friends were close to Lin Huang. Furthermore, some of them had helped him throughout his journey of growth.
Apart from bidding them farewell, Lin Huang actually got each of them a gift.
Lin Huang opened his contact page after calling his friends one after another. He called Jiang Shan from the Union Government when he found his number on the contact page.
He spoke expressionlessly when the call was picked up, "Chief Jiang, I need a favor. I have a friend in Division 7's Baqi City who's encountered some trouble."